I'm seeing Sabathia pitch as a Yankee for the first time...and while I obviously don't mind seeing them suffer, I hope they put some kind of weight clause in CC's contract. I don't even know if it's possible in baseball, but to give this behemoth that much money for that long of a period without some sort of protection would be insane.

Baltimore is hitting him around nicely.

7 years for a gargantuan man who pitched 600 innings last year.

Well it is pretty cold in Baltimore, so I'm not sure I'd put that much stock in his pitching performance.

I hate picking up guys based on a one game sample size, but this Emilio Bonifacio kid is just absolutely tearing it up today. 4-4 with an inside the park home run, a bunt single, 2 or 3 stolen bases and 4 runs scored already. Not a bad start to the season.

I'd much rather listen to Steve Phillips than Joe Morgan. He's easy to listen to and he seems like a very intelligent guy. However, he doesn't know jack shit about baseball and as a Met fan I have a hard time taking any of his analysis seriously.



Hershiser was amazing his first game in the booth and I believe I even posted about it here. Since then, though, its as if he was told to dumb it down a bit because he's been good, but not great and he doesn't go as in-depth with things as he did.

Reds manage 3 hits today. That'll probably be about their average.

A 3B with 2B eligibility, in my Yahoo league at least. Had an open roster spot anyway, worth a flier. Thanks.

Yeah, even if he is the next Tuffy Rhodes, if you have an open spot, why not?

There we go. I picked him up after his 4th AB of the day and he promptly grounds out his first AB after.

The jinx is solid and still rolling!

Now to nab some Red Sox players...

I had the same exact reaction. His commentary was so cerebral and focused that I wonder if ESPN told him to tone it down. If so that's a shame because he and Al Leiter have been the two best color guys I've heard in a long time. It's probably not a coincidence that both are recently retired pitchers and also new to the broadcast booth.

Fixed that for you ;)

Mlb audio mobile is already broken. Worked earlier. Sigh

O's finished off the Yankees 10-5. Not a fan of the camera crew on the YES network.

/tk

Just off the top of my head, thinking about the games I've caught with Hershiser working, I suspect it might not be so much a case of tone down the intellect as shorten the points. Doing that could have the same effect, harder to make a deep point in less time, but on a weekly/national game there's probably less tolerance built-in for in depth stuff.

I mean, I grew accustomed to, and didn't mind, having some of the discussions during Braves games go on through 2-3 innings but it's easier to get away with that when you have the same audience for 150 games a year.

Fucking Heilman, where was that last year you bum!

So it's only opening day and the odds of the Jays doing much this year are pretty low, but it sure is a treat to watch Halladay work. Nice of the guys to give him a cushy lead but he looks like he's in one of those zones where 2 or 3 runs would have been enough.

Now if they can just field a team that'll make him want to stay in Toronto once his contract is up.

I like Purcey as my "deep" sleeper in fantasy baseball this year. :)

SI

Jays bats are gonna give teams hell. Not the best offense by any means, but some solid contact guys who can motor a bit. Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball also.

Wow, my opening game jinx factor is in mid season form.

Come on Doc, lock it down.

And I say that and it's 9-5 now.

What's going on in Toronto?

SI

Enough people being idiots and throwing stuff on the field (including baseballs) that Leyland pulled the Tigers off the field. PA announcement that if it continued that the game could be forfeited as well as legal action pursued against those found to be throwing items, then the Tigers retake the field.

Pure stupidity really. I hope the fans around those tossing the stuff are pointing them out for the ushers/security to get rid of.

and yet again the Cardinals look for a closer...

Woot. This is likely the only time all year the Pirates will be over .500

Btw, loving the fact that ESPN is now including "OPS" in its summary about the batter and obviously they've been telling their commentators to explain it a bit (especially Steve Phillips). Not bad, ESPN. Soon they'll be throwing around Adjusted ERA+ and VORP ;).

Haven't thought about it for a bit, but IIRC, Frankie is pointing to his grandmother or grandfather when he does that. He does it after every save. He also fist pumps a lot.

He also usually puts two batters on before trying. He must have been amped today and forgot.

I LOL'd.

me too.

Heh, I hope you guys are laughing at the second part, because the first part, I am serious (he's pointing to whichever one of his grandparents has passed away, pretty sure it's grandpa).

Yeah, in about 30 years ;)

SI

The best part was when Miller was talking about OPS and how Chipper Jones OPS was great last season, Morgan comes in and says "You have to remember he almost hit .400 last season." I chuckled, then cried a tear for the loss of Ken Tremendous.

Nevermind his insanity about the traditional stats vs. sabremetric, I'm simply wondering how 44 points away is "almost".

You're on Blackberry? When I looked into ordering it yesterday, it said audio wasn't available until after opening day. Maybe they had issues with it. I'd like to know if it works before getting it for today's games.

I wouldn't put too much stock into Sabathia's performance. As I recall, he was terrible in April last year and seemed to recover fairly well. I mean, I hope the guy never wins a game as a Yankee, and yesterday was certainly fun to listen to, but I'm sure he'll be fine. Unfortunately.

From the ESPN bottom line, I believe he was 1-4 with an ERA over 7 last April. So, yah... waaay too early.

1-4 with a 7.76 ERA. And two more bad starts to begin May after that.

Signed up for Gameday Audio. Ready for the White Sox-Royals season opener. Gonna be a cold one.

Ugh. Not only are the Nats the ones that allowed this, but they traded him to Florida in the offseason (in the deal that got Scott Olsen and Josh Willingham).

The only positive not yesterday was that Adam Dunn started his contract off right, with a monster 3 run shot. He apparently has had an opening day homer in 4 of the last 5 seasons.

2 hours until Lincecum time. I'm pumped. Just please don't get shelled in the first inning.

I would rather they list OBP and SLG separately, but they are making an effort.

Kindof ugly game in Chicago. Buehrle has thrown 80 pitches thru 4 but the Royals have left 7 guys on. The White Sox had a runner thrown out at home. 1-1 bottom 4.

SI

I can officially confirm that I am disliked by my family.

My father got tickets to yesterday's (now today's) Sox game. First time he's ever had a spare ticket offered to him too. But does he offer to take me...his firstborn son? Nope. He's taking my sister instead :rant: . Just for that I'm going to tell the nursing home attendents to let him sit in his feces for a few extra hours every year on Opening Day.

Are you having a tough time dealing with the reality of not being Daddy's Girl, DT?

:p

he didn't spend hours in the yard playing catch with my sister, or teaching my sister how to pitch

Could that be because she didn't NEED his tutelage to be good at those things? :)

Apparently AJ Pierzynski stayed out too late last night:

(from MLB GameCast)

MVP...MVP!!

Lil-Petey puts the third pitch he sees into the Monster seats!

Why does it always have to be Jim fucking Thome

SI

And Hillman should be shot for putting in Farnsworth instead of Cruz

SI

No, I think the GM bears the blame on this one. When the GM goes out and overspends on a bad setup guy, the manager is pretty much forced to use him, isn't he? That signing was ridiculous, even before Farnsworth threw a pitch this year.