Dola, the Tigs team D might be the best in the MLB, with only Magglio Ordonez in RF as a liability, but they need lightning in a bottle from 2 starters, plus Verlander to bounce back and Galarraga, who was the luckiest pitcher in the bigs last year, to bounce back.

Btw, if anyone noticed, Baseball-reference.com has undergone a redesign:

Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Baseball Statistics and History

With FAR more stats. Just look at the advanced stats, the fielding stats (including advanced) and sortable stats. Also more career breakdowns (like the stats with one team compared to another or one league compared to another) I'm drooling!

edit: Some of the stuff on the detailed batting stats is ridiculous, like baserunning stats like extra base taken percentage, and ratio stats like extra base hits percentage. Wow!

Im probably going to go ahead and get the Gameday Audio package for my phone. I mean, 14.99 is crazy cheap. For 6 months of XM, which i'd primarily use for baseball, I'd spend about 100 dollars.

You start the opposing team bashing, and I'm the troll?

Sucks that the Royals-White Sox game has already been cancelled. I was looking forward to getting it started. I guess they didn't think they could play in 2-4 inches of snow. They'll play it tomorrow on the built-in off-day instead.

Wonder if Obama will come in to throw the opening pitch on Tuesday instead?

Random note from the Braves beat writer's blog yesterday ...
Casey Kotchman tonight will become the 10th different Braves opening-day first baseman in 11 seasons. The list: Ryan Klesko in ‘99, Andres Galarraga in 2000, Rico Brogna in ‘01, B.J. Surhoff in ‘02, Robert Fick in ‘03, Julio Franco in ‘04, Adam LaRoche in ‘05 & ‘06, Scott Thorman in ‘07, and Mark Teixeira in ‘08….

Bobby Cox is the anti-Dusty Baker. Lowe with 97 pitches and throwing a 2 hitter into the 9th with a 4-0 lead and Bobby brings in the closer. Dusty would have kept him out there for at least another 30 pitches.

It's an annual ritual here in Kansas City. Joe Poz pens yet another 'The Royals will win' article before the season opener.

Joe Posnanski | This could be the year of the Royals — honestly - Kansas City Star

This link's for SI. Nice run-down of all the changes at the 'new' Kauffman Stadium.

The improved Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City Star

I'm also extremely happy that the Royals organization has kept the 'Military Mondays' going. It's a great deal where anyone can present a military ID for any Monday home game and receive 4 free upper deck tickets. I wish this was done in all MLB ballparks.

Red Sox opener postponed as well.

I once backed into "opening day tickets" in this manner.

A. I didn't bash, I poked a little fun

B. I did it in the MLB thread. I didn't come trolling in a thread designed for fans of another team.

You would think MLB would have a way to open games in warm weather cities.

Then again it may not be fair for certain teams to always open on the road.

I could be wrong, but I think they've done that in the past, hence the reason that the Red Sox haven't opened at home in 7 years. This was the first season opener since 2002 in Boston.

The Phils start out slow...plus they like to make it interesting. They just want to see how many games they can spot the Mets and still win the division late in the season :p



Lathum takes plenty of crap from Phillies fans here and he takes it well. Let him get his jabs in while he can ;)

this is the kind of banter I enjoy.

Well played sir, well played.

#1. Hey, I held my word and haven't posted in that thread since the win.

#2. I add a smiley at the end of every post, just so that you know it's in jest.

#3. No matter what I say or how I say it, you'll get your pussy in a twist whenever I post about the Phillies or the Mets. :D

when you come trolling in a thread designed for Mets fans you're correct.

The way you acted last season makes you a troll in my mind. It was pathetic how you enjoyed the Mets losing more then the Phillies winning and felt the need to come crap all over the Mets thread and show what a horrible winner you are. Your a typical d-bag Philly fan, plain and simple.

I'm done with you now, I prefer to talk about baseball.

No, I greatly enjoyed the Phillies winning, and I'll enjoy this season too. If you're too sensitive to read take everything I post too personally, that's your problem.

Agreed, less talk about your vagina twisting and more about this baseball season.

..if only I followed a team good enough that people took jabs at me in unrelated threads. ;)

Thank you, kindly. Glad to know about the new stadium and even more fun to read Poz's annual "why the royals will win it" :D

SI

It took a bit of fighting, but Reds-Mets starting on MLB Audio to really start off Opening Day :)

SI

Infield single and sb by Reyes makes things interesting, but Harang strikes out Wright and escapes the 1st

SI

What else is new.

I'm listening to gameday audio through the iphone app ($9.99) and it's fantastic so far.

The new ESPN HD BottomLine is SHARP. Not sure when it began as I tend to avoid ESPN like the plague, but wow.

Wow. For one of the top players in the last 50 years, I am shocked Reyes could not manage to steal every base. What a bust.

Also, I am glad the Final Four is in Detroit as the Tigs usually open up at home but were forced to Toronto. Would've been snowed out today otherwise.

Santana needs to shelf his slider for the rest of this inning. I know it's not his best pitch at all, but he is all over the place with it early.

GO O's! If we win today we'll be in first place!

You weird states with you weird rules. Grocery stores should have all the liquor one needs. Glad I live in CA.

That was the worst part of living in Maryland. What kind of state makes you buy eggs and vodka in two different places? Thankfully, I'm back in Missouri now and don't have that issue.

yeah. booo. hiss

I'm stuck listening to the Reds audio feed. Marty has loved calling Daniel Murphy "Dennis".

edit: And he called him Dennis again even after hitting a HR. Good job Dennis!

Be glad you dont live in Pennsylvania.

Steve Phillips should not be allowed to talk about baseball. Ever.

It sure doesn't feel like opening day with all the night games.

The Super Wal-Mart here has a liquor store attached to the side of the main building, but they still also sell beer and some of those malt beverages inside the main store. I wonder if what the local alcohol ordinances are aimed at is the really hard stuff - sell those in a separate liquor store, which closes at 9 when alcohol sales at stores are supposed to be cut off.

Cliff Lee picks up right where spring training left off - almost same ERA, good BB/K ratio...and pounded to hell.

HAHA Barry Larkin on MLB Tonight 1st and 3rd, I'm going to love the MLB Network!

I'm thinking about getting this for the BB Bold ($14.99), but (a) it says audio is available AFTER opening day (which sucks for, like, RIGHT NOW), and (b) with the way this thing drains batteries, I bet I'd have to plug it in to listen to more than 3 innings. So I'm not sure it's really worth getting, as most games after this week will be at night and I'll be home to watch them or in the car to listen to them. And when I'm away from TV/car, my phone will be useless if I actually use this too much.

Odd. Opening day is working on the iPhone.

I'll see how the batter does -- at work it won't be a problem -- and at home one of my big uses will be to plug it straight into my receiver, which I could plugin if I need to. I'm not far from a plug that often where I would be in a position to listen to the game. I'm actualy interested in having it for when I'm at the games so I can see better stats than the scoreboard has.

Bottom line is that the Mets couldn't have started the season any worse. Couldn't have finished it any worse and the Phillies didn't blow one game all year and they still just beat out the Mets.

Too bad that seems to hapen every year for the Mets.

Yeah let it go man.

In other news, hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Santana goes 5.2, 1 run, 3 hits. Sean Green finishes the inning and pitches a hitless 7th. Putz doesn't allow a hit in the 8th, same for K-Rod in the 9th.

Does K-Rod celebrate like he just won the World Series?

I don't care for it myself, but I thought he just pointed to his lord and savior twice. Pretty tame for him

Whereas I was thinking last night how refreshing an addition he was to Sunday Night Baseball, an analyst that I could actually stand to listen to as opposed to the blithering idiot that sits next to Jon Miller regularly.

They would need to add the great Orel Hershisher for that to happen in my book. He's the best analyst I've ever heard.

I signed up for it with my Storm. I think you're right about the eating the batteries thing. I'll be using it in my car primarily, when it's plugged into the charger. I just don't get much range with the Pirates radio carrier, and no chance of getting the Phils. Make sure you go to the site to purchase with your BB in the BB internet browser. I know it took me a minute to figure this out(i was using IE at the time).

I've never lived in a state where you could get liquor in a grocery store or convenience store.

In Maryland, it seemed to vary by county. In Howard & Prince Georges Counties, I had to go to a liquor store for beer, wine, and liquor. In PG, I couldn't buy liquor on Sundays. In Frederick County you can get beer and wine I think in grocery stores and even gas stations. In Frederick and Montgomery Counties it seems that you have to go to a special store for liquor.

In Loudoun County, Virginia you can get all kinds of beer and wine in grocery stores but liquor must come from state stores (ABC stores).

All in all, this area of NJ isn't much different from Howard County for me. :)

Back to the real topic of this thread, though, was sort of glad to see the Red Sox get postponed, at least I have a greater chance of catching some of the game tomorrow. Watching Yankees at Orioles right now. Even though I think of Boston as "my team," I cheer for the O's as long as they're not playing Boston. I love their ballpark and really think it's too bad what Angelos does to that team. He's been better lately, but still...

/tk