Astros pitcher Erik Bedard, who pitched 3 1/3 innings in relief, struck out two and earned a save in the win over the Rangers, is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Sunday, March 31, Opening Day 2013.
Bedard earned 2 Box-Toppers points for being named Player of the Day.
He is the current leader in Box-Toppers points among all players in the 2013 season, as he has 2 points and everyone else has, well, everyone else has zero.
Since no other official games were played Sunday, it might seem a little unfair to automatically give Player of the Day honors to the top player in the only game of the day. But, hey, I didn't make the schedule. Box-Toppers is set up to award the best players of each game and of each day. On Sunday that was Bedard in the only game played.
And since it was a light day of results, a little background: Bedard, who has mainly been a starting pitcher, made his Box-Toppers debut on Aug. 6, 2004, pitching for Baltimore. He has 54.2 total Box-Toppers points (including the 2 he earned Sunday). His best season was 2007 with Baltimore, when he earned 17.4 points, finishing fifth among all players and second in AL pitchers, behind only Johan Santana of the Twins. In 2012, he earned 3.7 Box-Toppers points pitching for the Pirates.
| 331 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | - | - | PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 4.1 | Astros | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Erik Bedard (S, 1) | 3.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |