Sweet on Eaton

Rare occurrences:

Adam Eaton receiving a standing ovation from hometown fans (excluding the one he got as he walked through the airport exiting Philadelphia).

Pitching lines like: 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K. Eaton did not surrender a run during his time on the mound last night for Baltimore; he left with runners on the corners that later scored.

In fairness to Eaton, I felt he got a bit of a bad rap in Philly. Most of the trouble came from his contract; he was a No. 5 starter, but they paid him like an ace. That's not Eaton's fault.

And last year, Eaton had five starts in which he pitched seven innings (or into the seventh inning) and gave up 3 ER or fewer. He was 1-3 in those outings and the Phils went 1-4. It's also interesting to note that Eaton threw 12 games to Chris Coste and 9 to Carlos Ruiz last year. His OPS allowed was .981 with Coste behind the plate and .743 with Ruiz as the backstop.

Anyway, the last time Eaton threw into the eighth inning and was charged with fewer than 3 ER was May 15, 2007. The last time he did it with as many as 9 K and 0 BB was --- never.