Ah, are there any two finer words in the English language than that? [Except, perhaps, "Dinner's ready"] At the moment, there is an endless vista of possibilities. Maybe we'll go 162-0. Maybe we'll win the World Series. Maybe a previously-unknown rookie will become a superstar for our team. Of course, there are plenty of equally unpleasant scenarios, but on Opening Day, they are stuffed to the back of the Anxiety Closet, and we dwell on the nicer things in life.
It's a bit of a false start: the Yankees face the Red Sox today, and the other 28, less well-off teams, get to start tomorrow. The lustre of the game has been knocked off a bit by Schilling going on the disabled list, so instead of a match-up of the co-MVPs from the 2001 World Series, it's Johnson vs...David Wells. Safe to say I won't be taking the night off work for that one.
The Really Final Heroes and Zeroes
Batting (min 40 AB)
Glaus .424 (25-for-59), 7 HR, 33 RBI Hairston .390 (16-for-41), 1 HR, 8 RBI Cruz .383 (23-for-60), 3 HR, 11 RBI Cintron .368 (21-for-57), 2 HR, 9 RBI Gonzalez .322 (19-for-59), 2 HR, 11 RBI --------------------------------------- Clayton .262 (16-for-61), 0 HR, 3 RBI Santos .255 (13-for-51), 2 HR, 10 RBI Green .231 (15-for-65), 1 HR, 8 RBI
Pitching (min 10 IP)
[Blah...formatting...blogware]
Lyon 0.69 13.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 13 K Bruney 2.45 11.0 IP, 12 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 14 K Gosling 3.22 22.1 IP, 26 H, 8 ER, 9 BB, 10 K --------------------------------------- Koplove 7.20 10.0 IP, 13 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 7 K Ortiz 7.95 16.2 IP, 24 H, 15 ER, 10 BB, 7 K Vill'al 12.79 12.2 IP, 21 H, 18 ER, 8 BB, 3 K
With Opening Day looming, a couple of D'backs blogs have come out of hibernation. Pleased to see West Coast Bias stop talking about a game played by scarily large people who should really be going to class instead (that's college hoops, in case you were wondering), and return to comprehensive D'backs coverage. Conor Jackson to come in second as NL Rookie of the Year? Let's certainly hope so. And Roses and Rattlers has come back from the dead; let's hope it gets past April 13th, which is where it sputtered to a stop last season. Think I'll hang on a week or two before adding it permanently to the links section!
There are a couple new ones there though: say hello to the Philling Station, plus Cub Town and Dodger Thoughts, both part of the Baseball Toaster network. The latter's interview with LA manager Paul DePodesta is today's required reading.
More a little later, before I head off to work for the day...