Pennants and playoff spots aren’t secured in the inaugural week of the 2008 baseball season, but with a full week of action around the majors in the books, some teams and players have started the year as if they were shot out of a cannon while others are longing to turn back the hands of time or hit the reset button through the first week. So if you’re asking yourself, “what can I take away from the opening week?”, keep this in mind: always expect the unexpected when it comes to baseball. The best talent doesn’t always win and expectations often aren’t met to fans’ lofty standards. Just ask any Tigers fan right now, and they’ll probably tell you they didn’t see Detroit’s hideous start coming. But you can also take away from the first week what I led off this piece with: nothing is won nor lost in the first five or six games. Nobody’s going 162-0 or 0-162. Every team will have peaks and valleys throughout the course of the year. If you don’t get it right today, no need to fret because tomorrow is a brand new day. Hot starts are just what the doctor ordered for some, but beware of those slow, snail-like starts others are enduring, for come September it may be your downfall.
Opening Week Surprises and Head Scratchers
Detroit Tigers. Talk about a no-brainer to lead off with here. Their offense was predicted to score over 1,000 runs this season (ahem, thank ESPN’s Steve Phillips for that one) and they were a sexy pick to win the AL Central, along with the AL Pennant and World Series, thanks to owner Mike Illitch landing Edgar Renteria, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in the offseason. Then Opening Day came, and now Detroit can’t get right. They rank 29th out of 30 teams in offense, hitting .240 while driving in just 13 RBI’s and scoring 15 runs. They’ve haven’t scored more than five runs through the first six games, and their pitching hasn’t been much better. The Tigers have the fourth worst team ERA at 5.30. They were swept in back-to-back series against Kansas City and Chicago, and they remain baseball’s only winless team at 0-6, with all six losses coming at home.
David Ortiz. Going from Japan then back to spring training then to Canada hasn’t made things easy for Boston early on in their title defense, and while the Red Sox are 3-4, Boston has played in as many time zones as Big Papi has hits: three. Ortiz struggled in the opening week, going just 3-for-19 with one home run and three RBI’s. Factor in Ortiz was 0-for-7 in the two-game set against Oakland in Japan on March 25-26, and Big Papi is 3-for-26 on the year, good for a .109 batting average.
Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman played an integral part in helping the Nationals win their first three games last week. To kick off Opening Day here in the States on Sunday Night Baseball, Zimmerman hit a walk-off solo homerun in the bottom of the 9th inning to lift Washington past Atlanta, 3-2, in the brand new Nationals Park. Then two games later, Zimmerman blasted another solo shot to lift Washington over Philadelphia, 1-0.
San Francisco Giants. It’s difficult to envision another team in the majors being worse than the Giants will be this year, and the opening week may be an ugly sign of things to come for those by the Bay Area. Third worst in hitting (28th), fourth worst in pitiching (27), and “ace” Barry Zito is on his way to having another horrific season (2 games pitched, 2 losses with a 6.30 ERA). San Fran has scored just 12 runs in the first six games this season. Only fellow NL West foe Colorado (.209) has a worse team batting averaging than the Giants’ .217. No significant power in a geriatric lineup, it’ll be a long, woeful summer by the bay.
Baltimore Orioles. Somebody break up the 5-1 O’s. You’re probably saying that their hot start is a bit of a mirage and it won’t last, and you’re probably right. That 6.34 ERA is the second worst in all of baseball, with only Florida being worse. George Sherrill went a perfect 4-for-4 in save opportunities and the Orioles rank 3rd in the American League in hitting. Luke Scott and Aubrey Huff have prompted Baltimore to a 5-1 start at the plate, with Scott leading the AL in average (.500) and Huff ranking second in RBI’s with nine.
Xavier Nady and Nate McLouth. The Pittsburgh duo have been locked in a ‘Can-you-top-this’ battle through the first week of the season. Both are tied for the NL lead in RBI’s with 9, with McLouth hitting .441 with 15 hits and Nady not far behind, hitting .387 with 12 hits.
Pittsburgh pitching. As good as McLouth and Nady have been at the plate, their pitching continues to be their achillies heal. After opening week, the Pirates have surrendered the most earned runs (45) and rank 29th in team pitching, giving up just over 6 runs per game (6.04). If they can’t pitch, they can’t expect to be a threat in the NL Central.
Pat Burrell. Pat the Bat has lived up to his billing out of the gate in ‘08. Burrell is tied for the NL lead in RBI’s with 9, while hitting .385 and slugging .846. Burrell has had at least one hit in six of his first seven games, and he’s managed to wipe out those ridiculously gross long, looping cuts that catch nothing but air and flies. Burrell has already had four, two-hit games this season for the Phillies.
Milwaukee Brewers. The Brew Crew own baseball’s best record at 5-1. Ace Ben Sheets has racked up 15 K’s in two starts (1-0) and has yet to give up an earned run. Opponents are hitting a paltry .208 off Milwaukee pitchers and only Arizona (.197) and San Diego (.193) have been better on the mound against opposing hitters. Milwaukee owns baseball’s best team batting average (.299), led by Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. Fielder is hitting .364 with 5 RBI’s and Ryan has started out hitting .321 to go along with 6 RBI’s. Bill Hall has brought his A-game early on, hitting 2 homeruns and driving in a team-high 7 RBI’s.
Jake Peavy. The reigning NL Cy Young winner is picking up where he left off last year. Peavy is 2-0 with a sick nasty 0.56 ERA and he’s only given up five hits in his two victories, while striking out 12.
New York Mets. All is not well in the Big Apple after the first week for the Mets. Pedro Martinez landed on the DL after just 3 1/3 against the Florida Marlins after straining his left hamstring. New York will be without Martinez’ services for 4-to-6 weeks. To make matters worse, NL East rival Atlanta swept the Mets in a two-game set, beating Johan Santana and John Maine. Oliver Perez has yet to yield a run in his two solid outings, the most recent however saw the Mets bullpen squander away a 2-0 lead to Philadelphia, a game the Mets eventually lost 5-2 on Tuesday in their final home opener at Shea Stadium. Not a good way to begin a 3-game set against the team New York can’t seem to beat.
Seattle Mariners. They were in prime position to get an early leg up on the injury-hurting Angels. Emphasis on were. Closer J.J. Putz landed on the 15-day DL with a rib cage injury, forcing Seattle to utter one of the most terrifying phrases in baseball: closer-by-committee. The loss of Putz was felt immediately, as Seattle’s bullpen gave up six runs in nearly 8 innings in the sweep at the hands of Baltimore.
