Opening Weekend-Is the Season Over Already

The Red Sox got swept by the Texas Rangers and start the season 0-3 for the first time since 1996.  Tampa Bay starts 0-3 as well after losing Carl Crawford in the offseason and find out that superstar third baseman Evan Longoria has a strained oblique and is on the DL.  The Yankees start out hot….again and the O’s have run away with the East!  What?

The Red Sox have been picked by many to win the East and the World Series but are they over hyped?  This weekend was more of a testament to the hitting prowess of the Rangers.  Texas has 7 guys with at least 5 AB hitting over .300.  Although the starting pitching for the Red Sox (Lester, Lackey and Buchholtz) were far less than stellar, I’m not concerned…yet.  The good news for the Sox is that they start a series with the Indians, a team known to cure many ills.

The perplexing thing for me this weekend was Francona’s quick decision to move Crawford to the seven spot in the lineup.  Sure he had a bad weekend, but Crawford knows how to work through it.  He’ll be fine.

The good news for the Sox came by way of the bats of Adrian Gonzalez and Big Papi.  Gonzalez is hitting .385 with 3 RBI and Papi sent 2 balls screaming and drove in 4 just like the Papi we used to know.

The O’s had the perfect combination of a team on the decline in the Rays and superb pitching by some young stars.  Their three starters combined for 20 innings pitched giving up only 1 run and 6 hits while striking out 17.  Very impressive but I don’t expect those numbers all season.

Remember, the season is young so let’s climb down from the ledge and see what is to come.  I think we’ll find that everything will work out in the end.

Opening Day (Night)

As previously mentioned, I’m more of a traditionalist than not with the understanding that some things have to change to remain relevant and not get passed by.  And, as with everything else in the world, I realize that money drives everything.  However, is moving the greatest day in Spring, that being opening day of course, that can be shared by baseball fans throughout the country to a single ‘opening game’ on Sunday night really necessary?  ESPN already runs the sports world, would it hurt for them to carry games on Monday and get the buzz that is happening all around the sport in stadiums everywhere and to miss out on one Sunday night game?  Baseball should start in Cincinnati like it did for years.  The parade, all the pomp and circumstance to kick off the new season.  Instead, the baseball world has to watch one game the night before and not get to enjoy the experience of actually being at opening day.  Sure the teams have their own ceremonies the following day and everyone has a great time but now it is the second day of the season.  The Yankees and Red Sox are going to draw plenty attention throughout the rest of the season, let’s let the other 28 teams enjoy one of the few things some teams have to celebrate for the entire season.