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Some notes from the first week of MLB action, including Blackmon, Solarte, Bonifacio, Belt, Eovaldi, K-Rod and more. Charlie Blackmon, CF, Colorado - A 27-year-old who just surpassed 500 career plate appearances, Blackmon hit .309 with an .803 OPS in 82 games last season, and has opened this year with 13 hits in 24 at-bats (.542). As long as he hits, and a minor-league batting average of .309 with an .843 OPS in 2222 plate appearances is an indication that is a possibility, then Blackmon should stay ahead of Drew Stubbs in the Rockies outfield rotation. Josh Hamilton, LF, L.A. Angels of Anaheim - After last seasons flameout, Hamilton is an interesting rebound option in 2014. Remember, hes one season removed from 43 homers, 128 RBI and 103 runs scored for Texas. In the crazy small sample of the first week, Hamilton has at least been showing a touch more plate discipline, with 12.5% swinging strikes his lowest rate since his rookie year in 2007. Yangervis Solarte, 3B, N.Y. Yankees - 26-year-old rookie flew under the radar when the Yankees added veteran infielders Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts in the offseason, but Solarte hit .429, with a 1.061 OPS in the spring, hitting .282 with a .736 OPS at Triple-A over the past couple seasons. Hes off to a nice start (8-for-17, .471 AVG, 1.232 OPS) for the Yankees; certainly fortunate with a .500 batting average on balls in play, but also making a lot of contact, with only 2.7% swinging strikes. Chris Colabello, DH, Minnesota - The 30-year-old DH had his first major league plate appearances last year, when he hits .194 with a .631 OPS in 181 plate appearances for the Twins, but he mashed in the minors (24 HR, .352 AVG, 1.066 OPS in 89 GP at AAA last year) and is off to a strong start this year, leading the American League with 11 RBI while hitting .391 with a 1.112 OPS. Hes been more fortunate (.500 BABIP) than can be expected, but Colabello also has higher line-drive and flyball rate, with a lower groundball and infield flyball rate compared to last season. Xander Bogaerts, SS, Boston - Coming into the year as the leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year, 21-year-old Bogaerts hasnt done anything to slow down that talk, hitting .381 with a .956 OPS, hitting fifth in the Red Sox lineup. Emilio Bonifacio, CF, Chicago Cubs - Its a wonder that a player with a .628 OPS over the previous two seasons would be playing regularly, but such is the situation with the Cubs, and 28-year-old Bonifacio is off to a blazing start, hitting .500 with a 1.120 OPS and tied for the MLB lead with four steals. Bonifacio has always been valuable on the bases, stealing 98 bases on 120 attempts (81.7%) in the previous three seasons, but he hasnt always been able to hit enough to hold down an everyday job. Mark Trumbo, LF, Arizona - Over the last three years, four players -- Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Beltre, Jose Bautista and Jay Bruce -- have hit more home runs than Trumbos 95, and hes crushed five in nine games to start the year. Trumbo, whose outfield defence is not a strength, is hitting enough that he wont have any concerns over playing time. Brandon Belt, 1B, San Francisco - The progress has been steady, if sometimes slow, for the 25-year-old first baseman, but Belt has mashed four home runs early. Not to rain on his parade, since Belt is a nice breakout candidate, but hes been unusually aggressive at the plate early, seeing fewer pitches per plate appearance (3.65) than his standard (3.96 for his career) and hasnt walked once in 31 plate appearances. Yovani Gallardo, RHP, Milwaukee - Responsible for murdering fantasy teams (including one of my own) last season, when he had a career-high 4.18 ERA, Gallardo emerged unscathed from his first two starts. Dont get too carried away with the praise, however, as his strikeout rate (seven in 12 2/3 IP) is way low and hes been fortunate enough to strand every runner thats reached base against him. Nate Eovaldi, RHP, Miami - A 3.46 ERA in two starts is nice for the 24-year-old, but there are more promising results in underlying numbers. For one thing, Eovaldi has been a hard thrower who struggled to miss bats in the past and his average fastball is still up near 96 MPH, but hes missed more bats, and his 14 strikeouts in 13 innings (9.7 K/9) is far better than the 179 strikeouts in 260 1/3 innings (6.4 K/9) to start his career. Francisco Rodriguez, RHP, Milwaukee - The 32-year-old received the early closing opportunities for the Brewers, while they waited for Jim Henderson to find his form. Even without great velocity, K-Rod has six strikeouts in three innings, with a couple of saves, so its not like the Brewers figure to be rushing him out of the role. Pedro Strop, RHP, Chicago Cubs - A 28-year-old journeyman with four career saves entering the year, Strop is pushing Jose Veras, who has six walks in 1 2/3 innings, for the closers role with the Cubs. Strop throws hard enough, though hes been slider-heavy in the early going this year. Jose Valverde, RHP, N.Y. Mets - With word that Bobby Parnell is undergoing Tommy John surgery, the Mets closer role is open for 36-year-old Valverde, who busted out of the role in Detroit last season after allowing six home runs in 19 1/3 IP. With six strikeouts in 3 1/3 IP, Valverde is off to a good start in that spot, but has spent a career walking the high wire as a closer who rarely makes it look easy. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Mike Quick Jersey . Jeter doubled high off the left-field wall and scored on Jacoby Ellsburys first hit in pinstripes in the fifth. Hiroki Kuroda (1-1) pitched 6 1-3 sharp innings in the Yankees 112th opener in New York. In what manager Joe Girardi said would be a season-long lovefest for Jeter, the shortstop was cheered every step of the way by an adoring crowd of 48, 142 -- even when his double-play grounder back to Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2) scored Solarte in the third inning for the first run. Alshon Jeffery Jersey . Marie rink got back in the win column at the Olympic mens curling tournament with a 7-4 win over the host Russian squad on Wednesday. http://www.officialphiladelphiaeaglesfoo...i-jersey-womens. Lineup news, Fantasy and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES St. Louis Blues – After rolling the San Jose Sharks for seven goals, for the second time in a week, the Blues have a bunch of players on hot streaks. Chuck Bednarik Jersey . Stevenson scored the first three goals of the game in the first period for Regina (35-22-6), which has won eight of its last 10 games. Patrick DAmico added two for the Pats, Braden Christoffer had a single and Morgan Klimchuk chipped in a goal and four assists. Randall Cunningham Jersey . Braves reliever David Carpenter was also fined for throwing at Rockies outfielder Corey Dickerson in the same game, which featured several ejections, including Colorado manager Walt Weiss.The New York Rangers bottled up the Montreal Canadiens and squeezed out a 1-0 win in Game Six to take the Eastern Conference Final, four games to two. After controlling play early, the Rangers didnt get on the board until 1:53 remaining in the second period, when Dominic Moore converted a nice feed from Brian Boyle. With their season on the line, the Canadiens managed just 18 shots against the Rangers, including five in the third period. In 99 games this season, regular season plus playoffs, it was the fifth time that Montreal had been held to 18 or fewer shots on goal and their 36 shot attempts was easily their lowest of the postseason (previous low was 47) and came in lower than that only twice during the regular season. The Rangers dominated possession in the deciding game, with 58 shot attempts to the Canadiens 36. Subban was even in terms of 5-on-5 shot attempts (16 for, 16 against), which meant that the Habs were left with 27.3% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts (12 for, 32 against) when Subban was off the ice. There were many occasions throughout the series when the Rangers used their speed to take advantage of the Canadiens and that worked in Game Six too. LW Chris Kreider was on for 84.2% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when he was on the ice, the best rate of the eight Rangers to come in with possession numbers higher than 70% for the game. At the low end for the Rangers in Game Six, LW Carl Hagelin was on for just 21.1% (four for, 15 against) of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Getting the worst of the possession stats for Montreal was D Andrei Markov, on for 17.9% of the shot attempts (five for, 23 against). With Markov off the ice, the Canadiens were getting 47.9% of the even-strength attempts. Heading towards unrestricted free agency, will that be the last game Markov plays for the Canadiens? Hes slowing down, but played a career-high 25:14 per game this season, so hes an integral part of the Canadiens blueline. Game Six hero Rene Bourque didnt register a shot on goal, team captain Brian Gionta didnt manage a single attempted shot and LW Max Pacioretty, who had three shots on goal, was the only Habs forward with more than two. As much as it was a nice playoff run for the Canadiens, it ended in disappointment. (Coughlins Law: Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldnt end.) Bourque was a postseason surprise, with a team-leading eight goals and led Montreal with six points in the series against the Rangers. C Lars Eller led Montreeal forwards with 13 points and D P.ddddddddddddK. Subban, despite two points in six games against the Rangers, led the Habs with 14 points in 17 games, but the last 10 games of the playoffs were hard on Thomas Vanek, Montreals big trade deadline acquisition, who had two goals and two assists in that span, registering a total of 13 shots on goal. For a player who averaged a career-high 3.18 shots on goal per game during the regular season, that decline suggested that Vanek could have been playing hurt. Its hard to fathom such a collapse without some underlying reason, but if it was merely just a run of poor play from Vanek, it came at a most inopportune time. Rookie G Dustin Tokarski was excellent for Montreal in Game Six, turning aside 31 of 32 shots by the Rangers, leaving him with a .916 save percentage for the series; a nice unexpected contribution for the Habs. Will it be enough to change their plans for next season? Carey Price and Peter Budaj are under contract, which doesnt leave room for Tokarski, so maybe hes looking at another year in the AHL. Tokarski does have an inexpensive one-way deal in 2015-2016. For the Rangers, G Henrik Lundqvist rebounded from getting pulled in Game Five and while he wasnt tested much during his 18-save shutout, he did have a spectacular save off a Vanek scoring chance when the game was still scoreless. Lundqvist has a .928 save percentage in the postseason, the best among goaltenders with at least six games played. The other assist on Moores series-winning goal went to Ryan McDonagh, yet another shot through the Habs heart, as their former prospect had a monster series, with 10 points in six games. He had three points in 14 games through the first two rounds and goes into the Final tied with Martin St. Louis and Derek Stepan for the Rangers playoff scoring lead. The popular notion is that the Rangers are going to be easy pickings for either Chicago or Los Angeles, whichever team claims the Western Conference, but the Rangers shouldnt be dismissed so easily. They finished the regular season sixth in Fenwick Close (53.6%) and have one of the games premier puck stoppers behind them. That alone should give them a chance and for a team that last won the Stanley Cup 20 years ago, thats a pretty exciting proposition. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. 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