This Week in 2001 (Week 4)

Here we are again. Four weeks into our real-time trip back through the fantastic season of 2001. That thing I was using to take images of my tweets has completely stopped working, so without further ado:

Monday, April 23: Only three games were played. Mondays (and Thursdays) have been the light days for quite a while now, but it feels like a long time since any regular season day was quite this light. Nonetheless, Randy Johnson had a particularly awesome day, throwing a complete-game shutout (6 hits, 0 walks, 10 strikeouts) as the Diamondbacks beat the Marlins 6-0.


Tuesday, April 24: The Dodgers sign Jesse Orosco, the journeyman lefty reliever who turned 44 three days ago. He looked awfully done in 2000 when, after a season in which he posted a 5.34 ERA with the Orioles, he got into just 2.1 innings (in 6 games) for the Cards. Orosco was the ultimate LOOGY; with the Dodgers he gets into 35 games, but throws just 16 innings (with a 3.94 ERA and more than a strikeout an inning). The Rockies beat the Cubs 14-1 in another one of those great Coors Field matches. Kevin Tapani, in his final season, gives up 10 earned runs in 3.1 innings.

Wednesday, April 25: Todd Helton hits two homers, numbers 7 & 8, in the Rockies' 6-5 win over the Cubs. The Rockies sign a 17 year old from the Dominican Republic named Ubaldo Jimenez.

Thursday, April 26: Luis Gonzalez -- who is 33 and has had five full seasons (100+ games) in which he totaled 13 or fewer home runs -- hits homers twelve and thirteen in the Diamondbacks' 13-6 win over the Braves. (One of his homers comes off Greg Maddux, who gives up seven runs in five innings.) Those 13 HR tie the all-time record for most homers in April, set by Ken Griffey Jr. Elsewhere, the A's go crazy on Jim Parque and the White Sox, clubbing seven doubles and four homers as the A's win 16-6.

Friday, April 27: Kerry Wood strikes out 14 Giants in just 6 innings, giving up just two hits (but three runs, with three walks and a homer) as the Cubs win 7-3. Just 22, the win is Wood's first of the season, and the 22nd of his career. He's got 46 strikeouts in just 29 innings on the season so far. Matt Morris, trying to make a successful comeback from a bad injury, throws seven shutout innings, and rookie Albert Pujols rips two doubles, as the Cardinals beat the Mets 9-0.

Saturday, April 28: Mark Quinn hits his ninth home run, and falls a triple short of the cycle, in the Royals' 8-2 win over the Red Sox. Did you remember there was a Mark Quinn? Geoff Jenkins hits three homers (numbers 5, 6 and 7) in helping the Brewers beat the Expos. Did you remember there was an Expos?

Sunday, April 29: The Cardinals pound the Mets 12-1. 32 year old Darryl Kile, who escaped Coors Field hell after the 1998 season to reestablish himself as a star, throws eight innings of six-hit, one-walk, five-strikeout ball in earning his fourth win of the year. Jim Edmonds goes 3-for-3 with a walk and a double.