Opening Day brought us great weather, great food, great
laughs and some great pitching performances.
The Choo, Chalupa, and Cheese Steaks all stopped by to watch
some baseball with the Sex Panthers and me, and we had a good time recapping
the draft, Jerk’s trades and how bad my team is going to be.
With three TVs rolling on games, we caught several of the
great Opening Day moments live, and in case you missed it, here’s the Jargon’s “Take
Five” from Monday.
1. BRING BACK THE
GWRBI?
Choo watched Jimmy Rollins demolish an eighth-inning pitch
for a three-run homer and he nearly jumped out of his chair. After the game
ended and they replayed the homer, he looked at me and said, “Oh, that’s a
game-winning RBI.”
I responded with, “Choo, you lobbied to get rid of it due to
the fact it involves no strategy.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said, sadly.
And like that, he enjoyed the homer a little less.
2. MATCHING ACES
Steroid.ERA had two of his aces on the mound on Monday and
they put up similar numbers as both Felix Hernandez and Johnny Cueto went seven
innings and struck out 10. King Felix allowed a run on two hits and a walk, and
picked up the quality start and the win, while Cueto gave up no runs on four
hits and a walk, but the bullpen blew it and handed him a no-decision. It was a
big pair of starts for Steroid in a matchup against the World Series champ,
whose ace Cole Hamels gave up four runs in five innings.
3. YES AND NO
Jim Vaughn was conflicted around 9 p.m. He wanted to feel
good with four homers and 12 RBIs in the books for Monday, but when his three
starters all lost pushing him to 0-4 after Jon Lester’s poor Sunday night, he
couldn’t help but be upset. The 6.64 ERA was an eyesore that stood out more
than his 12 RBIs. Max Scherzer lost his debut with the Nats, giving up three
runs — all unearned — in 7.2 innings of a 3-1 loss to the Mets. Masahiro Tanaka
blew up for four earned runs in four innings, and Kyle Lohse was torched for
eight earned runs in 3.1 innings. Thankfully, Hanley Ramirez hit a pair of
jacks and drove in five to make him smile a couple times during the day.
4. PITCHING DUEL
UNDERWAY
The Slammers and Otto Parts are waging a pitching war this
week after a great Opening Day. Both had three quality starts and boast
sub-2.00 ERAs. The Slammers went 3-1 with 18 strikeouts and a 1.24 ERA, while
the Otto Parts went 2-1 with 15 strikeouts and a 1.35 ERA. The offenses have
been virtually non-existent, and if it weren’t for Jason Heyward’s big Sunday
night, they’d both be staring at sub-.200 batting averages. There are plenty of
starts left in the week, but this matchup has turned into one to watch after
one day.
5. JERK’S BIG FIRST
DAY
Opening Day was a good one for Jerk on both sides as he
batted .289 (11-for-38) with five runs, a double, a homer and five RBIs, led by
Nolan Arenado’s 3-for-4 performance. On the pitching side, he had four
relievers combine for 3.2 innings of scoreless ball with five strikeouts and a
hold. Then in the West Coast nightcap, he got an 8-inning gem from Sonny Gray,
who lost his no-hitter with no outs in the eighth. Nevertheless, the scoreless
8-inning quality start and win from Gray puts him ahead of the Gamblers after Cy
Young winner Clayton Kershaw gave up three runs in six innings.
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