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04/04/2005 Archived Entry: "MLB: Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet"

MLB: Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet by Rodney Lopez

Today was the true opening day for Major League Baseball. Yesterday’s farce could not hold candle to today’s action.

The Dmitri Young’s, oops I mean Detroit Tigers put on a show today that I believe to be a sign of the coming times. The heart of their line up is the size of a Blue Whale and beats like a drum the size of the moon. Besides the apparent strength of their offense, there also exists upside for this club. Pudge (who is not so pudgy anymore, an obvious victim of the steroid policy, did I say that out loud?), Mags, Young, and Rondell White are a pretty ominous bunch. The upside lies in the lap of one Carlos Pena. Hitting out of the 7 hole will take the pressure off him to perform and allow him to turn into the power hitter everyone expected. Once he begins to put up numbers, he can be moved in the order to allow him to see better pitches and really take advantage of his potential.

As good as their offense can be, the pitching also has upside with Bonderman and his Band of Brothers – Johnson, Maroth, and Robertson. Johnson the veteran of the group at 31 was the leader last season but the future exists with Bonderman and Maroth. If the offensive element can stay healthy, the Tigers should look to finish at the top of the weak American Central this season.

In today’s game, it was all Tigers and all Dmitri Young. His three home runs, four runs scored and five runs batted in made him the star of the day. The fans in Detroit appreciated his efforts demanding a curtain call from the Tiger star. Everyone in the starting Line Up for Detroit had a hit minus Magglio Ordonez. The Royals scattered seven hits and mustered two runs but were basically nonexistent. The final was 11-2 in favor of the home team.

In the home opener for the Chicago White Sox, fans were treated to baseball at its best, a pitching duel. Either it was a pitching duel or simply evidence that these two teams could not hit water if they fell out of a boat. I choose the pitching duel, its more optimistic and I’m from Chicago.

Mark Buerhle returned to his old form. Getting the ball and firing it, he set a pace for the game to end in less than two hours. At one point, Buerhle had faced the minimum through four innings and only allowing two hits in eight innings. Jake Westbrook matched his counterpart allowing only four hits but letting up one run. A final score of one to nothing in favor of the home team.

In other games, Jamie Moyer continued his winnings ways with help from the Big Sexy. Richie Sexson had two home runs accounting for all of the Mariners Runs in a 5 – 1 victory. Minnesota scattered five hits for one run.

The Cubs laid it on thick and heavy. Javier Vasquez could not shake his second half blues from last season and threw nothing but grapefruits as he was tattooed. In the end, everyone fro the Cubs got in on the act even the bench players had good days. Both teams accounted for 35 hits but the Cubs drove in 16 runs and won by a margin of 10.

Colorado was the scene for another baseball atrocity as the circus rolled into town. The Rockies were down by 2 in the bottom of the ninth and put up a four spot to win the game. Seven guys homered with Xavier Nady going yard twice.

In other action, the Orioles won 4-0, Toronto won 5-2, the Phillies 8-4, the Reds 7-6, and the Brewers 9-2.

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