The NL Central looked like it was going to be a two horse race this saeson between the Reds and Cardinals. But maybe, just maybe, there's going to be more of a race in the division this season. The Brewers have won seven straight after starting the year 2-8. The Pirates started the year 1-5, and are 9-3 since. And it's not as if either team is wholly beating up on cupcakes like the Rockies, either. Milwaukee has swept both the Giants and (meh) Cubs during their winning streak, while the Pirates have won four straight series against the Diamondbacks, Reds, Cardinals, and Braves. Maybe we wrote them off a little soon.

PIC OF THE DAY

Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons does a little juggling prior to Atlanta's game in Pittsburgh on Sunday. (Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Day: Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 4. Stop the presses, the Rockies have finally lost. A Troy Tulowitzki solo homer in the sixth pushed Colorado's lead to 4-2, and things looked pretty solid for the Rockies. But in the eighth, Cody Ross drove in Paul Goldschmidt with a double against Matt Belisle, cutting the Arizona deficit to one run. In the ninth inning, closer Wilton Lopez struggled. Didi Gregorius led off with a single, and an AJ Pollock double put two one with none out. Alfredo Marte grounded out to plate Gregorius to tie the game, and Gerardo Parra put Arizona in front after a sac fly. JJ Putz shut down the Rockies in the ninth to preserve the victory and push the Diamondbacks to 10-8 on the season.

During Saturday night's Durham Bulls-Norfolk Tides game, Tampa Bay Rays shortstop prospect Hak-Ju Lee of Durham suffered a gruesome looking knee injury in the fourth inning. LJ Hoes of Norfolk hit a grounder to second baseman Tim Beckham, who flipped to Lee at short to try to turn a double play. Travis Ishikawa of the Tides slid into second base, and his head collided with Lee's left knee. Lee immediately fell to the ground in excruciating pain holding his knee, and eventually was helped off of the field without putting any weight on his left leg at all.

The 22-year old Lee was one of Tampa Bay's five best prospects coming into the season, and was off to a great start this season for AAA Durham, hitting .422/.536/.600 in 15 games. The Korean Lee came to the Rays in January 2011 from the Cubs as part of the Matt Garza trade. Chris Archer, another top Rays prospect, was also involved in the trade.

There were some rumblings that Lee could even get the call up to the majors this season if Yunel Escobar struggled, which he has thusfar this year with a .119/.200/.153 line in 17 games heading into Sunday's action. Lee's knee injury will clearly push his timetable back, and it'll be interesting to see if this injury affects his above average glove at shortstop in the future.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have placed starting pitcher Chad Billingsley on the 15-day DL with pain in his right elbow. Billingsley's right elbow has been a source of frustration for Billingsley over the past year, as he only made eight starts after the All-Star Break last season due to an inflammed flexor tendon and a partially torn UCL in the elbow.

Going into the season, the Dodgers rotation was considered a strength, as they had eight starting pitchers going into the year. That supply has been whittled down to three right now, as Billingsley, Zack Greinke, Chris Capuano, and Ted Lilly are all on the DL, while Aaron Harang was been dealt to the Rockies (and ended up in Seattle). Lilly is expected to come off the DL to start for the Dodgers against the Mets on Wednesday. The status of Capuano is much less clear after he underwent an MRI on Friday and received a platelet-rich plasma injection.

Los Angeles' rotation is now made up of ace Clayton Kershaw, Josh Beckett, Korean import Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Stephen Fife, called up from AAA Albuquerque to start Sunday's game in Baltimore. 

In two starts and 12 innings pitched this year, Billingsley has a 3.00 ERA and has struck out six while walking five. His velocity has been fine in comparison to prior years, so there might not be any new structural damage there. However, whenever a pitcher has pain in his throwing elbow, there should definitely be some concern surrounding him.

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Desmond Jennings of the Tampa Bay Rays turned an unassisted double play on Saturday, You're probably wondering why that merits a post, since unassisted double plays happen every day and they're really not noteworthy at all. Well, Jennings isn't an infielder: he's a center fielder.

In the top of the third inning of the A's-Rays game on Saturday, Coco Crisp hit a sinking liner to center. Eric Sogard broke from first base on contact, perhaps thinking there were two outs, and Jennings came on to make the catch without much effort. By that time, Sogard had to backtrack so much on the basepaths that a double play was simply elementary, and didn't even try. As the Rays began to jog off the field, Jennings also came in from center, and instead of flipping the ball to first baseman James Loney, he stepped on first base to get the second out himself.

The last center fielder to turn an unassisted double play was Mike Cameron in 2003, but the last one to turn the unassisted double play at first base was Andy Van Slyke, all the way back in 1992. It's a pretty unique accomplishment for Jennings, and one you might not see again for another decade.

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As fans, it's simply natural for us to declare winners and losers during the offseason. The Orioles were declared a big fat loser after doing nothing to improve their wild card team from 2012, while the Dodgers were declared a winner after adding Zack Greinke to their star-studded roster. Flash ahead to Saturday, when the Dodgers were playing a doubleheader in Baltimore. Of course, the Orioles swept the doubleheader by scores of 7-5 and 6-1, largely thanks to the same players who had such an impact on the team last season (including Nolan Reimold, who missed a lot of time in 2012). The Orioles are now 10-7 with a +13 run differential, and they've done that while playing the fifth-toughest schedule in baseball so far. So maybe, just maybe, Baltimore will be able to make another magical playoff run.

PIC OF THE DAY

The Red Sox and Royals stand for the national anthem before yesterday's game after a difficult week in Boston. (Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports)  

Game of the Day: Red Sox 4, Royals 3. It was an emotional day in Boston on Saturday, and the Red Sox added to that emotion with a stirring pregame tribute to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing (which included David Ortiz dropping an F-bomb). The Royals nearly spoiled the fun, leading 2-1 going into the bottom of the eighth, but Daniel Nava hit a three-run homer to put Boston in front 4-2. Lorenzo Cain homered in the ninth against Andrew Bailey to cut the lead to a run, but Bailey got Alex Gordon to ground out to end the game with two men on and give Boston an emotional victory.

The Washington Nationals have placed third baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the 15-day DL with a strained hamstring, and will call up top prospect Anthony Rendom to replace Zimmerman on the roster.

Zimmerman has been plagued by his normally reliable fielding this season, committing four errors in just 15 games. He hasn't played since Wednesday's game in Miami, and veteran utilityman Chad Tracy has started the first two games of Washington's series in New York as a result. For the season, Zimmerman is hitting .226/.311/.358 with just one homer. He hasn't logged 600 at bats in a season since 2009.

Rendon was Washington's top prospect coming into the season, and the sixth overall pick from Rice in the 2011 draft. He missed a lot of time due to injury in 2012, playing in just 43 games during the regular season and 22 in the Arizona Fall League. He's started hot this year at AA Harrisburg, hitting .292/.462/.500 in 14 games, homering twice and tallying 14 walks while only striking out nine times.

It's expected that Rendon will be sent back down to the minors once Zimmerman comes off the DL, but if he hits a ton, I don't think that Nationals GM Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Johnson will demote him without a second thought. One caveat with Rendon is that he *has* struggled against lefties this season, hitting just .071/.316/.071 in 19 plate appearances, but Washington is only scheduled to face one lefty starter over their next seven games: Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals.

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During Friday night's Brewers-Cubs game, Milwaukee shortstop Jean Segura had what can best be described as "an adventure" on the basepaths during the eighth inning of the Brewers' 5-4 win.

After reaching on an infield single, Segura stole second base during Ryan Braun's at bat against Kevin Gregg. After Gregg walked Braun, Shawn Camp came in to replace the Chicago reliever. Segura took off for third, and Camp picked him off. As third baseman Luis Valbuena chased Segura back to second, Braun broke for second on the play. 

Valbuena tagged both Segura and Braun as they were on second base. Per the rules, the traiiling runner (Braun) was out on the play, and Segura was entitled to second base. But Segura began jogging back to the dugout before realizing he was safe, and slid into first base safely. Essentially, he went backwards on the bases for no real reason.

Then, Segura attempted to steal second base for the second time in the inning, but was thrown out by Wellington Castillo.

So to summarize, Segura successfully stole second base once in the inning, was thrown out trying to steal second once, and Braun was picked off going from first to second on a play where the pickoff throw went to the third baseman. Got all that? Good.

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The Rockies beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 last night to improve their record to 12-4, and a perfect 7-0 at Coors Field. But if you want to talk about a team feasting on a weak schedule, look no further than Colorado. They're 2-1 against Milwaukee, 6-0 against San Diego, 3-0 against the Mets, and a combined 1-3 against Arizona and San Francisco. After the Rockies finish up this series with the Diamondbacks, they'll welcome the Braves to Coors Field before traveling to Arizona and Los Angeles, and then going back home to host the Rays and Yankees. Their next road trip after that will take them to St Louis and Chicago before they end up hosting San Francisco and Arizona again. By mid-May, the Rockies could be a team under .500. They've played four games against possible contenders this year, and have been outscored by 13 runs. Danger, Will Robinson.

PIC OF THE DAY

Mike Trout tumbles after making a diving catch on Friday night. (Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Night: Giants 3, Padres 2. Friday wasn't really a night of close baseball games, so we'll go with the lone walkoff of the night. A Chase Headley solo homer tied the game at two in the sixth, but the Giants wouldn't take that sitting down in the ninth during Luke Gregerson's second inning of work. Gregor Blanco led the inning off with a single, and Andres Torres failed to lay the bunt down successfully, leading to Blanco getting thrown out at second and Torres reaching. He made that point moot by stealing second, and then scored on an Angel Pagan double to give the Giants the victory.

In wake of the manhunt in Watertown, Massachusetts and the surrounding area for suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnev, the Boston Red Sox have announced that tonight's game at Fenway Park with the Kansas City Royals has been postponed. The area is still under a civilian lockdown, and with gametime approaching and Tsarnev still at large, it simply makes sense to postpone the game.

In addition to the Red Sox postponement, tonight's Bruins game has also been postponed, along with the Bruins game on Monday and Celtics game on Tuesday following the bombing at the Marathon.

It's unknown when the game will be made up, but that's really not important at this point in time. Hopefully the Boston police department can get this situation resolved soon, and we can complete this horrific chapter of American history.

[ESPN Boston]

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