Opening Day

[Oklahawg]

The first few days of baseball season are always shaded by my own preoccupation with two rotisserie drafts this coming weekend. Both are 12-team, 4x4 roti auctions, keeper leagues (1 NL, 1 AL) and its difficult to watch highlights, games, or read the paper without confusing my love of the game with my passion for roti.

With that caveat, we examine a few curiosities of the opening salvo of games.

Javier Vazquez and John Smoltz get hammered; Jake Westbrook throws a 2-hitter and loses? Braden Looper and Mariano Rivera look very mortal. Adam Dunn does not look mortal. If Dunn is, and has been, clean from steroids and other questionable aids then we need to slow our witchhunt down to a snail's pace. Those 38 minor leaguers suspended recently? Only Javier Herrera of Oakland appears to be a major league prospect of the all-star variety.

Brady Clark doesn't appear to be a guy who should be playing regularly for an MLB club. In fact, he reminds me a lot of the last Milwaukee CF, Scott Podsednik, who was never seen as a regular until he hit the 30 SB mark halfway through his first year. Clark would appear to be the superior player at this point in the comparison. Clark swiped 2 in the opener and appears to have sent Dave Krynzel, heir apparent to Podsednik going into ST (well, by July, by most accounts), back to AAA for a while.

The Cardinals continue to hit like a AA slowpitch team...HR, followed by HR, followed by HR. They have to be considered fragile but my don't they look like a playoff squad? It didn't dawn on me how ordinary the Astros are until ESPNews showed the box score. Morgan Ensberg hitting cleanup? A declining Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell are still major anchors on that club.

The other qualifier for the most fragile club in my book, the Yankmes, have come out of the box strong. Godzilla is hitting like, well, Godzilla. If they can get Giambi up to the 80 RBI level and keep the days on the DL to a minimum they'll be playing a lot in October.

Is there a worse opening day starter than Jose Lima?

I about fell out of my chair this morning, perusing box scores. Ramon Hernandez had a HR and a SB for the Padres. I'm not holding my breath that he'll ever resemble Jason Kendall at Kendall's prime. Could be an all-star this July, though.

Rich Harden has a blister that pushed his scheduled start Wednesday back a few days. Means he'll face a significantly lesser run of opponents. I'm not sure exactly because its late and I'm tired, but I think his rotation spot now sees the DRays and Orioles instead of the Yankmes and Red Sox his first 4 starts. That's gotta help him reach "Stud" category a bit earlier than it would have otherwise. Some young pitchers need 2-3 years of MLB play to become worth watching. Some come up ready to intimidate and win. Harden is one. David Bush is another. Toronto could have a monster rotation by this time next year:  Roy Halladay, David Bush, Dustin McGowan (threw 98 before surgery, and he's way ahead of schedule with glowing reports), and Ted Lilly. Who cares who the #5 is. I like Erik Bedard and Daniel Cabrera of the Orioles although I don't know if they have the talent to intimidate like Bush and Harden. They are certainly improving quickly. They are moving up my draft list to a frightening position.

I told a buddy to drop Westbrook last year in our roti league. Guy had him at the league minimum salary but we agreed he can't get strikeouts and has too many balls hit hard. He may wind up giving the Injuns a solid top 3--Sabathia, Lee and Westbrook. Help lurks, if Jeremy Guthrie can get his act together. Brian Tallet can warm a spot until Adam Miller is healthy and ready for MLB action. Miller should fit the category discussed a paragraph before.

I was trying to listen to sports talk (AM radio) on the way home from work today. The electrical activity in the storms that whizzed through NE Oklahoma kept interrupting. I was too busy fiddling with the dial to truly enjoy the funnel cloud that whipped the budding trees silly on the side of the road and buffeted the car at one point. Once again, me without a camera.