Game Day - Opening Day Has Arrived! March 30th Day Games

Huzzah! Opening Day has arrived as we have baseball that counts in the standings. I will be looking at the AL East on a daily basis. I will have an eye on the Dodgers, but I’m blacked out of their games because MLB hates baseball fans. In the AL Central, I’m not sure who I really care to follow this season. I will let the standings decide over time but chances are good I will follow through the games the AL Central plays against the East. In the AL West, Houston, Texas and Seattle are on the radar to start the season. Six series felt like enough to follow in the opening weekend and Houston was the last team to miss the opening weekend review roster. In the National League, I am most interested in the Dodgers and Padres from the west and Atlanta, New York, and Philadelphia in the east.

Toronto Blue Jays @ St. Louis Cardinals

Can the Jays keep their Spring Training momentum going into the start of the regular season?

Act I - The end of 2 ERAs

So much happening in the first four innings of this game. The Jays get out to a fast start. A Springer single, a really bad Bo swing then a bloop single. Vladdy gets a sac fly to move a runner and a Varsho double scores a run, 2nd and 3rd one out. Exactly the kind of run I want to see scored. A Kirk soft liner to center scores the runner. This is winning Blue jays baseball!

Manoah gets to the mound and he never looked comfortable. Nine hits and two runs with two of those hits being home runs over 3.1 innings is not going to get the job done. I trust him over the course of the season. Today was the bad version of Manoah that throws too many pitches and the way he battles was just no enough and allowed the Cardinals to get back into the game.

Helping Manoah as best they could, the Jays’ bast scored 5 runs in the first four innings. Both starters were pulled during or after the fourth inning and the second act of this play is upon us.

ACT II - The Battle of Bull(pen)-No-Runs

Things calmed down for three half innings then the scoring resumed when the Cardinals scored on a single to take their first lead of the day. It really felt like the juice had been taken out of the Jays’ bats at this point and the momentum was clearly in the Cardinals’ dugout. Chapman tied the game in the top of the seventh but a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the seventh gave the lead back to the Cardinals. At this point, it felt like the Blue Jays were having to play too much catch-up. St. Louis wasn’t going to give up the lead and here comes Jordan Hicks from the bullpen in the top of the 8th

Act III - Fireballers

We’ve reached the 8th inning and the Jays are looking at Jordan Hicks who throws 100+ with ease and movement. Springer bloops a single, Bo’s swinging bunts a single down the line then Vladdy gets a hit to score Springer who is followed by Bo who scores after running through a stop sign. The Jays have the lead, somehow. It feels great because seeing Hicks come out as a setup man you have to think that most leads are safe.

Unfortunately, the Jays pitchers have not brought their control with them to St. Louis. Yimi Garcia walks the first batter he sees and gives up a single, then a double. As quickly as Hicks throws, the Cardinals have the lead again. The Jays were able to limit the damage to those two runs, but losing the lead hurts and there is no room for error in the ninth. Oh, the bottom of the lineup is leading off the inning.

Ryan Helsley comes into the game with his 1.25 era from last year and walks Merrifield on four pitches. Kevin Kermaier gets a grounder through the infield then Springer floats a ball into the outfield to score the tying run. This game has been incredible but I have to remind myself that the Jays still need to score the go-ahead and then get three more outs to win the game. Bo Bichette grounds out but Vladdy is able to hit a deep fly to center and score the go-ahead run on a sac fly. The Jays have done all this scoring without hitting a home run. They are getting runs off of strings of hits and good base running. This is exactly what I wanted to see from this team. Pitchers have bad games and the collective control issues we’ve seen today should not be a long-term problem. If they are, that’s another discussion, but one game is easy to get past, especially when……Jordan Romano comes into the game in the bottom of the ninth and gets three no-drama outs to win the game for the Jays, 10-9.

I might be ready for the playoffs after the stressful roller coaster of a game like that.

Jersey Note: Wire the light blue jersey for today’s game.

Jersey Standings: Light Blue 1-0

San Francisco Giants @ New York Yankees

Let’s see how the number one threat to the Jays in the AL East gets out of the gate

Act I - The Dominant Starters

Gerrit Cole started the game by giving a four-pitch free pass to the Giants. From there, this was a dominant display that Yankee fans should be excited about. Cole recovered by striking out a Yankee Opening Day record of hitters over the rest of his appearance.

Aaron Judge starts the year off with style and gives the Yankees all the runs they would need by hitting a home run in the bottom of the first inning.

Cole continues to dominate for the first three innings. There is nothing in the swing of the Giants that suggests they are going to string multiple hits together or get a hold of one and hit it out of the park. The lefty bats you’d be looking at to do some damage or get the offense rolling are not getting the job done.

While all this is going on, Yankees rookie shortstop Volpe looks great at the plate. Stands in the box with confidence and draws a walk in his first career AB.

Something changes to the strike zone in the top of the fourth inning. Cole is getting squeezed and gives up a walk. Later in the inning, there is a 3-2 strike that gets called a ball and the Giants have two runners on. Coles strikes out yet another batter to end the inning and there is no damage to the poorly-called zone. The Yankees take a 1-0 lead into the bottom half of the inning.

Gleyber Torres comes to the plate in the bottom of the fourth with a runner and hits the second home run off Webb. Webb to this point has done a great job of holding the Yankee offense in check. The Yankees had themselves a 3-0 lead and we move this game into Act II.

Act II - The Chase Is On

With Cole being as dominant as he has been the only question is can the Giants score any runs before he is taken out of the game? The Giants need to get something going in the 5th or 6th inning before the Yankee offense scores more runs. It takes two outs in the 5th for the Giants to get a hit. It would be too little too late. Webb does his job in the bottom of the fifth, sitting the Yankees down in order. The sixth inning starts with a single for the Giants but a double play and Pederson strike out close the window on the Giants putting together a comeback.

In the 7th inning, Volpe has a chance to be an instant legend in Yankee lore. Runners on the corners, a hit probably puts this game away. It was not to be but as he strikes out, DJ LeMahieu picks him up and singles in a run to make it 4-0 Yankees. Aaron Judge singles in another run to make the game 5-0 and we have entered the third act.

Act III - Yankees Pen to the End?

Unlike the drama of the pitcher’s duel in the first act, there was no drama here. The Giants’ bats were not in the game today. The Yankee pen added 5 strike outs to the 11 of Cole and the Yankees win 5-0.

Does Cole have to bring this for all his starts in the early part of the season? The Yankees faced a good pitcher, will they rely on the Home Run all season?

Baltimore Orioles @ Boston Red Sox

Can one of these teams be more of a nuisance in the AL east?

Act I - A New Hope?

This game started exactly how the Orioles would have wanted until it didn’t. Adley Rutschman hits a big Home Run to get the team started. In the AL East Preview, we talked about how the bats will be led by young & talented players and hopefully the hits become contagious in the rest of the lineup. In that same preview, we were worried about the pitching staff giving up more runs than the bats can outscore. The Red Sox scored on a single by Devers that brought in Verdugo who tripled in the AB before. Devers is going to have to be a large part of the offense over the course of the year.

The game hit a dead spot for two full innings when in the 4th, Ramon Urias hit a 2-run home run.

Act II - The Empire Strikes Back?

This was a moment for a young Orioles team. They were up two runs with no outs and they’d just hit a home run. Hays lines out but a double, single, stolen base, and a walk later, the Orioles have the bases loaded with one out. This is the moment they need to score with the bats and make this lead more than the Red Sox can make up. A wild pitch and a walk score two more runs for the Orioles. The scoreboard may show a 4-run lead but it’s hard to feel like the Orioles have taken control of this game.

The Red Sox answered with one run in the bottom of the 4th but the Orioles, with 2 outs in the top of the 5th, scored three runs for a 4-run lead. This is the moment, it was an inning late but this was the moment where a young team can establish its identity. The Red Sox have not looked scary but the Orioles’ pitching has not looked scary either. A 4-run lead this late should carry the Orioles to the end of the game, maybe? The Red Sox score 2 in the bottom of the 6th but the Orioles answer right back with 2 of their own in the top of the 7th.

Act III - Revenge of the Sith?

Remember that narrative about the Orioles’ bats being able to outscore their pitching issues? The Red Sox score 3 in the eighth. The sox open the ninth with a walk and a single. Devers is up, the engine to this offense. He strikes out but is new to the team Justin Turner singles in a run to make it 8-10. Another new Sox player, Masataka Yoshida gets an RBI on a ground out and the lead that was once 6 runs, is now 1. Bautista gets the K to end the game and get Baltimore to their first win of the season, 10-9.

How much of what we saw today is these teams’ actual patterns for the season versus a bad or good game?

Detroit Tigers @ Tampa Bay Rays

Do I really have to follow a game at the Trop?

Was not able to follow this game closely. The Tigers never looked dangerous. They got 6 hits for 8 total bases. The Rays scored on two groundball singles and two home runs. This was a Rays game through and through. The way they scored and the lack of runs given up by the pitching staff. Checking the boxes is good, it wins the Rays games and they have two tough teams they are trying to keep up with in this division.

Rays win 4-0.

Philadelphia Phillies @ Texas Rangers

A main player in the NL East battle and the team that spent so much money in the last two off-seasons.

Not the game I was expecting at all. DeGrom gave up 5 runs in 3.2 innings. Is that more runs than he gave up before the All-Star break the last 4 seasons? That was a serious question. It really looked like the Phillies had this game in hand. Then the bottom of the fourth happened. Singles, Doubles and a Grand Slam led to the Rangers scoring 9 runs in their half of the fourth.

To the credit of the Rangers bullpen, they held the Phillies and their offense to two runs after they scored 9 in the fourth. I’m disappointed I did not get to watch more of this game. I wonder what this means for the starters of this game. Was this a blip or something else? Can the offenses keep up this kind of production? I’m inclined to think they can keep the runs coming. Maybe not at this level, but run a plenty this season for these two teams.

Rangers win 11-7