Major League Baseball "2006 Season" Talkback (Part 1)

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Tigers win.

Rogers was great in his first game as a Tiger, one earned run. Zumaya makes his big league debut in 2 innings of relief, and did great. Fernando Rodney closes out.

And how about Chris Shelton, 3-4 with 2 homeruns. He's off to a great start, and the guy can mash.

One negative sign: 3-4-5 of Pudge, Maggs, and DMeat Hook get the o-fer. I immagine they'll heat up, its just stuff not falling in.

[FireStarterLE]

if TB and the Os can play the rest of their games with the kind on output they had today, the AL East will be pretty competitive instead of a two team race.

and tomorrow we'll see how the Jays respond

[silverwings]

if TB and the Os can play the rest of their games with the kind on output they had today, the AL East will be pretty competitive instead of a two team race.

and tomorrow we'll see how the Jays respond

Yeah, that would be great. Let's give the Red Sox and Yankees a run for their money.

I really don't care what place the O's come in this year. I'm more concerned about how many games back they end up. It looks like it's going to be a tight division this year, so you could still end up in fourth and only be 4-6 games back.

[Condiment King]

Nationals/Mets: Like most Mets fans, I'll go with the philosophy that "a win's a win", and this is ultimately what I desire the most from a Mets game. However, this was far from the fantastic opener that many Mets fans are spinning this into. Comparing it to the Mets/Reds 2005 Opening Day, yes, its very favorable, but that opening day was pathetic. That entire opening week was pathetic. If you are seriously talking about playoffs, then you have to ask more of your team than just narrowly escaping with a win against the Washington Nationals. It was a controversial win at that with the Reyes relay throw to Lo Duca that's been played over and over again all day with Paul Lo Duca visibly losing control of the ball. I do not understand how the usually argumentative Nationals manager Frank Robinson did not argue this call. Throw in Alfonso Soriano's defensive incompetence, and Jose Vidro trying to stretch a single into a double in the 9th. The Mets got plenty of breaks to pull away with this 3-2 win. Plenty of breaks that won't always be there.

Offensively, the Mets were far from optimum. The money part of the lineup in Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado went 0-7. Leadoff hitter Jose Reyes went 0-5. On the other side of the coin, thanks to Soriano, Xavier Nady went 4-4, while the great David Wright jacked one into the stands. Nady is incredibly streaky. I don't expect this to last. Also, the X-Factor nickname is already annoying, though I'll probably end up using it at some point. Pitching-wise, Tom Glavine threw above himself for six innings, getting out of jams and only surrendering a run. The highly-touted Aaron Heilman struggled in two innings of relief giving up one unearned run on five hits. That's not good. Billy Wagner was as close as the Mets were to being dominate today, and even he threw a pitch to Jose Vidro that was smacked into the outfield. 1-0 is encouraging, but I'm not going to overdo it by any means.

As for the rest of today's great day of baseball:

Red Sox/Rangers: Ace Curt Schilling proved that he's "still got it" so to speak with 7 IP and 2 ER. Jonathan Papelbon was great, and Keith Foulke struggled with a generous lead. Coco Crisp had a fine Red Sox debut, putting to bed some of the defensive concerns, and Big Papi was Big Papi. Very encouraging opening day for any Boston fan. Infield remains a question mark to me, though, as does Keith Foulke, of course.

Pirates/Brewers: The best game of the day with a memorable finish as Jeff Cirillo singled home two runs to take a 3-2 lead while Carlos Lee's blast extended it to 5-2. Derrick Turnbow came in and looked very impressive, bringing the heat in his first save of the year. He deserves the new three-year contract.

Cardinals/Phillies: We knew that the Phillies rotation was bad, but is it this bad that Jon Leiber absolutely implodes on opening day? Albert Pujols is still fantastic, blasting two homers off the Phillies ace. Jimmy Rollins barely pushes forward the hitting streak in his last at-bat versus a rookie reliever in the 8th. This makes me very doubtful about Rollins making a serious run at DiMaggio's record.

Diamondbacks/Rockies: The box score of this game makes it look much more interesting than it actually was. Both teams looked awful, even the Rockies in victory. The fact that the Diamondbacks brought in aging Terry Mulholland to hold a 2-1 lead in the 8th is a testament to the amount of talent on these teams. The fact that Mike DeJean was a primary reliever for the Rockies, entrusted to keep the game tied in extra innings, is a testament to the amount of talent on these teams. Regardless, this is your first extra innings game of the year, and the Diamondbacks pull defeat from the jaws of victory.

Braves/Dodgers: The Braves run through much of their bullpen on opening day after opening day starter Tim Hudson falters and leaves the game too early for the Braves bullpen. The Braves merely outslugged the Dodgers and struggled at that. How will the defending NL East champions do against a pitcher that's above the caliber of Derek Lowe? Of course, Chris Reitsma is a shaky closer, but what options do you have when Braves GM John Schuherolz has already went on record as saying the closer would come from the organization? This is a bullpen with John Thomson for crying out loud. I'm not condemning Atlanta after game 1. I'm just saying that there are major problems that need to be fixed.

Marlins/Astros: Another great game. I had no regret watching this game while only occasionally glancing at Giants/Padres. An excellent pitcher's duel between Dontrelle Willis and Roy Oswalt, though mostly on Oswalt's end. Oswalt pitches eight innings, gives up no runs, and hands the 1-0 lead straight to Brad Lidge. Dontrelle left rather early, after five innings and over 100 pitches. Marlins rookie shortstop Hanley Ramirez looked bad defensively with two (really three) errors, showing signs of his former teammate Edgar Renteria. The Marlins rookie bats struggled, as to be expected. Milwaukee's Prince Fielder also had a rough first day, going 0-4 with 4 Ks.

Giants/Padres: ESPN's commentary goes something like "steroids steroids steroids Bonds Bonds steroids steroids steroids". Pedro Gomez continues to be so annoying, merely because his only job is to report this irrelevent news of Bonds and the steroids scandal. Bonds literally is the cancer of baseball at this point, whether he wants to be or not. This story took over baseball in a small way this weekend, and most definitely this game. In the shadow of all that, Jake Peavy pitched superbly, and Mike Piazza hit a homer in his first at-bat as a Padre. The Giants looked badly, further showing that their NL Championship predictions are hopefully unfounded.

[RedNinja84]

My Reds lost today, due to bad defense and errors. I can only hope it gets better from here.

[Duke]

Good to see the A's giving their hometown fans a good show.

[FireStarterLE]

it's always nice to see teams helping the yankees with their homeruns

*and why DOES it always seem when they hit homeruns its usually in pairs?

13-1 ..... well at least the As pitchers have nothing on our guy Boyer ... Mr. 81.00 ERA

[email2003]

Alright Astros!

That's the way to win on the road back to the World Series!

[Nelson]

LET'S GO METS, LET'S GO METS.....

Forget about that other team in the bronx...

[silverwings]

Read the sports illustrated pre-season guide. Had the O's 25/30 and in last place.

Now watching on game channel... the O's have been playing small ball WELL, heck we have 8 runs. Lots of doubles. And Bedard has held Tampa to 2 runs so far.

Maybe it's the early April rush... but SWEET. :anime:

[Duke]

Don't forget that the O's held first place in the AL East until July...

EDIT: I gotta say, the new ESPN GameCast is REALLY nice. I especially love the extra animations.

Gahd damn though, 15-3, with a homer by Gibbons and another by Mora. We're schlocking the Devs.

[silverwings]

Don't forget that the O's held first place in the AL East until July...

EDIT: I gotta say, the new ESPN GameCast is REALLY nice. I especially love the extra animations.

Gahd damn though, 15-3, with a homer by Gibbons and another by Mora. We're schlocking the Devs.

It was June, don't make it worse.

15-3! At least we got 3 runs from homers. And Markasis finally hit a ball - for an out, but at least he didn't draw a walk for the 3rd time.

[Duke]

Wow. Brower's really sucking tonight. An 11-pitch walk, a single, and then a wild pitch with nobody out. At least he finally got an out. Too bad he allowed a run to come home.

[silverwings]

Wow. Brower's really sucking tonight. An 11-pitch walk, a single, and then a wild pitch with nobody out. At least he finally got an out. Too bad he allowed a run to come home.

Yeah, why was Bedard taken out? It's the one thing gamechannel doesn't tell me. And for that matter, why is Gibbons out?

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Wow, the Tigers crush the Royals 14-3, with amazing hitting led by Pudge's 5-5 for with 3 doubles and a homer. Bonderman pitched a great game as well.

2-0, sitting alone atop the AL Central. Now to take on the Rangers.

[purplehairedwonder]

So the Braves win their first series by the skin of their teeth... and Chipper is already hurting. We really need him to be healthy. With as many runs scored in this series, we know the Braves have the bats, it's just the pitching that needs the work. The biggest concern going into the season was the bullpen - which struggled - but not as much the starting pitching, which has also struggled. It looks like John Thomson may be coming back into the rotation after Ramirez hurt himself running.

Off to San Francisco next...

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Tigers win again!

10 runs behind multi-homer games from Shelton(4 for the year now) and Maggs, and Inge and Thames both get their second while Monroe gets his first.

Solid pitching, too.

3-0, they just keep on rolling.

[FireStarterLE]

So the Braves win their first series by the skin of their teeth... and Chipper is already hurting. We really need him to be healthy. With as many runs scored in this series, we know the Braves have the bats, it's just the pitching that needs the work. The biggest concern going into the season was the bullpen - which struggled - but not as much the starting pitching, which has also struggled. It looks like John Thomson may be coming back into the rotation after Ramirez hurt himself running.

Off to San Francisco next...

well now the pen is the best pitching we have right now ..... 4 games .... no starter has made it past the 5th inning yet. And Sosa continued the trend ... giving up 6!!!! in one inning. Come on Kyle, give us some innings and get us (as well as the starting pitching) a win

[Duke]

Figures that after scoring 25 runs in two games we lay a big, fat, goose egg in the final game. Eh, at least we won the series.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Put another up for the Tigers. Maroth and the bullpen hold the Rangers to two runs, while Shelton and the Tigers score 5 behind Shelton's 5th(! ) homer of the season. Thames looks solid with 3 hits as well, starting in place of Dmitri Young for some unknown reason that pays off.

Detroit is unstoppable.