Both of today's starters (Russ Ortiz and Jeff Karstens) allowed three runs and were out of the game before the fifth inning, so that's pretty much par for the course. The difference was that Karstens' early exit hurt the Pirates more than Ortiz's hurt the Astros--Sean Burnett had to pitch in a tie game, and he gave up a three-run homer to Lance Berkman that ended up making the difference. 

Nyjer Morgan had another strong game, posting a single, double and triple, and Adam LaRoche continued his strong start (!!!!!) with two doubles. Andy LaRoche finally had a hit, too, and not a cheap one--it was a hard-hit liner to right. Freddy Sanchez almost single-handedly knocked Chris Sampson out of the game with a 17-pitch at-bat in the seventh; Sanchez swung at ball four at least once, but it was still pretty amazing to see that kind of hand-eye coordination.

Meanwhile, in New York, Damaso Marte had a disaster outing in the Yankees' home opener. Say what you will about Karstens, but between Marte's struggles and Xavier Nady's injury, that trade is looking as good as the Jason Bay trade looks bad. I think trades should be judged more on the way they look at the time than on how they turn out, but I'm also pretty happy the Bucs got rid of Nady and Marte when they did.