Well for those in Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Chicago and the Bronx who were so excited about the season following Opening Day victories, reality came crashing back down quickly.
The Braves, almost undone by their bullpen Opening Day after a massive lead against the Dodgers, were confounded in the end by a combination of Dodger's starter Brad Penny gave up a mere 5 hits and a run in 5 innings along with 8 Ks and closer-elect Danys Baez ended Tuesday night's game by getting Marcus Giles on a called third strike after allowing a two-out single to Wilson Betemit that put the tying run on base. Meanwhile the Braves other ace, John Smoltz, took a relative pounding, aloowing 9 hits and 5 earned runs in 5 inning so of work.
Not V for victory more like, Where the Hell Am I?
As for the Blood Sox, following a similar bullpen meltdown Opening Day that almost cost them a victory, were undone by knuckler Tim Wakefield who allowed a three-run homer in the first inning to Phil Nevin and then a two-run single by Nevin again in the fourth as they fell behind 7-0 by the 4th inning and lost 10-4. Unlike the first game in which Blood Sox hitters pummeled Ranger starting pitching, Ranger starter and Phillies reject Vicente Padilla allowed only 4 hits and a lone run in 6 innings stifling the mighty Blood Sox attack. Wakefield, by contrast, faced 22 batters, and 11 reached base on seven hits and three walks, plus a strikeout/passed ball that allowed Kevin Mench to reach.
In Oakland, Marco Scutero undid all the feel good rubbish eminating out of the Yankee camp with by singling home Milton Bradley with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Athletics a semi-dramatic 4-3 victory over the Yankees.
Roger takes his NL Chumps ring but where will he end up?
The Marlins, in a fearsome message to their NL East opponents or a damning indictment of Astros hitters, completed a second consecutive evening of dominant pitching, winning this one after Sergio Mitre pitched 6 shutout innings allowing only 3 hits and striking out 5 as the Marlins defeated the Astros 11-2.
Delivery of World Champ Rings or Heads on Platters?
The Indians, after being relatively humiliated on Opening Sunday Night, bounced back to give the White Sox a taste of their own medicine and, on the day they received their World Champions rings no less, pounding them 8-2. Indians starter Jake Westbrook allowed two runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings for the Indians, who put ace lefty C.C. Sabathia on the 15-day disabled list before the game with a strained abdominal muscle. After Westbrook left, Rafael Betancourt and Guillermo Mota didn't allow a hit the rest of the way. As an afterthought, Jim Thome passed Cal Ripken into 35th place on the all time HR list, with 432.
Of course the only thing this proves is that it's far too soon to foresee any patterns in much of anything yet.
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