Santastic!

Johan Santana was amazing today. He struck out 17 guys in 8 innings as he totally dominated the Texas Rangers. The Twins won a 1-0 gem of a game. Santana's pitch count was high and he didn't go out in the 9-Th. Joe Nathan closed the deal as he added 2 more strikeouts. Millwood was not too bad for the Rangers either as he gave up just a run in 7 strong innings. But Santana was the story. He was in total command and all his pitches were working. He apparently didn't shake off catcher Mike Redmond even once in this game and why would he if everything is working to perfection? You could tell how fooled the hitters were as they started flailing at everything in the late innings. They felt like they had no other choice. Johan Santana may be the best pitcher in the game right now.

Speaking of the Twins, they got their closer a couple of years back from the Giants when Brian Sabean traded away Joe Nathan. That dude is now one of the best closers in the game. It's almost like Toronto looked at this and said, "OK, lets turn this other pitcher we got from the Giants and see if he can close too. May be Sabean and the Giants can't spot closer talent and they give them away". So Toronto turns Jeremy Accardo into a closer after B.J.Ryan gets injured and he has now got 24 saves with a 2.28 ERA. Brian Sabean should be pissed. It's not like the Giants could have used a good closer the last few years :-)

Carlos Zambrano signed a 5 year 91.5 million contract to upstage Zito's 18 mill by 0.3 mill a year though Zito's contract is for 7 years. I guess thats the going market for good pitchers, especially if someone pays 18 a year for Zito! There's no way true aces are now going to take less than 18! It's amazing how things work out. With all the hype for Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, nobody even looked at Zambrano few years back. But with those 2 occasionally getting out of the DL to play once in a while, Zambrano has become the ace and the face of that Cubs rotation. Today he pitched 3 scoreless before rain wiped out their Sunday nighter against the Cards.

Great excitement in Yankee-land as 2 kids came off the bullpen to help them finish a game. This dude Joba Chamberlain can hit 100 on the gun and he pitched the 8-Th. Edwar Ramirez pitched the 9-Th and Yankee-fan finally saw some young blood on the mound. They have been missing that for a while. But San Diego was happy with it's golden oldie as Maddux won his 342-Nd with a strong, one-run outing. His ERA is now down to 3.90 and has been pitching well lately. Unfortunately, the Padres bats have been silent and he has had 2 losses and 3 NDs in the 5 starts before this one despite giving up 3 runs or less in all of them. I love watching this guy win. The only thing better might be watching my DBacks ace Brandon Webb continue his shutout streak. It now stands at 42 innings and thats just awesome. His latest outing was a 4-0 shutout of the Braves on Friday as Webb pitched his 3-Rd straight complete game. That's unheard off in this day and age.