Blissed Out on Ballgames Jason Michael Barker

I love Opening Day, not just because it means baseball is finally here again and life can begin once more, but because it gives you the chance to follow games you wouldn't normally care about. My beloved Seattle Mariners didn't begin play until yesterday, but the good people over at ESPN made sure there was plenty of baseball on Monday, even in the middle of the day.

Perhaps the biggest story was the Ken Griffey Jr.'s Cincinnati debut. Here in Seattle, the local sports talk station carried his at-bats live on the air, which angered some listeners enough that they felt compelled to call in and complain that they don't care to hear about Junior anymore. It really doesn't bother me either way, but I must admit I broke into a grin when he popped out in the first inning with a runner on second.

I'll also admit that for the first time since he was traded, it was weird to think that the man who was Seattle's baseball icon for so many years was really gone. To actually see him playing for another team, wearing another team's uniform and patrolling an unfamiliar outfield was quite an odd sight for this fan.

After the Reds-Brewers game was rain delayed, I caught a bit of the Cubs-Cardinals tilt on the radio. I normally don't mind Brent Musburger all that much, and I figured that paired with Dave Campbell he couldn't be that bad. Wrong. It wasn't so much his play-by-play that grated on my nerves, but a little thing he kept doing over, and over, and over...mispronouncing Fernando Viña's last name.

Now, I'm no Spanish major, but I learned enough growing up watching Sesame Street to know that when there's the little squiggly line over the "n," you pronounce it with a "y" sound, as in "piñata" or a variety of other words (or names). Yet instead of saying Fernando's name "veenya," as it should be, Musburger continually referred to him as "veena." If he had only listened to Campbell, who had it right from the beginning, Musburger wouldn't have sounded like a buffoon.

Now, a question for you at home (or at work, if you're on company time) to ponder. Which is worse: Musburger's mispronunciation of "Viña," or Jon Miller's ridiculous over-emphasis on names such as "Castilla" or "Mexico" ("Meh-hee-co") as if he were a native Spanish speaker? Think about it and get back to me.

Moving on, it's unfortunate that J.D. Drew has been reduced to a defensive sub in St. Louis, where the acquisition of Jim Edmonds seems to have cost Drew his starting center field job. A smart general manager should be on the phone right now trying to pry Drew away from the Cardinals, who appear to be underrating him after a 1999 season that didn't live up to the hype.

An now a few outstanding individual performances. First off, a big round of applause for Andres Galarraga, who hit a homer in his first game back since missing all of last season fighting cancer. It's amazing enough to me that a player can get back into baseball after a missing an entire season, and even more so that he's done it at his age. Then you throw in what he had to go through last season because of the cancer, and what he's accomplished already this season is an incredible feat.

Cleveland fans must be pleasantly surprised that Kenny Lofton was able to start in centerfield Monday (I know I was, what with Lofton on my fantasy team), considering that two months ago he wasn't supposed to return until the All-Star break. And he returned with a bang: two hits in four at-bats, including a home run off Mike Mussina. The Tribe will be just that much better this season for having Lofton all year instead of suffering through two months of the likes of David Roberts, Lance Johnson and Jacob Cruz.

Fans of the Texas Rangers who might have been worried about the loss of Juan Gonzalez should be smiling as well, after Gabe Kapler, the key player in the trade in my opinion, hit two homers against the White Sox in an attempt to provide that missing offense. Kapler is a tremendous power-hitter, a good young player and will be cheap for a the next few years -- that alone is a good return for one year of Gonzalez' services, regardless of whether Justin Thompson can stay healthy.

With Arizona closer Matt Mantei beginning the season on the disabled list, the trade that brought him over from Florida just keeps looking worse and worse. It was bad enough when the D-Backs gave up a great pitching prospect in Brad Penny and a good one in Vladimir Nuñez, then it got worse when super prospect Abraham Nuñez was included as the PTBNL. Now Mantei has tendinitis in his biceps and soreness in his shoulder, and while an MRI showed nothing more serious, you never like your pitchers to have any sort of shoulder injury.

Finally, before any of you get excited about the random journeyman who's going to hit four homers over the first week of the season while filling in for an injured regular, and trust me, there'll be one -- please keep in mind that it's completely out of context with the rest of his career, and the first week of the baseball season is a smaller sample size than even spring training.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker took out a home equity loan to buy the wall of televisions used to write today's column. Please write him with Jim Palmer's whereabouts at jmb@strikethree.com.