-- There was an intriguing pitching matchup in tonight's D-backs/ChiSox game in Arizona: Daniel Hudson vs. Edwin Jackson. The game mimicked the overall results since the two were traded for each other at the 2010 deadline: Jackson was OK, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits in his 6.2 IP; but Hudson was excellent, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and a walk in his first career CG, even adding an RBI double.

• Hudson is now 15-6 with a 2.76 ERA since joining the Diamondbacks, averaging almost 7 IP in his 26 starts. Jackson is 8-8 with a 3.90 ERA in 25 starts with Chicago.
• Hudson's gem was the 2nd straight Game Score of 81 by a D-backs pitcher. On Thursday, Ian Kennedy fanned 10 and allowed one unearned run on 4 hits in 8 IP against the Giants, lowering his ERA to 2.98. It's the first time Arizona has had back-to-back Game Scores of 80+ since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling did it August 15-16, 2002.

-- When Chris Carpenter won on May 10 while allowing 13 hits in 7 IP, it marked the most hits he had ever allowed in a win. But now that game bears another unique marker: it was Carpenter's only win in 15 starts this season. He lost to the Royals tonight for the 2nd time this year, allowing 5 runs (4 ER) in 8 IP and dropping him to 1-7 on the season. The 2005 Cy Young winner (and 2009 runner-up) has a subpar 4.47 ERA, but virtually the same rates of walks, strikeouts and HRs as he did last year, when he went 16-9, 3.22.

• KC evened the season series with the Cards at 2 wins apiece.

-- The Yankees now have a 3-game losing streak in Wrigley Field that dates to June 7-8, 2003. The winning pitchers for the Cubs in those previous 2 contests? Why, it was Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, of course.

-- Detroit catcher Alex Avila played the first game of his career at a different fielding position tonight, manning 3B in Colorado in order to keep the hot bat of Victor Martinez in the lineup behind the plate. V-Mart extended his hitting streak to 8 games (14 for 30) and did not allow a stolen base, but the Rockies hardly needed to run; they routed Rick Porcello with 9 runs in 3 IP en route to a 13-6 win.

• The Rockies historically have one of the larger differentials in home/road W%, but they are only 18-18 at home this year, 16-17 on the road. In their history, Colorado has a .556 W% at home, .400 away.

-- After losing in Oakland tonight, Tim Lincecum (5-6) has a sub-.500 record after the month of April for the first time in his career. Lincecum had been 5-0 in 6 career starts in the Bay Series, with 2 shutouts and a 1.17 ERA. Despite the loss, the Giants are 12-10 since Buster Posey's injury and remain 1/2 game ahead of Arizona in the NL West.

-- Chase Headley went 4-5 in Minneapolis, with a pair of doubles. Headley is quietly having a strong year for the Padres, with a .289 BA/.387 OBP and 20 doubles. Like most players who call Petco home, Headley has been far better on the road, hitting .345 (39-113) away, but .235 in San Diego.

-- The Florida Marlins, who earlier this month made a run at the franchise record for consecutive losses (11), are taking another swing at it. They lost their 8th straight tonight, 5-1 to Tampa Bay -- their 2nd 8-game skid of June, in which they are 1-16. (As for that franchise-record streak, it happened in 1998, the year after their first championship. Actually, it happened twice in 1998: the first one started after an Opening Day win, while the second carried from late May through the first week of June and left them with a 17-44 record. Their opponent in the last game of that streak was the Yankees, who reached 44-13 behind David Cone's 14-K complete game 2-hitter. They broke that streak with a 17-inning win over Toronto the next day; after taking a 3-0 lead in the 1st, Florida didn't score again for 15 straight innings until Todd Zeile -- who had driven in their first 2 runs -- singled home Todd Dunwoody in the bottom of the 17th.)

-- I'll close with something I found surprising while re-reading We Would Have Played for Nothing, the oral history compiled by Fay Vincent. Whitey Ford, speaking of the 3-1/2 years he spent in the Yankee farm system (he went 51-20), said:

"I really didn't get any help in the minor leagues. ... I had a first baseman and three outfielders as managers. We had no other coaches."

He then describes getting knocked around in his debut with the Yankees, and how Tommy Henrich told him after his first inning that the Red Sox coach was calling all his pitches:

"So the next day, Jim Turner, our pitching coach, and Eddie Lopat--and I was really getting my first lesson in pitching--they watched in the bullpen what I was doing and they picked it up right away. When I was going to throw a fastball, my wrists would be flat against my stomach. If I was going to throw a curve, I'd bend it. It was so easy to pick up. But it was a little thing that I never learned in the minor leagues, or actually, they didn't pick it up in the minor leagues."

Folks, we're not talking about the Browns, or the Athletics, or the Phillies -- teams that operated for years on a shoestring budget. This is the Yankees -- who, by the time Ford was signed, had won 14 of the previous 26 AL pennants and 10 WS championships, including 6 of the last 11. They were about to add a record 5 straight WS titles to their trophy case. And they didn't have a pitching coach or a hitting coach in the minor leagues? According to Whitey Ford, no -- not at Class C, nor Class B, nor Class A, nor AAA. I find that stunning. (BTW, I think Vincent's book could have used more editing, and it really underscores what a fabulous job Lawrence Ritter did on The Glory of Their Times -- but it's still well worth reading.)

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