Settling the Score: Saturday’s results

Jose Fernandez starts have become must-see events for both casual and serious baseball fans.

The 21-year-old right-hander was again in fine form on Saturday night against the Padres, yielding just three hits over 6 2/3 scoreless innings while using his upper-90s fastball and wicked-but-under-control slider to strike out eight Padres batters. Giancarlo Stanton drove in two runs and Christian Yelich drove in one as the young Marlins grabbed a 5-0 victory over the Friars and moved to 5-1 on the year.

It’s ridiculously early, but the Fish currently hold the best run differential (+23) in the major leagues.

Your Saturday box scores and recaps:

Twins 7, Indians 3

Reds 3, Mets 6

Yankees 0, Blue Jays 4

Phillies 2, Cubs 0

Orioles 6, Tigers 7

White Sox 3, Royals 4

Giants 7, Dodgers 2

Mariners 3, Athletics 1

Braves 6, Nationals 2

Cardinals 6, Pirates 1

Angels 5, Astros 1

Padres 0, Marlins 5

Rangers 4, Rays 5

Brewers 7, Red Sox 6 (11 innings)

Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 9

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Bryce Harper hadn’t even addressed his new hometown fans before his Phillies jersey started selling like hotcakes. Since then, he’s said all the expected things. Talking about joining the Phillies, he said, “From day one, it felt right … I always talk about family and being a family, being one unit, and I get that from this team. Every guy has your back and vice versa. I’m very excited to go into battle with these guys.”

Harper is continuing to pander hard to Phillies fans. Behold his latest Instagram post:

View this post on Instagram

How I longed to see these things; how I longed to see the Liberty Bell and party on the streets where Bobby Clarke, Nick “BD” Foles, and Chase Utley had partied! #Phamily

A post shared by Bryce Harper (@bryceharper3) on Mar 26, 2019 at 7:35pm PDT

Has anyone ever really longed to see the Liberty Bell?

Harper also famously recreated that Chase Utley scene from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia with actor Rob McElhenney on Twitter:

Dayman
Fighter of the Nightman
Champion of the Sun pic.twitter.com/d1Ij6h1feW

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 11, 2019

Hey Bryce- i feel like i can call you Bryce because we are so much alike. Wanna have a catch? https://t.co/DzZQbzfk8r

— Rob McElhenney (@RMcElhenney) March 11, 2019

You sure can call me Bryce. I bet this will be a real ‘grand slam’ of a friendship. Let’s have a catch sometime this summer at the Bank! #PhillyLoaded https://t.co/QN9ZcBMhIZ

— Bryce Harper (@bryceharper3) March 11, 2019

Deal. Hey @MikeTrout you want in on this? I know I can’t throw as fast as you but I think you would be impressed with my speed. I like your hair. These are all the things we can talk about and more. See you in 2020! https://t.co/oqJlmdS7BJ

— Rob McElhenney (@RMcElhenney) March 12, 2019

In Harper’s next post, he will talk about alternating bottles of You-eng-ling beers with glasses of “wooder.” He’ll add that every so often he will treat himself to a steak sandwich with cheese on it, then go home to watch all of the movies in the Rocky series.

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