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Note: Throughout Opening Day, Rob filed live observations as he watched the day's games. Here's his account of what he saw ...
1:29 ET: Baseball really wasn't meant be enjoyed three games at a time. But when you're watching TV and you've got a remote control at hand, it's close to impossible to sit through commercials when you know there are two other games just a click or two away. Flipping around early, I did catch an awesome spectacle of The Green Monster completely shrouded by a gargantuan American Flag. It looked cold and blustery at Fenway, which is exactly how I remember my one Opening Day there.
Back to the Mets and Pirates at Shea, and there's Ron Villone drawing the assignment for Pittsburgh. Every year, somebody like Villone gets the Opening Day start, and every year I get a few e-mail messages from people wondering if that somebody is the worst Opening Day starter ever. So let me say now that Ron Villone is not the worst ... but at 32 years old and with 29 career victories, he has to at least be a part of the conversation.
1:48 ET: Just got my first good look at Pedro Martinez this year -- and no, I don't watch much spring-training coverage on TV, mostly because I don't become obsessed with baseball until April -- and it seems to me that all of his new pounds haven't been devoted to muscles, as I'd been led to believe. At least a few ounces went to Pedro's new chin, which isn't something I thought we'd ever see sprouting from his old chin.
There's nothing wrong with having two chins; lots of great pitchers have had them. What's scary is that three-spot the Blue Jays hung on Pedro in the first inning. With most pitchers, you'd just figure he made a few bad pitches, no big deal. But Pedro makes so few bad pitches that when he strings them together, you can't help but wonder if something's wrong. It's too early to panic, of course, but I do believe that the Red Sox don't have a chance for the postseason unless Pedro's back to his 1999-2000 form.
2:03 ET: Is Al Leiter the worst bunter ever? With Leiter hitting and runners on first and second with one out, Jeff Brantley just noted that Leiter didn't lay down even one sacrifice bunt all last season. And he failed this time, too. Going back a couple of years, though, Leiter did get nine sacrifice hits in 2000 and 11 in 1999, so last year must have been a fluke unless he just stopped trying. And it's hard to imagine why he'd do that, considering that getting down sacrifice bunts theoretically gives him a better chance to win. Leiter is a terrible hitter, though. After that failure to bunt, his lifetime batting average is .088.
2:15 ET: With Pedro Martinez surrendering seven runs through two innings -- he's pretty clearly not quite right -- my friend Bill Considine reports from Fenway Park, "Locals overheard wondering what we could get in trade for Pedro."
The answer, of course, is "Not enough."
2:53 ET: Shea Hillenbrand walked! A year ago, he didn't draw his first walk until his 14th game. Of course, the real barometer will be walk No. 2; last year, Hillenbrand didn't draw his second free pass until his 46th game.
Buck Martinez couldn't believe it, either. Gifted with eight runs in three innings, Chris Carpenter couldn't even escape the bottom of the third inning. After somehow managing to walk Hillenbrand, Carpenter got yanked.
3:10 ET: Is Tim Spooneybarger the best name in the game today? Reminds me of Homer Smoot and Astyanax Douglas. He may have a funny name, but there's nothing funny about his minor-league stats. In three minor-league seasons, Spooneybarger pitched 156 innings and allowed only 93 hits while striking out 192 hitters. Has any team in history been better at developing relief pitchers than the Braves over the last decade or so? Seems like they come up with somebody like Spooneybarger every year or two.
3:42 ET: Bizarre play in Boston. With Varitek on third base, Rey Sanchez on second base, and one out, Johnny Damon shot a liner into left-center. Vernon Wells made a great catch -- OK, he probably trapped the ball, but it's a catch in the box score -- and threw into second base in time to nip Sanchez trying to get back. Except Homer Bush didn't catch the ball cleanly, so Sanchez was safe. Except Sanchez didn't see Bush bobble the ball, so he started walking back to the dugout and was out. Except Bush didn't realize what was going on, and instead of tagging Sanchez he threw to third base, apparently hoping that Varitek had tagged up early. So Sanchez strolled back to second base, and it turned out that Varitek had tagged on time. It took the umpires about five minutes to explain everything to the managers, and then it took another five minutes to get Blue Jays bench coach Cookie Rojas off the field, after he was ejected for arguing (incorrectly, as the replay showed) that Varitek had tagged early. It's 11-8, the game's more than two hours old, and they're just now starting the fifth inning.
4:12 ET: Couldn't help myself. With all the good games today, I had to watch the Royals for at least a few minutes. And at least one can argue that the Twins are contenders, so it's not a total waste. However, it didn't take long for the Royals to kill my Opening Day spirits. The Twins' first hitter, Jacque Jones, just killed Jeff Suppan's second pitch, drove it about 425 feet to the opposite field for a most impressive home run. And then there's the Royals' new black uniforms, which make them look like every other team that wears a black uniform. Maybe I need a better TV in my office, but now they just look like the Mets without orange trim. Ugh.
4:22 ET Open letter to whoever runs Fox Sports Net: Please -- pretty please with sugar on top -- please stop running those obnoxious sound effects every time you display pitch speed or change the count (twice every pitch). I'm sure that some bright young man with too much time on his hands came up with the idea, and it's nice that you're giving him a chance to see his creation come to life on a real broadcast. But enough is enough. All you're doing is annoying everybody.
5:03 ET: Yes, it's early in the season, but I've already given up on the Royals. As much as it pains me to pull for a division rival, I think it's already time to get behind the Twins in their quest to make a monkey out of Bud Selig.
So it's back to Boston, where the Sox and Jays are locked in an 11-11 hitters' duel. A few minutes ago, Felix Heredia walked Jason Varitek, making an even dozen free passes issued by Toronto pitchers today. And that's just in the first seven innings. Losing is one thing, but I can promise you that J.P. Ricciardi won't tolerate a pitching staff that gives up a lot of walks. One of the things that nobody talks about when they talk about the Athletics is their stinginess when it comes to walks. In 2001, the A's allowed the fewest walks in the American League, and pitchers allowing few walks is just as important as hitters getting many walks.
5:32 ET: I didn't actually see it, but a source informs me that Ichiro led off Seattle's opener with a flare to left, which makes me want to rethink my prediction that he'll win another MVP this year. Huh? Yes, really. That prediction was based on the questionable assumption that Ichiro would change his hitting style this season, yank a few more pitches over the fence and take a few more walks. In retrospect, though, it strikes me as pretty stupid to think he'd change a single thing, given the success he enjoyed last year.
6:10 ET: ESPN is calling the Red Sox-Blue Jays game an Instant Classic and I'm not so sure they're wrong. As a wonderful capper, the bottom of the ninth included a 43-year-old pinch-runner, which certainly isn't something that you -- or I, or just about anybody else who ever lived -- see too often. For me, the highlight of Opening Day 2002 was hearing Rickey Henderson had finally put his "John Henry" on a major-league contract and that Tim Raines made the Marlins' roster. As long as those two old leadoff men are still playing, I'll consider myself a young man.
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