Travis Hafner is the MVP of Yesterday, as he went 2-3 with a HR, 4 RBIs and two walks in his return to Cleveland with the Yankees.
Honorable Mentions: Clay Buchholz, Ervin Santana, Marty Foster’s blown call, several members of Cincinnati Reds
Go below the jump for the MVP standings:
There were lots of good candidates for the MVP of yesterday, but I’m going with Billy Butler of the Royals. The main reason for this is because Butler’s 7 RBIs made up seven of Kansas City’s 9 runs as they edged out the Phillies 9-8. By comparison, Will Middlebrooks‘ 3 dingers against Toronto and Carlos Santana had five hits against Tampa, those were in blowouts- Billy Butler’s performance came in a close game.
And that is why he is the MVP of Yesterday. Go below the jump for the current MVP standings:
The MVP of Yesterday was Justin Upton, who went 3-5 with 2 homers (including the game-winner) in the Atlanta win over Chicago- during which his brother B.J. homered earlier in the 9th inning to tie the game.
And, really, that sounds like a good way for siblings to spend the weekend, right?
Honorable Mentions: Wilson Ramos, Clayton Kershaw
MVP standings after the jump.
The MVP of Yesterday- and a good leader for MVP of the whole first week of play- is Chris Davis of the Orioles, who’s 8th inning grand slam put the O’s ahead for good against the Minnesota Twins. His 4th HR of the season (one in each game, becoming only the fourth player in history to have a home run in the first four games of the season), it also provided four of five RBIs on the day, bringing his season total to 16- the highest number of RBIs this early in the season since the stat became official in 1920. He is the first player to hit a homer and drive in at least three runs in four straight games – at any point in the season – since Bill Dickey in 1937 (source).
So, while perhaps they may have been players who hit more HRs yesterday, or who pitche extremely d well, it’s hard to to argue with Chris Davis.
Honorable Mentions: Prince Fielder, Todd Frazier, Zach Cozart, Barry Zito, Zack Greinke
Go below the jump for the MVP Standings:
Cliff Lee had 8 IP, 2 hits allowed and 8 strikeouts against the heavy-hitting Braves offense yesterday- a good way to notch up the first win of Philadelphia’s season.
Honorable Mentions: Chris Davis, Andy Pettitte
MVP Standings (after jump):
A bit of an “out there” pick today, but Cliff Pennington of the Diamondbacks was a key player in Arizona’s win over St. Louis yesterday, going 3-6 with 2 BB, a run scored and the game-winning walk-off single in the sixteenth .
Honorable mentions: Matt Joyce, Gio Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Jed Lowrie
Go below jump for the “MVP Standings”:
It’s hard to argue with a guy who was one out away from a perfect game. In fact, had, for example, Elvis Andrus made a miracle play and gotten Marwin Gonzalez out, Yu Darvish would have found himself in the rare company of Sandy Koufax and Matt Cain for pitchers with the most strikeouts in a perfect game (14).
Honorable mentions: Madison Bumgarner, Adam Jones, Jay-Z
“Yesterday’s MVP” Standings (after jump):
If you were foolish/devoted enough to read yesterday’s Opening Day Diary-Blog, you are sure to love today’s Opening Day II Diary-Blog, as I write about the opening games for the teams that had to wait until today to play and maybe a bit on the other teams that are playing today. Go below the jump.
In this new semi-daily feature that semi-replaces Picture of the Day, I will decide who was yesterday’s MVP…
Yesterday had plenty of possible MVPs: Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg showed why the Nationals are World Series favorites, Freddie Freeman had three hits and drove in three, Chris Ianetta drove in all three of the Angels’ runs against the Reds, and Jackie Bradley Jr. made a good first impression.
But the MVP for yesterday had to be Clayton Kershaw, who not only threw a complete game shut-out against the defending champion Giants, but also hit a home run.
MVP Standings:
Clayton Kershaw- 1
Throughout Opening Day, I’ll be blogging. So check back on this thread throughout the day. Go BELOW THE JUMP, since this could get long.
The Baseball Continuum 