| Highest WPA | Lowest WPA | ||
| CC Sabathia | .308 | Asdrubal Cabrera | -.154 |
| Masa Kobayashi | .041 | Jhonny Peralta | -.150 |
| Jason Michaels | .017 | Ryan Garko | -.128 |
I've always found it hard to get worked up over a 1-0 loss, because it meant that your teams' pitchers pitched a heck of a game. CC Sabathia allowed five base runners in eight innings, striking out eight. Chien-Ming Wang had one more strikeout and one more walk in one less inning. And one less run allowed, of course.
The lone run of the game, as often happens in a pitchers' duel, came on a home run. When both pitchers are on their game, the easiest way to score is not by bunching two or three hits together in an inning but by hitting the rare mistake out of the park. That isn't to say there weren't opportunities missed by both sides, but merely that scoring runs the smallball route isn't a good percentage play against a pitcher having a good day.
For the first time in 382 team games, Grady Sizemore did not make an appearance. Franklin Gutierrez got the start in center, and in all honesty looked better defensively than Grady. And this isn't a knock on Grady's defense, either - Franklin's just a really really good outfielder.