Opening Day, March 31, 2011

FYI, it's 6-3 Yankees in the ninth. It's Opening Day of the 2011 Major League Baseball season, and twelve teams are taking part. The Atlanta Braves already dumped the Washington Nationals, 2-0, in the first game of Atlanta's post-Bobby Cox existence. New manager Freddi Gonzalez oversaw sinkerballer Derek Lowe pitching 5 1/3 solid innings, with an assist from second-year star and Rookie of the Year '10 runner-up Jason Heyward, who became just the second major leaguer to homer in the first at-bat of his first two major league seasons. Who knew there was such a stat? Just over five months to the day after Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, and the San Francisco Giants won the 2010 World Series, 4-1, over the Texas Rangers, a new season has begun (and the Yankees are already winning; I've seen this movie somewhere before...). It's been an off-season of trades, free-agent signings, contract talks, retirements and injuries, and now it's time for the 162 game push to the playoffs. If, however, you somehow slept from the alcohol-soaked post-game celebration of the Giants 'till today, I can gladly give you the LD (for lowdown) on what happened Nov-Mar. Here are ten of the biggest things to know as the 2011 season kicks off: Always Phightin' Since 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies have made four-straight postseasons, been in the NLCS three times, the World Series twice, and have won the Fall Classic once. They came from middling about with an uneven offense over the summer to crashing Bobby Cox's final division championship party with a tremendous August-September run in which they were nearly unbeatable. They've boasted a lineup of megastars and powers like Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz. Last year they had the CY Young Award winner, 21-game winner Roy Halladay, who threw two no-hitters before the 2010 season was officially over. And you're telling me they got better!?! Well, it's arguable. It has been argued all winter. >>>They lost All-Star right fielder Jayson Werth, who had 87 home runs and 251 RBIs over the last three seasons, in which the Phils had made the NLCS each year. Werth was signed by the Washington Nationals for 8 years, $126 million. That contract was much-debated, but there's no doubting Werth's departure saps the Phils of some speed and some all-fields power. >>>Perennial All-Star second baseman Chase Utley is on the disabled list right now with a knee injury, and this after he missed nearly 50 games last year. When healthy, Utley, a lifetime Phillie, is an above-average defender and an offensive force that has produced five 20 home run seasons (3 30+) and 4 100-RBI seasons. He terrifies pitchers with his inside-out, line-drive machine-swing and usually helps set the table for cleanup man Ryan Howard. But, of course, as you must know, the Phillies also picked up the best free-agent pitcher on the market, left-hander and 2008 AL CY Young Award winner Cliff Lee. Lee, 33, is a two-time 18-game winner (23 in his Cy Young-winning campaign) who has pitched in the World Series twice (in '09 with the Phillies) and, until he lost a pair of tight pitching duels to Tim Lincecum in October '10, had a positively historic postseason stat-sheet-it's still above average, by the way. But Lee is an inning-eater and a strike-out guy who helped complete The Puzzle. You've probably heard by now, but Lee joined defending Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, two-time 20-game-winner Roy Oswalt, and former NLCS and World Series MVP Cole Hamels on the Phillies' staff, completing a quarter that has some checking the history books to see if such an impressive group has ever pitched for the same team in the same year (it's arguable, and two teams have, years ago, boasted 4 20-game winners a season, but whatever). The Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels-plus right-hander Joe Blanton, who pitched on the '08 World Series winning team-has made the Phillies an automatic favorite for the NL pennant, especially after a year in which the Giants won with a sometimes-dormant offense but a rotation of Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito. Boston Rockin' Sox Last year, for just the second time since 2001, the Boston Red Sox missed the postseason (the Tampa Bay Rays won the AL East crown and the New York Yankees won the Wild Card berth), and this during a year when they were AL pennant favorites for snagging bulldog right-hander John Lackey from the Angels. Perhaps as atonement, or as the result of being struck with inspiration, Sox owner Theo Epstein went out and got the two biggest names (among position players, thereby omitting Lee) on the free-agent market, outfielder Carl Crawford and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. >>>>Crawford, who was previously a lifetime Tampa Bay Ray (and Devil Ray), is 30, is a former All-Star game MVP, and has batted .300 five times, has hit 15 triples four times, 15 home runs four times, and, in his piece de resistance, has stolen 409 bases in his career, with 7 seasons of 45+. The Red Sox are not a big running team, so Crawford's stolen base numbers (which include 60 in 2009) may take a hit, but a guy who has scored 100 runs three times will fit in well with a Sox lineup that, even missing two key players (1B Kevin Youkilis and 2B Dustin Pedroia) for nearly half the year, ranked second in the major leagues in runs scored. >>>>Gonzalez, 29, is a left-handed slugger who spent the past five seasons almost singlehandedly making the San Diego Padres look like contenders. He has four straight 30 home run seasons, three 100 RBI seasons, and has a career average of .284. He is expected, with his power-to-all fields hitting approach, to leave dents aplenty in Boston's famed Green Monster in left field. The Red Sox have mostly worked on getting healthy this offseason. Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury missed nearly 150 games last year with rib injuries, pitchers Dice-K Matsuzaka and Josh Beckett, and position players J.D. Drew, Victor Martinez (now departed for the Tigers), Youkilis and Pedroia all missed time. Their main offensive weapon, third baseman Adrian Beltre, left for the Rangers after putting up a .300, 30, 100 season.
>>>But the Sox have big reason to hope. After all, their batting lineup could look something like this: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Crawford, Gonzalez, Ortiz (as in David, 'Big Papi'), Youkilis, Drew, Scutaro (as in Marco, their shortstop), and I don't know who their catcher will be, honestly. But it barely matters. This is a terrifying batting order that matches anything the Yankees have put out in recent years. They should be a run-scoring machine, and if their pitching rotation is healthy, they'll have Beckett, Lackey, Matsuzaka, and CY Young contenders Jon Lester and Clay Buchholtz around.
This team is the favorite to win the World Series.

Ah, this post is getting long. I'll breeze through a few other big developments.

Idiots Unite!
After winning the AL East crown twice in three years, the Tampa Bay Rays had to do a major cutting of payroll, losing Carl Crawford, home-run machine Carlos Pena, hit-matchine shortstop Jason Bartlett, no-hit pitcher and 2008 ALCS MVP Matt Garza and 40-save closer Rafael Soriano. But their team, which still boasts major talents at 3B (Evan Longoria), CF (B.J. Upton), RF (Ben Zobrist) and in the pitching rotation (David Pryce, James Shields), isn't exactly going to be full of high schoolers. Part of this is because they picked up two people very familiar to the AL East, Messrs Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. They're in their 30s now, but both men played on the Red Sox's history-making 2004 squad, which called themselves Idiots. Both are said to be in good shape (particularly Manny, who had a poor go of it for the White Sox late last year), and, if healthy, they could be a major boost of offense and experience for a somewhat deflated team and fan-base.

Counting the Cards
The biggest thing the St. Louis Cardinals didn't do this off-season was re-sign star and future Hall-of-Famer Albert Pujols to a new contract. Therefore, he becomes a free agent at the end of the season, and the three-time MVP is refusing to talk about his contract during the regular season.
The biggest thing the Cardinals did do is lose pitcher Adam Wainwright for the year to Tommy John Surgery. Wainwright won 39 games for them the past two seasons.
The Cardinals play in a division that includes the lowly Pirates, inconsistent Astros, oft-bumbling Cubs and mysterious Brewers, and boast a lineup of Pujols, Matt Holiday, Colby Rasmus and Yadier Molinda, but Wainwright's absence will be felt, and, should the Cards' fortunes turn sour early enough, could Big Albert change his mind about not talking about his contract?

Other big news included future Hall-of-Famer Derek Jeter resigning with the Yankees after ugly contract talks. The 36-year-old is 76 hits away from 3,000 (he'd be, if you can believe it, the first Yankee) and is coming off one of the statistically poorest seasons of his accomplished career, but he plays on a team that boasts offensive talents like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Texeira, Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson. The Yanks, who lost the ALCS in 6 games to the Rangers last year after winning it all the year before, missed out on any big signings (Lee, Crawford, Gonzalez, Beltre) and lost perennial star pitcher Andy Pettite to retirement, but picked up closer Rafael Soriano to set up for The Great Mariano Rivera and still feature two-time 20-game winner C.C. Sabathia atop the rotation.

The Milwaukee Brewers excited fans by picking up pitchers Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke (the 2009 AL CY Young Award winner) to keep the team afloat pitching-wise in Prince Fielder's contract year (which is hoped to be productive), but Greinke will miss the start of the season after injuring himself playing basketball.

Last, but certainly not least, the Colorado Rockies, who were expected by many to compete for the NL pennant but were offset by injuries and a poor start, re-signed their two best players from a year ago. They safely kept 27-year-old shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who missed 40 games last year with an injury but still hit .315 with 27 home runs and 95 RBIs (including 14 home runs in September). They also retained 25-year-old outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who was third in the NL MVP voting last year after a prodigious breakout season that included a league-leading .336 average and 197 hits, plus 111 runs scored, 34 doubles, 9 triples, 34 home runs and 117 RBIs. Oh, he stole 26 bases, too.

Those are the biggest stories of the 2011 Major League off-and-now-on-season. Now on with the show!

By the way, since I've been writing this article, the Yankees won (6-3).