Opening Day Part 1 was a great success for baseball. Starting on a Thursday was a great way to start the season. At my office, the buzz was a little bit like the first day of the NCAA Tournament.Yes, I know Opening Day isn’t on the level of the first couple days of the NCAA Tournament — but it still had us keeping tabs on games and watching the clock, just waiting for 5 p.m. to roll around so we could get home and watch the game of the day: Dodgers vs. Giants.
And the two squads did not disappoint. Clayton Kershaw vs. Tim Lincecum was as good as advertised. Both pitchers went seven innings, with Kershaw getting the win. He struck out nine.
This has got to be a great sign for the Gameday Gamblers. That performance was on the level of a Lincecum, Halladay, Price — and that’s what the Gamblers need because as we know, and as we saw on Opening Day, he has the offense to win it all.
Here’s a few other notes from Opening Day Part 1:
1. The New York Yankees showed everyone right away why the Red Sox can have Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez and they’ll settle for Rafael Soriano. Taking a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh with a Curtis Granderson bomb, Soriano went 1-2-3 in the eighth and Mariano Rivera went 1-2-3 in the ninth for the save. Joba Chamberlin also went 1-2-3 in his inning of work — the seventh — to get the win.
If that’s what you can expect from the seventh, eighth and ninth innings on an almost everyday basis from the Yankees, I’m going to feel even better about my prediction of them winning the AL East, and not the Red Sox.
2. If I were to tell you that Albert Pujols did something on Opening Day that he had never done before in any single game, you would probably expect an amazing feat. Like four home runs or 12 RBIs or the cycle.
Instead, the note is that Pujols grounded into three double plays as he went 0-for-5 in an extra-inning loss to the Padres. It’s not the way you want to start a contract year, but I guess there’s no need to worry.
We are talking about Albert Pujols. Call me if he’s 0-for-25.
3. I didn’t like the Reds to repeat because of starting pitching. I didn’t like the Brewers to win the division because of the bullpen.
Well, both problems were evident on Opening Day.
Starter Edison Volquez went six innings, but he struggled mightily. The first four batters went home run, home run, walk and single; he gave up two doubles in the second; and he finished with five earned runs on seven hits and two walks.
He should have carried the loss, but the Brewers couldn’t hold on.
After Yovani Gallardo punched the time clock with six solid innings of two-run ball, Kameron Loe gave up a single run and newly tabbed closer John Axford — who desperately needs a mustache removal — blew it giving up a sac fly and a walk-off three-run homer to Ramon Hernandez.
So much for finding the successor to Trevor Hoffman. Axford struggled all spring and Day 1 wasn’t much better. One or two more outings like this in the next week could start a revolution in the bullpen.
4. Bombs away. There were 16 home runs on Opening Day Part 1. With many more games on the slate today, I’m sure that number will go up.
Within the Jimmyjam Baseball League, the 11 of the 16 homers were spread about five teams. The AL West is loaded with power, with seven homers coming from the three teams in the division — Stank with three, Gamblers three and Buck with one.
The Outs also hit three and Vandelay had one.
I thought the Bombers had one, but he fooled me with his 6:40 p.m. pickup of Ramon Hernandez, who went 4-for-5 with the walk-off three-run homer for the Reds. Nice pick-up sir. Now, let's see if he can keep it up.
So with that fact in mind, there were five homers were on the Free Agent Wire.
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