Catching Up On Day Two

A day after (well, the same day, but I found out later) that I post that the Mets aren't the best team in baseball because of their risk of injury what happens? That's right, #2 starter Pedro Martinez gets hurt. He strained a hamstring in the fourth inning, and the Mets went on to lose in extra innings on a walk-off home run by Robert Andino (who?). The Mets were supposed to have the best rotation in the East by a mile, but if Pedro is out for any long stretch of time then there are some question marks after Santana: can John Maine repeat/improve upon his success from last year (likely repeat, maybe improve); can Oliver Perez keep the ball near the strike-zone (eh, 70-30 yes); can El Duque keep pitching at the age of 173 (doubtful); and can Mike Pelfrey throw something other than a fastball (eventually, but not soon enough for New York)? An injury or two to the starting line-up could relegate the Mets to second of third place pretty quickly. Hopefully (for them - I like the Braves) Pedro won't miss much time. They did win their game over the Marlins 5-4.

The Colorado Rockies officially began their defense of the NL Pennant with a 2-1 victory over the Cardinals. I bet St. Louis missed Scott Rolen's Gold Glove when Troy Glaus made a throwing error that allowed the first Rockies run to score before rookie second-baseman Jayson Nix (known for his glove, not his bat) walked with the bases loaded to give Colorado the 2-1 lead which held up till the end.

The San Fransisco Giants lost again despite an offensive explosion, 3-2 to the Dodgers. To score those two runs it took: back-to-back singles to lead off the seventh versus Derek Lowe; an infield single off of Lowe's calf; and bases loaded walk to rookie (from A-ball) Brian Bocock by reliever Joe Beimel; and another single by pinch-hitter Eugenio Velez. Rich Aurilia grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Dodgers came back to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh before taking the winning it in the ninth. Poor Matt Cain. He goes 5 2/3 innings without giving up a run and striking out five, and he gets a no-decision. He should get used to it.

The Seattle Mariners took their first step towards losing 80+ games as the lost to the Rangers in heart-breaking fashion as their ace closer JJ Putz gave up a game-winning two-run home run in the ninth inning to Josh Hamilton. In 2007, the M's never lost when leading after eight innings (75-0), but luck played a part in that (as it did many things for the team) and with it evening out this year Seattle won't (hopefully) have another 88 win season.

Including those mentioned, there were seven one-run games (all but the Angels over the Twins 9-1) as the Yankees beat Toronto 3-2 (good pitching from both Wang and Halladay), Houston went down again to San Diego 2-1 (game-winning two-run homer from Scott Hairston and very good pitching - the Astros scored their only run on another bases loaded walk), and Boston beat Oakland 2-1 in a rematch of their Opening Day (Japan version) starters.

I won't be doing this every day, but I may mentioning a thing or two from some of the games.