The new baseball season....

So it's been about a month since I last posted... felt like tonight is a good night as any to get back into the game...
First off, apologies to all readers that have been missing my hockey stuff, a lot of stuff's come up in the life of a college student and things had to be dealt with. Moving on... I think I'm going to start with first analyzing tonight's games and perhaps looking at tomorrow's games. That would be a good start... time for an hour of writing... god damnit...

Chicago White Sox vs Cleveland Indians(8-3)
W: Edwin Jackson(1-0)
L: Carlos Carrasco(0-1)
I think this is what the Cleveland Indians' season is going to look like... an absolute shit show. Sorry folks, but it's the truth, they'll actually finish behind the Royals this season. Onto the positives, the White Sox. they are going to be the team to beat in the AL Central. (btw, I had made my picks for the season yesterday on my radio show and will be posting those up after this) Gordon Beckham is looking like he's going to have a breakout season. Adam Dunn has been a monster so far. Carlos Quentin is also showing his talent of a few years ago. If Edwin can keep his pitch count down and stop walking people, he can go deeper into games.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs (3-5)
W: Sean Marshall(1-0)
L: Evan Meek(0-1)
SV: Carlos Marmol (1)
I don't particularly like either of these teams, but Zambrano actually had a quality start for once (had 12 last year and only 1 in the first two months of the season), unfortunately, he got injured while the Cubs were down 3-0. Paul Maholm actually had a really good start except his bullpen blew it for him, along with his defense. If Overbay had fielded Marlon Byrd's hit cleanly, the Pirates could've escaped that inning with only two runs given up. The Cubs got lucky today in a game they didn't deserve to win. Carlos Marmol was quite impressive closing by striking out the side.

Atlanta Braves vs Washington Nationals (3-6)
W: John Lannan (1-0)
L: Tommy Hanson (0-1)
SV: Sean Burnett (1)
Tommy Hanson took a beating today. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was his first start jitters, but any way you slice it, he didn't have it today, and he was taken out after the second rain delay. John Lannan had it today, he pitched his game and held the Braves to just one run. Jayson Werth finally had his monster game with a pair of doubles and a single and scoring a run as well as drawing a BB. Rick Ankiel also had a great game driving in three RBIs with a two-run bomb and a suicide squeeze. On a side note, Wilson Ramos, the guy the Nats traded Capps for went 3 for 4 today. The Braves had Alex Gonzalez go 3-for-3 with a solo HR and Chipper Jones get another multi-hit game (isn't he supposed to be retired or something) Uggla finally hit his first HR (also a solo shot). The only problem for the Nationals was Drew Storen who didn't appear like he wanted the closer role today. Hopefully he pitches better in the near future.

Minnesota Twins vs Toronto Blue Jays (1-6)
W: Kyle Drabek (1-0)
L: Francisco Liriano (0-1)
Jeez, after losing by 10 last night, they lose by 5 today. What's tomorrow? Lose by 2.5? All joking aside, this Twins team is sorely lacking what the Jays have plenty of, OFFENSE! Liriano got shelled in his first start of the season while his opposite, Kyle Drabek, pitched like his dad! (See Doug Drabek) I saw some of his pitching, it was absolutely disgusting! Everyone who had at least two at-bats got a hit except for Jose Bautista for the Blue Jays, only Denard Span got a hit for the Twins. In fact, their only run was scored without a hit as Nishioka walked, stole second, then proceeded to advance on groundouts by Mauer and Morneau to second base, in fact, Morneau doesn't even have a hit this season! That should tell you something. The Twins are in trouble...

Los Angeles Angels vs Kansas City Royals (4-5)
W: Aaron Crow (1-0)
L: Hisanori Takahasi (0-1)
SV: Joakim Soria (1)

Ervin Santana left as the pitcher with the winning decision. Some dude named Kevin Jepsen got knocked around by the Royals... again.... Torii Hunter had a two-run bomb that exceed 450 feet (is he on steroids?) and Aybar had a pair of doubles, but they got production from almost everyone in the order. The Royals got it from Getzz, Francoeur, and Butler. Not much else to report from this game.

Detroit Tigers vs New York Yankees (6-10)
W: A.J. Burnett (1-0)
L: Brad Penny (0-1)
SV: Mariano Rivera (2)
The Yanks could be legit this year... I saw part of this game and Burnett actually pitched well, although the Tigers scored their runs when I was watching.... Big Tex looks like he's gonna hit at least 40 this year. A-Rod had his first HR of the season and everyone cept Swisher got a hit. Russel Martin was also surprising with a 3 run bomb to push the Yankees' lead back to six runs. I think the Tigers have some hope, but it's probably just the opening series and the fact the Yankees have started the season hot. We'll see how their season goes.

San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (10-0)
W: Matt Cain (1-0)
L: Ted Lilly (0-1)
First off, I want to say that baseball fans should never attack fans of the opposing team, regardless of the situation. I hope that Giants fan actually recovers and is fine soon. Back to the game, I fully expected Matt Cain to win this, I didn't expect the Giants to score 10 runs. Freddy Sanchez was a triple short of the cycle, Mark DeRosa had a pair of hits and RBI. Miggy had a pair of runs, RBIs and hits, didn't really see him as a leadoff hitter, but he did well today. On the other side, Ethier and Carroll were the only guys who were able to really generate anything of offense.

San Diego Padres vs St. Louis Cardinals (11-3)
W: Clayton Richard (1-0)
L: Jake Westbrook (0-1)
If I'm the Cardinals, I'm worried. If I'm the Padres, I'm very happy. Jake Westbrook got shelled for 8 runs in 4 and a third of an inning and his relievers couldn't prevent any runs from scoring. Clayton Richard had a quality start and his bullpen shut down the Cardinals. Former Cardinal Ryan Ludwick showed the Cardinals why they never should've traded him with 2 hits, 2 walks, 4 runs and an RBI as the #5 hitter (pretty sure he looks a lot more appealing behind Pujols than Freese does right now). Headley also had a home run and drove in four runs with a single while the bases were loaded. Albert Pujols homered in the second game of the season as well as providing a single, the only Card with a multi-hit game after going 0-fer on Thursday. The Cards can fix this, but the Padres have shown hope for a shot at the NL West Crown, even without Mat Latos this early on.

Houston Astros vs Philadelphia Phillies (4-9)
W: Cliff Lee (1-0)
L: Wandy Rodriguez (0-1)
After a win in the bottom of the ninth against Brandon Lyon, the Phillies came out today and put runs up. While Lee allowed only 3 runs in 7 innings, Wandy allowed 7 runs in 4 innings and was done early. While the bullpen managed to limit the damage through the middle frames, the back end gave up an extra two runs effectively shutting down any chance the Astros had of coming back. Carlos Lee and Angel Sanchez had monster games for teh Stros, but there wasn't much outside of that. Carlos Lee was a double short of the cycle. The top 8 in the Phillies lineup got hits as well as either a run and/or RBI. Cliff Lee pitched like Cliff Lee though, minus the Carlos Lee 3-run bomb. 11 K's, 0 BBs and only 4 hits. Once Utley comes back, this offense will be set.

Milwaukee Brewers vs Cincinnati Reds (2-4)
W: Travis Wood (1-0)
L: Shaun Marcum (0-1)
SV: Francisco Cordero
Marcum was shaky the first two innings, giving up 2 runs in each inning. However, after that, he managed to settle down and control the rest of teh game. However, his offense couldn't bail him out as Travis Wood held the Brew Crew to an Almonte (who the hell is he?) home run. McGehee drove in Braun in the ninth, but Cordero held on for the win. Rolen had a two run bomb and Stubbs had an RBI triple and then scored on a throwing error.

Let's try to grind through this...

New York Mets vs Florida Marlins (6-4)
W: Francisco Rodriguez (1-0)
L: Ryan Webb (0-1)
SV: Blaine Boyer (1)
Now obviously, if K-rod hadn't blown the save, he would've gotten the close, he can thank David Wright and Willie Harris for getting him off the hook. Speaking of Wright, he had a solo shot and drove in a run in the 10th. The Marlins got their first two runs on a Logan Morrison single to start the 1st inning with the bases loaded, for which Jonathan Niese should be very thankful for as he limited the Mets the rest of the way. Both closers gave up a run in which was an exciting last couple of innings of an otherwise boring game.

Baltimore Orioles vs Tampa Bay Rays (3-1)
W: Jeremy Accardo (1-0)
L: James Shields (0-1)
S: Kevin Gregg (1)
First off, Kevin Gregg should be thanking Nick Markakis for saving him at the end of the game with a game-ending catch against the wall. Brian Roberts accounted for all the Orioles' runs with a three-run bomb in the 8th and Tampa responded with a Manny Ramirez RBI single. However, the biggest story has to be Chris Tillman, who went 6 innings without giving up a hit, although he did give up three walks, his ability to hold the Rays hitless in his first start was remarkable. He was mixing up his pitches a lot and had a lot of the Rays hitters guessing. James Shields was matching Tillman for the first six innings, but obviously tired by the 8th. Jake McGee is the guy that let two inherited base runners score by serving Roberts a three-run bomb. Nick Markakis had several great catches in RF today for the Orioles, and while his bat was cold, his defense was hot. Expect more to come from the Orioles.

Boston Red Sox vs Texas Rangers
W: Colby Lewis
L: John Lackey
The Red Sox were, by many, picked to win the division this year. However, their pitching is just not on the same page as their offense. In back to back games, the Red Sox starters have failed to get six quality innings. John lackey got shelled in the fourth and it didn't help that former Red Sox Adrian Beltre hit a grand slam off him. Elvis Andrus was a homer short of the cycle and Ian Kinsler hit his second consecutive lead-off homer. Torrealba got his first homer as a Rangers and Nelson Cruz hit his second solo shot of the season. Everyone on the Rangers got a hit and everyone cept Mitch Moreland and Michael Young got an RBI and Michael Young was the only guy that didnt' score a run. With the Red Sox, David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run bomb and Adrian Gonzalez had three hits, but the rest of the offense was anemic, they need to get this solved quickly. Carl Crawford has yet to record a hit for the Red sox this season, as have JD Drew and Jared Saltalamacchia and Marco Scutaro!

Arizona Diamondbacks vs Colorado Rockies (1-3)
W: Jorge De La Rosa (1-0)
L: Daniel Hudson (0-1)
SV: Huston Street (1)
Jorge De La Rosa was doing so well until he injured his finger in the 6th. Daniel Hudson had a quality start, but the extra base hits killed him, as well as Jorge De La Rosa helping his own cause. Street gave up a run in the ninth and made things interesting, but was ultimately able to close the game. Tulo has yet to record a hit this season, but put in some stellar defensive plays.

Seattle Mariners vs Oakland Athletics (5-2)
W: Chris Ray
L: Brian Fuentes
SV: Brandon League
Brett Anderson and Jason Vargas both had great starts, unfortunately, neither factored into the decisions as it was decided in the bullpen where Chris Ray blew  a save and Brian Fuentes blew the game. Daric Barton had three hits with two being doubles. This was a small-ball game with every run being scored on an out or singles, some outs were sac flies, but it was a small ball game.

More to HOPEFULLY come tomorrow morning.... maybe some hockey?