How about a feel good story to start your Friday? Before Thursday's Red Sox-Rays game, a video message played from Lt Col. Will Adams, stationed in Afghanistan, telling his daughter Alayna that he loved her and would be seeing her soon. His daughter then threw out the first pitch to the catcher in Rays gear...who unmasked as her father Will, 

Adams was due home from Afghanistan on Monday, and the USO and the Rays arranged for this unique and emotional reunion on the field. Both Alayna and her mother Dana were caught completely by surprise by the return of Will, and the raw emotion in the video is enough to get anyone misty-eyed.

Everyone was extremely excited about the Yu Darvish-Justin Verlander pitching matchup in Texas on Friday night. When all was said and done and all the smoke was cleared...the matchup was an extreme disappointment. In the Rangers' 10-4 win, Verlander tallied just eight outs and allowed eight runs on six hits, walking two (with the bases loaded, mind you) and striking out just three. Darvish was better, but only by comparison. The Rangers' ace allowed four runs on seven hits over eight innings, striking out six and walking one. All in all, the epic battle fell flat, and neither Verlander nor Darvish are in the top 15 in the American League in ERA after all was said and done.

PIC OF THE DAY

Ian Kinsler demonstrates proper sliding technique. (Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Night: White Sox 5, Angels 4. Another tough loss for the Angels. On a related note, the sky is blue. A two-run double in the sixth by Howard Kendrick gave the Angels a 4-2 lead over the Sox, but Mike Scoscia then pushed reliever Dane de la Rosa to the breaking point. After he recorded two outs in the seventh, de la Rosa started the eighth and promptly a pair of singles, a strikeout with a wild pitch that scored a run, and another single to tie the game at four. Michael Kohn relieved de la Rosa and got a groundout for out number two before walking the next two hitters to load the bases for Jeff Keppinger. Of course, Kohn walked Keppinger (HIS FIRST OF THE SEASON!) to give the White Sox the lead. Jesse Crain pitched around a Mark Trumbo one out double in the eighth, and Addison Reed shut down the bottom of the Los Angeles lineup in the ninth to seal the win.

It's been a rough start to the season for the AL's reigning Cy Young winner. David Price came into Wednesday night's start against the Red Sox carrying a 4.78 ERA, opponents were posting an OPS near .800 against him and the Rays were 2-6 in his starts. Things got worse against Boston, as Price gave up four runs in just 2.1 innings before leaving with a strained triceps.

Price says he felt the triceps get tight a few pitches into the third inning. An MRI after the game turned out fine, but the Rays are still putting Price on the disabled list to give him a chance to rest. He won't throw for a few days, and left-hander Alex Torres will take his spot on the roster. Price is only expected to miss a few starts.

Atlanta Braves reliever Jonny Venters, who hasn't thrown a pitch this regular season, will miss the 2013 season following the second Tommy John surgery of his career. 

In his first two years with the Braves (2010-11), Venters was simply incredible as the primary setup man to Billy Wagner (in 2010) and Craig Kimbrel (in 2011), striking out 189 hitters in 171 innings and a 70.4% groundball rate over those two seasons with a vicious fastball/slider combination. But something happened last year, and Venters' velocity dropped below 94 while his groundball rate fell and he allowed twice as many homers in 58 2/3 innings as he did in those first two years combined.

The finger of blame will likely be pointed at Braves managers Bobby Cox and Fredi Gonzalez, who ran Venters straight into the ground during his first two years. His 171 innings pitched from 2010-11 were second in baseball among relievers behind just Tyler Clippard of the Nationals, and he doesn't have anything near the injury history that Venters does.

Where does he go from here? Well, I'm assuming that Atlanta will end up non-tendering Venters after the season. He still has two years of team control left, but the Braves are going to need every cent of available payroll to potentially rebuild their rotation with Tim Hudson and Paul Maholm both reaching free agency after the year. Venters is making $1.625 million this season, and guaranteeing a reliever coming off of his second Tommy John surgery any sort of money similar to that is something that I don't think any team would do. He'll likely end up catching on somewhere on a minor league deal, and if he can regain his 2010-11 form in the second half of 2014, some team may be getting a real bargain.

Atlanta's bullpen probably isn't losing much without Venters for the rest of the year, as Jordan Walden has stepped into Venters' eighth inning role and dominated, despite was his 4.85 ERA might tell you. With Cory Gearrin and Eric O'Flaherty pitching like themselves as well, the Braves pen likely won't miss a beat after the news that Venters' season is over.

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As the baseball season heads passed the quarter pole, the players that are struggling are running out of excuses. Proclamations of bad luck and small sample size simply don't hold much weight anymore. At this point, teams need to make the tough decision of whether or not to stick with a struggling player to hope he turns things around or to cut their losses and move on to someone else. Well, let's help those teams out by identifying some starting pitchers who probably shouldn't have jobs anymore.

Rick Porcello, Tigers - Stop it, Tigers. Just stop it. Porcello was a popular pick to have a breakout season in 2013, but with a 6.68 ERA, that clearly isn't happening. As usual, at least part of the problem appears to be that Porcello induces a lot of grounders but plays in front of what is arguably the worst infield defense in the game which is why he continues to sport that intriguing 3.71 xFIP. Maybe he really is just a bad pitcher, but maybe he just needs the Tigers to finally set him free. There should be no shortage of teams hoping that a change of scenery and infielders can allow Porcello to finally realize his potential.

Joe Blanton, Angels - Blanton's only real marketable skill is that he is durable. That and making a mockery of fielding independent pitching stats with his strong strikeout-to-walk-ratio. His 6.46 ERA is clearly terrible, but consider that Blanton has somehow managed to allow 75 hits and eight homers in just 46 innings of work, including a streak of 33 consecutive innings in which he allowed at least one hit. Why is he still allowed to exist much less pitch? Because the Angels are terrible and have no depth and no farm system. This isn't going to get better.

In his 19th and final season, New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is having a typically excellent year.

His 16 saves are tied for the major-league lead, one of several reasons the Yankees are the surprise of the early season with a 25-15 record (as of May 16) and a two-game lead in the AL East. He has a 1.56 ERA in 18 appearances thus far. If that holds up, it would be the third-lowest mark of his career. 

Rivera will surely be named to his 13th American League All-Star team this year. Not only does his performance deserve the honor, of course, but it would be fitting tribute to the game's greatest closer.

But could Rivera's last All-Star appearance gain even more significance? What if he was asked to be the starting pitcher for the AL on July 16 at Citi Field, in the city — if not the actual ballpark — where he became an iconic figure?

That's what Bill Chuck of Billy-Ball is proposing. (The effort is fueled by the Twitter hashtag #StartMo.) Forget saving Rivera for the ninth inning. Begin the game with him, when the spotlight is at its brightest and the largest audience is tuning in.

Let's put together a brief recap of the Mariners-Yankees game from last night, shall we?

-Yankees starter Phil Hughes didn't make it out of the first inning, allowing seven runs on six hits and getting just two outs. 
-Raul Ibanez drove in six runs. Combine that with his two RBI from Tuesday, and you've got nearly half of his 17 on the season coming in the last two games.
-Dustin Ackley walked three times on Wednesday and once on Tuesday, giving him nearly half of his walks for the season (nine) in the last two games
-Brett Marshall made his major league debut in relief for the Yankees. He threw 108 pitches.
-Because the Yankees needed to get Marshall out of the game in the ninth, the team brought in shortstop Alberto Gonzalez to pitch. They shifted Jayson Nix to Gonzalez's spot at shortstop, and let Vernon Wells play second base. Good for Vernon, ticking second and third base off his bucket list in the span of a week.
-Lost in the mess was a pretty damn good start from Hisashi Iwakuma, who allowed two runs on eight hits in seven innings for Seattle.
-And to top it all off, the game only lasted 2:48.

So, how did you spend *your* Wednesday night?

PIC OF THE DAY

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, contemplating a career change? (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports) 

Game of the Night: Cardinals 4, Mets 2. Here's your winner by default. The Mets tied the game at two in the seventh after a two-run homer by Rick Ankiel. St Louis immediately took back the lead after a Scott Rice wild pitch brought in Daniel Decalsco. The Cardinals tacked on an insurance run in the eighth when Yadier Molina singled in Matt Holliday. The Mets nearly pulled this game out of the crapper despite an absolutely dreadful performance with their bats aside from Ankiel's homer.

After initially being expected to miss eight weeks following a fractured collarbone that he suffered in a brawl with Carlos Quentin last month, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Zack Greinke will make his return to the team tonight against the Nationals after just four and a half weeks on the shelf.

The Dodgers have struggled this season and are currently 6.5 games out of first place in the NL West and are in last place in the division. Since Greinke's injury on April 11th, the team has scuffled to a 10-19 record and has also lost Chad Billingsley to season-ending Tommy John surgery. Rookie Matt Magill has not performed well in three starts since Greinke's injury, posting a 6.92 ERA in 13 innings, walking ten and striking out 11. Combine that with disappointing performances from Chris Capuano since being activated from the DL and Ted Lilly's two subpar starts before being placed back on the DL, and Greinke's return couldn't come any sooner for the Dodgers.

With Los Angeles scheduled for seven games with the Braves, three with the Cardinals, and four with the Angels over the next 24 games, they're going to need all hands on deck. Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, and Hyun-Jin Ryu will give the Dodgers a pretty fearsome top of the rotation, especially if all pitch like they're capable of.

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You know, maybe it really *is* the American League. RA Dickey started on Tuesday night against the Giants, and his performance was positively DIckey-esque: two runs on six hits in six innings, walking two and striking out ten. Dickey also tallied 15 whiffs on 115 pitches, a little above the rate he sat at last season. Unfortunately, Dickey's next start will come on Sunday...against the Yankees. Good luck with that.

PIC OF THE DAY

Pablo Sandoval looks like he's doing the Gangnam Style dance...or he's throwing the ball. Either or. (John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Night: Pirates 4, Brewers 3 (12 innings). Pittsburgh trailed 3-2 going into the eighth inning, but ended up tying the game and pulling Jeff Locke off the hook when Russell Martin (of course) doubled in Neil Walker. Pittsburgh put two on with one out in the ninth, but left empty-handed. The Brewers put two on in the tenth with two outs, and couldn't score. The Pirates had a man on second with one out in the tenth, and got bupkis. Milwaukee put the leadoff man on in the 12th, but he was erased on a Ryan Braun double play. Finally in the bottom of the 12th, Andrew McCutchen hit a walkoff solo homer to give the Pirates a huge 3-2 win.

Curtis Granderson is in the starting lineup for the New York Yankees tonight, playing left field and batting fourth for their game against the Seattle Mariners. It's Granderson's first action of the season after breaking his forearm during Spring Training in March, and Granderson is also the first of the highly paid injured Yankees to play this season (in advance of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark Teixeira).

Tonight, Granderson is in left field, while Brett Gardner and Ichiro take their usual positions in center and right respectively. Vernon Wells is shifting to DH tonight, and Travis Hafner is on the bench with Granderson's return. Well, that seems like a simple enough solution. Hafner can't hit lefties. His OPS this season is just .720 against southpaws, and Joe Girardi has done a great job not putting him in a position to feed that weakness, as Hafner has logged just 20 plate appearances against lefties this season. His sore shoulder made the decision tonight a little easier, and Hafner's overall frailty could render this entire situation moot.