DAY TWO: It's A Brave New World

In their past three season openers, the Braves have been beaten by a combined score of 26-4. The starters for those three games were Greg Maddux, Russ Ortiz and Smoltz -- all former 20-game winners. But you'd have thought this opener, coming as it were against the Marlins, whom they'd won 15 of 19 against last season. Not at all. Instead, the Marlins rolled over the Braves 9-0 and crushed John Smoltz on the way.

Part of me is happy to see the Braves get a good kicking even if it is relatively meaningless and in keeping with their more recent opening starts. But another part of me is keeping a lid on the schadenfreude as it foreshadows a the capabilities of what might be the new sheriff in the town called the NL East, the Florida Marlins.

Don't read too much into Smoltz's piss poor redebut as a starter. On April 6, 2002, Smoltz entered the game as a closer for the first time and by the time he left the mound that evening, he had allowed the Mets eight earned runs and registered only two outs. had dazzled the Marlins of late, enjoying a string of 31 1/3 innings without yielding a run over 29 appearances. In 1 2/3 innings, Smoltz gave up seven runs -- six earned -- foiling his first start since 2001.

Meanwhile the Braves have seen two of their young players go down already. Johnny Estrada was hit on the right hand with a foul ball in the first inning and had to leave in the fourth when he couldn't grip his bat. X-rays were negative, but he's not expected to play the rest of the series.

Marcus Giles jammed his left knee sliding into second base during a seemingly cursed first inning. He remained in the game for the next five innings but was limping gingerly after the game. He's hoping to be available on Wednesday.

In his Marlins debut, the Man Who Would Not Be Met, Carlos Delgado was 4-for-5 with three RBIs.

Cubs Glory Short Lived

One day after their Opening Day victory, the Cubs lost to the Diamondbacks behind two Luis Gonzalez homers. Cubs starter Greg Maddux fell to 1-7 lifetime against the Diamondbacks, and 0-4 at Bank One.

Red Sox Dumped Again - Enjoying That World Championship Now?

This offseason was remarkable in that I've finally found the team to unseat the Yankees as the team I hate the most and that team is the Red Sox, the most obnoxious group of World Champions I ever recall seeing. Well, maybe the old memory has faded a bit but the arrogance for winning one stinkin' championship in 86 years was over the top, vile, the mark of a loser. So let's hope we'll see more of their losses. Especially since I don't even have them making the playoffs this year.

I got to listen to the last five innings of the game last night. Like the Mets debut two nights ago, the Yankees closer blew the game for them in the 9th when old reliable, Mariano Rivera, surrendered a game tying homer to Jason Varitek. But unlike the Mets, the Yankees still had another half inning to win and Derek Jeter didn't disappoint, blasting a game-winning homer to save the Yankees and Mariano. The walk-off homer was just the second of Jeter's career, the first in the regular season. The other? Nov. 1, 2001, when he beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4 of the World Series.

Of course, Mariano's lapse cost new Yankee Carl Pavano the victory. Pavano looked worth every penny he's being paid yesterday, rolling through Boston's lineup with ease, fanning seven of the first 10 hitters he faced. He ended up allowing two runs while striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings.

So that's two new Yankee pitchers, two victories for the Yankees. Even with Pedro, we Mets are coming across as ugly little cousins.

The man whose gaining a cult following as the MVP dark horse and rapidly becoming the biggest Red Sox Killah of the them all, Hideki Matsui blasted a two-run home run in the third, his second in as many games, highlighting a three-run inning for New York against Sox starter Matt Clement. Matsui, who entered the game with a career .354 average (73-for-206) against the Red Sox, went 3-for-4 in the game.

So the Yankees are 2-0 and the Red Sox are 0-2. Of course, this was how the ALCS started too, more or less and with different faces, but look how that turned out.

No Bonds, No Bother

Hmmmm. Ok, did we write off the Giants too fast without Bonds? Ha! No chance. One little victory over the recalcitrant Dodgers to start the season does not a season make. Especially not a victory caused in large part, by two errors, one by Beltre's replacement at 3rd, Jose Haha Valentin. Of course, Valentin is a shortstop, not a 3rd baseman, which might explain alot.

And although Bonds wasn't in the lineup, he was there in spirit. All over the place, in fact, for hours. It started with a massive pregame outpouring wherein Bonds did his little Arnold Schwartzenegger speech:

"Thank you very much. I'm speechless," Bonds told the crowd after receiving another MVP award, another Silver Slugger award and an award for his latest batting title. "I want to thank my family for being behind me for all these years. I want to thank God for giving me the ability to play the game. Last but not least, I thank the city of San Francisco, you fans. There are no greater fans in the world besides here in San Francisco."

He added with force, "And ... I ... will ... be ... back."

What's this?

I thought they'd finally gotten him down! Why I thought he'd finally been kicked off the bridge, rolled under the car, fed to the dogs! And here he is, in front of God and all of San Francisco, making crazy promises.

Oh well. Fans of the non-SF Western Division can still be happy. At least he didn't say WHEN he'd be back.

By the way, in Bonds' stead, the Giants' 3-4-5 hitters went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

The Other NL Central Foes

And let us not forget, as we ponder the Cubs 1-1 beginning, that their bitter rivals the Cardinals, opened their season at Houston with a 7-3 victory over the Astros behind a less-than-sharp performance by Astros other ace in a sea of aces, Roy Oswalt. Funny thing is, the Cards had Carpenter, not their new ace Mulder on the mound.

Don't Look Now But the Blue Jays Are 2-0

Well, they've beaten the Tampa Bay Devil Rays twice. Let's see how they do facing a very angry Red Sox team in a few days' time.

TODAY'S MENU

Today's Probable Pitchers offers us still more intriguing pitching debuts including:

Andy Pettitte for the Astros, will make his first start since last August, when he had season-ending elbow surgery. Pettitte ranks sixth in wins and second in wins by a left-hander since 1995 with 155. He is 17-9 with a 3.97 ERA in 49 career starts vs. National League opponents.

Al Leiter, I'm hoping gets whacked against the Braves in his 2005 debut.

And more importantly: Tom Glavine kicks it off against the Reds' new pitcher, lefty Eric Milton. Glavine has made six second-game-of-the-season starts in his career, producing a 2-0 record. Glavine lost both starts against the Reds last season, despite a 2.92 ERA against them. His career record in Great American Ball Park is 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA in two starts. Glavine's best monthly career record is his 44-20 in April.

Milton was the Reds' prized offseason acquisition despite giving up a league-leading 43 home runs last season. Now he will take that sort of pitching mess to the Homer Friendly Great American Ball Park.

Hopefully, the Mets will know this time around to score enough runs ahead of time so the bullpen can't blow it for them.