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 More General NewsGeneral LinksOpening Day is in the books and there is already a lot to digest from the first games of 2010. Each NL team is represented below, marked by a not-so-subtle nod to the general managers we focus so much of our site's attention towards and our namesake. The Brian Sabean ? Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle: "This is just an observation. I'm not trying to fear-monger or make any grand statements. But I'll say it: Pablo Sandoval has not looked good at the plate all spring. He is not barreling up the baseball and he is swinging at a lot of pitcher's pitches. He always does that, but usually the results are better." The Ned Colletti ? Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLA: "But starting Vicente Padilla on opening day doesn't necessarily mean the Dodgers don't have an ace.? It just means manager Joe Torre made a bad choice.? The choice wasn't bad because of Padilla's performance today, either; it was bad because Padilla is pretty clearly the fourth best starter at best on the club, behind Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, and Hiroki Kuroda.? With tomorrow's off day, there is plenty of time to dwell on today's bad game, but there is also a silver lining: the Dodgers have their best three pitchers starting the next three games, so there's plenty to look forward to in the short term, as well as the long term." The Dan O'Dowd ? Troy Renck of the Denver Post: "Ubaldo Jimenez camouflaged two untimely fielding errors with a terrific performance. He threw his first pitch at 95 mph, and his 99th and last at 97. In between, he allowed only one run in six innings on Ryan Braun's double, leaving with a 4-1 lead. "That was the guy we saw all last year," manager Jim Tracy said. The Josh Byrnes ? Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic: "(Arizona's) 6-3 victory over the San Diego Padres in front of a sellout crowd at Chase Field had a little bit of everything and most all of it was positive and a welcome change from last season's forgettable finish. For starters, they got midseason-form pitching from Dan Haren, who retired 15 consecutive batters at one point. But the second-youngest team in the National League also played solid defense behind him - a feat rarely seen by Arizona a year ago - and the hitting was almost insatiable. All six of the Diamondbacks' runs came on two-out hits and it featured a two-run single by catcher Miguel Montero, a two-run homer by third baseman Mark Reynolds and a two-run, inside-the-park homer by shortstop Stephen Drew. The Jed Hoyer ? Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "The Padres spent much of spring training working on their running game and defense ? hoping the ?small ball? brand of baseball would make up for shortcomings elsewhere. In the opener of their 42nd season, defense failed the Padres and they didn?t have enough runners during most of the game to stage a match race." The Doug Melvin ? Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel: "As always, opening day games are given way too much emphasis, so it was easy to dissect the?5-3 loss to the Rockies, 10 ways to Tuesday.? The Brewers went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base." The Jim Hendry ? Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald: "Hey, how about that Fukudome getting on base with a hit in his first at-bat? And D-Lee walking. OBP machines. But that was nothing until Marlon Byrd made his Cubs debut with a 3-run homer to center. Byrd became the first Cub since Henry Rodriguez to homer in his first Cubs at-bat. That happened on March 31, 1998, at Florida." CR Note: Purposely leaving out anything on Carlos Zambrano's four outs and eight runs. The John Mozeliak ? Bernie Miklasz of the Post-Dispatch: "You were worried about Albert Pujols' sore back? Never mind. He seems to be just fine. Pujols homered 410 feet to left-center in the first inning, then went 371 feet to right-center in the seventh frame. Overall Pujols had four hits, three RBIs, four runs and 10 total bases." CR Note: The OD performance from Pujols led me to examine who has had success against him and the list is predictably short. The Walt Jocketty ? John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "Pujols is the undisputed heavyweight hitting champion of baseball. But it seems like he saves his best for the Reds. ?Somebody?s getting him out,? Dusty Baker said. ?He ain?t hitting .800. He just started off hot. But you can?t walk him every time, especially with first base occupied and you?ve got (Matt) Holliday, a $100 million man coming up next. You?re asking for trouble.? " The Ed Wade ? Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle: "Roy Oswalt survived a first inning in which he described himself as ?a little bit pumped up,? but his motion really betrayed him in the second inning of his eighth consecutive opening-day start. The first four San Francisco batters reached base via hit or walk in the second as the Giants took a 3-0 lead on the way to their 5-2 win. ?In the second inning, I got out of sync a little bit with my mechanics, but I fell back in after that,? Oswalt said. ?I got going in the third, fourth and fifth and felt better mechanically.? " The Neal Huntington ? Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "The Legend, 6-foot-4 Garrett Jones, provided the liftoff with two home runs, the first one a majestic blast that reached the Allegheny River. Jones' first home run, a two-run shot in the first inning, came off a 1-2 elevated fastball from Los Angeles starter Vicente Padilla, and it carried 465 feet to right-center and bounced into the Allegheny, the 28th to do so at PNC and the second for Jones. "I shortened up a little with two strikes, and I think he was trying to bury it inside but left it over the plate," Jones said. "It felt like a great swing ... nice, short, good part of the bat. It felt effortless." The next one, a solo shot in the third, looked effortless: In his next at-bat, he sent Padilla's 1-0 fastball the other way, lofting it inside the left foul pole, to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. "Thought it was a popup," Jones said. " The Frank Wren ? David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: With the score 3-all in the first and thousands chanting ?Let?s go, Hey-ward ? let?s go, Hey-ward,? he dropped the bat head on a 2-and-0 Carlos Zambrano sinker and drove it to the Braves? bullpen beyond right field, sending a jolt through the ballpark. ?I haven?t seen [that energy at Turner Field] in quite some time,? third baseman Chipper Jones said. ?I don?t know that I?ve ever heard this stadium that loud, when Jason hit that home run. It was a spine-tingler, and the first of many career highlights for him.? It was the first swing of Heyward?s big-league career, and the result was a 446-foot homer. ?I saw him in batting practice today and it kind of looked like he was trying to lift the ball out of the ballpark,? said Jones, who was spotted talking to Heyward before the game. ?I was trying to tell him to hit the ball through the wall instead of hitting it over the wall.? Jones smiled and said, ?He compressed that first one pretty good. That was impressive. That was really impressive.? The Omar Minaya ? Andy Martino of the New York Daily News: "Was anyone surprised that the crowd had no love for the Mets' two trainers, the strength and conditioning coach and the physical therapist Monday? Considering the club's horrific recent injury history, some of the booing was light, though it increased in intensity as each member of the staff, from head trainer Ray Ramirez to his assistant, Mike Herbst, to strength and conditioning coordinator Rick Slate and physical therapist John Zajac, was introduced." The Ruben Amaro ? David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News: "From the moment (Carlos) Ruiz saw (Roy Halladay) in the lobby of the team hotel yesterday morning, he could see it. Even in spring training, Halladay had carried himself with a sense of purpose, eyes rarely straying from whatever task was at hand. Early on, that task was establishing his fastball and cutter. Later, it moved to the curveball. In a minor league game against the Yankees in late-March, the goal was to refine the changeup. At each step, Ruiz joined him, worked with him, familiarized himself with the individual idiosyncrasies that every starter possesses. And as various Phillies players waited for cabs to the ballpark, he could see that a new phase had begun." The Michael Hill ? Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald: Everything appeared normal with Cody Ross. Even though he went 0 for 4, he didn't appear to be favoring his calf when he ran out two ground balls. I talked to him afterward and he said there was "no issue" with the muscle." The Mike Rizzo ? Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post: "In a dispiriting opening day, Jesse English may have been the brightest highlight. He thought he had a chance to make the Nationals because they pursued him this offseason. But he was surprised that he had to chance to stand inside the Nationals' clubhouse and listen to President Obama joke that, "my Oval Office is smaller than your oval room," meaning clubhouse." |
