I’ve been critical of the Ben Davis trade, mainly because I’m not all that thrilled with Ramon Vazquez. His upside looks like 1998 Chris Gomez, which isn’t all that bad but isn’t really worth Davis in my opinion. But yesterday one of the other guys who came over in the deal, Brett Tomko, made a statement, fanning 13 Dodgers in seven innings. I’ve seen Tomko pitch twice so far this season, and he’s looked good both times. When he first arrived, I figured he’d be at the back of the rotation or maybe even in the bullpen. I mean, the guy spent most of last year at Triple-A, despite having logged over 600 innings at the big-league level prior to 2001, so how good could he be, right? While it’s unreasonable to expect him to maintain anything near his current pace, I will say that I was wrong about him. Tomko looks like a solid #3 guy or better. The fact that he couldn’t crack the Seattle staff speaks volumes about the Mariners, because this guy can pitch. And I’m starting to think that it’s he, and not Vazquez, that will make the loss of Davis palatable in the long-run. Once again, it looks like Kevin Towers has pulled a pitcher out of nowhere and come up big.

Speaking of big, Ben Howard continues to dominate the Southern League. In his most recent start, Saturday at Orlando, matched up against 2001 first-rounder Dewon Brazelton, Howard worked into the seventh without allowing a run. For the second straight start, he fanned only three batters. But, more importantly, he issued just two free passes. Howard’s strikeout totals aren’t as obscene as they’ve been in the past (23 in 24 innings), but neither are his walks (10). And the good hit prevention is still there (15 allowed so far). It’s a long season, but right now it looks like the strides Howard made last year in the command department were not a fluke. If Brian Tollberg doesn’t start attacking hitters and getting guys out pretty soon, Howard could be up sooner rather than later. And although Howard hasn’t gotten the attention that Jake Peavy and Dennis Tankersley have, he’s got electric stuff. Read more about his latest start over at al.com

And speaking of Tank, coming off the heels of his worst start of the season, he shut down Orlando yesterday, allowing one run on six hits over seven innings. He walked one and struck out six.

Elsewhere in the world of baseball, wasn’t it great to see Jose Rijo win his first big-league start in nearly seven years? I caught a little of the game, and it was strange to see Rijo moving the ball and changing speeds rather than just overpowering hitters. But it worked. The Cubs’ pitcher, Juan Cruz, had some nasty stuff going but caught too much of the plate with his pitches. Austin Kearns’ first big-league homer was an impressive blast, clear out of Wrigley down the left field line. Kearns is a right-handed version of Adam Dunn. Not quite as big, but man, does he get some kind of leverage on his swing. He and Dunn are going to be something to watch in a couple years, if not sooner.