And They're Off!

Wow. I'm Jewish, so I don't fully know what it's like to celebrate Christmas, but if I had to guess, I'd say that it's something like what I'm feeling now. Did I just compare Opening Day to one of the biggest holidays around? You bet I did, because it's the only appropriate way I know to express this overwhelming joy: BASEBALL STARTS TODAY. Finally, life begins anew. Still too early to discuss many of the burgeoning storylines for the 2011 season, but already interesting things have happened:

• Atlanta's Jason Heyward started off the '11 season the same way he began the '10 season, with a home run in his first plate appearance of the year (he's the second player in history to do so). The Braves beat the Nationals 2-0. Other highlights of that game include the official debut of Jayson Werth for Washington and Dan Uggla for Atlanta...Werth went 1-4 without scoring, while Uggla went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. Also, Livan Hernandez, a renowned Braves-killer, came up short with 4 hits, 2 runs and 3 K's in 6.1 innings, while Derek Lowe went 5.2 with 0 runs on 3 hits and 6 strikeouts.


• CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander clashed as the Tigers helped to kick the season off in the Bronx with the Yanks; both pitched 6 innings with similar stats (7 K's for Sabathia, while Verlander had 8; both allowed 3 runs, CC on 6 hits and Justin on 3), while Mark Teixeira propelled the Yanks to a 6-3 win with a 3-run homer. Other highlights: as predicted, Derek Jeter was forced to relinquish the leadoff spot to Brett Gardner (Jeet went 1-2 with an RBI, whereas Gardner had two strikeouts). Magglio Ordonez looked weak in his debut after a season-ending injury last July, going 0-4, but hyped centerfielder Austin Jackson went 1-4 with 3 punchouts.


• The Brew Crew made a strong debut in Cincinnati by beating the Reds. Rickie Weeks, Carlos Gomez and Ryan Braun all homered off of Edison Volquez, and even though reigning MVP Joey Votto homered as well, the Brewers established early dominance and won 6-3. Other highlights: Yovani Gallardo allowed as many hits as Volquez (7), but they only yielded 2 runs as opposed to the 5 Volquez gave up. Prince Fielder began his walk year by going 1-3 with 2 walks, as he took a backseat to his heavy-hitting teammates.

And much more happened: the Padres' newly-acquired Cameron Maybin tied the game with the Cardinals in the 9th, then was responsible for the go-ahead win in the 11th that led the Friars to beating the Redbirds 5-3 (Pujols was 0-5); and the reigning champion Giants lost to the Dodgers 2-1, leaving Tim Lincecum to start the season 0-1 while giving Clayton Kershaw and Jonathan Broxton their first win and save to begin the year.

So, baseball is finally gearing up again. We won't be highlighting individual games too much, but we will of course continue to bring you the biggest news as soon as we can. Play ball!

Spring Has Almost Sprung.

Folks, we're officially 4 days away from the opening of the baseball season, and we here at The Baseball Freak are thrilled to get back to work on bringing all you devoted readers (yes, all 4 of you) as much news and opinion-influenced posts as we possibly can.

The season has yet to actually begin, but spring has brought mainly bad news for many teams. It looks like the Phillies will start the season with both second baseman Chase Utley and closer Brad Lidge on the DL, which will cause a dip offensively, but has done little to take away from the anticipation of seeing their potentially-historic rotation in action...the Cubs and pitcher Carlos Silva nastily parted ways this weekend, with Andrew Cashmer taking the rotation spot Silva thought he deserved before being told that he could either accept a minor league assignment or be released, opting for the latter...Adam Wainwright is out for the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, and the Cardinals' rotation has clearly suffered for it already, so all eyes are turning back to the matter of first baseman Albert Pujols and whether or not he'll spend any more time as a Card in his career...the Yankees finally have something that resembles a rotation, with rookie Ivan Nova and veteran Freddy Garcia taking the spots behind Sabathia, Burnett and Hughes, and Bartolo Colon taking a role in the bullpen...the Nationals trade troublesome centerfielder Nyjer Morgan to the Brewers for Cutter Dykstra (son of Lenny Dykstra) and cash after it became apparent that Rick Ankiel and Jerry Hairston Jr. would be a more favorable platoon in Washington than one that involved Morgan...reigning World Series champion Giants are closely monitoring closer Brian Wilson's road to recovery after a strained muscle made it doubtful that he would be available for Opening Day...new Brew Crew member Zack Greinke will also be sidelined for the first few weeks of the season with a rib injury sustained in a pickup basketball game...and as if the tension in the AL East couldn't be more palpable, Orioles manager Buck Showalter blasted Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and the Boston Red Sox, leading BoSox manager Terry Francona to talk back, defending his own organization.

So, as March 31st creeps up ever so quick on us, we'll finally get to see all the offseason trades, signings, and acquisitions go into effect.