What I've Seen Lateley

- Good for Dallas Braden, hurling the 19th perfect game in Major League history against the Rays on Mother's Day. Now he can be known for something other than yelling at A-Rod to stay off his mound.

- How have the Rays been perfect gamed twice in two seasons? They're too good offensively for that.

- One great sign that Cole Hamels is returning to his 2008 form is that he has been getting a good number of swing and misses at his fastball. The fastball has had good late explosion and ride, not the 'bang me' fastballs he was throwing in 2009.

- We'll find out more about Kyle Kendrick's recent renaissance tonight when he faces the Rockies in Coors Field. Can he succeed in Colorado against a lefty laden lineup including Todd Helton, Ian Stewart, and Carlos Gonzalez? We'll find out.

- Jamie Moyer. Are you serious? The Braves offense stinks, but still. Complete game shutout? At 47?

- Derek Lowe is struggling again after a below-average 2009.

- The more he gets up to hit, the more money Jayson Werth is making for himself. He's probably already in Jason Bay territory, with Matt Holliday in his sights.

- Are you telling me that with all the money they have, the best the Yankees and Red Sox could come up with on Sunday night included Marcus Thames and Darnell McDonald?

- Paging Mr. Werth...

- A.J. Burnett has to be better than that against the Red Sox. It doesn't matter how hard you throw or how much the other team is struggling early in a season, you have to do better than straight fastballs up in the zone to major league hitters. Otherwise, you get torched. Just ask A.J.

- The Mariners fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell and replaced him with Alonzo Powell over the weekend. To borrow a phrase from another sport of prominence in the spring time, you can be the greatest jockey in the world, but you're not going to win anything if you've got a horse that can't run. The Mariner offense is a horse that can't run.

- Is anyone in the AL West any good? I don't buy the Rangers, and I won't until they show that they won't fold down the stretch the way they have each of the last 159 years.

- I can't imagine this is what Bobby Cox had in mind for his farewell tour.

- Olive Perez walked seven in 3.1 bad innings for the Mets Sunday. Welcome home, OPP.

- With a one-run lead in the ninth Sunday, Brian Wilson gave up a leadoff double to Jason Bay. He then blew away David Wright, Ike Davis and Jeff Francoeur in succession to end the game. Just awesome.