Opening Daze

Dave Paisley

Despite the best (or worst) efforts of Commissioner for Life Bud Selig, we actually have baseball again. I honestly don’t think there’s a sport that has such an emotional start to a new season. Lining up to enter Safeco Field in Seattle, the buzz was palpable (not that I’ve ever actually palped it, you understand.)

Coming off a 116 wins, it’s maybe not surprising that Seattle fans are pretty jazzed about the return of baseball. It’s not necessarily a satisfied buzz, though. There’s a lot of unfinished business that 116 wins, but yet another playoff exit at the hands of the Yankees has left on the table.

The opening day game in Seattle was nothing special. The home bats failed to come alive early enough, and the White Sox won a close game 6-5, primarily via beating up on middle reliever Ryan Franklin. The highlight of the day for Mariner fans was probably watching Ichiro collect his Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, Rookie of the Year and MVP awards. He almost needed the entire M’s roster to help him carry the hardware off the field.

Seattle wasn’t by any means the hub of opening day ceremonies, though. It’s been an interesting couple of days for ace starters. For most of them that’s been interesting bad, not interesting exciting. Take the opening day game in Anaheim (please!)

Jarrod Washburn wasn’t by any means the worst of the slew of number-one starters, but he wasn’t good enough to beat Bartolo Colon, who appears to be back for 2002, and this time it’s personal. Who does he think he is — Randy Johnson?

CLEVELAND          ip   h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
B Colon (W, 1-0)    9   5   0   0   2   5   0   0.00

ANAHEIM            ip   h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
J Washburn (L,0-1)  5   8   5   5   1   6   1   9.00

Speaking of the excessively tall one, he apparently does believe he is Randy Johnson and he pitched like him, too. He faced some tougher opposition in San Diego’s Jarvis and Nunez, and he only managed 8 K’s, but I believe we have a man on yet another mission.

SAN DIEGO          ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era<
K Jarvis (L, 0-1)   7  5   2   2   0   4   1   2.57
J Nunez             1  0   0   0   1   0   0   0.00

ARIZONA            ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
R Johnson (W, 1-0)  9  6   0   0   1   8   0   0.00

After Johnson and Colon, though, the pickings get pretty slim. And nowhere were they slimmer than in Boston, where the Blue Jays and Red Sox hooked up in a classic opening day pitchers' duel. Unfortunately, it was one of those duels where the winner gets to hit the showers first. Chris Carpenter won by the slimmest of margins, although he did win the home run derby by a handy margin.

TORONTO            ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
C Carpenter       2.1  6   6   6   3   3   4  23.14

BOSTON             ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
P Martinez          3  9   8   7   2   4   0  21.00

Other points of interest in Boston were the debuts of Tony Clark at 1B and Johnny Damon in CF, especially when compared with last season’s high-priced acquisition. Clark had a nice little 4 for 6 in the on-base stakes, matching Manny, but his three hits did more damage than Manny’s four walks. While Damon didn’t match that, he and Clark should add a lot of punch to the Red Sox offense this year.

BOSTON             ab  r  h rbi bb so lob   avg
J Damon cf          4  0  1  1   1  0   4  .250
M Ramirez lf        2  2  0  0   4  2   0  .000
T Clark 1b          5  2  3  3   1  0   1  .600

Another opening day fashion victim was Mike Hampton, who started well last year but faded horribly. Well, he didn’t even need the thin air of Coors to get kicked around on opening day. And he doesn’t have the excuse of conditions, because Matt Morris started the year in mid-season form for the opposition.

COLORADO           ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
M Hampton (L,0-1) 3.2  9   6   6   3   1   0  14.72

ST LOUIS           ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
M Morris (W, 1-0)   7  5   1   1   2   7   0   1.28

Perhaps the most heartwarming line of the opening games came from Baltimore, where Johnny Oates got a standing ovation as he threw out the first pitch, and then Roger Clemens got beat up pretty badly by the perennially bad Orioles.

NY YANKEES         ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
R Clemens (L,0-1) 4.1  7   8   8   5   4   1  16.61

BALTIMORE          ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
S Erickson (W, 1-0) 6  3   1   0   5   2   0   0.00

Rounding out our stable of suck-o-riffic opening day starters is Kevin Brown, whose famed intensity didn’t help him avoid getting shelled by the Giants early and often.

LOS ANGELES        ip  h   r  er  bb  so  hr    era
K Brown (L, 0-1)    4  9   7   7   1   5   2  15.75

And oh, by the way, any idea who was doing that shelling (well, other than David Bell)?

SAN FRANCISCO      ab  r  h rbi bb so  hr   avg
B Bonds lf          4  2  3  5   0  0   2  .750

Yeah, he’s back, and this time... well you know the rest.

Let the Aaron watch begin...

about the author

Baseball's back, and we're all loving it - even in Tampa Bay! Why not let Dave Paisley know just how happy you are at drdjp@strikethree.com? Maybe there's even a prize for the most exuberant response...