Tonight’s game between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants is supposed to be stingy. An epic showdown between pitchers who have won three of the last four National League Cy Young awards.
Leave your bat in the dugout kind of game.
But if the first two weeks of the season is any indication, it’s going to be a one-sided blowout in about two innings. Continue reading
The New York Mets probably wouldn’t have hated it if a meteor halted baseball after the first week of the season. What a relief it must have been to start the year with four straight wins, distracting from the messy off-season they had this winter.
No meteor, though. Tears.
Since their 4-0 start, the Mets have lost two-straight, including a drubbing by the Washington Nationals Thursday night. New York only scored two runs combined over the last two days. Continue reading
Chipper Jones returns for his swan song season, and it couldn’t be at a better time.
The Atlanta Braves are on a mini-streak, winning their last two games and return to Turner Field for their home opener against the Milwaukee Brewers. A season that started with four straight losses seems to be taking a turn after the Braves took the last two against the Houston Astros.
“Road trips get longer and longer,” Jones told the Associated Press. “Especially when you lose the first four, you miss home at lot. It will be good to get back to Atlanta and play in front of the home fans, who we haven’t seen in a long time. The home opener is always a special occasion no matter when it comes.” Continue reading
Here we go again.
After a whirlwind offseason that saw sweeping changes in the clubhouse, promising a new era and tighter ship, the Boston Red Sox are right back where they were last year, off to a lousy 1-5 start that puts them squarely in the basement of the AL East. Boston started 0-6 last year, but won 10 of its next 15, though, and is hoping another turnaround is coming.
“You have stretches where you play six games and things don’t go your way,” manager Bobby Valentine told the Associated Press. “Then you have stretches where you play six games and everything goes your way. Six games is a ridiculously small sample size.” Continue reading
So much for a slow start.
After dropping three of their first four games, the Colorado Rockies went bonkers for 17 runs in a landslide against the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night. And they did it against their division rivals’ ace Tim Lincecum. The All-Star right hander only lasted 2 1/3 innings, coughing up six runs to raise his ERA to 12.91 on the year. It was the shortest outing of his career.
”A lot of pitches thrown in 2 1-3,” Lincecum told the Associated Press. ”Just sloppy baseball for me. Not really executing pitches, missing a lot, and it’s going to hurt you, especially in this park.” Continue reading
Roy Halladay fixes a lot of problems.
Just when the Philadelphia Phillies seemed like they were headed for a mini-slide to start the season, the All-Star righty partied Wednesday night, going seven innings with three strikeouts.
It’s the kind of performance that reminds us that the Phillies will never truly slump this year with the best rotation in the National League. Continue reading
Heading into the season, one of the biggest question marks for the Texas Rangers was their bullpen. Specifically in the closer role where Joe Nathan took over for Neftali Feliz.
And after just six games, things haven’t cleared up a bit.
Not after Wednesday night, anyway, after Nathan surrendered three runs in the ninth inning to the Seattle Mariners, blowing his second save of the season. It spoiled what was another stellar night on the mound by a Rangers’ starter. Continue reading
When Albert Pujols signed with the Los Angeles Angels this offseason, a lot of attention was directed towards the back end of his 10-year contract, when his production will sure dip.
But after one week of baseball, it’s his current performance that’s concerning. The All-Star first baseman has yet to live up to his billing in this young season, batting just 3-for-14 with zero homers in his first four games with the club. Tuesday he went hitless in four at-bats.
What’s worse is he and teammate Vernon Wells, two of the team’s highest-paid players, are a combined 5-for-28. Continue reading
So much for that riveting entrance we saw last week by the Miami Marlins.
Their player introductions, and tour of Marlins Park turned out to essentially be the only thing the team has going for it.
Since last Wednesday’s season opener, the Marlins have been mired by a slow start and now controversy from new manager Ozzie Guillen.
Guillen’s comments criticizing Cuban President Fidel Castro resulted in a five-game suspension and a difficult press conference to watch. So what now? Continue reading
The last time Neftali Feliz toed the rubber, things went…well, ugh.
The All-Star closer returns to the mound Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners in hopes that his switch to starter goes a little smoother.
The Texas Rangers are favored, according to Bovada’s MLB Betting Odds, by 1 1/2 runs with a 9 1/2 run total. The Rangers are actually expected to win by 1 or 2 runs, according to the site’s MLB Prop Betting page after starting the year 3-1 after putting up 16 runs over their last two games. Continue reading