Baseball Post: 3-picks - New York (Queens), Oakland, Cleveland

May 31
Brandon Webb (8-0) (ARI) vs. Pedro Martinez (5-1) (NYM)
This one looks to be a true battle of aces. Webb is the first starter in the majors to reach 8 wins and Martinez would have hit that same mark if not for a soft relief staff in Flushing Meadows. This one looks like the pitching matchup of the week.
update: final score - ARI 0, NYM 1 (13 innings) - W - Duaner Sanchez, L - Jason Grimsley
This was an excellent game with both of these aces dueling to a dead heat of scoreless innings. Brandon Webb extended his streak of consecutive scoreless innings pitched to 25 with a some stellar defensive work from Eric Byrnes as he robbed a struggling Carlos Delgado with an outstanding play up against the wall. Pedro Martinez worked much deeper into this one than I expected given his "fragile" pitching arm. He must be at full strength. That should put the rest of the NL East on notice.
Brandon Webb: 7.0IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 5SO, 0HR - ND
Pedro Martinez: 8.0IP, 5H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 8SO, 0HR - ND
June 1
Boof Bonser (1-0) (MIN) vs. Barry Zito (4-3) (OAK)
Rookie Boof Bonser gets a tough assignment for his third major league start as he heads out to the west coast to face the former Cy Young Award winner from Planet Zito. Looking at the Twins and Athletics offense this year I'd have to favor the veteran in this one.
update: final score - MIN 0, OAK 4 -- W - Barry Zito, L - Boof Bonser
This was a quick game - less than two hours. Which is what happens when Zito is on top of his game with 7 shutout innings. This one was well pitched with no base on balls allowed for either side. Kiko Calero and Huston Street came out of the pen to complete the shutout. Bonser wasn't bad despite giving up 3 homeruns. He was kust completely outmatched by the veteran as Zito rang up his 1,001st carreer strikeout.
Boof Bonser: 7.0IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 0BB, 5SO, 3HR - L
Barry Zito: 7.0IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 5SO, 0HR - WJune 2

Jered Weaver (1-0) (LAA) vs. Jason Johnson (3-4) (CLE)

The Angels finally took my advice and called up the "other" Weaver. Though I'm a little stunned they didn't just swap Weaver for Weaver in the starting rotation and start with a clean slate. That 0.00 ERA is from just one career start in the big leagues. As is the 1-0 record.
update: final score - LAA 10, CLE 3 -- W - Jered Weaver, L - Jason Johnson
Jered looked like the real deal in his second career start in the majors. Two starts, two wins and a career ERA of 1.35. That's excellent news for the Angels. (That's excellent news for my ERA/WHIP trailing fantasy team.) If Bartolo Colon returns to ace form after his rehab starts this could really turn around that struggling rotation. It may light a fire under his big brother to pull that 6.64 season ERA down. But one look at his -138.2 Win Percentage Accumulation for the season tells me that the older Weaver needs to be pulled from that rotation altogether.
Jered Weaver: 6.1IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 8SO, 0HR - W
Jason Johnson: 5.0IP, 3H, 4R, 4ER, 4BB, 4SO, 1HR - L

(Graphs by Fangraphs)