Monday night was an interesting collection of games, but the Pirates started at noon and we had a consistent flow of action until past midnight on the east coast. Can't argue about that. Oh, and Miguel Cabrera is still really, really good.
Here's a quick rundown of those who impressed on Monday, and those who want to pretend the day never happened.
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Studs from 5/23/16
Josh Harrison (2B, PIT): J Hay filled up the stat sheet on Monday, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, two runs, and a stolen base in the Pirates' makeup game.
Todd Frazier (3B, CWS): The Toddfather is raking. He collected two hits (one over the fence) and two walks in the first game of the double header, and added a double in the late contest.
Jose Ramirez (3B, CLE): Ramirez is quickly bursting onto the scene, as he homered in his second and third straight games on Monday. That's four homers in the last two days. Hot hitter alert.
Mets' middle of the order: Homers for everyone! Yoenis Cespedes, Neil Walker, and David Wright all went deep Monday. Who needs Lucas Duda and Michael Conforto anyways?
Tigers middle of the order: Well, they did it again. J.D. Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, and Victor Martinez all homered Monday. Miggy topped it off with a second dinger and a double. The MVP Miggy is back.
Maikel Franco (3B, PHI): The Phillies phenom homered again, and that makes eight for the year. Keep in mind he still has a massive hot streak coming.
Marcell Ozuna (OF, MIA): Chalk up another three hits on the season along with his ninth homer of 2016. This guy keeps on hitting.
Ichiro Suzuki (OF, MIA): The ageless wonder went 4-for-5 on Monday, and if that didn't make you smile you should go see a doctor.
Brandon Guyer (OF, TB): Guyer was productive in the leadoff spot, logging a double and a homer while scoring three runs on Monday.
Nick Tropeano (SP, LAA): The youngster allowed just four hits and a walk through 6.2 scoreless innings against the Rangers. The Halos will need much more of this if they're going to stay afloat in their division.
Albert Pujols (1B, LAA): Mike Trout got on and Pujols put one over the fence. The Angels won 2-0. Life is good.
Randal Grichuk (OF, STL): Grichuk had two hits on Monday, including the walk-off homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The young power hitter is slowly breaking out of his early season slump.
Joe Mauer (1B, MIN): Mauer unleashed his third homer of the year. For the most part, he's still an empty batting average, but he's very useful in points leagues.
Salvador Perez (C, KC): Three hits for Perez. At this point any catcher who can have a three-hit game is miraculous. What a wasteland in 2016.
Rich Hill (SP, OAK), Clayton Kershaw (SP, LOS), and Johnny Cueto (SP, SFG): All three of these late-night pitchers got the job done in a big, scoreless way en route to a win. Hill threw eight innings, allowed eight hits, and struck out six Mariners. Kershaw went the distance, allowed just two hits and a walk, and struck out seven Reds. Johnny Cueto also went the distance, allowing two hits and striking out six Padres.
Duds from 5/23/16
Trevor Story (SS, COL): An 0-for-4, two strikeout day from the all or nothing shortstop. Get used to days like these, folks.
Adam Eaton (OF, CWS): Eaton went 0-for-8 in two games Monday against mediocre pitching. Yuck. That's a day to forget.
Gio Gonzalez (SP, WAS): The lefty let up 10 hits and seven earned runs in his five innings Monday. The good news is that he struck out seven batters. He either missed bats or hit them... hard.
Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon (WAS): These are arguably the team's two best hitters. When they can't get hits the offense can't score runs. Harper is falling off the preset MVP pace very quickly.
Ryan Howard (1B, PHI): After another 0-for-4, two strikeout night, we have to wonder if Howard's occasional home run is worth suffering through the other at bats he has.
Justin Upton (OF, DET): Upton sat out again Monday due to his quad issue. His bad season is getting worse.
Wei-Yin Chen (SP, MIA): In what the fantasy world thought was a favorable matchup, Chen lasted 5.2 innings and gave up nine hits, three walks, and five earned runs. Ugh.
Evan Longoria (3B, TB): Longoria went 0-for-4 with a strikeout Monday. It seems like his best self is the all or nothing home run hitter at this point in his career.
Mitch Moreland (1B, TEX): Moreland went 0-for-4 in what could have been his last tryout as an every day player. Joey Gallo was called up on Monday, and he's too important to ride the pine. Gallo should see some time in the outfield as well as spelling Moreland at first.
Kris Bryant (3B, CHC): Bryant went 0-for-4 on Monday. While he's not striking out as dangerously often as we had feared, he has to avoid these types of performances whenever possible.
Late night offenses: Granted, the pitching was very good (as displayed above), but the Padres, Reds, and Mariners all failed to score a run on Monday. Meanwhile, the Dodgers and Giants needed a big hit in order to win by one run over their scorless opponents. If you're a fan of high-scoring baseball, I hope you went to bed early on Monday.
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