you and me both.

Isn't that what happened last year too? Cain finished with an ERA+ of 122 and a W/L of 7-16.

Lincecum is also going to suffer similar fate, I'm afraid.

Yes, this year will be worse though. We have ZERO offense.

But we have a whole roster full of gamers!

I'm unconvinced that Bob Melvin's decision to bat Eric Byrnes 3rd should be taken as an assumption that a) Byrnes is the best hitter on the Diamondbacks or that b) they will be outscored this season. Chris Young will be better than Byrnes, Conor Jackson has a reasonable chance to improve, and Justin Upton could very easily follow his brother's career path a little sooner than anticipated. Eric Byrnes could be the fifth best hitter on the team...and STILL bat third.

Excuse me, sixth best hitter. Forgot about Micah Owings.

I think it's a moot point anyway - either Upton or Jackson will move ahead of Byrnes in the batting order by June.

The Giants scored a run!!!

Yea right. April Fool's!

We lose to Kip Wells!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

On the other hand, if you look at those that I counted in the "better" group several of those are at least possible suspects to finish with worse numbers than the Byrnes line (although they might not hold on to the 3rd spot in the order if they do).

I think Abreu, Griffey, and Sheffield could slip beneath that due to either age or injury, and Hamilton, Markakis, and Barton are all still fairly inexperienced & could conceivably go in the wrong direction (not expecting it or predicting, just saying it could certainly happen). And Chipper isn't exactly the most durable guy in the majors.

So it seems to me there's at least as many reasonable candidates to go backwards towards Byrnes numbers as there are those who would seem likely to move solidly ahead of them.

I'll go one further. After the all-star break, Conner Jackson (.926 OPS), Chris Snyder (.889 OPS), Mark Reynolds (.840 OPS and Chris Young (.823 OPS) were all better hitters than Byrnes. And that doesn't count a guy like Hudson who matched Byrnes and guys like Stephen Drew and Justin Upton who may have the most talent on the team.

I'd be shocked if Byrnes is a top 4 hitter on the DBacks this year by the numbers. But, he hits third because nearly everyone else is in their low 20s and prone to some inconsistencies.

This is also one of my favorite times of the year.

Good bounce back tonight for the Halos against the Twinkies. We scored in bunches and Garland looked terrific in getting the win. Only Angel starter to not get a hit was Torii, poor guy. He did get a nice welcome from the Twins' fans last night, though, and his Gold Glove ceremony tonight.

Most stats analysts picked the Dbacks to either win the west or the wild card last year, so the fact that they did that wasn't surprising, it was how they did it. With a young lineup that should take a step forward, a healthy Tracy, and adding Haren they shouldn't be in the same situation they were last year in terms of run differential.

Its a good team. Its a team with a young offensive foundation, but they were lucky that their growing pains weren't reflected in their record last season.

Ok, so someone please explain to the guy who has "been away" for a bit about some of the stats being thrown out there. What is OPS+ 112? ERA+ 122? What happened to .900 OPS and 2.50 ERA? Thanks.

As for the Astros, at least they scored a run tonight. They lose 2-1 to fall to 0-2. For a team who's strength is supposed to be hitting it sure is an odd first two games. That is one reason baseball can be fun though I guess.

OPS+ and ERA+ are normalized for both park and league with 100 being league average (and bigger numbers being better). Its a solid way of quickly comparing players across eras and leagues.

gracias

For those who may not know it, baseball-reference.com is a great place to check box scores and stats for the current season. The box scores are awesome - not only do they give you everything you normally would get, but you can click on each player's AB link and get a pop-up box that tells you exactly what they did in each AB for that game. And for pitchers, you can click on their IP link and see their line score for each separate inning. And on the main page, they give you the top hitters and pitchers by game score. Pretty cool.

We'll see how Greg Maddux do and if he do his typical solid outing, I'll be clammering for the Pads to go old-school with a 3-man rotation. With the way Peav and CY pitching, Pads don't need no offense. :)

Ok.............jbmagic?

I love the beginning of the season, where a Royals fan like myself can look at our 2-0 record, and those wins over Detroit no less and entertain the idea that we've got a shot. :)

Great start though. I might also add that I wish every game was an afternoon game, because using gameday audio to listen to it at work really helped the afternoon more pleasant.

I agree with Cringer. Is jbmagic back??

I hope Harden stays healthy this year, he has been nasty so far

jb, is that you?



;)

i am watching the game. He looks nasty.

he had a rocky first inning where he loaded the bases but settled down nicely. For the most part he has been challanging the pitchers and overpowering them badley.

Let's use an analogy.

The Baltimore Orioles are a toilet, see.

Peter Angelos? He's got diarrhea.

I'll let flere draw you the picture if that ain't good enough. :)

Oh man, that's low. I've got to learn not to post anything while I'm getting ready to leave for work in the morning. Now if I just remember what I was trying to say....aww, shit, forget it.

I can't believe anyone on the Yankees could honestly think Mike Mussina could be counted on this year

Ugh, welcome to the Brandon Lyon era DBacks fans. One night, he strikes 2 out for the save, the next night a 3-run HR. I have a feeling Tony Pena will be the closer by May.

Astros pull it out against the Padres in the top of the 9th for their first win. Very nice and finally. Just when the hitting started to get going a little it looked like the pitching would fail, but the hitting pulled it out.

Two outs in the top of the 9th with no one on, Hoffman pitching. Cruz Jr. gets the pinch walk, Bourn with a single, Pence with a single to bring in the tying run, then BOOM! Berkman gets a three run homer to go up 9-6 and the Astros close it out in the bottom of the inning. Nice to see a win in San Diego, I was begining to think they would sweep us.

Oh Pierre. That is why you...suck

Another game-winning homerun by Zimmerman. Even if we end up at the bottom of the East, this is going to be a fun year.

1 frickin' strike away...again. This shit's getting old.

Yay first win for the the Jays! Halladay and Burnett looked solid in their first starts. But now it's the other three starters that have to prove they can be counted on (Burnett too, as he probably has another start or two in him before he gets injured).

Phillies off to a solid start...top of the 4th vs. the Nats, and they already have 4 errors!

Royals continue to stay hot. Alex Gordon hit his second homerun of the year. 2-0 Royals through 4 innings.

What do you mean, ugh? It was pretty sweet from up here.

Cueto's final line is 7 ip 1 h 1 er 0 bb 10 k

Not bad for a debut, the only hit was a homerun.

Phillies games are all going to be 4+ hours this year.

Cordero with the closeout of the db. Nice opening series by the Reds.

2 run homer in the first inning for the Padres. Looks like a good start for the Astros.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Why was Colome still in there?! 4 balls in a row after 3 hits?

Phils finally get a win. Bastards.

The Detroit Tigers are on pace to score 162 runs this season - a long way from their projected 1000.


And they played 3 against the worst team in baseball (per ESPN).

I just picked him up for my fantasy team so expect his numbers to plumet

Tigers aren't going to score 1000 runs. Maybe the Yankees will, but that's about it.

anyone know why Cabrera didn't play today?

Yankees won't either. They had 968 last year, and Posada will not have nearly as good a year as he did last year. I also assume that A-Rod will be a little bit (but not too much) worse than last year.

Though it was nice to see the Royals sweep through the Tiggs.

Its been done once in the past 55-60 years, so I seriously doubt any team does it this year. Espcially the Tigers since they play in a slight pitchers park.

anyone having trouble getting onto mlb.com?

Mike Hampton scratched...WHODATHUNKIT?

I consider myself an avid baseball follower, but I haven't seen this before, and am unclear on the rules. In tonight's Pirates/Braves game, an Atlanta pitcher started the inning pitching, then moved to left field for a batter, then came back to the mound and pitched again. Was this permitted because he didn't technically leave the game? And if so, why isn't this technique utilized more often (the defensive shortcomings can't be THAT great, especially for just one batter). Any of you grognards have any insight?