Opening Day

Some highlights from Opening Day 2010:

- Welcome to the Big Leagues Jason Heyward! Carlos Zambrano had a terrible day, though his reaction was relatively mild. You've been hearing about this kid Heyward all spring. Perhaps he will live up to the hype.

- This was one of the most ridiculous Home Runs I've ever seen. Tim Kurkjian has been raving about Nelson Cruz for over a year now. I know, personally, after watching him in the WBC last spring, I picked him as one of my Break Out Players of 2009. I put him on both of my fantasy teams in the late rounds and was handsomely rewarded. This guy is incredibly strong. Usually a swing like this can plunk a ball over the first baseman's head. Cruz hit it 420 feet to right center field. Even if you want to blame the jet stream in Arlington, it's still not right to be able to hit a ball like this.

- It's probably not very often that on Opening Day you see the defensive play of the year, but http://www.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7282679 is one of the best defensive plays I've ever seen. Mark Buerhle doesn't even know how he pulled this one. It is likely to reign supreme among defensive plays this season.

- Not all the defense was brilliant. One man can only see so much of the baseball action in a day, but I saw 3 pick-off attempts thrown away. Two of them came from Marlin's pitchers, in one case, they actually had Angel Pagan picked off, but it turned into a stolen base and an extra base on the error. Aaron Harang threw one past Joey Votto for the Reds, allowing Albert Pujols to score from 3rd.

- Also in the defensive lowlights category, I saw something twice that I don't remember the last time I've seen. Don't have the video, so I'll have to describe it. In both cases the runner took off from first attempting to steal second. The catchers popped up to make the throw down to second, but had the ball slip out of their hands in exactly the same spot of the wind-up, causing the ball to pop directly upwards and then landing right back in their throwing hand. This happened to Rod Barajas of the Mets, as Chris Coughlan stole second. It also got Gerald Laird of the Tigers later in the day.

- Placido Polanco welcomed himself back to the Phillies in an unorthodox way, hitting his first Grand Slam since 2000. (Halladay was very sharp as well)

- Didn't see this live, but Stephen Drew kicked off his season in Arizona with an Inside-The-Park Home Run. If you ask me, he deserved a traditional homer with how far he hit http://www.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7285001 one.

- Though at the moment he's only a platoon catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia was unphased by the fact that the lettering on his jersey reaches his appendix, and openened the season in style, with this walk-off hit.

- The Tigers are always fun to watch. Justin Verlander once again kicked it off. I only watched a few innings of this one, but saw Verlander hit 100 mph a dozen times, and Joel Zumaya hit 101 mph. That game wasn't even on FOX.

- A lot of people were questioning the validity of Garret Jones' stellar half-season with the Pirates. He answered some questions by belting home runs in his first two at bats of 2010. http://www.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7275351. Two.

- Speaking of multiple home run games, Scott Rolen, despite receiving relatively little chatter these days (and absolutely no love in fantasy rankings), was well on his way to one...until Colby Rasmus made this play, which on a Mark Buerhle-less day, would have been a play of the night.

- Hideki Matsui picked up where he left off in October, driving in the game winning run with a single in the fifth, and then kicking off a back-to-back episode with Kendry Morales to follow in the eighth. Boom!

- Aramis Ramirez was doubled up on a fly ball that the umpires claimed Nate McClouth made the play on. Ramirez kept running as he saw the ball LYING ON THE GROUND next to McClouth. (sorry, no video)

- Some aces were on: (Lincecum, Santana, Halladay, Buerhle, King Felix, Greinke, Jimenez, Haren) Others were off: (Zambrano, Josh Johnson, John Lannan, Aaron Harang, Oswalt) Shaun Marcum was both. The Blue Jays' new Ace threw no-hit ball for 6+ innings, filling Doc's shoes. Then he gave up a walk, a single and THAT home run by Cruz, and the game was tied.

- Chone Figgins had his first 2 stolen bases as a Mariner before he had his first hit.

- Another new Mariner slammed his bat so hard after a strike-out that it splintered.

- Pay special attention to the Rays and Orioles tonight as it is still their opening day.

And then we can watch 161 more games together.

Happy Baseballing!

-APT