Week One part 2
(April 4th – April 10th)
“Opening Weekend: The Extended Version”
New York Mets
(2 – 1)
The Past (week one): Positive talk was unavailable on Friday night in Florida when talking about your NY Mets. Josh Johnson, as expected, was phenomenal and held the Mets hitless through 6 gut-wrenching innings. The Mets offense showed up for one inning on Opening Day and rallied for two runs in the Top of the 7th. Mike Pelfrey had control issues walking four Marlins and giving up the game’s first runs due to a John Buck grand slam in the 4th. He only lasted into the 5th inning giving up five earned runs and the way things were looking an hour and twenty minutes into game one Mets fans thought they were in a time warp back to 2010. D. Wright was still striking out, Reyes couldn’t find his way on the base paths and the worst part, Florida look decent. We expected this…a Josh Johnson loss I mean so let’s just move on.
Saturday night brought some baseball back in season for New York’s National League fans. Angel Pagan was back where he belongs and that’s batting in the number two hole and I think this makes a crucial difference in the Mets lineup. (Terry Collins was right to start Willie Harris against J. Johnson as he went 2 for 4 with a double the night before, but I don’t like him taking Pagan out of that spot.) So, Pagan is back where I like him and the main man, the man who will soon hold most of the Mets team records woke up…D. Wright. This game was the definition of how I remember watching the Mets for the last 20 or so years of my life. David Wright hits an opposite field home run on a 0 – 1 count…I like. In the 5th he makes a brutal error at third base putting their slim one run deficit in jeopardy with runners on 1st and 3rd and Hanley Ramirez coming to the plate ready to blow the game up. Niese digs deep and prevails jamming the most dynamic player on the Marlins and making him ground out ending the inning. J. Niese pitched seven strong innings, well six with a shaky first, but he did the job in the long run. Now, to the exciting finish…tied 2 – 2 in the 9th the Florida Marlins decided to put in there closer Leo Nunez. Talk about a shaky closer, this guy has never been solid. It all starts with a leadoff walk to Ike Davis, who doubled in a run earlier in the game. Then small fundamentals came into play. Lucas Duda, duda duda day and Brad Emaus both grounded out, but in both occasions pinch runner Chin-Lung Hu was able to move 90 feet…and then another 90 feet. Two outs and a there’s a kid on third we don’t know and a rookie catcher coming to the plate. Josh Thole needed to open up the season with a bang…something to like besides an above average spring. Thole then knocks base hit to left field and the Mets have their first lead of the series in the Top of the 9th in game two. Time for Frankie! Oh, boy! Hold on kids, it’s gonna get bumpy. I personally had faith in a one, two, three 9th and seeing the NY papers read “Oh, all is forgiven in Queens, for K-Rod is back with a punch”. To no avail, Lame-Rod. He strikes out L. Morrison…great. Then gives up a base hit to John Buck…bad. Strikes out some guy named Cousins…whatever, its back to great. Finally on consecutive pitches Bonifacio and pinch hitter Greg Dobbs both rip a pair of singles to tie the game at three. Holy shit, the “Muts” are back. To add another question mark to Frankie Rodriguez’s night he walks the speedster C. Coghlan on four straight pitches. Shit has hit the fan at this point and if he completely blows this game the Mets season would start the way many thought, utterly depressing. He calms down and gets Omar Infante to pop out to second base and it was caught because Luis C. Bum is no longer on the team so it was caught. Off to extras we go!
A beautiful 10th inning with Reyes leading it off with a slap base hit. Pagan shuffles out a bunt base hit (small ball baby!) and D. Wright blasts a single up the middle giving the Mets the lead for good. Captain, oh captain. Pinch hitting Willie Harris adds a base clearing double and the Mets win their first game of the season in style. Blaine Boyer gives up one, of course, but in time gets the three outs needed.
Sunday was better, an easier and more of the type of game you want to see your team play. No heart attacks pumping. No hair pulling. No nonsense. We didn’t get to see Dickey vs. Ricky, but the Mets did see Javier Vazquez and the pitches he threw very very well. Dickey pitched as strong as where he left off last year 6 innings no runs and 7 strikeouts, while Ike Davis and that small man Willie Harris both went yard. Jose Reyes hit a double and Daniel Murphy committed no errors at 2B. The Mets sealed up the three game series with a fine looking 9 – 2 win.
The Future (week one pt. 2):
Projected Pitching Match-ups
Game 4: Mets @ Phillies on Tuesday April 5th at 7:05pm
Chris Young vs. Cole Hamels
Game 5: Mets @ Phillies on Wednesday April 6th at 7:05pm
Mike Pelfrey (0 – 1, 10.38) vs. Joe Blanton
Game 6: Mets @ Phillies on Thursday April 7th at 3:05pm
Jon Niese (0 – 0, 2.57) vs. Roy Halladay (0 – 0, 1.50)
Game 7: Nationals @ Mets on Friday April 8th at 4:10pm *HOME OPENER
Cliff Lee (1 – 0, 3.86) vs. TBA
Game 8: Nationals @ Mets on Saturday April 9th at 7:10pm
TBA vs.TBA
Game 9: Nationals @ Mets on Sunday April 10th at 1:10pm
TBA vs.TBA
Game Four thru Game Six – This series isn’t that important, I know that sounds bad, but it’s true. The Mets just need to play good ball. That should be there goal right now. Form a team that wants to win and then win. They should beat down Blanton if they get to face him. When it comes to Cole Hamels it’s what you see is what you get. He is no better home then he is away (In 2010, 3.14ERA home – 2.96ERA away). He eats innings and pitches strong. Then there’s Roy, oh boy…hey he’s gotta lose a few games this year right. Put it this way and don’t take this as a knock, I say if the Mets keep the games close and competitive they win in the long run. Winning one out of three is a must, stealing a second game and winning the series well let’s just calm the fuck down.
Game Seven thru Game Nine – This is the series the Amazin’s need to tackle and hit hard. A home opening series against the Washington Nationals is something you dream for as a fan and minus Adam Dunn from their lineup and you got yourself a solid chance of going 3 – 0 at Citi Field. Jason Bay could return this weekend for an extra bat in the mix, but who really knows if that soft Canadian will get himself together and motivated to do some impact in New York.
The Mets bats show spunk, but next weeks’ foes are no punks
(A “weak” long prediction 4-2)
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New York Yankees
(2 - 1)
The Past (week one): A real straight forward type of day on Friday for the Bronx Bombers. We saw C.C. pitch a quality start by pitching 6 innings giving up 2 ERs while striking out 7 Detroit batters. He was followed by what Yankee fans plan to see for the rest of the season. It was a serious combination of Joba, Soriano and the Legendary Mariano Rivera who followed to solidifying an Opening Day win. The Tex-man and Curtis Granderson helped boost an offense with a dinger each, rounding out a lineup that was a bit baffled by Justin Verlander. The Yankees did strikeout a total of eight times within the first six innings because of the missile throwing Verlander, but the former Yankee prospect Phil Coke gave up the go-ahead homerun to Curtis in the 7th and from then on the Yankee’s were able to at least put the ball in play.
On Saturday’s game the Yankees took no time getting off to a quick start scoring six in the first two innings against Brad Penny. The powerful offense exploded with every player in the starting lineup getting a hit, except for Nick Swisher; however he did add an RBI from a sacrifice. A.J. Burnett pitching 5 innings giving up 3 and striking out 6, while Mark Teixeira catapulted his second homer in as many games (knocking out the theory of his usual slow April), were the two big stories coming out of their 10 – 6 win over the Tigers. I don’t know if A.J. was dealing with a head cold or the after effects of a dentist visit, but that guy looked like a “tweaker” Saturday afternoon on national television. Did you see that jaw of his almost falling off his face in between pitches? Tough to watch, but he did what he could under the circumstances. He got his first win of the season and the Yankees look built to hit balls and hit balls hard. A-Rod went yard after hitting his second double of the year earlier. Cano, Gardner and Jeter all had two hits and four runs between them…looking right…looking nice, knocking around a woeful Brad Penny who couldn’t get out of the 5th inning. The only small hiccup was Boone Logan struggling to retire the ninth, which eventually ended up having Girardi walking quickly to the mound with 2 outs in the and loaded bases for Detroit gesturing for “The Sandman”. Mo came in for a short one out save and got the job done to seal up the Yankees victory.
Sunday, the Yankees power continued to boast its reality on the new baseball season and stated strongly that their nine man lineup already shows its standard conception of how the ball is taught to be hit. All the pinstripe players can smash home runs at will, (Posada with 2, Cano with his 1st and yes, BIG TEX with his third HR in three games) and opposing pitchers will be weary when facing this 2011 Yankee lineup. In just three games so far, six out of the nine Yankees in the starting lineup have already hit HRs this season. A really fine stat to read, stare at and enjoy for a bit. The only problem was what all Yankee fans feared since Andy Pettitte said "peace-out" and GM Cashman couldn't pile up enough cash for Cliff Lee, there pitching was smacked around. Situation stands that the Tigers can hit the ball and in Game 3 they did. M. Cabrera hit two bombs and Brandon Boesch went 4 for 4 with 4 RBI's. Listen, like I said, it was going to happen. You can't hold down the Tigers, but you can out bash them. That's what the Yankees did over the weekend and any fool in the Evil world of Yankee love will take a 2 -1 weekend over Detroit...especially when you find out the Red Sox started out their season win-less of three in Texas...(cue Nelson from The Simpsons) “Ha-ha!”
The Future (week one pt. 2):
Projected Pitching Match-ups
Game 4: Twins @ Yankees on Monday April 4th at 7:05pm
Scott Baker vs. Ivan Nova
Game 5: Twins @ Yankees on Tuesday April 5th at 7:05pm
Brian Duensing vs. C.C. Sabathia (0 – 0, 3.00)
Game 6: Twins @ Yankees on Wednesday April 6th at 7:05pm
Carl Pavano (0 – 1, 15.75) vs. Freddy Garcia
Game 7: Twins @ Yankees on Thursday April 7th at 1:05pm
Francisco Liriano (0 – 1, 8.31) vs. A.J. Burnett (1 – 0, 5.40)
Game 8: Yankees @ Red Sox on Friday April 8th at 2:05pm
Phil Hughes (0 – 1, 11.25) vs. John Lackey (0 – 1, 22.09)
Game 9: Yankees @ Red Sox on Saturday April 9th at 1:10pm
TBA vs. Clay Buchholz (0 – 1, 5.68)
Game 10: Yankees @ Red Sox on Sunday April 10th at 8:05pm
TBA vs. TBA
Game Four thru Game Seven – The Twins are always tricky to handicap, but I think I figured it out. They are awesome against their division, the AL Central, but against most of the rest they’re simple o.k. Now, you put the Yankees as the opponent and they forget what it’s like to win. It’s a four game series and I can’t see the Twins losing all of them…again. In the inaugural season of the new Yankee Stadium there was an epic four game series that the Yankees won three of four in their last at-bat. Last year in the playoffs the Twins had no answer on how to beat them, so what helps the Twins this year? Maybe nothing, but maybe how quickly in the season these two teams play. Nova will get his first start of 2011 and Yankee hopefuls will be watching to see what the youngster can do as will I.
Game Eight thru Game Ten – This is wild. I’m writing this after the first weekend of baseball and the Boston Red Sox are 0 – 3. Texas literally beat the snot out of this potential World Series contender and they will be happy to be home. I understand completely that it’s only three games, but let me repeat myself…they got beat up! This is always a great series even though Boston usually gets the upper hand so early in the season, but if the Yankees take it to the Twins like they did to the Tigers pitching staff you bet your ass they’ll roll into Boston chests broad. The “pesky pole” will be a star in plenty of shots on ESPN Sunday night, look for it in the background. It sometimes plays second fiddle to Mark Teixeira, D. Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez and many other’s flying balls to Fenway Park’s short porch in right field.
Yankees bash dingers on their way to continue as winners
(A “weak” long prediction 5-2)
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Living in a Fantasy 1-2-3:
Who Killed It? - 1. Mark Teixeira smashing 3 HRs and 7 RBI’s hopefully putting those sour April starts in the past and keep them in the past. 2. Ian Kinsler putting out 3 HRs as well for Texas and only striking out twice in the three game series verses “great” Boston pitching. 3. Jaime Garcia pitching a complete game shutout for St. Louis giving up 4 hits and striking out 9 San Diego batters. After an awful Spring Training this was something the Cardinals needed to see after losing Adam Weinwright for the season and now Matt Holliday for about six weeks the day after opening day.
Who Thrill It? – 1. R. Weeks, on the Brew Crew sending out two, yes two lead-off home runs in his first at bat of the year on Thursday and his first bat of the game on Sunday. Sadly, even with the early leads Milwaukee could not win a game over this past weekend against the Reds. 2. Felix Hernandez gave up two runs quickly in his game against Oakland on Friday night and I’m sure you all missed it. However, the amazing ease of getting batters out came back to him so fast that after he threw 20+ pitches in the first, it only took him eighty more to complete the game and secure the win. 3. I’m just going to go out of my mind here right off the bat and say the Kansas City Royals thrilled it big time. The three game series was fantastic ending with a 13 inning hit-fest on Sunday and placing them on top of the AL Central at 3 – 0 all alone and I think they deserve celebration.
Who’s on Deck? – 1. Chris Tillman pitched no hit ball for 7 innings against a heavy hitting Tampa Bay lineup and looked great. He was pulled due to his young age, inexperience and of course the pitch count. Tillman threw 102 or 104 pitches that night. My eyes could fall out of my head right now and I refuse to look that stat up due to the fact that I hate the pitch count situation. 2. Brandon Belt from San Francisco looked loose and ready getting a hit in his very first major league at bat. The Giants lost three games this weekend, but gained a future 1st baseman. 3. Drew Stubbs for Cincinnati went 5 for 11 this weekend with a home run and 3 RBI’s. He’s quick and has a bunch of grit to add on that already young team.
Adam Hammer’s Loose Lips
- “Fausto Carmona gave up 10 runs in his first start of the season This is actually more runs than ESPN has predicted the Phillies Big Four will give up all year.”
- “Brian Cashman called the Mets use of Pedro Feliciano the last three years "abuse"… Dead wrong, the abuse was playing for the Mets in general.”
- “The Yankees are being accused of cheating on Opening Day. A Yankee staffer was holding up fingers to alert the players how fast the pitch was. If using your fingers is cheating, I have to go have a very awkward conversation with my girlfriend.”
- “Forget closing games, watching the Pirates cling onto a lead is like watching the detectives still cling onto The Ramsey parents as the ones who killed their daughter. We all know it's not happening, just let it go.”
Best Series You Missed – Game 1. KC scores in the Bot 9th from a Ka’aihue walk-off homerun winning the game 2-1
Game 2. KC scores 2 in the bottom of the 8th for a 5-4 win.
Game 3. KC scores 2 in the 9th after having loaded bases in the 8th and doing nothing. This team either refuses to give up or the Angels bullpen is in for a long season. This final game of the series was everything and more. After coming out hard KC took a 5 – 0 lead after just two innings in an attempt to sweep the series from the Angels, but the Angels battled back…then the Royals battled back themselves. After Jespen gets the final two outs of the 9th that Angels closer F. Rodney couldn’t get before leaving the game with the bases loaded we get to see some extra innings. Anytime there are over 30 hits in a game you got yourself some entertaining baseball. In this third game alone, there were 21 runs, 33 hits and a game winning bomb by Matt Treanor.
Best Series for you to Catch –
SERIES 1: Atlanta (2 -1) @ Brewers (0 – 3) The Brew-Crew attempts to straighten out the rocky start by traveling home from a place they could fear all season long. Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati might bring the beer-drinking city some heavy loses but they usually play well at home. Feeling the absence of their biggest off season addition in Z. Greinke its time to win a few and look forward and not at what happen this past weekend. Atlanta, who is said to be a playoff contender as well as Milwaukee, did what they needed to in the cold and rainy state of Washington over the past weekend taking 2 out of 3. This is a big four game series, where the Brewers either even things out or the Braves quickly make some room between the two.
SERIES 2: New York Yankees travel into hostile territory…Boston, Mass-of-pieces of shits. A weekend series in April with a Sunday night cap on ESPN 2, need I say more?
And now for your reading pleasure…
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The Future; According to the Late-Great George Carlin
- “Although people will not keep pets of any kind, someone will still occasionally step in dogshit.
NEXT WEEK
Monday April 11th
(Week Two April 11th – 17th)
Last Quip by Doctor KAS - So, I’m always the last guy to join the party, but I just found out about a movie titled “Troll 2”. There was a big stink a few months ago about a documentary called “Worst Movie Ever”. It’s about the making of this horrible sequel so I rented the documentary with Troll and Troll 2 which coincidentally came in a package deal on the same DVD. I couldn’t get through the first one at all because of its ridiculousness so my question is, if Troll 2 is the marketed as “the worst movie ever” what in the hell is Troll the original?
- And on a side note, the movies two main characters (not Sonny Bono and Elaine from Seinfeld) are the dad named Harry Potter, who is a writer and his son Harry Potter Jr. That’s a joke in itself.
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