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Monday, April 12, 2010

Sports Happy (Home) Opener!

Posted by Chicago Fan on Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 8:04 AM

At both Safeco and Wrigley. The weather prediction for Chicago's lakefront is partly cloudy, 50's: which means it will be in the 40's and rain. My seats are under the upper deck roof, though, so unless the wind is out of the northeast, my scorecard should stay dry.

Speaking of dry, Milton Bradley's batting .048, with a .200 OBP. That means nothing right now, since I don't think hitting stats matter until about a month into the season, when a guy will have 100 or so at-bats, maybe 115 or 120 plate appearances. 9 K's and only 4 walks show that the Umpires still hate on Milton, though.

In Chicago, Carlos Silva had a solid start (6 IP, 3 hits, one run, earned, 3 K, no walks) blown by a rookie bullpen. (Is that pitcher in cahoots with Slog commenter Slake who bet me a beer on Silva's total wins?) With three rookies currently in the bullpen, we can expect more such Piniella-agita-inducing games. In fact, we've had two leads blown and one tie given away by the 'pen. So it goes.

Meanwhile, my take on Carlos Zambrano's first start: Zambrano's ERA joins AARP.

Play ball!

Comments (10) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Seven games in, the Mariners look like shit. Pitch Felix and pray for rain (too bad we have that roof). But it's early.

It's going to be a typical April day in Seattle: 50s and drizzling. I'll be cozy in a club seat, drinking $9 beers.

Posted by DOUG.

on April 12, 2010 at 8:24 AM

@CF, any obs on the Chicago Polish community's response to the plane crash in Russia?

Posted by rob!

on April 12, 2010 at 8:38 AM

Don't let it go to your head Silva is garbage, I'll be shocked if he starts more than 10 games this season. Bradly doesn't look any better though.

Posted by Tornado on April 12, 2010 at 9:41 AM

The thing about these first-week results is, they stand out because there's no larger body of results for them to disappear in. If Bradley, or anybody, had a 1-for-21 stretch in August, it would only drop his average from, say, .250 to .240, and while you might hear a few words about a "slump", you would have these "OMG he's totally worthless" reactions.

Silva: same. He'll have another superficially decent-looking game in July but it won't do a thing for his ERA then; there'll be a larger body of results. Pun intended.

Posted by Fnarf

on April 12, 2010 at 10:15 AM

I will be at the game, drinking 0 dollar beers. Thanks pryamid for the VIP pass!

Posted by wisepunk on April 12, 2010 at 10:58 AM

Interesting. I didn't know you could have 7 years experience and could still be considered a "rookie". Whatever works, though.

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/players/pr…

ICHIRO!!!!!!

Posted by Zoroastronomer on April 12, 2010 at 11:04 AM

Don't forget the Minnesota Twins open at their brand new field today!

Posted by Jason Josephes

on April 12, 2010 at 11:36 AM

The good news is while Milton only has one hit, it is a HR. According to my very specific, SLOG-like scientific projections, he'll end up with 71 hits, 71 HR's (that's with him playing 107 games) and Silva will end up with 1.36 ERA and 0 wins. I win a beer!

Yeah, neither will probably happen (except maybe the 0 wins! Heehee!)

CF, I gotta admit, I was a little worried when I saw Silva's stats. The good news (for me) is Silva is still very hittable and not much of SO threat. Perhaps more important is the weakness of the Cubs bullpen, they gave up another W on Sunday and aren't looking very tough.

MB's slow start is a repeat of last year when he went 1-24 through 11 games. Fortunately, Seattle is no Chicago and he won't feel as much pressure. The one stat he is ahead of previous years is flipping the bird to fans (YTD- 1 in Texas), and no one in Seattle seemed to mind. (for some reason it always amuses me when players flip off opposing fans. I consider it a win-win for both. Fans finally got to the player and player acknowledging it, it's really a sign of respect.)

Anyway, gotta go, did I just write 200 words on MB and the Cubs? What the hell's the matter with me? Have fun at the game! Cheers!

Posted by slake on April 12, 2010 at 11:52 AM