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MLB | Three up, three down: Cotton and grasshoppers lighting up the West Coast

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Three up and three down from the last week of MLB action:

THREE UP

1. Jharel Cotton: He’s seven starts into his major league career (3-1, 2.66 ERA) and already drawing praise from Pedro Martinez on Twitter:

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Cotton was one of three pitching prospects the Dodgers traded to the Oakland Athletics last July for Rich Hill and Josh Reddick.

2. Garcia and Co.: The Chicago White Sox fielded the first outfield in major league history in which all three players had the same last name: Willy Garcia in left field, Leury Garcia in center, Avisail Garcia in right. But, for the belatedly rebuilding Sox, it was a better story that former first-round pick Dylan Covey gave up one run in his major league debut.

The best prospects from the trades of Chris Sale and Adam Eaton — infielder Yoan Moncada and pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez — are at triple-A. The Sox would love to collect more by trading ace Jose Quintana, but he’s off to an 0-3, 6.75 start.

3. Fried grasshoppers: A joke, right? Some wacky publicity for the Seattle Mariners to distract from their season-opening 1-6 trip? Hmm … the grasshoppers sold out in each of the Mariners’ first three home games. That would be 901 orders, 31 pounds and 18,000 grasshoppers in all. Serving size: about 20 grasshoppers. Share with fans seated next to you? Well … the Mariners’ attendance dropped from 44,856 at the home opener, which they won, to 18,527 and 14,479 the next two games, which they lost.

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THREE DOWN

1. Toronto Blue Jays: They have the oldest roster in the major leagues, they have scored the fewest runs in the majors, they had three key players get injured last weekend alone (third baseman Josh Donaldson and pitchers J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez), and they’re 2-10.

Bad news: Get well soon or Donaldson, Happ, outfielder Jose Bautista and pitcher Marco Estrada could be shopped.

Good news: The Maple Leafs are trying to win their first NHL postseason series in 13 years, so Toronto is distracted.

2. St. Louis Cardinals: The “best fans in baseball” now support a team with the worst run differential in baseball – well, tied for worst with the San Diego Padres, a team not trying to win this year. The New York Yankees swept the Cardinals over the weekend, in which catcher Yadier Molina went 1 for 10 — he’s batting .229 — and the Yankees stole four bases in five tries against him. Molina, perhaps the premier defensive catcher of this era, was signed this month to a $60-million extension through 2020, when he will be 38.

3. Bronson Arroyo: He’s 40, making the major league minimum wage, and throwing 85 mph. And he’s coming back after sitting out two years because of injury. The Cincinnati Reds are happy to have him eat innings and counsel the three rookies in their rotation, but Arroyo put up a 9.90 ERA in his first two starts and might not pitch until the Reds tear the uniform off him.

“The next two times out, if I don’t see something a little bit crisper and able to keep us in the ballgame a little bit better, maybe you’re at a dead-end street,” he said.

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Follow Bill Shaikin on Twitter @BillShaikin

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