'Pens lift Pirates, Padres

Two attention-grabbers that took place this past weekend were the ways in which the Pirates and Padres' bullpens pitched during their runs of first-week success.

Last season, the Pirates' bullpen was a disaster in the first week of the season, losing three games and pitching to the tune of an 8.00 ERA. This season, Matt Capps and Salomon Torres have been excellent, with Torres nabbing his fourth save of the season in Pittsburgh's win over Cincinnati on Sunday.

The Padres' bullpen, with the likes of Trevor Hoffman, Cla Meredith and Scott Linebrink, was thought to be pretty decent and to this point they've been even better than usual, not having allowed an earned run. San Diego won two of three games from Colorado, a sharp contrast to how it fared against the Rockies in the opening weekend last season, and the bullpen performance was a primary reason why.

PIRATES BULLPEN
	2006	2007
W-L	0-3	2-0
Saves	0	4
ERA	8.00	0.90
Hits per 9 IP	13.0	5.4
Through six games.

PADRES VS. ROCKIES
2006	2007
Swept by Col, 3-0	Won two of three from Col.
Outscored by Col., 32-12	Outscored Col., 8-7
Allowed 10-plus runs each game	Two walkoff wins
Bullpen: 15 1/3 IP, 11 ER	Bullpen: 9 IP, 0 R

• Phillies at Mets, 1:10 p.m. ET: Cole Hamels was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak first week of the season for the Phillies. The young lefty pitched seven shutout innings, allowing four hits, in his first start. John Maine was equally as impressive as Hamels as he also pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit, in his first start.

• Astros at Cubs, 2:20 p.m. ET: Coming off a 1-5 homestand to begin the season, Houston hits the road. Woody Williams was ineffective in his first start, giving up five runs in 4 2/3 innings to the Pirates. Ted Lilly gets the start for the Cubs in their home opener after pitching well in his first start of the season in a win over the Reds.

• White Sox at A's, 10:05 p.m. ET: Jose Contreras was blitzed in his first start as he gave up eight runs in one-plus inning to the Indians on Opening Day. Rich Harden pitched well in his first start as he tossed seven shutout innings in a victory over the Mariners.

• Monday's complete list of probable starters

• Scott Kazmir had eight strikeouts through 2 2/3 innings before finishing with 10 Ks in seven innings in Tampa Bay's 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays. Since the inception of the designated hitter in 1973, only one other American League pitcher has started a game in which the first eight outs he recorded were strikeouts. On May 10, 1986, Ron Guidry fanned nine batters over the first three frames before finishing with 11 strikeouts in seven innings of a 4-3 Yankees win at Texas.

• Complete Elias Says