Community Picks: Arizona Diamondbacks 0% vs San Diego Padres 0%

If you've listened to Vin Scully call enough baseball games, you know that baseball knowledge is only one of the things he brings to the table.  He weaves so much random information into his play-by-play calls that you're always going to learn something fascinating that you never would have anticipated. [ Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now ] Such was the case Thursday night, during the Los Angeles Dodgers' game with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Scully noted that the D-backs first run was scored by Nick Ahmed, who wears No. 13 and then proceeded to debunk everything you thought you knew about No. 13 being unlucky. Welcome to Scully School. Pull up a chair and listen to this: See, Vin Scully is smarter than you. It's OK. He's smarter than us too. That's probably why you should listen to Scully call the MLB Free Game of the Day on Yahoo Sports on Friday night. It's the Dodgers and Giants, Clayton Kershaw vs. Madison Bumgarner — but it'll be the Vin Scully show too. Because we know you want the transcribed version of all Vin's wisdom on the No. 13, here you go: Arizona’s Nick Ahmed, whose number is 13, had an RBI in the 5th. @VinScullyTweet then said this. Never retire. pic.twitter.com/taXrIoEzbx — Rich Mayor (@CityHall03) April 15, 2016 We shouldn't need to remind you that Scully is retiring after this season. Soak up the G.O.A.T. while you can, folks. More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: - - - - - - - Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz Continue to Article

April 15, 2016 3:27:am EST

If you've listened to Vin Scully call enough baseball games, you know that baseball knowledge is only one of the things he brings to the table.  He weaves so much random information into his play-by-play calls that you're always going to learn something fascinating that you never would have anticipated. [ Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now ] Such was the case Thursday night, during the Los Angeles Dodgers' game with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Scully noted that the D-backs first run was scored by Nick Ahmed, who wears No. 13 and then proceeded to debunk everything you thought you knew about No. 13 being unlucky. Welcome to Scully School. Pull up a chair and listen to this: See, Vin Scully is smarter than you. It's OK. He's smarter than us too. That's probably why you should listen to Scully call the MLB Free Game of the Day on Yahoo Sports on Friday night. It's the Dodgers and Giants, Clayton Kershaw vs. Madison Bumgarner — but it'll be the Vin Scully show too. Because we know you want the transcribed version of all Vin's wisdom on the No. 13, here you go: Arizona’s Nick Ahmed, whose number is 13, had an RBI in the 5th. @VinScullyTweet then said this. Never retire. pic.twitter.com/taXrIoEzbx — Rich Mayor (@CityHall03) April 15, 2016 We shouldn't need to remind you that Scully is retiring after this season. Soak up the G.O.A.T. while you can, folks. More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: - - - - - - - Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz Continue to Article

April 15, 2016 3:27:am EST

Greinke owns stellar career numbers against a San Diego Padres team seeking to avoid another shutout loss in Friday's opener of a three-game series. The Diamondbacks haven't received the desired return on their six-year, $206.5 million investment to pry Greinke (0-2, 9.90 ERA) away from the division-rival Dodgers, at least in the short term. Facing the Padres could be what he needs. Continue to Article

April 15, 2016 2:42:am EST

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we'll look the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about. It's safe to say there's no early-season disappointment with the Chicago Cubs. And Thursday's game against the Cincinnati Reds just reinforced that. [ Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now ] The Cubs won their fifth straight game, beating the Reds 8-1 to complete a three-game sweep. The Cubs have the same record as the score — 8-1, which is their best start since 1969. That year, the Cubs won 11 of 12 games to start the season. Things didn't end so well that season , of course, but that team didn't have Kris Bryant and Addison Russell.  Bryant hit his second homer of the season while Russell had three hits and scored two runs. Cubs starter Jason Hammel threw six scoreless innings too. Perhaps most impressive about these Cubs is just how forceful their wins have been. Their run differential is +43, by far the most in MLB. The Cardinals are +24 and nobody else is even in the 20s. Enjoy these additional factoids about the Cubs' early-season onslaught: Highest Run Differential - 1st 9 Games of Season In Modern Era 1999 Indians +44 1905 Giants +43 2016 @Cubs +43 Via @EliasSports — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 15, 2016 The last @Cubs team to post a better run differential through 9 games played in 1885 … as the White Stockings. pic.twitter.com/7wYq1k5T4p — MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) April 15, 2016 The Cubs have a +43 run differential through 9 games. Last year, only 11 teams had a run differential that good over 162 games. — Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) April 15, 2016 These are all nice things. TOP PERFORMERS • Jaime Garcia: What's the best-possible scenario for the St. Louis Cardinals and starter Jaime Garcia? Exactly what happened Thursday. Garcia threw a one-hit shutout and struck out 13 as the Cards beat the Brewers 7-0 . He did it all in 104 pitches. • Vince Velasquez: Get this: Garcia's performance might not have even been the best of the day. Vince Velasquez, the 23-year-old Philadelphia Phillies starter, K'd 16 San Diego Padres while throwing a three-hitter that put him in the record books . The Phils won 3-0 and Velasquez went the distance, hitting 97 mph on his final pitch of the day.  Vince Velasquez, wow. He'd be the 5th-youngest pitcher to have a scoreless start of 14+ K, 0 BB behind Gooden, K. Wood, J. Fernandez, Blue. — Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) April 14, 2016 • Ian Kennedy:  We'll end this trifecta of pitchers with Kennedy, the new Kansas City Royals starter, who kept the Houston Astros offense quite most of the night. In fact, he carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. All told, he gave up two hits and one run while striking out seven as the Royals beat the Astros 6-2 . MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT This is Bryce Harper's 100th career homer and his first career grand slam. Nice, both of them. He's also 23, so that's important to note. One more thing: This gave the Washington Nationals enough offense to beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-2 . The Braves, by the way, still haven't won a game this season. THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD •  Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Arizona Diamondbacks 2 : Dodgers score five in the seventh, as Ross Stripling throws six innings in his second MLB start. • Detroit Tigers 7, Pittsburgh Pirates 4 : New Detroit Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann has yet to surrender a run with his new squad, including his Thursday start against the Pirates.  • Chicago White Sox 3, Minnesota Twins 1 : The Twins have still won as many games as you this MLB season. Nada. • Cleveland Indians 6, Tampa Bay Rays 0 : The Indians hit three homers and rough up Rays ace Chris Archer.  • Colorado Rockies 11, San Francisco Giants 6 : Matt Cain gave up the six runs in 4.2 innings, not getting out of Colorado's nine-run fifth inning. • Toronto Blue Jays 4, New York Yankees 2 : Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki homered, while Marcus Stroman went eight strong innings.  • Texas Rangers 6, Baltimore Orioles 3 : Rougned Odor lands the go-ahead double as the Rangers rally for five in the sixth inning to beat the O's. More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: The StewPod: A baseball podcast by Yahoo Sports Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed - - - - - - - Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz Continue to Article

April 15, 2016 2:10:am EST