Watch out, watch out - the Yankees are about

The Yankees completed their sweep of the A's with a 7-5 win in the Bronx last night. Among the things to note were Oakland's Barry Zito giving up an unprecented four home runs in a game, one of which was on the first pitch of the game to Derek Jeter, who finally broke out of his 0-for-32 hitting slump.

Alex Belth has a good account of the game over at Bronx Banter. His favourite moment was in the bottom of the seventh, with Bernie Williams at the plate:

With two strikes, you could see that Williams was fighting to remain patient, and keep his hands and weight back. Hammonds floated an Eddie Lopat special that tailed inside and Williams almost dropped his right knee to the ground and made a desperate stab at the pitch to foul it off. At the last possible moment, he chopped it foul toward the Yankee dugout. It looked as if a bumble bee suddenly zipped towards his face, and Bernie tried to karate-chop it away.

You could see a sheepish smile on Williams' face as he looked toward the dugout. He stepped back in the batter's box and swiftly struck out. When he returned to the bench, Williams sat next to Jeter, who was holding his stomach he was laughing so hard. The YES cameras showed Jeter immitating the chop swing several times, cracking up. It was a hearty, full-bodied laugh. Javier Vasquez was chuckling next to Bernie. Panning the rest of the bench, you could see the entire team joining in on the fun. Mattingly was dying, as was Torre. Finally, Bernie threw up his arms in mock fury and stood up in protest, going along with it. Godziller Matsui passed by and the joke was not lost in translation; he was smiling too.

I was intrigued by Alex's account, so I checked out the game on MLB.TV, and sure enough, there was the Yankee dugout splitting its collective side at Bernie's last-ditch karate chop.

As Alex says, it looks like the Yankees are "loose and smiling again. Funny what winning does to a team."

Boston - you have been warned...

On second thoughts...

I wrote earlier today that I wasn't really a baseball stat-freak, but then I read the latest instalments of Jayson Stark's Really Useless Information column and realised that the statement isn't quite true. I am a stat-freak, but only in the sense that I love stats as trivia - to be honest, I can't seem to get into or enjoy detailed analysis of, say, Johan Santana's pitching, although I have the utmost respect and admiration for those who can, but give me a nugget like this: "The Marlins' highest-paid pitcher the last two years has been Mike Hampton -- even though it just so happens he has been pitching for the Braves all that time. But in a way, the Marlins have gotten their $15 million's worth because, amazingly, Hampton has started against the Marlins six times in that span but hasn't beaten them once. He's 0-3, with a 6.87 ERA, against Florida, and the Marlins are batting .297 against him," and I'll be happy all weekend.

(Note to any friends who might be reading: I'll also be looking to share this useless information with others, so if you see me heading your way with an eager look on my face, I suggest you take cover).

Meet Me In St. Louis

Last weekend it was the Yankees and the Red Sox, but this weekend sees the commencement of what former Cubs' star Ryne Sandberg calls 'the battle of the Midwest, as the Cubs take on the Cardinals in a four-game series at Busch Stadium. Although the series is less hyped by the media than those up on the East Coast, it promises to be an intense weekend in Missouri, especially after all the hoopla surrounding last year's Spetember meetings between the two teams, which saw six batters hit in the space of three games.

The two clubs played a total of 17 games against each other last year, and the Cardinals came out ahead, 9-8. It'll be interesting to see whether the division-leading Cubs can keep up their current momentum (7-3 over their last ten games), or whether the slightly lukewarm Cardinals (who are playing .500 ball right now) will be buoyed by Jim Edmonds' game-winning home run in extra innings last night against the Pirates.

To bunt or not to bunt? That is the question...

And speaking of fundamentals, there's a good post over at Talking Baseball that appeals to the anal-retentive baseball fan lurking deep inside me. As anyone who comes here regularly knows, I'm not a big stat freak, but, on the other hand, I am willing to get lost for hours in a discussion of whether the sacrifice bunt is a good strategy or not. Go figure.

Doing it Hall

Talk about a good couple of days - one night after hitting a pinch-hit, walk-off home run against the Reds, Milwaukee Brewers inflielder Bill Hall laid down a walk-off bunt in the bottom of the tenth inning (having already hit a game-tying double in the eighth) to clinch a 10-9 win against Cincinnati.

It's been a hell of a couple of days in Milwaukee - in the space of two games they've had a player hit for the cycle, a walk-off home run and a walk-off suicide squeeze (both by the same guy!) and, to cap it all, the biggest comeback win in franchise history.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather see a walk-off suicide squeeze than a walk-off home run. I guess I'll always be a baseball fundamentals kind of guy...

Ahoy the SS Mariner, RIP

But have no fear, dear reader - Paul's daily thoughts from the Pacific Northwest on "That nice Dan Wilson" and the fortunes of Arsenal FC have simply moved to a new home - they can now be found at "Nice Guys Finish Third" (a somewhat optimistic name, given the M's start to the season, but ya gotta believe...). If you're not already a regular visitor there, then you should be - go check it out.

Taking baseball to the world

Just as playing Major League games in countries other than the US and Canada is - despite what the Yankees may think after their gruelling trip to Japan - a good thing, so is the idea of a baseball World Cup. Jayson Stark points out that we're still a long way from it actually happening, given that there are so many unresolved questions (which countries should be involved? which players are eligible? where would it be played? etc.), but I like the idea of a truly international competition.

Stark plays devil's advocate in asking why countries such as Italy, China or the Netherlands should be invited to take part, but he answers his own question in a way that couldn't be any clearer if it had come from Beijing or Bologna: "To ensure that this is a truly global extravaganza and to build the popularity of the sport in those countries."

If you're reading this from the other side of the Atlantic, it might be hard to imagine just how much of a minority sport baseball is here in Europe, for example, and how much work is needed to help develop its appeal and popularity. I can't speak with any authority about Italy or the Netherlands, but I do have some figures from France which give an idea of how minor a sport baseball is over here: in a country of 55 million inhabitants, just 8,000 are registered baseball players (all age-groups combined). I'll do the math for you - that's just 0.0145% of the population, so there is a lot of work to be done.

What I love about baseball is one of the things that might well turn off people who know nothing about the sport - it's the quintessential American sport, filled with subtle rules that often come into play once in a blue moon (you try explaining the infield fly rule to somebody who still hasn't quite grasped the basics of the ball / strike thing...). This means that, even if initiatives were launched to mass-market the sport, most potential fans would be turned off before they even got started. 'Converting' people to what Annie Savoy called "the church of baseball" is something that can only be done effectively on a small scale, at least here in France.

This is how the conversation usually goes when I speak to friends / colleagues:

Friend: "So, what are you up to this weekend?"
Me: "I'm playing baseball".
Friend: "Baseball? As in...baseball?"
Me: "Yeah."
Friend: "You mean you go to the park and throw the ball around for a while?"
Me: "No, I mean organised baseball."
Friend: "Here in Paris? You mean there are real teams playing in leagues and stuff?"
Me: "Sure. Why don't you come along and check out a game?"
Friend: "Ooooh, I dunno - I won't have a clue as to what's going on!"
Me: "Well, I'll come along with you and explain the rules, so you won't be lost and / or bored..."

And so the friends come along (if the sun is shining) and you know what? They actually have a good time, because it's fun to watch and totally different from anything they've seen before, and with a little commentary from me, they can actually understand more or less what's happening on the field. More often than not, they come back for a second or third look, and tell other friends and colleagues about these eighteen guys they saw chasing a little white ball around a big field, and the whole process is repeated all over again.

As you can see, the gospel is being spread on a very small scale, but, little by little, interest in the sport is growing (only last week, a free sports-oriented newspaper handed out in the Paris subway featured not one but two baseball-related articles, one on Barry Bonds and another on the basics of the game), and it needs initiatives such as the World Cup to help it along. As Jayson Stark points out, there's nothing like a bit of patriotic fervour to stir the hearts of sports fans (or even casual observers, as France's triumph in the 1998 soccer World Cup proved), whatever the sport.

All that is required now is for all tricky problems to be resolved...

Taking stock

It's a fairly quiet day, baseball-wise, so I thought I would point you in the direction of an old Baseball Desert favourite: Thomas Boswell, who likes the Red Sox and Cubs for 2004. Boswell has this to say about the Cubs:

Meanwhile, the Cubs are on a six-game winning streak, the longest in the majors. How is this possible? They won't even have Mark Prior back in the rotation until May. Yet their last six starting pitchers have all picked up wins with Matt Clement striking out 13 and taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning Sunday against the Mets. If the Red Sox can humiliate the Yankees without their best player, Nomar Garciaparra, why shouldn't the Cubbies be able to charge into first place without their ace? See, wasn't it a superb idea to get ex-Cub Greg Maddux as a rotation insurance policy?

Write this down so you can mock me later. By September, there will be serious discussions of whether the current Chicago rotation -- yes, the Cubs -- is the best five-man assemblage in history. At the top, Prior and Kerry Wood (3-1, 2.60) could be as dominant as almost any pair ever. But the famous tandems like Koufax and Drysdale or Johnson and Schilling didn't have three top arms behind them. Clement (3-1) and Carlos Zambrano (2-0, 1.29) would be fine No. 3 starters on most staffs. The key is Maddux, just 10 wins from 300. If his last sharp seven-inning start is a tip-off that he has one last true Mad Dog year left in him, then the Cubs are a truly special team.

I'm as enthusisastic as Boswell is about a season that's barely under way, and I hope that his April analysis still rings true come October:

With a start like this, it's going to be hard to prevent '04 from being one of baseball's most entertaining seasons.

Marlins on the move?

As the deadline for the Marlins' new stadium looms, Jayson Stark looks at where the team might end up if financing for the proposed $325m stadium in South Florida can't be found. It's a bit like Where Can We Move The Expos, Part II, with Las Vegas and Washington, DC being mentioned as prime candidates (even though apparently no-one is actually talking about a move).

Without going into the logistics or demographics of any of the possible moves (which throw up very simple but unanswerable questions such as "where the hell would they actually play their games next year?"), I have to say that I'd like to see the Marlins in the Nevada desert - they'd fit right in with the bright lights and the noisy, brash, energetic character of the city. "Vegas hurler Josh Beckett" has a certain Wild West gunslinger ring to it, doesn't it?

D*mn Yankees?

Although he's quick to point out that the season is only three weeks old, David Pinto has a good post on how tight things seem to be in the various divisions, which he attributes to there being very few 'doormats' so far. He sees the luxury tax as being one of the reasons behind that - teams are spending the extra money on improving their rosters - so instead of cursing the Yankees, we should be thankful to them.

Sssshhhh...

...don't shout it out too loud, but the Texas Rangers are tied for first place in the AL West.

(Oh yeah, and the Mariners suck, but this is not really news to those who follow the fortunes of the M's. Still, all is not lost - Paul over at the SS Mariner is very happy about Arsenal winning the English Premiership...).

Too many games, not enough time

I signed up for MLB.TV again this year, in the hope that I would find the time in the evening or at the weekend to watch some day games from the East Coast, but it's just not happening right now (mainly because I only have a broadband connection at work), so I'm grateful that there is a "Condensed Game" option on the website. I wasn't too enamoured with the concept to begin with, because what I like about baseball is the rhythm of the game, but given that I just don't have the time to watch the full games, the condensed game is a pretty good option to fall back on. You obviously don't get the full feel of the game, but there's enough to sense, for example, that Pedro was on top of his game yesterday and that the Yankees were terrible (just what were Matsui and Jeter up to in left field on David Ortiz's fly-ball that ended up falling in for a ground-rule double?).

Hopefully between now and the end of the season I'll find the time to watch some complete games, but in the meantime condensed baseball is a pretty good substitute.

Break out the brooms

I didn't have access to the Internet over the weekend, so I was unable to follow the games, but I certainly didn't expect to come into work this morning to discover that the Red Sox had swept the Yankees in New York.

It's early days yet, and so both sides were playing down the sweep, because they know that the Yankees can't possibly play like that all season. The Yankees haven't yet hit the panic button, even though yesterday saw Derek Jeter getting booed in the Bronx, and the Red Sox know better than to count their chickens. Manny Ramirez probably summed up the situation best, in his own inimitable way:

"The objective here is to win the World Series, not to beat the Yankees. They're the ones who got the rings. We don't got nothing."

He's right - the Red Sox don't got nothin' yet, but they have to be happy to be leaving town with a three-game sweep. On top of that, they're off back to Boston to play three games against the Devil Rays, whilst the Yankees' reward for what Joe Torre called "a terrible weekend" is Oakland's formidable trio of Hudson, Mulder and Zito. It's going to be an interesting week in the AL East.

Manny strings to his bow

Gordon Edes has a good article in the Boston Globe on the emergence of the new, media-friendly Manny Ramirez. Manny ain't no smooth-talkin' A-Rod, but at least you know it comes from the heart.

Oh yeah, and in case you hadn't noticed, he's a hell of a hitter, too...

It's all in the detail

One of the reasons I love baseball is that, out of nowhere, I can become suddenly and totally engrossed in how, why, when and to whom a 21-year-old Devil Rays pitcher I'd never heard of until about ten minutes ago throws his slider.

Les poissons d'avril

Apparently there are some games being played in some ballpark in the Bronx this weekend, but I have to say that I'm in more of a National League place right now, so I'll be keeping an eye on what's happening down in South Florida, where the Marlins will be playing the Braves. The Marlins are hot right now, but the Braves swept the first series of the season between the two clubs, which, as I read somewhere yesterday, served to remind everyone that the road to the National League East title still runs through Atlanta.

Still in the East, the Phillies will be glad to see the back of the Marlins, who left town yesterday with a three-game sweep under their belt. Tempers flared in yesterday's 9-7 victory by the Marlins, but it apparently wasn't enough to motivate the Phillies, who lost their ninth straight game to the Fish.

The Marlins continue to personify that sort of cocky (but ultimately likeable) attitude of the little kid who's not afraid to give the big guys a hard time. After yesterday's game, manager Jack McKeon, when asked to comment on Phillies pitcher Brett Myers - whose inside pitch to Alex Gonzalez started the benches-clearing brawl - was at his old-school cigar-smokin' trash-talkin' best:

"Maybe that's the way he can try to beat us. Maybe he doesn't have stuff to beat us the old fashion way. He tried to intimidate us, but it didn't work. The guy didn't show me too much."

The Marlins weren't afraid of the Cubs or the Yankees last October, and they're not afraid of anyone now - I maintain yesterday's prediction that they're going to have another great season, but whatever happens, I'm going to enjoy watching them over the next five months or so.

Barry Baseball?

Baseball Widow is currently busy with her law finals, so she's let Baseball Hubby step in and write a few posts. I thought that today's post was an interesting one, since it concerns Barry Bonds and his home-run streak. Baseball Hubby's argument is an extension of what I said the other day about a team being made up of one player - my argument was that "one stellar slugger doth not a baseball team make", whereas his argument is more "one stellar slugger doth not the sport of baseball define":

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’m as pleased as the next guy with stats, records, and streaks, but are they really more important than the game itself? Here’s an example. It seems like ESPN is interrupting its programming for every single Bonds at bat. The reason is simple, to see if Barry makes history. But think for a second if the game situation is taken into consideration (or even given to the viewer). When the at bat is done, so is the coverage, as if there wasn’t even a game with 9 innings and 2 teams vying for the win. Think also of the headlines about Giants ballgames, a typical one might read, “Bonds does it again with a record setter, and, by the way, the Giants lose.”

[...]

Last night, however, Bonds didn’t homer. This stopped his streak of games with a homer just short of the record held by a few other players. People will be complaining today that Bonds didn’t get the chance he deserved because Jake Peavy (the Padres pitcher) walked him twice. The game announcers certainly spent a lot of hot air on the subject. Lost (to me) in this talk was the fact that Peavy was tossing a shutout for a team trying to compete with the giants for the pennant. So what will the headline be for this game? Could be “Pads over .500 on the strength of Peavy’s gem,” but I wouldn’t bet my Balco stock against one like this, “Bonds misses records, and by the way Giants lose.”


ESPN's headline actually read "Schmidt struggles; Peavy shines", but it's a valid point nonetheless.

My hero

If you asked me to pick my all-time baseball hero, it wouldn't take me more than a second to come up with the answer: Cal Ripken, Jr. - great player, great attitude, great person. John Donovan has written a good piece on what Ripken continues to give back to the game, even in retirement.

MLB.com has got in on the act as well - it has an interesting interview with Ripken, who talks about both his career (notably 'The Streak') and what he has done since then.

Fightin' Fish

The Marlins once again proved last night that the never-say-die spirit which helped lead them to a World Series championship last year is still alive and well - after giving up five runs to the Phillies in the 6th inning, Florida then scored five runs in the 7th to claw their way back into the game, which they won 8-7 in extra innings. The offense was fuelled by Mike Lowell, who set a franchise record by becoming the first ever Marlin to homer three times in a game (including one off Phillies closer Billy Wagner).

The Marlins are now sitting pretty atop the division, with a 10-4 record. I know we have to use the habitual caveat - "It's only April" - but this is still a team to be reckoned with, and my guess is that they'll be there or thereabouts come playoff time. Ladbrokes currently has them at 20-1 to win the Series - if you fancy making a bit of money in October, they might well be worth a bet.

Out of left field

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you John Van Vleet, an intern for the Brevard County Manatees, who has decided to try to live on the centerfield berm at Space Coast Stadium for the duration of the baseball season. Check out his journal entries in the "Press Box" section of the Manatees website.

I'm glad I came across the article for two reasons: 1) it's always reassuring to know that there are still a lot of crazy people out there willing to do completely pointless things for no apparent reason, and 2) I discovered the word "berm", the existence of which I had been blissfully unaware of for the past thirty-four years.

I will - as they say here in France - go to bed less stupid than when I got up (and it's not every day you can say that with any measure of certainty...).

O's say can you see...

...who is sitting atop the American League East? It's a refreshing change to see Baltimore leading the pack in their division. Last night they got a great pitching performance from Sidney Ponson, who needed only 88 pitches (71 of them strikes) to dispose of the Devil Rays.

It seems that the winds of change are blowing in Baltimore, and that the arrival of new manager Lee Mazzilli and the high-profile signings (Lopez, Tejada, Palmeiro) has revitalised the ballclub. It'll be interesting to see if the Orioles can build on this great start to the season, but right now I'm enjoying looking at the standings and seeing a name other than New York or Boston in first place.

"Bonds ..., but ..."

If proof was needed that baseball is a team game played by individuals, then look no further than Barry Bonds. He hit yet another home run last night (making it eight in his last seven games and leaving him just one game short of the Major League record of home runs in consecutive games), but the Giants lost 9-5 to the Padres. Despite Bonds' amazing feats, the Giants are 2-5 over that seven-game streak, proving that one stellar hitter doth not a baseball team make.

The Number of the Beast

Barry Bonds hit career home-run number 666 last night against San Diego. I don't particularly like the guy (he was on my 'don't pick' list for the fantasy baseball auto-draft this year...), but you have to tip your hat to his achievements. He has now homered in six straight games, and was named NL Player of the Week, thanks to the following scary stats:

BA .733, HR 6, RBI 13 (you can also throw in just 1 walk and 1 strikeout for good measure...).

What can you say, other than "Wow!"? (I guess you could also say "BALCO", but that doesn't explain away all the stats - if pitchers can be 'unhittable', then I guess Bonds is 'unpitchable' right now).

Step towards third

It looks like the Mariners are finally putting one or two decent results together. Last night saw them beat the A's 2-1 in a four-and-a-half-hour marathon. If you have access to MLB.com's video highlights, check out some great - if scary - defensive plays.

If proof was needed that the M's luck has maybe finally turned, at least for now, it can be found in the person of the losing pitcher, Oakland's Justin Duchscherer, who, after fourteen innings of baseball, managed to balk home the winning run from third base, which is the kind of thing the M's seem to have been doing up until now. There are 101 to lose a ballgame, but if you were to choose the top 5 ways you don't want to do it (especially after extra innings), that one would definitely be up there.

I should be so lucky

This is baseball-related only inasmuch as it concerns the US commercials I get to see when I watch MLB.TV. There's one that keeps coming up (if you'll pardon the pun) on WGN for some product aimed at helping men - erm, how can I put it? - keep it up. OK, that's fine - there's nothing wrong with getting a little help now and again, but what's scary are the words of warning at the end of the ad - there are the usual warnings about not taking this particular product if you're already taking heart medication etc., but then there's a warning which says something along the lines of: "In the rare cases where an erection should last more than four hours, please seek immediate medical attention...".

I dunno, if it were ever to happen in this neck of the woods, I'd probably be more inclined to call the local paper ;-)

In good company

I don't feel so bad about having gone 0-for-the-weekend in our Easter tournament when I see that A-Rod is 0-for-14 in the Series against the Red Sox. Something tells me that Boston fans are enjoying this slump, however temporary it may be.

Tears in my eyes

I'm discovering the joys of NESN sports broadcasts this afternoon, and I have to say that their "One Nation. One Network" commercial is heady stuff - if they show it one more time I think I'm gonna cry. Oh to be a member of Red Sox Nation...

Hurrah for the Boston Marathon!

I'm not a big fan of running around the streets of major cities for fun, but I'm happy that today is Boston Marathon day / Patriots' Day, because it means an 11am start at Fenway, and the opportunity for me to watch the fourth game of the not-at-all-over-hyped 'Showdown in Beantown'. It doesn't really matter how MLB.com is billing the series - to me it's still live baseball on my PC, whilst I 'work' on the minutes of our last company meeting ;-)

No. 42

Today baseball honours one of the most important figures ever to don a Major League uniform by celebrating Jackie Robinson Day. If you have a minute, go check out the extensive tribute on MLB.com to a man who single-handedly changed the face of baseball as we know it.

D-Day

The Marlins beat the Expos in San Juan last night to take their sixth straight game, thanks in large part to a stellar performance by Dontrelle Willis. The Florida left-hander wasn't content to throw five shutout innings - he also went 3-for-3 at the plate, making him 6-for-6 for the season (including a double and a home run).

Not to be outdone, Marlins outfielder Miguel Cabrera hit yet another home run (his fifth in his last 13 at-bats). Cabrera has now homered in four straight games and is proving that last season was no fluke. He can hit, hit for power, play pretty much any defensive position you ask him to - this guy is a star in the making. The icing on the cake is that I managed to draft him onto my fantasy baseball team, so he's also making me look like a good manager, which is a very rare occurrence. I hope his season continues in the same vein...

Easter tournament update

For those of you who were awaiting the results of our Easter baseball tournament with baited breath, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you. I had a fine time playing and watching baseball all day Sunday and Monday, but as a team, we did zip on the field - we lost all four games and finished dead last. My own performance was perfectly in line with that of the team, as I was 0-for-the-weekend, with 1 walk and 1 measly RBI, and, to make matters worse, I had at least two horrible errors out in center field.

Still, it was great to be back on the field again (including my first-ever game at first base), and that's what counts. As for our season, hopefully things will pick up again and we'll be able to put together some good results. Watch this space for more details as the season unfolds.

Meat and potato man

MLB.com's John Schlegel has a good piece on Barry Bonds' latest personal milestones.

In this age of legal battles over souvenir baseballs, it was also nice to note that the fan who caught the ball Bonds hit into McCovey Cove for #660 decided to give the historic momento to Bonds and Willie Mays. Still, I guess the gods rewarded him for his selfless gesture by making sure he was on hand the following night to dive into the water to collect the ball from homer #661. If there's ever another major earthquake in the Bay Area, this is the guy you want to be standing next to...!

Let's play two (and then two more...)!

After almost a month on the DL, I should finally see some baseball action this weekend, as our team is taking part in our club's annual Easter baseball tournament. If the weather (and my ankle) holds out, that means we are scheduled to play two games on Sunday, and then another two on Monday. After a month's absence, it's the perfect opportunity to get back into the swing of things (if you'll pardon the pun), and the fact that the games aren't official league games makes the comeback all the more relaxed and enjoyable.

ESPN are a little short-staffed this weekend, so they won't be covering our tournament live, but if I can get some pictures taken and figure out how / where to post them, I will do so next week ;-)

Get your Motor runnin'

I don't know whether the offseason signings are what has lit a fire under the Tigers or whether they're simply reacting to a dismal 119-loss season in 2003, but whatever the reason, Detroit is off to a 4-0 start, which is something the city hasn't seen since 1985. Yesterday they came from behind to beat the Minnesota Twins 10-6.

One of the key factors in the Tigers' turnaround - though not the only one - is clearly Pudge Rodriguez. I heard the Fox Sports commentary team talking about his influence on the Detroit pitching staff, and his commanding leadership presence on the field, which is exactly what we heard about him last year in Florida. Add to that the fact that he is a fine hitter (he went 2-for-4 yesterday, with a walk) and a great catcher (he threw out Cuddyer trying to steal second base and caught Corey Koskie too far off the bag with that trademark bullet of his to first base), and it looks like the Motor City might have finally found the engine it was looking for.

Opening Day: take three

Regardless of where my love-hate relationship with the Yankees is right now (and to be honest, I'm not really sure - I'm interested in seeing how the new recruits fare in pinstripes), there's still something exciting about Opening Day in Yankee Stadium. After opening the season in Japan, and then playing at the Devil Rays' home opener in Florida, the Yankees finally get to play their own home opener against the White Sox in the Bronx.

It's reassuring to know that the big-name stars, despite their years of experience in the game, get all worked up about it too. Gary Sheffield says: "I can't wait to get home, to feel that Opening Day. I've seen many on TV, and now to have a chance to be a part of it. It's like "American Idol," how they always go to a commercial. That's how I feel."

I think I feel the excitement more this season than in previous years because the "I've seen many on TV, and now I have a chance to be part of it" line applies to me too - not in terms in Opening Day, but in terms of finally getting to see a Major League baseball game in person. After a decade-and-a-half of following the sport at a distance, I have tickets to see the Yankees play the Red Sox in the House That Ruth Built on September 18th. A lot can happen between now and then - and given my track-record of cancelling trips at the last minute, I won't count my chickens until I'm actually sat in the upper deck eating a $10 hot-dog - but I'm looking forward to finally taking this long-distance love-affair with baseball to the next level.

Mighty Mike

Mike Piazza went 5-for-5 last night for the Mets - including two home runs - but it didn't stop the Mets getting crushed 18-10 by the Braves. The Braves were trailing 6-0 before they scored 11 runs in the fourth inning and put the game out of the Mets' reach.

Piazza is well and truly back - after his much-publicised streak of 88 at-bats without hitting a home run, he now has 3 in the last two games, and is now just one home run short of Carlton Fisk, who set the career mark for catchers with 351 home runs.

Clash of the titans

All eyes were on Houston yesterday, as Roger Clemens went head-to-head with Barry Bonds as the Astros played the San Franscisco Giants. Bonds won the pre-game quote battle by saying that Clemens (and Pettitte) better hit their spots, but Clemens did his talking on the field, striking out Bonds twice in the seven innings that he pitched in Houston's 10-1 victory. The highlights I saw seemed to indicate that Bonds wasn't too happy with the two called third strikes he took, but the pitches looked good to me - Clemens hit the perfect spot both times with low fastballs, and the strikeouts were two of a total of nine he recorded during the game. His final pitching line looked like this:

IP 7.0 H 1 ER 0 BB 3 SO 9 ERA 0.00

Not bad for a guy who was supposed to retire at the end of last season.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I'm glad to see that I'm not always a voice crying in the Desert - Dan Shaughnessy says his piece on Pedro leaving the ballpark early on Opening Day. I don't always agree with Shaughnessy's POV, but I do feel he hits the nail on the head on this one.

Apparently Terry Francona has talked to Martinez about the issue and everything is clear, but it doesn't look good for him to be saying things like this about not leaving the ballpark early:

"I didn't communicate it very well. I passed out some of the guidelines early and that was my fault because Pedro didn't even get it. Remember he came a couple days late? I overlooked that. It's my fault."

Smooth people management, or pandering to a temperamental star in the final year of his contract? Only time will tell.

2 down, 160 to go...

Speaking of games that count, the Minnesota Twins already know a thing or two about the subject. Their 2-0 record so far has been achieved at a price.

Too much information

I thought that the news-filled offseason had got me ready for the start of the baseball season, but I guess that's not the case. Yesterday saw an almost complete programme of major league games, and already my brain is hurting from trying to keep up with all the news.

MLB.com has been quick to point out that, as things stand right now, four clubs who finished last in their divisions in 2003 are currently in first place, with a combined 8-1 record. As I said last week about the Tigers, nobody will be putting any money on these teams right now to win the Series, but the fact remains that they're off to a great start after disastrous seasons last year. The old adage - the one that we hear coming out of New York year after year - is that it isn't how you start the season that matters, it's how you end it. However, SI.com's John Donovan points out that a team's performance in April, whether good or bad, often sets the tone for the whole season.

If you think about it, these early games are actually even more important than that - not only do they set the tone, but they are also - as baseball players and managers and writers and bloggers remind us during every single Spring Training - games that count. We often focus on those big games down the stretch, and we anticipate five months ahead of time those Yankees / Red Sox series in September, but it's worth remembering that, in absolute terms if not in terms of tension and prestige, the games being played this week are just as important. Everybody is assuming that the AL East will be a dogfight down to the wire between Boston and New York, so just imagine that the Red Sox win the division by a game - you think that Mike Mussina and the Yankees aren't going to look back with regret on the two games they lost to the Devil Rays in the space of one week? Yeah, these April game are setting the tone, but they're also helping to decide who will go to the postseason.

Cowboy up (and went home)

To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart, it doesn't take much to see that problems of a starting pitcher and his ballclub don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, except, of course, when the starting pitcher is Pedro Martinez and the ballclub is the Boston Red Sox.

It appears that Martinez left the ballpark before the end of Boston's Opening Day loss to the Orioles. In the greater scheme of things, it really is of no consequence, but if I were on the Red Sox team, I wouldn't be happy about it, whatever the reasons for Martinez' early departure. I hate it when players on our team leave the game, then pack their bags and head on home before everything is over, and that's just a Sunday afternoon amateur league. If you're going to drink the champagne when the team comes through with a huge victory, then the least you can do is be around to take the loss with the rest of the guys.

Okay, it's the first week of the season and I'm ranting already, but Pedro is one of those players who has the ability to get me worked up for very little reason.

Rant over - back to baseball...