By Steven Booth
You gotta love Opening Day. Baseball on TV, everywhere you look. ESPN was so hyped about it they actually showed a game with the Cincinnati Reds in it. Actually, anytime that ESPN shows anybody except the Yankees and/or Red Sox, you have to be shocked.
On the left coast, in that other league, aside from the Dodgers’ complete implosion at the hands of the mighty Pittsburgh Pirates, everything went according to plan. The Rockies got an ace-like performance from Ubaldo Jimenez and put together enough offense to put away the Milwaukee Brewers; Tim Lincecum was lights-out against the Astros, while Danny Haren pretty much euthanized the Padres.
Dodger pitching got pounded by the Pirates. The only strikes Vicente Padilla threw were the two Garrett Jones hit out of the park. He seriously looked like a slo-pitch softball pitcher, while the Pirates looked like the community college ringers playing in the “C” softball league. George Sherrill, supposedly the primo setup man, gave up a three-run dinger that iced it for the Bucs. Not a pretty sight. The Dodgers let Randy Wolf go, a steady middle-rotation guy who looked like an ace last year. Padilla is supposed to be his replacement. I know he got hot last year and had some big starts late in the year and the playoffs, but he was also cut by the traditionally pitching-weak Rangers. A nice fifth starter? Great. Opening Day? Oops. Sherrill had a poor spring but told us not to worry. Now we’re worried.
On another note, the offense looked good, putting up twelve hits against Pirate pitching. They hit poorly with runners in scoring position, but came back to 8-5 late in the game with the batter the tying run. Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley are next. We shall see. Kudos to the Pirates for not rolling over even when their ownership does.
Ubaldo Jimenez looked like an ace against the Astros, scattering 8 hits over six innings, giving up one run and striking out six. Carlos Gonzales came out of the box quick, going 4 for 5 with two runs scored. He looked like the real leadoff threat the Rox have been looking for.
In the ace department, Tim Lincecum shut out the Astros completely. He looked like he is already in midseason form. Edgar Renteria helped out, going 2 for 3 with an RBI, while Bengie Molina went 2 for 4, also with an RBI. If the Giants pitching holds up and the geezers give them just a few runs to work with, they will be in the race this year.
Speaking more of aces, Danny Haren came out as Mr. Jekyll yesterday, shutting down the hapless Padres for seven innings. His DBack brethren brought the power, with Stephen Drew and Mark Reynolds hitting two-run homers. The Padres helped them out with a couple of errors, and their hitters couldn’t get anything going off of Haren and the relievers.
Even though the Padres lost, it was good to see Kyle Blanks hit a homer. If he can help protect Adrian Gonzales, they can make games interesting. The Padres bully also pitched four scoreless innings, picking up a poor performance by Jon Garland and the Padre defense.
All according to script save for the Pirates’ beatdown of the Dodgers. Jimenez, Lincecum, and Haren looked the aces they’re slated to be, while their respective offenses did their jobs. The Padres lost, but had some encouraging signs from their bats and their bullpen, and well………I guess we’ll see how the other 161 games go.
