Monday’s Best: Garrett Jones (PIT) – 2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI
Monday’s Worst: Carlos Zambrano (CHC) – 1.1 IP, 8 ER, 2 BB, 6 H, 1 K, 2 HR
Phillies 11, Nationals 1
Of course Roy Halladay showed that he will love pitching in the NL (7 IP, 9 K), but the real story here is Placido Polanco batting second in that stacked Phillies lineup. Polanco could score 100 runs this year and he won’t have to hit .341 to do it. … Nice to see Jimmy Rollins steal a base in his first game of the season and I could see him topping 40 once again. … On the Nationals’ side we have Nyjer Morgan picking up where he left off in 2009 and Adam Dunn could be returning to his truer form (0-for-3, 1 BB, 2 K).
Mets 7, Marlins 1
Stop the presses! David Wright homered! Honestly, did you really think he was never going to approach 20 home runs in a season again? … It was nice to see Johan Santana back in dominating fashion, but what I really liked were his five K’s in six innings. … The Marlins managed only six hits on Monday, but Cameron Maybin continues to disappoint as he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. … Don’t worry too much about Josh Johnson’s rough outing (5 IP, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K) because everyone is entitled to an off-day.
Cardinals 11, Reds 6
It was nice to see Albert Pujols get back on track with two home runs – unless you were facing him – as everyone seemed to be worried about his health this season. … Colby Rasmus’ home run was a monstrous 450 feet long and almost just as high. It makes me love him even more as a sleeper in 2010. … Yadier Molina hits an opportune grand slam in the ninth, which was nice because I like him as a cheap catcher solution and also Ryan Franklin, who was warming up to pitch in a one-run game, struggled in a non-save situation and let up two runs in his one inning of work. … Joey Votto proved why he belongs in the conversation of top-30 players in fantasy baseball as he went 3-for-5 with a home run off Chris Carpenter.
Pirates 11, Dodgers 5
Vicente Padilla (4.1 IP, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) showed why he should never be an opening day starter, even against the Pirates. … Don’t call it a comeback, but Ryan Doumit homered in the ninth inning and could be poised for a serious comeback year after an injury-plagued 2009 season. … Not a huge fan of Rafael Furcal and Russell Martin at the top of the order, but the Andre Ethier-Manny Ramirez-Matt Kemp trio could be one of the better 3-4-5 combos in baseball. … Nice to see Garrett Jones (2 HR) show that he is serious about keeping the Pirates over .500 for at least one game this season. Does he have the drive for two or even three games?
Rangers 5, Blue Jays 4
Vernon Wells and Adam Lind combined for six hits, four RBI and two home runs, or in other words, the entire Blue Jays’ offense. … Nice to see Shaun Marcum back from Tommy John surgery and he pitched very well (7 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). Grab him off your waiver wires. … Jason Frasor did little to prove that he is the definite choice for closer on the Blue Jays as he blew a save and let up four hits in just a third of an inning.
White Sox 6, Indians 0
Mark Buehrle was marvelous over seven innings of shutout ball and showed how truly bad the Indians offense will be this year. … I saw encouraging signs from Gordon Beckham as he went 2-for-4 and scored two runs in what should be a great encore to his 2009 rookie season. … What might be the most underrated aspect of the White Sox team this year is their bullpen, which features not only Bobby Jenks but Matt Thornton (2 K) and J.J. Putz (2 K). … Alexei Ramirez continues to get no love from his manager as he batted ninth, but going 0-for-3 isn’t going to help his cause.
Rockies 5, Brewers 3
There is a massive timeshare in Colorado and it seems like all five outfielders are going to get 2-5 plate appearances every game. It’s worth noting that Carlos Gonzalez batted leadoff and stayed in the entire game, and Dexter Fowler gave way to Seth Smith … Ian Stewart got his season started quickly with a solo shot in the second inning, and Franklin Morales didn’t help his chances at being the team’s interim closer. … As fantasy owners feared, Jim Edmonds got the start over Corey Hart but it really wasn’t a surprise. … What is interesting was seeing Carlos Gomez batting second. He’s hardly a high-contact hitter, but he steals a lot of bases and batting him second signals the Brewers want to let him run.
Tigers 8, Royals 4
Justin Verlander threw strikes and Kansas City hit them early on. … Johnny Damon appears to be an important catalyst atop the Tigers’ lineup as he went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI. … Scott Sizemore and Austin Jackson had rough starts to their rookie seasons, combining to go 1-for-8 while scoring two runs. … Outside of Yuniesky Betancourt‘s home run, not much happened for the Royals.
Braves 15, Cubs 5
Carlos Zambrano easily had the worst performance of the day allowing eight earned runs in 1.1 IP. … Major League Baseball, meet Jason Heyward. The rookie’s legend grew as he hit a home run in his first career at-bat. … We’ve said it in our podcasts but we love Yunel Escobar as a great value shortstop, and with a 2-or-5, 2 R, 5 RBI performance on Opening Day you can see why. … For the Cubs, Aramis Ramirez and Marlon Byrd provided some much-needed pop in the middle of the Chicago lineup.
Diamondbacks 6, Padres 3
Just throwing it out there, but Stephen Drew hit an inside-the-park home run. … No surprise here; Dan Haren was fantastic in the win, allowing only three base runners in his seven innings of work. … It might have been in vain, but Adrian Gonzalez and the much-hyped Kyle Blanks hit ninth-inning home runs for San Diego.
Giants 5, Astros 2
Tim Lincecum was dominant in his seven innings, striking out seven while walking none. … Roy Oswalt wasn’t nearly as good, and you can expect to see more starts this year nearly identical to last night’s – 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 hits, 2 BB, 3 K. … Mark DeRosa homered in his San Francisco debut, and John Bowker‘s hot bat carried over to the regular season as he added an RBI single in the second inning. … For Houston, seven of their eight regular starters had at least one hit, Hunter Pence being the odd-man out.
Angels 6, Twins 3
Kendry Morales homered to pick up where he left off last season, Hideki Matsui added one of his own, and even the light-hitting Jeff Mathis added a long ball. … Same story, different day as Brandon Wood went 0-for-4 with three K. … Delmon Young went 2-for-4 with a home run and a stolen base for the Twins, a nice reminder of the potential he has, or at least was supposed to have. … In the face of rumors surrounding Brian Fuentes‘ job security, he nailed the door shut on Minnesota in an efficient ninth inning while Fernando Rodney struggled with control in the eighth.
Mariners 5, Athletics 3
It looks like Seattle is going to run – often. Chone Figgins and Ichiro Suzuki attempted two steals apiece with Ichiro caught once. … Bryan told us to watch out for Casey Kotchman and after one game he’s making Bryan look like a genius. Kotchman went 2-for-4 with four RBI. … Felix Hernandez walked six batters for only the third time in 139 career starts (8/7/09 vs TB, 7/28/06 at CLE). Ben Sheets had some control issues as well, walking four in five innings. … Set to prove 2009 wasn’t a fluke, David Aardsma struck out two in the ninth to pick up the save.
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