The highlights from the box scores for the games of 4/18 are these.

• Cleveland was all over Baltimore, 15-1. Jason Johnson threw seven innings one one-run ball despite striking out just two while Grady Sizemore hit his first homer of the year. Brian Roberts had four of the Orioles' seven hits in the game and also stole two bases.
• Boston beat the Devil Rays 7-4. Tampa scored two each in the seventh and eighth, but the Red Sox added three in the bottom half of each inning. Matt Clement had a solid start, allowing three runs in seven innings, but saw the win vultured by Mike Timlin. Jon Papelbon closed things for his seventh save of the young season, walking two and giving up a hit, but also striking out two. Manny Ramirez hit his firsth double of the year, Wily Mo Pena walked twice, and Travis Lee grabbed himself three free passes.

  My essay on Ty Wigginton could have waited until this post, since he hit his sixth homer of the year in this game.

• Toronto sent the Yankees back below .500 with a 10-5 win. Randy Johnson gave up seven runs in just 3 1/3 innings while striking out just two and Gustavo Chacin just hung on long enough to pick up his third win of the year despite giving up five runs in six innings. Troy Glaus hit a couple of homers for Toronto and Alex Rios hit his fifth bomb of the season as well.
• Chicago beat the Royals again, this time 4-1, behind a 6 1/3 inning, one-run start from Jon Garland. Scott Podsednik stole a couple of bases, and none of Royal starter Jeremy Affeldt's three runs was earned. Angel Berroa made his fourth error of the year.
• The Angels beat the Twins 8-2. Carlos Silva actually pitched 8 2/3 innings for the Twins and was charged with all eight runs. It's not every day you see a line like that. Kelvim Escobar struck out ten Twins in 6 2/3 innings, and Chone Figgins and Orland Cabrera combined to go 6-10 with a double and a homer out of the #1-2 spots.
• Texas beat Seattle 7-4, sending Felix Hernandez home still in search of his first win of the year despite striking out nine Rangers in five innings. The problem was the two two-run homers he gave up in the early innings. John Koronka survived a four-walk day to pick up his second win of the year for the Rangers. Ichiro! stole his sixth base of the year, and Adrian Beltre added his fifth pilfery.
• The Nationals walked all over the Phillies, 10-3, capped by a ninth-inning grand slam by Ryan Church, who's wreaking havoc after being called up from AAA. Pat Burrell added his sixth homer of the year for the Phillies.
• Pittsburgh beat St. Louis 12-4 despite Albert Pujols's tenth homer of the year. That's absolutely preposterous. Ten? It's April 19th, Al! Ease up, buddy! Jeff Suppan spoiled the party by giving up eight runs in just two innings. Craig Wilson doubled thrice, and Jason Bay singled, doubled, and walked three times for the Pirates.
• Florida beat the Reds 12-6 despite a four-inning, six-run, five-walk start from Jason Vargas. Hanley Ramirez hit the first two homers of his major-league career, including one leading off the game. Congratulations, Hanley! Ryan Freel walked three times and stole his seventh and eighth bases of the year for the Reds.
• The Braves cooled the Mets a little with a 7-1 win. Kyle Davies threw the complete game for Atlanta, the first such of his young career. Andruw Jones and Adam LaRoche combined for a 6-9 line with three homers and a double. They went back-to-back against Victor Zambrano in the third inning. Jones is up to seven bombs on the year, following up on his coming-out party last year.
• The Astros took a 9-2 lead over the Brewers after three innings, then held on to win 13-12 as Milwaukee scored ten runs over the last three innings. Despite the wildness, the Astros never actually trailed after the second inning, so Roy Oswalt picked up his third win of the year and Doug Davis, who gave up all nine runs in 2 2/3 innings, took the loss. Morgan Ensberg had two bombs for Houston and Carlos Lee his his seventh and eighth for the Brewers, the second coming against Brad Lidge. Prince Fielder had three hits, including his second homer of the year, for Milwaukee. Ensberg and Fielder also made errors in the game: it was Ensberg's fifth of the year, Fielder's first.
• Colorado continues to play bizarro, beating San Diego 3-2 in eleven innings at home. Mike Piazza had two doubles for the Padres, and Todd Helton hit his ninth two-bagger of the year for the Rockies.
• Arizona beat San Francisco 7-4 as the teams combined for eight runs in the sixth inning. Russ Ortiz lasted just 2 1/3 innings for the D'Backs, but didn't allow a run, so I smell injury. There were five double plays in the game, four turned by Arizona, and three caught-stealings. Barry Bonds walked twice and hit his third double of the year. Jeff DaVanon, who's off to a good start, added three more singles for the Diamondbacks.
• The Dodgers edged the Cubs 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the ninth against Will Ohman. Bill Mueller didn't record an official at-bat, walking four times (once intentional). Derrek Lee stole his fourth bag of the year for the Cubs, and Juan Pierre swiped his fifth.