5 Notes on the First Full Day of Baseball Games


1. Watch out for the Old Guys:
Four pitchers yesterday with a combined age of around 160 pitched absolutely beautiful games yesterday. This is no small matter considering the scores of most of yesterday's games [see number 5 below].

Tom Glavine handed the ball off to Aaron Heilman after six innings of work for the other team in New York having let up only 1 run on 6 hits. He also walked only three during his time on the mound while striking out five. Going into his next start with a 1.50 ERA has gotta feel pretty good for Tommy.

Not to be outdone by his neighbor in Queens, Randy Johnson must have decided to show everyone who he thinks the best 40-something pitcher in the league is. Out in California, Randy pounded the A's for seven innings before letting Tanyon Sturtze have a crack at them. During the Big Unit's tenure on the mound he let up just 5 hits and 1 run [coming on a Big Hurt homer, making it the biggest pitcher-batter duel I can think of]. Making it even more impressive, Randy walked nobody, even though he didn't have his trademark Ks [3] ready for his first game of the season. Johnson's session left him with a miniscule 1.29 ERA going into his next outing.

Though Kenny Rogers wasn't exactly going up against such a vaunted team as the A's, his stint on the mound against the Royals helped this new Tiger earn his stripes. Before Joel Zumaya -the hottest new pitcher to come out of Detroit's recently created young-pitcher factory- took over, Rogers gave the Tigers a solid 6 innings of work. The old man had to show his young rotation-mates that sometimes newer doesn't mean better; sometimes the oldest things become classics- just ask anyone in Detroit. Rogers allowed just three hits and one run while knocking out five Royals before he departed with his 1.50 ERA in tow. Performances like that will surely make him a crowd favorite.

Meanwhile, down in the Lone Star state Curt Schilling of the red sox -the team and the blood-stained baseball apparel- was working on his own memorandum to the league entitled "Do not forget me". There is no doubt after yesterday's performance in Homer Haven [Ameriquest Field] that the league will not overlook the prominent pitcher any longer. Schilling went seven long innings in Texas allowing only 5 hits and 2 runs. He also walked 1 and struck out 5. And, in a great feat in that ballpark Schilling left giving up only one HR [to Hank Blalock] and registering a 2.57 ERA. Though they might be older than most of the players they face, these pitchers can teach the batters a thing or two about what it takes to win.

2. That's Why They Call Them MVPs:
Last year's biggest contender's for the league MVP races started their campaigns for 2006 early yesterday. Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Lee and Andruw Jones all showed up for their teams in big ways helping them to win. There is no doubt that a few more performances like these will have their respective fan's chanting "M-V-P, M-V-P" in no time.

Pujols impressed in his first game this season. He helped his team overcome the Phillies by doing little things, that is, if you consider little things going 2-2 with 2HRs, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 4 RBI. The perennial statistical monster just continued doing what he does best -everything. Though that 1.000 avg won't last, its sure nice to walk away with after one game of the season.

David Ortiz didn't leave his 2004 -Championship -teamate Schilling on his own to win the game in Texas. Ortiz added some of his own special brand of firepower as well. He went 3-5, scoring twice, driving in 3 while blasting a homer and a double. This seems to be all in a days work for Ortiz, as he continues to murder balls anywhere near the plate.

Alex Rodriguez seems to have been a little bit confused. Alex must have thought he had to beat the Oakland A's all by himself, forgetting that he has one of the most powerful lineups ever surrounding him. I don't think they weren't grateful though. Alex's performance will only endear him more to Yankees fans like myself. He went 3-5 with 2 runs and a walk. But, his crowning achievements were the Grand Slam he hit in the second inning and 5 RBIs that blast helped ARod to reach. I wonder what ARod's average with RISP is now?

Andruw Jones was busy making his own contributions to his team's narrow victory in Los Angeles, while al these other guys were helping their teams to win. Though we can't point to Jones's performance as the sole reason the Braves edged out the Dodgers, we do know they needed every run they could get. Jones provided the Braves with 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 HR, and 4 big RBIs while batting .500. Though he seems to be a little behind the pack with his own performance, it mattered much more to his team that he came through as much as he did.

Though Derrek Lee didn't provide any fireworks for his team in their rout of Cincinnati, he still gave a solid performance indicative of his great skills. Lee went 1-2 with 3 walks and 2 rbi as well as 2 runs. Though his club didn't exactly need his help for the victory in this one, it certainly helped to give them that insurance.

It looks as though these guys are all picking up just where they left off last season, as some of the most dominant players in the game, helping their teams to win in numerous ways.

3. Billy Beane's Dream Realized; Becomes Worst Nightmare:
Billy Beane, once super-prospect, literary hero, and GM of one of the AL's best teams had the idea some years back, following a lot of sabermetricians' advice, of building teams with high On Base Percentage (OBP), and high slugging percentage (slg) in the interest of putting people on base and getting big hits to drive in lots of runs- baseball's most valuable commodity. The idea originally was to value these stats while other, richer, more powerful teams focused on batting average, home runs, speed, and the "tools" players have. In essence, this would allow a small budget team like the A's compete with large budget teams like, say, the Yankees. Well, partly as a result of Moneyball, and partly as a result of Beane and his disciples around baseball, alot of teams have caught on to this trend, and guess what- it works! Nowhere can that be demonstrated more than on the current Yankees roster which made its regular season debut against Beane's Oakland Athletics last night. The Yankees starting nine boasts OBPs ranging from the mid .400s [extremely impressive] to the mid .300s [about league average or a bit higher], with only the exception of Robinson Cano being a little behind. The Yankees also happen to have some of the best sluggers in the league, all piled on top of each other in one monster lineup. This is what all the money and cache the Yankees carry can do with one man's dream. The results of last night's contest might have been akin to night terrors for Beane though. In the process of racking up 9 walks the Yankees lineup was patient enough not to waste outs and to wait for two huge home runs, coming from ARod [Grand Slam] and Matsui [three run home run]. Besides these 7 points the Yankees were able to score another eight by playing the same game and waiting for timely singles and doubles. Though nobody accuses the Yankees of being a "Moneyball" team, there is no doubting their espousal of parts of the that offensive philosophy, and the results have yielded pinstripe dreams.

2. So Much for the Red Sox not Being Able to Score Runs:
While the Red Sox went through major retooling throughout their organization this year, from Center Field, to front office, to the pitcher's mound, to the whole infield, the main criticism from most was that the team would not be able to score runs. The idea was that they lost too much firepower by replacing Damon with Crisp, Mueller with Lowell, Renteria with Gonzalez, and Bellhorn/Graffanino with Mark Loretta. Well, if yesterday afternoon's performance in Texas was any indication, the offense of the Red Sox should have no trouble scoring runs in the near future. Other than Ortiz's two runs, newcomers Coco Crisp (2 runs, 2 singles), Mark Loretta (double), and Mike Lowell (HR) all contributed runs to the teams offensive effort along with Sox-favorite Trot Nixon. It seems the Red Sox's plan of going defensive this year won't be hurting that offense too much.

1. Aces High:
On one of the few days in the season where the majority of starting pitchers are team aces one might expect that baseball would have a lot of 2-1 ball games, or at the very least 4-3. Yesterday this was not the case. As baseball continually tries to condition us, we should have known to expect the unexpected. Out of thirteen games there were only seven that did not have at least one team getting blown out, often at the expense of the team's "ace" starter. Six games had scores combined for at least ten points. 5 of those games had scores of 15 or more combined points, and two of them had combined scores of twenty or more points. That is a lot on any day in baseball, especially one with so many marquee pitchers.

This is all stuff that I found interesting and exciting about the first full day of games. However, interesting and exciting it is though, I wouldn't read too much into it, after all this is just one of 162 games. A lot can happen, and your ace with his 12.05 ERA might still have a chance to be the Cy Young award winner. Your teams slugger who is on pace to have 500 RBIs will surely not do so, and the teams that surprised with wins yesterday will no doubt be surprised with losses today. Such is baseball, which is why it is so great.

Browse on by tomorrow for a look at baseball from an international perspective and other miscellany. Oh congratulations to the University of Florida, I heard they won some game yesterday.