Oh yeah, the other games

• Kansas City 5, Detroit 4 (11 innings): The Tigers' bullpen has to be a major concern right now. Justin Verlander has having a fine game until getting chased in the 7th, and then they blew threw 5 relievers before eventually giving up the game in extra innings. For all the talk about Detroit's offense, this is by far their biggest Achilles heel.

• Arizona 4, Cincinnati 2: Brandon Webb was as awesome as always. 3 solo homers by his offense certainly didn't hurt him either. As far as I can tell, Dusty Baker didn't really do anything dumb last night.

• Milwaukee 4, Chicago Cubs 3 (10 innings): Fukudome! Mr. Most Epic Name in the History of Baseballs had a delicious debut with 3 hits and a home run that sent the game into extra innings. Alas, it was all for naught. Carlos Zambrano left the game early with arm troubles. Surprisingly enough, Ben Sheets did not.

• Cleveland 10, Chicago White Sox 8: C.C. Sabathia got rocked (bad news for my fantasy team), but Mark Buehrle got rocked even harder, while Jim Thome was the one-man show for Chicago. Now comes the obligatory time to tell everyone that Ozzie Guillen is a ginormous douchebag.

• Washington 11, Philadelphia 6: Yeah, the Phillies' bullpen sucks. I will not be the least bit surprised to see them fall to around .500 this year, nor will I be surprised if Washington finishes around .500.

• New York Mets 7, Florida 2: Mark Hendrickson was the Marlins' Opening Day starter? Really? Johan Santana was pretty good.

• Tampa Bay 6, Baltimore 2: Not that beating the O's is anything to brag about (hell, even Eric Hinske got a home run here), but the Rays are going to be tons of fun to watch this year.

• L.A. Dodgers 5, San Francisco 0: How's that "Barry-free" atmosphere thing working out for you, Giants?

• Minnesota 3, L.A. Angels 2: The game was about as boring as it sounds.

• Pittsburgh 12, Atlanta 11 (12 innings): It's never good when you get lit up by the Pirates, much less Xavier Nady (4-5, 2 HRs). Glavine was flawless through 5, but the bullpen sucked.

• San Diego 4, Houston 0: I'm going to say it right now: The Mariners are the AL version of the Padres. Good pitching, bad offense, play in a pitchers' park, etc. And if they don't get good performance from their pitching, they sure as hell won't come back with a power-laden lineup.

Yesterday's Gritty, Gutty Heroes: Xavier Nady (4-5, 2 HRs), Jake Peavy (7 IP, 4 K, 0 ER)

Yesterday's Worthless, Gutless Chokers: Tom Gordon (1/3 IP, 5 ER, choker), Mark Buehrle (1 2/3 IP, 7 ER, gutless)



That's all for now. Enjoy today's games.

Game 1 recap

So we're 1-0, and first place in the AL West. Now comes our obligatory 80-81 finish. Couple notes about last night's game:

• Erik Bedard looked.....alright. He allowed lots of baserunners, threw lots of pitches and was gone after five, but other than that, he was just fine.

• Jose Lopez looked.....awful. He had a couple of booted balls at 2B that any halfway decent defender could've picked up. Then there was that whole "stealing 3rd" thing...

• Home plate umpire Jim Joyces' strike zone was about the size of an actual baseball last night. Bedard was not getting any calls on the inside corner. Neither was Millwood, for that matter.

There were some encouraging signs last night--the pitching was solid, especially--but I have some lingering concerns. Our offense is still anemic, and our defense still sucks. Nevertheless, we're in first place, so I'll take it for now.