1. First among equals: Among the several great pitching performances Monday, the one turned by Chicago White Sox right-hander Phil Humber might have been the most impressive.
In his sixth career start, the 28-year-old allowed one hit and two walks over seven shutout innings, mystifying the New York Yankees in a 2-0 victory at Yankee Stadium. New York had the top offense in the majors in 2010 and came in fifth in runs scored this season.
The White Sox came in 8-14, off to their worst start in 10 years and had gone 23 innings without scoring until the fourth on Adam Dunn's RBI grounder. "We got the lead!" manager Ozzie Guillen could be seen saying from the dugout!" Chicago's pitchers, more or less, have needed to aim for shutouts. Humber, along with lefty Chris Sale and closer Sergio Santos, did just that.
Humber, who didn't sign with the Yankees after they drafted him in 2001, was the third-overall pick in the 2002 draft by the Mets. He was still a decent prospect when they traded him to the Twins in the Johan Santana deal, but he's never established himself in the majors.
"When I was young I had big dreams. I thought I was going to go out there and dominate every time," Humber said. "It hasn't worked out that way to this point."
His career has the makings of a blues song, at the very least.
2. Or, vote for Kennedy: The details of Ian Kennedy's first career complete game are pretty sweet. The Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander tossed a three-hit shutout against the Phillies, beating them 4-0 and outpitching Cliff Lee. Kennedy (another Yankees alumnus) also became a father early Sunday morning, and has been jetting to New York and back to Phoenix over the past 72 hours to ensure he has spent time with wife, child and team.
3. The only hope is to contain him: Jered Weaver continued his crazy start, scattering seven hits and striking out 10 (with no walks) in the Los Angeles Angels 5-0 victory against the A's. Weaver lowered his ERA to 0.99 (which just looks cool) and his WHIP to 0.79 (which looks OK, too). The A's have been shut out three times in the past five games. Very White Sox-like.
5. Somethin's Fishy: With Jonathan Broxton on the mound and one out to go in the ninth, the Dodgers gave away this one. Jamey Carroll whiffed on a grounder to short for an error and Jerry Sands misplayed a fly ball to left. Regardless of the comedy, the Florida Marlins will gladly take a 5-4 victory.
Hanley Ramirez, rested because of a slump, helped ignite the rally with a pinch-hit single.
"No, I don't like that," he said. "I don't like sitting on the bench. I get kind of bored."
We hear ya, Han.
Meanwhile, check out an interview Yahoo! Sports' own Tim Brown conducted with new Dodgers steward Tom Schieffer.
6. Three times a Cubbie: Chicago shortstop Starlin Castro made three errors ? in the second inning ? which didn't harm the Colorado Rockies chances in a 5-3 victory. To Castro's credit, a throwing error by pitcher Matt Garza helped the Rockies even more in the fifth. Way to cover for your teammate!
7. Cleanin' up: Brandon Phillips drove in three runs from the cleanup spot (with Scott Rolen out) and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Brewers 9-5. But, can Phillips do what Carlos Gomez does on this catch? I'm not sure all of these summersaults are quite necessary.
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