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  • in just three days, nine players have had two-homer games. There’s no
    one completely ridiculous performance on the list, and I’d like to think the big days
    by Tony Batista and Shannon Stewart herald the arrival of the
    Blue Jays as a force in the AL East.

  • the Martinez brothers are struggling, combining to allow seven runs in
    just 8 1/3 innings so far. That’s a bad sign for the Red Sox.

    OK, I’m not entirely serious, but you have to wonder why the team has so
    much faith in Martinez the Elder. He’s got a ton of mileage on him, is
    still working his way back from major surgery and may be older than his
    listed age of 32. (Then again, Pedro looks 12, so what do I know?) Off four
    late-season outings, Boston made him their #3 starter in the playoffs and
    their #2 to start this year. It seems more wishful thinking than anything
    else.

  • it doesn’t look like we’re moving back to 1992 anytime soon. In 15 games
    on Wednesday, eight teams cracked double figures in runs and six teams
    scored six runs or more and lost.

    I’m not complaining–baseball is baseball in any era, and I have no
    patience for whining about how players don’t do the little things
    anymore–but the longer this era of offense lasts, the more difficult it is
    to keep the achievements of the players who played in the 1980s in
    perspective. This came up in the Tim Raines discussions, and may
    impact the Hall of Fame voting for the next ten years or so.

  • every team in the American League has at least one win and one loss.
    There are three undefeated teams and two winless teams in the NL, all 0-2
    or 2-0. I wonder if any season has ever started with no team having a
    three-game winning or losing streak.

  • the Yankees are showing some of their depth problems. Bernie
    Williams
    ‘s shoulder owie forced Ricky Ledee, an average left
    fielder, to patrol center field for two days in Anaheim. Scott
    Brosius
    ‘s ribcage injury makes Clay Bellinger and Wilson
    Delgado
    the third-base platoon. Bellinger’s last full-season OBP over
    .300 came in 1997, while Delgado couldn’t hit enough to win a backup
    infielder job with the Giants.

Joe Sheehan can be reached at jsheehan@baseballprospectus.com.

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