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Some notes from the first week of MLB action, including Blackmon, Solarte, Bonifacio, Belt, Eovaldi, K-Rod and more. Charlie Blackmon, CF, Colorado - A 27-year-old who just surpassed 500 career plate appearances, Blackmon hit .309 with an .803 OPS in 82 games last season, and has opened this year with 13 hits in 24 at-bats (.542). As long as he hits, and a minor-league batting average of .309 with an .843 OPS in 2222 plate appearances is an indication that is a possibility, then Blackmon should stay ahead of Drew Stubbs in the Rockies outfield rotation. Josh Hamilton, LF, L.A. Angels of Anaheim - After last seasons flameout, Hamilton is an interesting rebound option in 2014. Remember, hes one season removed from 43 homers, 128 RBI and 103 runs scored for Texas. In the crazy small sample of the first week, Hamilton has at least been showing a touch more plate discipline, with 12.5% swinging strikes his lowest rate since his rookie year in 2007. Yangervis Solarte, 3B, N.Y. Yankees - 26-year-old rookie flew under the radar when the Yankees added veteran infielders Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts in the offseason, but Solarte hit .429, with a 1.061 OPS in the spring, hitting .282 with a .736 OPS at Triple-A over the past couple seasons. Hes off to a nice start (8-for-17, .471 AVG, 1.232 OPS) for the Yankees; certainly fortunate with a .500 batting average on balls in play, but also making a lot of contact, with only 2.7% swinging strikes. Chris Colabello, DH, Minnesota - The 30-year-old DH had his first major league plate appearances last year, when he hits .194 with a .631 OPS in 181 plate appearances for the Twins, but he mashed in the minors (24 HR, .352 AVG, 1.066 OPS in 89 GP at AAA last year) and is off to a strong start this year, leading the American League with 11 RBI while hitting .391 with a 1.112 OPS. Hes been more fortunate (.500 BABIP) than can be expected, but Colabello also has higher line-drive and flyball rate, with a lower groundball and infield flyball rate compared to last season. Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston - Coming into the year as the leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year, 21-year-old Bogaerts hasnt done anything to slow down that talk, hitting .381 with a .956 OPS, hitting fifth in the Red Sox lineup. Emilio Bonifacio, CF, Chicago Cubs - Its a wonder that a player with a .628 OPS over the previous two seasons would be playing regularly, but such is the situation with the Cubs, and 28-year-old Bonifacio is off to a blazing start, hitting .500 with a 1.120 OPS and tied for the MLB lead with four steals. Bonifacio has always been valuable on the bases, stealing 98 bases on 120 attempts (81.7%) in the previous three seasons, but he hasnt always been able to hit enough to hold down an everyday job. Mark Trumbo, LF, Arizona - Over the last three years, four players -- Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Beltre, Jose Bautista and Jay Bruce -- have hit more home runs than Trumbos 95, and hes crushed five in nine games to start the year. Trumbo, whose outfield defence is not a strength, is hitting enough that he wont have any concerns over playing time. Brandon Belt, 1B, San Francisco - The progress has been steady, if sometimes slow, for the 25-year-old first baseman, but Belt has mashed four home runs early. Not to rain on his parade, since Belt is a nice breakout candidate, but hes been unusually aggressive at the plate early, seeing fewer pitches per plate appearance (3.65) than his standard (3.96 for his career) and hasnt walked once in 31 plate appearances. Yovani Gallardo, RHP, Milwaukee - Responsible for murdering fantasy teams (including one of my own) last season, when he had a career-high 4.18 ERA, Gallardo emerged unscathed from his first two starts. Dont get too carried away with the praise, however, as his strikeout rate (seven in 12 2/3 IP) is way low and hes been fortunate enough to strand every runner thats reached base against him. Nate Eovaldi, RHP, Miami - A 3.46 ERA in two starts is nice for the 24-year-old, but there are more promising results in underlying numbers. For one thing, Eovaldi has been a hard thrower who struggled to miss bats in the past and his average fastball is still up near 96 MPH, but hes missed more bats, and his 14 strikeouts in 13 innings (9.7 K/9) is far better than the 179 strikeouts in 260 1/3 innings (6.4 K/9) to start his career. Francisco Rodriguez, RHP, Milwaukee - The 32-year-old received the early closing opportunities for the Brewers, while they waited for Jim Henderson to find his form. Even without great velocity, K-Rod has six strikeouts in three innings, with a couple of saves, so its not like the Brewers figure to be rushing him out of the role. Pedro Strop, RHP, Chicago Cubs - A 28-year-old journeyman with four career saves entering the year, Strop is pushing Jose Veras, who has six walks in 1 2/3 innings, for the closers role with the Cubs. Strop throws hard enough, though hes been slider-heavy in the early going this year. Jose Valverde, RHP, N.Y. Mets - With word that Bobby Parnell is undergoing Tommy John surgery, the Mets closer role is open for 36-year-old Valverde, who busted out of the role in Detroit last season after allowing six home runs in 19 1/3 IP. With six strikeouts in 3 1/3 IP, Valverde is off to a good start in that spot, but has spent a career walking the high wire as a closer who rarely makes it look easy. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Cubs Ian Happ Jersey . Wade is posting a short film on his website next week, with a sneak preview scheduled to come out Wednesday. Stitched Cubs Jerseys . - New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis says the club has an agreement to bring back outside linebacker Parys Haralson on a one-year deal. http://www.cheapcubsauthenticjerseys.co ... -jr-jersey. According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. Cubs Ryne Sandberg Jersey . First, Ivan Nova decided to have season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery. Then Michael Pineda was suspended for 10 games for using pine tar. Cubs Javier Baez Jersey . The future hall of famers stole the show at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night, with Jagr moving into seventh place in all-time goal scoring and Brodeur stopping 29 shots as the Devils downed the Montreal Canadiens 4-1.DETROIT -- On a day full of bad news on the injury front, at least the Texas Rangers could enjoy a victory. Shin-Soo Choo homered, Chris Gimenez had four hits and the Rangers rolled to a 9-2 victory over the slumping Detroit Tigers on Thursday. This was supposed to be Prince Fielders first game back in Detroit after the Tigers traded him in the off-season, but the big first baseman didnt make the trip because of a herniated disk in his neck that could keep him out the rest of the season. Fielder is expected to have surgery Tuesday. General manager Jon Daniels announced that after the game. Manager Ron Washington had already finished talking to reporters by then. "You just want to go out there and give yourself a chance, hope your pitching staff gives you a chance," Washington said. "We understand not every day were going to be able to put nine runs up, especially against this team." Yu Darvish (4-2) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking three. The Rangers broke through quickly against Detroit rookie Robbie Ray (1-1), who lasted only 3 1-3 innings. Ray allowed seven runs, nine hits and four walks, and the AL Central-leading Tigers lost their fourth straight. Ian Kinsler, who was traded to Detroit for Fielder in an off-season blockbuster, went 1 for 3 in his first game against the Rangers. The Tigers breezed to a 27-12 start before being swept in a three-game series at Cleveland. Star right-handers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer were both knocked around in that series, and a 13-inning finale against the Indians taxed the bullpen. Rays start Thursday made the situation even worse, and infielder Danny Worth ended up pitching the ninth inning for Detroit. Worth, throwing a knuckleball, actually struck out two in a scoreless frame. "That was a lot of fun," Worth said. "Obviously, you dont ever want to be needed in that spot, but once I got out there, I enjoyed it." Alex Rios opened the scoring with an RBI double off Ray in the second, and Gimenez drove him home with a single. Adrian&nnbsp;Beltre added a two-run double the following inning and later scored to make it 5-0.dddddddddddd In half of Darvishs first eight starts, the Rangers failed to provide a single run of support. That wasnt a problem Thursday. Choos two-run homer in the fourth chased Ray, and Michael Choices two-run single later that inning gave the Rangers a nine-run lead. Gimenez had never even had a three-hit game before Thursday. Not only did he contribute offensively, but he also had little trouble behind the plate. It was his first time catching Darvish and his tricky array of pitches. "He let me do whatever I wanted to do," Darvish said through a translator. "So I felt really good." Texas has won back-to-back games for only the second time this month, but the Rangers injury woes remain a major concern. It looks like they will be without Fielder for a while, and in the third inning, centre fielder Daniel Robertson hurt himself in an outfield collision. Robertson came diving in headfirst to try to make a catch, at the same time Rios came sliding in from right. Replays showed a wad of gum popping out of Robertsons mouth when the two players collided. X-ray and concussion tests were negative. "Its a hard play, its a hustle play," Robertson said. "If we were to do it 10 times again, Id make the same play." The Tigers lead second-place Minnesota by 4 1/2 games in the division, but theyve allowed 31 runs in their past four games, an uncharacteristic spell for what might be baseballs best starting rotation. Detroits starters have allowed 19 earned runs over a three-game span, the first time thats happened since May 24-27, 2011, according to STATS. The last time a position player pitched for the Tigers was also in 2011, when Don Kelly did it. NOTES: Detroits extra-inning loss to Cleveland on Wednesday took 5 hours, 16 minutes. Thursdays game looked as if it might stretch past 4 hours for a while, but it sped up toward the end and was over in 3:30. ... Detroit RHP Anibal Sanchez (1-2) takes the mound against Texas RHP Scott Baker (0-0) on Friday night. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '