Big Unit now four away from 300

San Francisco Giants pitcher Randy Johnson took a no-hitter into the seventh inning to earn his 296th victory of his career.

The no-hitter was broken up by Augie Ojeda's double to lead off the seventh, but Johnson won the game 2-0 over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In his 22-year career, the only team he had never faced was the Diamondbacks. Of course, Johnson won four (of his five) Cy Young awards and a World Series with the D'Backs.

Johnson pitched for the D'Backs for two stints (1999-2004 and 2007-2008).

Once the Big Unit wins his 300th game, he might be the last for a long, long time. The next three among active pitchers are Jamie Moyer (247), Andy Pettitte (216) and John Smoltz (210). Pettitte is the only of the three under 40, but he's clearly seen his best days.

Josh Beckett won't appeal reduced suspension of five games

Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, who appealed his six-game suspension by MLB, had his suspension reduced to five games and he won't appeal.

"I don't support this at all. If it was up to me, we would have gone through this whole process. It could have eventually been a lot worse if we had gone through with the whole thing. Everybody has got to answer to somebody. When your boss tells you to do something, you do what's best for the team."

Although Beckett won't appeal, he doesn't agree with the suspension and says "I don't think I deserve even one game."

Beckett will make his next start on Saturday against the Yankees.

Zack Greinke - 34 down, 25 to go

Orel Hershiser holds the record for the longest streak of scoreless innings pitched (59).

After pitching a 2-0 shutout yesterday against the Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke is nine innings closer to reaching that streak.

The former sixth-overall pick in 2002, who is only 25 years old, has thrown 20 scoreless innings so far in 2009. He finished 2008 with back-to-back outings of seven scoreless innings.

"That kind of blew me away," Greinke said when someone told him about Orel Hershiser's record 59-inning scoreless streak after the game. "It's just about impossible to get to 34 nowadays. Fifty-nine, that's impossible. I would have been happy with 20."

Last year, Greinke finished strong posting an ERA of 2.48 in August and 2.18 in September and he's virtually unhittable in 2009.

A day to forget for the Yankees

The Cleveland Browns are jealous of the Cleveland Indians. Their major-league counterparts did what the Browns couldn't do in the last six weeks of the NFL season.

Put up 22 on an opponent.

For the Yankees, who opened up the new Yankee Stadium this weekend, they experienced a first that they hope to never repeat.

In the course of the Indians scoring 22 runs against the Yankees yesterday, the Tribe scored 14 runs in the second inning.

Yankees' pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, who's been (un)remarkably consistent this season, gave up eight runs in 1 1/3 innings pitched.

On the season, he's 0-3 with an ERA of 34.50. He's allowed 23 runs in only six innings.

“We have six losses on the year right now, and he’s got three of them,” Johnny Damon said. “In all three of those games, we’ve been blown out and we’ve had to go to our bullpen, so maybe our bullpen’s not sharp the following days. I don’t know what more to say, but hopefully he can figure it out, because it’d be tough to keep on going like this.”

With performances like this, maybe the Yankees will lower ticket prices to $1,999.

Nats, Zimmerman close to 5-year extension

Per the Washington Post, the Washington Nationals and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman are close to a five-year extension worth $45 million, which could be announced within the next few days.

In February, Zimmerman signed a one-year deal worth $3.325 million. The extension would replace this year's contract with four additional years that would run through the 2013 season.

Zimmerman said of the Nationals: "I love playing in D.C. I love this city. I think this organization is going in the right direction and hopefully we'll do something to where I can be here for a long time. But like I said before, I'm not involved in any of that stuff now, and as far as I'm concerned with it's over with until next offseason."

Through April 18th, Zimmerman is hitting .277 with nine RBI in ten games.