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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. Wholesale Nike Air Max 90 . By then it was clear: The 76ers were going to win for the first time in two months, and they were going to do it with ease. The 76ers snapped their NBA record-tying, 26-game losing streak, routing the Detroit Pistons 123-98 on Saturday night to avoid establishing the longest skid in U. Nike Air Max 90 Sale . Durant had 33 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, hit the tying 3-pointer late in regulation and made the go-ahead foul shots in overtime to lift the Thunder past the Wizards 106-105. John Wall missed a driving layup attempt at the buzzer for Washington, which was seeking its third straight win. https://www.cheapnikeairmax90china.us/. Cox started the season with San Francisco, but was released by the team on Nov. 12 before being signed by Seattle, where he appeared in two games and tallied three tackles before being released on Dec. Nike Air Max 90 Outlet . Chris Heisey connected for his first grand slam and Devin Mesoraco homered and drove in a career high-tying four runs as Cincinnati took advantage of Tampa Bays depleted pitching staff for a 12-4 victory on Sunday. Cheap Nike Air Max 90 . Henrik Samuelsson and Luke Bertolucci also scored for the Oil Kings, who are now 9-0 on home ice in the playoffs to cut Portlands series lead to 2-1. Chase De Leo and Mathew Dumba responded for the Winterhawks, who suffered just their fourth loss in their last 46 games, a string of success running all the way back to Jan.NEW YORK -- Matt Harvey has a partially torn ligament in his right elbow, a potentially devastating injury for the pitcher that had given the foundering New York Mets reason to be hopeful about their future. For now, the 24-year-old Harvey and the Mets hope that he will be able to avoid reconstruction surgery on the ulnar collateral ligament. A full prognosis will not be made until swelling in the elbow goes down in about two weeks. "It was tough. Obviously it was the last thing I was expecting when I went this morning," Harvey said Monday. "I am going to do everything I can to avoid surgery." The National Leagues All-Star game starter on his home field this July, Harvey has been experiencing forearm tenderness for a month or two but could not pinpoint exactly when it began. The discomfort increased during his start Saturday against the Detroit Tigers, when he allowed a career-high 13 hits. Harvey admitted he was tired against the Tigers, the 26th start of his first full season in the major leagues. Manager Terry Collins said he noticed Harveys pitches werent as crisp, a sign of fatigue. But Collins didnt know Harvey had any issues with his forearm until Sunday and the ace went for an MRI at the Hospital for Special Surgery a day later. "Nothing is shooting in my elbow at all. Thats not the issue," Harvey said. "When I heard the news, I was pretty shocked. Im still very optimistic." Harvey wasnt the only one in the Mets organization stunned by the news. "This was a surprise to all of us," general manager Sandy Alderson said. "Forearm pain can foretell problems with the elbow, but in this particular circumstance there had been no indications of that." Harvey wasnt immediately placed on the disabled list. Carlos Torres will take his spot in the rotation and face the Phillies on Thursday. Torres got two outs on Monday night in the Mets 2-1 loss to Philadelphia that dropped New York to 58-71. The No. 7 pick of the 2010 draft, Harvey is 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA. He has a league-leading 191 strikeouts in 178 1-3 innings pitched and was a top candidate for the NL Cy Young Award. "It put everybody down," catcher Travis dArnaud said. "When we heard the news everybody was just speechless. I just feel terrible, man." The Mets were working on limiting Harveys innings to a little more than 200 this season. Alderson said there is no real scientific basis for managing young pitchers careers. "These innings limits are not a guarantee of anything. Theyre certainly not based on any science," Alderson said. "This is a kind of progressive injury that isnt a function of, we dont believe in this case a specific incident or quote overuse. Its an anatomical fact that these things happen." The blow is paarticularly tough for an organization that has not been to the playoffs since 2006, and hasnt had a winning season in its new ballpark that opened in 09.dddddddddddd But Harvey was the first of several top young pitchers who were supposed to help lead New York back to the post-season, and Mets captain David Wright cited the talent in the minor leagues as one of the reasons he signed a big contract to remain in New York last winter. One of those rising stars, Zack Wheeler, started for the Mets on Monday and took the loss. Wheeler pitched impressively into the seventh inning, giving up two runs and five hits. But Collins lifted him with two outs even though Wheeler was about to face Phillies lefty Cliff Lee. "We said before the game that 105 was the limit," Collins said. "Obviously, after what happened earlier today were sticking to it." Harvey made a marvelous big league debut last season, striking out 11 in 5 2-3 innings against the Diamondbacks and has been even more dominant this season. Big like classic power pitchers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, with a fastball that regularly reaches 98 mph, Harvey flirted with no-hitters several times this season. The excitement at Citi Field every time he pitched was not present on most other nights, and the Mets took to calling his starts "Harvey Day." "This is a great loss for the Mets. Matt Harvey has given us a lot of hope this year for the future. Hes been our shining star this year," said David Greenfield of Fairlawn, N.J., a self-professed Mets fan since their first season of 1962. "Hes a class guy, and Mets fans need something to hang our hats on." The news about Harvey comes just days after the same doctor, David Altchek, recommended Tommy John Surgery for teammate Jeremy Hefner. Also, right-hander Jenrry Mejia returned from elbow-reconstruction surgery last September. After making just five starts this year, he went back on the DL and is likely going to have an operation to remove bone spurs from the elbow. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana had his second shoulder surgery and is out for the season. While Harvey hopes to avoid surgery by strengthening the muscles in the shoulder and arm, Alderson was a bit more realistic in discussing the elbow. He said this type of injury can worsen over time and that even if the ace with a Russian supermodel for a girlfriend can keep from having an operation now, he may need it in several years. Tommy John surgery has become a fairly common procedure for pitchers. Recovery time usually takes at least a year, and many have made successful returns. Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg had the operation after a tantalizing debut. His teammate Jordan Zimmermann, an All-Star this year, also made a successful return. ' ' '