The Los Angeles Dodgers walked off on Sunday against the San Diego Padres, but they got a little help from one of the oddest triple plays you'll ever see in the top of the 9th inning, as if triple plays weren't weird enough. Take a look at the most disastrous sacrifice bunt unfold as Vin Scully calls it in his return to the booth: 

A general rule of thumb: Vin Scully knows what he's talking about. Home plate umpire Dale Scott's brain fart allows the Dodgers to successfully turn a triple play while each runner, trying to help call it as Scully and just about everyone else saw it, thought the ball was dead. Good on the Dodgers for finishing the play just in case, because they were rewarded, but it certainly looks like this should not have been a live ball, if not just because Scott appears to signal foul ball initially. Pads manager Bud Black was ejected arguing the call: 

"The whole play looked funky," Black said. "I saw the hands go up. Our impression was that it was a foul ball. It happened so fast. I didn't like the result."

It was the Dodgers first triple play since 1998 and helped them win their ninth of ten games this season, which equals their best start in Los Angeles.

In the bottom of the first inning of the Kansas City Royals' 13-7 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Sunday, Chris Getz put on a sliding clinic of how NOT to dive head-first into the keystone sack. With Eric Hosmer batting after a Getz single, Getz attempted to steal twice, but both times Hosmer wasted the pitch and Getz would have to return to first. Both times, though, Getz dove hilariously into second, each a little worse than the one before it. Getz was finally able to get into second safely on a wild pitch, but the slide, above, was far from safe, as it left him eating dirt and falling awkwardly over the bag. You can watch the attempt that counted on MLB.com. 

In the next inning, Getz learned his lesson and would successfully slide feet-first into second on a steal. Getz needs some work on the head-first slide before trying it again in a game. I'm sure the Royals wouldn't mind seeing their starting second baseman erring on the side of caution, too. 

Sunday, April 15th. First place in the NL East....is one of the more hyped sleeper teams this offseason, the Washington Nationals. The Nats are 7-2 on the season, including 4-2 on the road and a perfect 3-0 at home against the Reds, and have won five straight. In second...the New York Mets? The Mets have used early season series against their divisional rivals to climb to a 6-2 record, sweeping the Braves at Citi Field and looking to complete a sweep of the Phillies today at Citizens Bank Park. In third place, right where many people predicted them to be, are the 4-4 Braves, who started the season with an embarrassing sweep of the Mets, but are 4-1 in games against NL Central teams since. In fourth are the Phillies, who have now lost series to the Pirates and Mets, while taking two of three from the Marlins. And then finally, in the cellar, we have the dysfunctional Miami Marlins. The Marlins haven't won a series all year, but a win today against the Astros will give them that series. It's obviously still very early, but it's fun to see nothing going according to plans so far this April.

Game of the Night: Rockies 8, Diamondbacks 7. Colorado smoked Arizona starter Josh Collmenter early on, and it looked like they'd coast to a win. But then....the Diamondbacks started chipping away after a long rain delay. A three-run Miguel Montero homer off of Josh Roenicke made it 5-4 Colorado, and the D-Backs got single runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings off of three different Rockies pitchers to take a 7-5 lead. Colorado got one back in the eighth off of David Hernandez, coming on an RBI double by Eric Young Jr, and then in the ninth, veteran Todd Helton hit a walkoff jack against closer JJ Putz to seal the deal and give the Rockies a solid win. 

Pitching Line of the Night: So this is what Edwin Jackson has the potential of doing: he threw a complete game against the Reds, allowing two hits and one run, whlie walking one and striking out nine. To top it all off, he only threw 92 pitches. Wow. Meanwhile down south, the Braves needed a good start from Mike Minor, and got one. He threw 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run (unearned, that will probably be changed since he didn't actually put the runner on base), two hits, one walk, and four strikeouts. And all of Atlanta exhales...one more good start. Hector Noesi of the Mariners shut out the A's over eight innings, allowing five hits and one walk, and striking out six.

Hitting Line of the Night: David Ortiz went 4/5 against the Rays, scoring a pair of runs and driving in five, along with a double and a homer. Yeah, I'll take that. Matt Kemp was also up to his old tricks, probably feeling pretty sore that he didn't win the NL MVP last year. Kemp had three hits, two of which were homers, and drove in four as the Dodgers beat the Padres for the fifth time already this season. Kemp has five homers in nine games. He is on a pretty insane tear dating back to last year.

Spotlight Series: Again, I screwed up and didn't write one up for this weekend.

Other Games: CJ Wilson finally got a win over the Yankees, as the Angels won 7-1. Lance Lynn dominated the Cubs, and the Cardinals got a 5-1 victory. Yu Darvish struggled early, but the Rangers battled through it to beat the Twins 6-2. Jon Niese and the Mets shut out the Phililes 5-0. The Red Sox scored ten runs after the fourth inning, and beat the Rays 13-5. The Orioles rallied back to beat the Blue Jays 6-4. The Astros got a four spot in the ninth against Heath Bell, and beat the Marlins 5-4. The Indians blew a 9-2 lead, but got two in the tenth and beat the Royals 11-9. Clint Barmes's error in the ninth allowed the Giants to walk-off to a 4-3 victory over the Pirates. Six early runs was enough for Ted Lilly and the Dodgers to beat the Padres 6-1. Jesus Montero drove in three behind Hector Noesi's shutout, as the Mariners beat the A's 4-0.

Today's Games: Brian Matsuz vs Kyle Drabek is a nice battle of talented youngsters who can't seem to put it together for a whole season. Neftali Feliz makes his second career start for the Rangers against young Liam Hendriks of the Twins. Drew Pomeranz makes his season debut for the Rockies against Trevor Cahill of the Diamondbacks. 

Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.

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The San Francisco Giants were dealt a bit of bad news on Saturday, when they learned that closer Brian Wilson has structural damage in his right elbow, and could require Tommy John surgery. He'll visit Dr James Andrews in the near future to determine whether or not the surgery is the best course of action for him.

Wilson, who missed 30 games in 2011 with a strain to the same elbow, has struggled in his two appearances this season. He's allowed two runs in two innings, to go along with four hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. More important for the Giants' 30 year-old closer is his drop in velocity. His fastball, which sat at 96 mph until 2010, dropped to 94 last year, and is down to under 91 this year. 

Losing Wilson might not be a huge blow for the team, because he didn't seem right for all of last season, tallying a 3.11 ERA in 55 innings, and a strikeout rate that plummeted to under a batter per inning. The Giants have a much more dominant reliever in their pen right now in Sergio Romo, who struck out 70 while only walking five last year in 48 innings en route to a 1.50 ERA.

Wilson is known for his crazy personality off the field, and has become more of a national sports celebrity after the Giants' World Series win in 2010. He is making $8.5 million this season, and is set to hit the free agent market after this season is up.

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It has really not been a great week for one of the most hyped teams in the league, the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels have lost three straight, including two to the woeful Twins, and have allowed at leave five runs in each of those three losses. Over those three games, Los Angeles's bullpen has allowed eight runs in six innings. Honestly, it's nothing to get overly worked up about, but Angels fans are a little on edge with their 2-5 record, and as scary as this thought is, they're longing for Fernando Rodney.

GM Jerry DiPoto isn't standing idly by while this is going on. DiPoto is acting on his team's deficiency, and is trying to turn the bullpen around.

Utilityman Alexi Amarista was demoted to minor league camp yesterday, and the team purchased the contract of David Carpenter from AAA Salt Lake. Carpenter threw three scoreless innings in the minors this season, striking out two and walking one. He made his season debut yesterday for the Angels, and threw a scoreless eighth inning in the team's 5-0 loss to the Yankees. Last season, Carpenter spent the year between high-A Inland Empire and AA Arkansas, where he struck out 52 in 47 2/3 innings, only walking 14 batters in the process. 

Then, more news came this morning. Reliever Rich Thompson, who in two games and 2 1/3 innings this season, had allowed four runs on five hits, had been designated for assignment. He'll be replaced on the roster by lefty Brad Mills, who was working as a starter for Salt Lake. In his one start this year, Mills had allowed one run in six innings, striking out four while walking one. Mills spent last year with the Blue Jays organization, and had a 4.00 ERA in AAA Las Vegas, with a 9.82 ERA in the majors.

The moves may not be over, as highly paid veteran reliever Scott Downs was on crutches after Thursday's game against the Twins. He's listed as day to day, but may need to go on the DL if his bruised ankle doesn't heal as well as the Angels hope. If the Angels have to disable him too, their Opening Day bullpen will be down three members, just a week into the season. Fortunately for the Angels, replacing Amarista with Carpenter is giving them an eight man bullpen. The team will need to make another corresponding move before Sunday though, as the need for fifth starter Jerome Williams will be on the horizon. The team could disable Downs then if they feel he's not progressing well, or they could demote one of the two pitchers they've just called up based on recent efforts (probably Mills).

At any rate, Jerry DiPoto and the Angels aren't standing pat and letting things correct themselves. I know it's very early, but the Rangers have already opened up a 3.5 game lead on the Angels. A win in April is the same as a win in September, and the Angels have lost their first two series of the season to the Royals and Twins. Things ease up after the Angels leave New York, with home series against the A's and Orioles on tap, but the Angels really don't want to go into the first extended homestand of the year with a 3-6 (or worse) record.

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It's a story that will be told to generations of Oakland A's fans who populate the right field bleachers. Well, at least until they move out of Oakland.

Jeff Francoeur has been a sabermetric whipping boy for quite a while now, as after his time sucking up right field for the Atlana Braves, Frenchy took himself a fancy in Kansas City, where Dayton Moore made him his 9-man of choice. That being said, he had a good 2011 campaign (earning him a new two year deal, on top of that) and by all accounts, he's a good guy and has been known for good interactions with his fans.

Even if they aren't on the team he plays for.

During the Royals' trip to Oakland in 2011, Frenchy was met by a group of fans in the right field bleachers, who struck up an accord with the cannon-armed man bereft of walks. He even tossed a ball into the right field stands. Normal fare, as it seemed. Until the fans discovered that the ball had a $100 wrapped around in it. Frenchy was so taken by the fans that he yelled up to them to use the money to buy "bacon and beer."

Obviously, when a man decides that the best use of $100 is to spend it on bacon and beer, he will have made a lot of friends, indeed. Frenchy got as many cheers as the A's players the fans were rooting on, and was welcomed back to his perch every day Kansas City visited the Other City By The Bay.

So the A's then saw a gesture done for an opposing player that is rarely done for even one of their own. The fans in right field presented Francoeur with a shirt honoring the "2nd Annual Bacon Tuesday - April 10, 2012, Sponsored by Jeff Francoeur." It was even done in yellow and green. One good turn deserves another, as Frenchy sent 20 pizzas to the fans who gifted him the shirt, along with a signed bat and a note that asked them to keep making bacon.

For as much as we give Frenchy a hard time for his free swinging antics, it's things like these that allow us to see that players can find ways to enjoy the game even away from their home ballparks. In fact, I wouldn't put it past A's general manager Billy Beane to keep Frenchy on the radar just in case he needs a new right fielder at some point down the line. Even with Frenchy not exactly fitting into Beane's sabermetric-based ideals, it's nice to see a player make a connection with the fans no matter what team he plays for.

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When you think of dominant pitchers who have the ability to strike out nine batters in a row, I bet one of the last names that would pop up into your mind is Aaron Harang. Yet last night, as the Dodgers took on the Padres, Harang struck out nine Padres in a row, and a total of 12 over 6 1/3 innings in Los Angeles's 9-8 win. Of course, Harang didn't get credit for a win *or* a quality start last night (despite 13 strikeouts and two walks over a 19 out period). The all-time record for consecutive strikeouts is ten, held by Tom Seaver and set against the Padres. And Harang came one batter shy of that mark. You know, Aaron Harang with the 7.43 career strikeout rate. That makes sense.

Game of the Night: Orioles 7, Blue Jays 5. This game was wild. The teams combined for seven homers, and they were all of the solo variety. The Blue Jays blew 4-3 and 5-4 leads, with Baltimore taking the lead in the eighth on a two-run single by Wilson Betemit, and adding an insurance run on a Nolan Reimold homer. It's funny though, that even wit the FIP killing homers everywhere, the starting pitchers....didn't do that bad. Tommy Hunter allowed four earned (and five total) in six innings, walking two and striking out two. His four homers allowed will make that line look a lot worse in the morning. As for his counterpart Brandon Morrow, he allowed four earned in seven innings, walking one and striking out four. He only allowed two homers, though. Offensively, no Blue Jays player had more than one hit, but across the diamond, the Orioles featured a pair of three hit players in Adam Jones and Reimold, both of whom also homered for the team.

Pitching Line of the Night: Matt Cain threw a one hit shutout of the Pirates, and struck out 11 in the process. The only thing that stood between him and a perfect game was a single in the sixth inning....by opposing pitcher James McDonald. That one has to hurt. In New York, Hiroku Kuroda allowed more than one baserunner for the Yankees, but threw eight shutout innings, striking out six while walking two on five hits.

Hitting Line of the Night: Brian McCann had largely struggled for the Braves this season...until Friday night. The all-world catcher went 4/5 and fell just a triple short of the cycle. McCann drove in four runs, and stole a base for good measure. Yeah, I'm sure he'll take a night like that to get back on track. Boston catcher (and former Ray) Kelly Shoppach also had a good game, going 3/4 with three runs, two RBI, a pair of doubles, and a stolen base. Catchers stealing bases....what is the world coming too?

Spotlight Series: I'm a jackass and didn't write one up this weekend, because quite frankly, I forgot. Another one will be here next week.

Other Games: The Red Sox pounded the Rays, but lost Jacoby Ellsbury in the process. The Yankees shut out the Angels 5-0. The Cubs ruined the Cardinals raising of their 11th World Championship banner with a 9-5 victory. Cain's efforts gave the Giants a 5-0 victory versus Pittsburgh. The White Sox used a solid start from Jake Peavy to outlast the Tigers 5-2. The Indians got seven in the first and beat the Royals 8-3. The Nationals needed 13 innings, but beat the Reds 2-1. RA Dickey outdueled Cliff Lee, and the Mets beat the Phillies 5-2. The Marlins got a 5-4 win over the Astros in the weekend opening of Marlins Park. Matt Harrison limited the Twins to one run, and the Rangers won 4-1. The Braves blew a five run lead, but still beat the Brewers 10-8. The A's shut out the Mariners 4-0 in what seems like the 18th game between the teams this season. The Rockies battled back to beat the Diamondbacks 7-6. The Dodgers beat the Padres 9-8 after a walk-off walk.

Today's Games: CJ Wilson and Phil Hughes is a solid matchup in New York. Yu Darvish makes his first road start of his career, and it'll be in Minnesota. Jeremy Hellickson will rebound from getting plunked in BP the other day, and will take on Clay Buchholz in Boston. Shaun Marcum and Mike Minor is a pretty solid matchup in Atlanta. Carlos Zambrano makes his home Marlins debut against Bud Norris of the Astros. 

Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.

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Earlier tonight, I briefed you all on an injury Jacoby Ellsbury suffered against the Rays. More information has come in, and it's not good for the Red Sox: Ellsbury reportedly has a dislocated shoulder, and will miss a minimum of six weeks. This is awful for the Red sox, who are already without Carl Crawford and Ryan Kalish.

There's no word yet on whether or not the dislocation or partial dislocation also features any tears of muscles, tendons, or Ellsbury's rotator cuff. Any damage to those parts of the shoulder would result in him missing more than six weeks, possibly the rest of the season depending on the severity of the injury. As I also mentioned earlier today, the immediate replacement for Ellsbury on Boston's roster is Che-Hsuan Lin, who was scratched from AAA Pawtucket's game tonight. Lin would likely take up the fourth outfielder role on Boston's roster, with Darnell McDonald starting in left, Cody Ross in center, and Ryan Sweeney in right, which was the alignment on Friday after Ellsbury left the game.

At any rate, Ellsbury was pretty much the one player Boston didn't need to get hurt. He was the team's MVP in 2011, and there's no immediate adequate backup for him with the injuries to Kalish and Crawford. Crawford should be back in a couple of weeks though, which would shift McDonald back to the Red Sox bench. But if Crawford isn't able to rebound from his disastrous 2011 season, Boston might be wondering if they'd be better off starting McDonald instead of Crawford with Ellsbury out.

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During this afternoon's 12-2 Red Sox victory over the Rays, star Boston center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury left the game in the fifth inning with an injury to his right shoulder. Ellsbury was able to walk off the field under his own power, and underwent tests at an area hospital after the game.

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said that went he met Ellsbury at second base after the injury, his center fielder was in a lot of pain. Valentine then added that he is "preparing for someone else to get here tomorrow", reports CBS's Jon Heyman. 

A serious injury to Ellsbury is something that the Red Sox can ill afford. He missed a majority of the 2010 season, and the team struggled with the position all year, filling the void mainly with Mike Cameron, Darnell McDonald, and Ryan Kalish. Looking at that trio in 2012, Cameron is retired, Kalish is on the 60-day DL with a shoulder injury, and McDonald is still around as the team's fourth outfielder and backing up at all three positions. McDonald could slot into center and well....he could at least prevent the team from having to make a trade to fill the position.

Down in AAA Pawtucket, the only outfielder on Boston's 40-man roster is Che-Hsuan Lin, who has a .611 OPS in 6 games so far this season, and had a .644 OPS in 116 games last year. Boston's 40-man roster is full, so if they were to add someone else from AAA (like Daniel Nava, who had some time in the majors, or veteran journeyman Jason Repko), they'd need to make a corresponding move. Boston also has the option of just rolling with an outfield of Cody Ross, McDonald, and Ryan Sweeney, with Lin as the rarely used fourth outfielder, until Carl Crawford is ready to come off of the DL. Crawford's elbow is now bothering him in addition to the wrist he was rehabbing, so it's unsure when he'll be ready. He is going to start DHing in extended spring games this weekend, but the major issue is on the field, where his elbow is hurting when he throws.

Essentially, if Ellsbury's shoulder injury is serious at all, the Red Sox are going to be in serious trouble, especially with Kalish and Crawford also hurt. A long season in Boston might be getting a lot longer.

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In the top of the first inning of the Chicago White Sox's home opener, the game was delayed for about 10 minutes when the umpires summoned the grounds crew out onto the field to restructure the batter's boxes.

When Miguel Cabrera stepped in with two outs in the top of the first, he set up in his normal position, way back in the box. However, because it was short, he was slightly outside it and White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski complained. Cabrera responded by showing both Pierzynski and home plate umpire Adrian Johnson that the batter's box was chalked short:

Johnson stopped the game to take a peek, agreed with Cabrera and had the grounds crew come out from behind the backstop to rake out the current lines and re-chalk. I've never seen anything like it. Hawk Harrelson said he's never seen anything like it in his 70 years of being around the game. Normally, when hitters have a problem with the box, they'll just dust the chalk with their cleats. But this batter's box appeared to be smaller than the normal four-by-six and warranted a redrawing. 

Miguel Cabrera flew out to right on the first pitch after the brief delay.