After Yovani Gallardo and the Seattle Mariners took the prize in weeks one and two, who will be the third recipient of the performance of the week award?
Contenders
Jered Weaver gets a mention once again for his performance against the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night. Weaver pitched the complete game, giving up just one earned run while striking out eight to send his season record to 5-0 with a 1.23 ERA. He wasn’t the only pitcher in the AL West turning in impressive performances over the week either, most notably with the A’s Brett Anderson shutting out the Red Sox over eight innings on Tuesday.
As for the hitters, the D-Backs’ Ryan Roberts had a big night on Tuesday in Cincinnati, striking two longballs and driving in three runs as Arizona beat the Reds 5-4. And if we’re stretching the performance tag to cover a period of games, few deserve consideration more than the Red Sox’s Jed Lowrie. Prior to Thursday’s games, Lowrie had gone 18-for-39 to start the season, with three home runs and 11 RBIs, all amounting to a .462/.488/.744 batting line.Â
My pick
But this week’s winner is the Florida Marlins’ ace Josh Johnson. He completely dominated the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, mixing his mid 90s fastball and an occasional change-up with a devastating curveball that he has shown such excellent command with so far this season. He struck out nine Buccos batters, seven being punched out on that breaking pitch.
You know you’re dealing with a dominant pitcher when he looks like throwing a no-hitter most times out and that’s exactly what the Marlins’ have had from Johnson. He took a no-no into the fifth inning on this occasion and batted in two runs to support his own pitching effort for good measure.
