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One of the things I love about the first week of the baseball season is that DirecTV provides its MLB Extra Innings package on a trial basis. So, while I was trying to keep up with the day job at the same time there was plenty of channel surfing going on this afternoon.
I watched parts of probably three-quarters of the games. How much time I spent was largely determined by players I have on various fantasy baseball teams. One guy I wish I had on more is Atlanta rookie Jason Heyward.
Heyward has been most experts’ Spring Training Golden Child, both for his athletic skills and his solid personality. I’ve never met the man so I can’t speak to his attitude. But I watched his first at-bat against Chicago today. The 20-year-old rookie shook off any nerves he might have been feeling and took a couple pitches. He then ROCKED a pitch several rows deep into right-centerfield for a no-doubt homerun in his first Major League at-bat.
We’re about an hour away from the 2,743rd nationally televised Yankees-Red Sox game in the last 18 months or so. This one will kick off yet another Major League Baseball season.
While I’m frequently critical of MLB’s less-than-stellar competitive balance situation and of the leadership displayed by both MLB itself and the Major League Baseball Players Union, I can’t help but be excited to see the season get underway.
Among the reasons this year, my home team, the Twins, move into a new ballpark and they spent the money to put together a truly competitive-looking team this year. By all reports, Target Field is fantastic in everything except its corporately-paid for name.
I haven’t spent a great deal of time studying divisions and the like this year but I’ll fearlessly make some predictions just for the heck of it.
AL East – Yankees
AL Central – Twins
AL West – Seattle
Wild Card – Tampa
NL East – Phillies
NL Central – Cardinals
NL West – Rockies
Wild Card – Braves
Yep, the Braves outlast the Dodgers for the Wild Card in the NL, sending Bobby Cox out with a playoff appearance … and another playoff series loss.
World Series – Phillies over Yankees
Yep, the Yanks didn’t go as crazy with the money this offseason but last season’s spending keeps them good enough to win the AL again this year. But the Phillies win their third straight NL pennant and head toward dynasty status with their second title out of the three.
Have fun everyone. Enjoy the season.
It’s been what, three weeks since pitchers and catchers started reporting to camps in Florida and Arizona?
And while I’m not following it all that closely yet one thing is conspicuously absent this spring: Things are awfully quiet with the New York Yankees.
This year around this time news of Alex Rodriguez’ past positive steroid test came to light.
Around that time there was also news of the hip injury that cost A-Rod’s the first month of his season, though it also got him out of the spotlight for awhile.
There was a constant buzz through the offseason about how Joe Girardi would do replacing Joe Torre as manager.
Throughout the offseason there was plenty of coverage of the Yankees’ maneuverings through free agency, which amounted to about a half-billion in guaranteed salaries for CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira during a time when most other teams in the league were pinching pennies.
What a difference a week makes.
A few days ago I was thinking of writing a post praising the Minnesota Twins for being aggressive and filling nearly every hole in the team’s lineup heading into year one at Target Field.
I never quite got around to that post. And Tuesday morning the Twins’ fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse when the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that closer Joe Nathan is likely out for the year with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.
In addition to the new ballpark, the offseason acquisitions of Orlando Hudson, Jim Thome, JJ Hardy and the Winter League performance of Francisco Liriano had enthusiasm higher than I ever recall it heading into Spring Training. The mood on Minneapolis sports talk radio is decidedly more sanguine this morning. The Nathan injury is huge. He had some struggles at the end of the 2009 season but his numbers still put him well among the league’s elite closers.
Inside the organization the Twins did some work to solidify the bullpen late last season and during the offseason. Guys like Jon Rauch (from Arizona) and Clay Condrey (from Philadelphia) join holdovers Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, Jose Mijares, and Pat Neshek, who is returning from arm problems of his own, give the team the deepest mid-innings relief corps it’s had in years.
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