Philip Humber Is One Of Those Surprises And Other MLBullets

By Brett Taylor Apr 23, 2012, 6:54am CDT

The latest from around the league...

The big news over the weekend was Philip Humber's perfect game for the White Sox against the Mariners. A 29-year-old journeyman with his fifth team, the White Sox picked up Humber off waivers from the A's before the 2011 season. They made him a starter, and he found success. Even after a solid 2011, I doubt anyone expected him to be the kind of pitcher twirling perfect games. It's a reminder that, no matter how a team or a player looks on paper, this game can still surprise you. If only one of those nice, huge surprises would happen for the Cubs...

Francisco Liriano has been so bad for the Twins - 0-3, 11.02 ERA - that they're considering moving him to the bullpen. Speaking of starters going to the bullpen, Daniel Bard will head to the Red Sox's bullpen, temporarily, and will have his next scheduled start skipped, due to an offday. At some point, the Sox are going to have to decide whether Bard is a starter or a reliever.
And speaking of the Red Sox, GM Ben Cherington is already being asked to give manager Bobby Valentine a vote of confidence (which he did). The Red Sox are 4-10 after blowing a nine-run lead to the Yankees on Saturday. Thankfully for the Sox, yesterday's game was rained out. It was one of three rainouts yesterday (Giants/Mets, Nationals/Marlins).
From the injury ward: a bunch of pitchers hit the DL this weekend including Ryan Dempster, Cliff Lee, Daniel Hudson, and Sergio Santos. Brewers' fifth starter Chris Narveson got the worst of the pitcher injury news, suffering a torn rotator cuff that might end his season. Non-pitcher Adrian Beltre also got dinged up this weekend - he strained his left hamstring and will have an MRI. He'll miss a few days regardless of the results.
The Tigers lost an 11-inning game to the Rangers yesterday thanks to a blown call in the final frame. A squeeze bunt, which clearly went foul (it bounced off the batter's knee), was called fair, and the winning run was allowed to score.
Rob Neyer answers emails ... via video!

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