MLB Opening Day 2018

I’ve only gotten to catch a couple of Spring Training games this year, apart from the Padres and Chihuahuas exhibition.  (Darn you, Twitch!  Curses on pretty gamer girls!)  This week, MLB TV had all the games up for free viewing.  Monday (3-26-18), I caught the end of the A’s beating the crap out of the Giants.  It was a close game in the ninth until the A’s clobbered the Giants’ reliever.  I didn’t catch his name, but I’m thinking he’s going back down to the minors.  This game came on the heels of the double loss of Jeff Samardzija and Madison Bumgarner going down and pre-ruining the Giants’ season.  My pre-season preview was shaky enough before that.

Tuesday (3-27-18), I caught the end of the Blue Jays versus the Cardinals playing in Montreal.  It was another good crowd there in Quebec.  If they’re missing baseball there, they shouldn’t have run off their last team.  The Jays were sporting an all-legacy team with Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrro Jr., and Cavan Biggio, all sons of great major leaguers.  Bo looks like he’s 16 years old.  They should let him play without a hat.  What a head of hair on that kid!  If he makes it to the majors, there’s a shampoo endorsement waiting for him.  The score was a futile 0-0 through eight and a half and 2/3 of the bottom of the ninth, when Vlad jacked one to win the game, 1-0 Jays.  Even I was yelling at him to make a curtain call, which he did.

The Giants won their Bay Series rematch against the A’s that night.  The final game of the night and Spring Training was the Dodgers versus Angels at Dodger Stadium.  When I tuned in, there was a delay in progress.  A broken water pipe had flooded the Dodger side of the field, including the warning track, the dugout, their offices, and the first row of seats.  Obviously part of the problem they had was turning off the water.  It was just an official game at that point when they stopped play.  The umpires called it after 30 minutes to the boo’s of the crowd.  

While I was out yesterday, I went by Target and took advantage of their MLB sale.  I couldn’t find the team gear, but did pick up several packs of Topps Opening Day baseball cards.  Since I finally got a Buster Posey card for Christmas, I was going to abstain from further cardboard crack purchases, but I can’t resist those OD cards, especially at a discount.  These packs are usually great with star cards, rookie cards, and fun, special cards.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get much that I liked.   There was Whit Merrifield of the Royals.  He’s kind of awkward and stiff on the field, but several of those kind of guys have turned into great players.  I got a Harrison Bader of the Cardinals rookie card.  I remember him from last year.  He doubled and scored the winning run in his MLB debut with his family there.  A couple of the players were not pictured on their correct current teams.  There were some special cards, including a Phillie Phanatic and a Slider, mascot of the Indians.  Given the nose on this guy, I guess he’ll be taking the place of Chief Wahoo next year. 

Ah finally, Opening Day (3-29-18).  There’s even an early game scheduled between the Marlins and the Cubs on ESPN Radio . . . just not on my local station.  I endured five minutes of some ESPN sports talk dummies, before giving up.  I did hear on the top of the hour update that Ian Happ of the Cubs hit the very first pitch of the MLB season for a home run.  This is an ominous sign for baseball offense this year and for the Marlins.

Okay, take two.  The Rangers were playing the Astros in Arlington later in the afternoon.  It was a near full house there, including Commissioner Rob Manfred.  I had to perch my radio in an odd spot on top of some boxes to get clear reception.  For a change, the local station broadcast the first pitch.  (For the last couple of years, they’ve picked up the games 10 minutes in.)  Our pitching matchup was marquee-level with Justin Verlander versus Cole Hamels, though apparently Tim Lincecum stole the show when he was introduced and the fans went wild.  

George Springer homered on third pitch of the game.  What!  I’m sensing a long summer for pitchers this year.  George became the first player ever to homer in the opening at bat on consecutive Opening Days.  I’d been waiting on a new oven to be delivered today, which showed up shortly after that.  While I was outside of my apartment, my radio fell off the boxes.  Good thing I wasn’t there, because I might have screamed.  A decent radio may be hard to replace in this day and age.  Fortunately, it was still working afterward.

The bases were loaded to start the third.  Joey Gallo and Hamels collided at first on an infield hit to start the problems.  Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks started obsessing over the new mound visits rule, as Hamels was in trouble and receiving mound visits.  I thought Eric wanted quicker games?  Hamels gave up a run, but a DP got him out of it, 2-0 Astros.  Elsewhere, Giancarlo Stanton homered in his first Yankees at bat.  Groan. 

Another repairman came by to check my smoke detector.  It’s been a busy afternoon, not the lazy listen-to-a-couple-of-ballgames kind of day I was hoping for.  Jake Marisnick homered off the pole in the fourth to make it 3-0 Astros.  The Rangers finally threatened in the sixth with two in scoring position, but nothing came of it after a Nomar Mazara strikeout.  Carlos Correa drove in a run in the eighth to make it 4-0.  At this point, I had to go to work, but I apparently only missed Elvis Andrus scoring on a wild pitch in the ninth.  4-1 Astros was the final. 

At work, I listened to Aggie Baseball, which I’ll recap in a later post.  When I turned on the TV in the break room, the Dodgers/Giants game had just finished on ESPN with a 1-0 . . . Giants win?  Ty Blach outdueled Clayton Kershaw, who didn’t give up a run in Spring Training.  Joe Panik’s fifth inning homer was the only score that mattered in the game.  Of course, I also learned that the Giants lost their closer, Mark Melancon.  By the end of the month, they may be using dudes from the stands wearing Bumgarner jerseys.  

That wasn’t the only injury I just found out about.  Salvador Perez is hurt for the Royals.  Troy Tulowitzki is also injured for the Blue Jays.  Actually, it would be news if he was healthy.  The game next up was the Indians versus the Mariners in front of a full house in Seattle.  I decided to watch the Diamondbacks versus Rockies on Fox Sports Arizona instead, which started at about the same time.  I did see Ichiro Suzuki’s first at bat since returning to the M’s.  He’s 44 and still looks good.  The crowd in Seattle gave him a loving, standing ovation.

It was another full house in Phoenix.  The roof was open and field looked good for a change.  DJ LeMahieu got the scoring started with a home run in the first for the Rockies.  Jon Gray gave up three runs in the bottom, but I think the half inning lasted a half hour, which diminished my attention.  I had some work and other distractions (Twitch gamer girls) and missed a lot of the middle, but the D-Backs mostly piled on. 

The game in Seattle ended pretty quick with a 2-1 M’s win.  Sports Center came on next with a recap of the day.  Boy is this show lame these days.  I was embarrassed for Nelson Cruz as he was being interviewed.  Thank goodness MLB Tonight and Quick Pitch were on the MLB Network for better coverage.  I found out that Stanton homered twice in his first Yankees game.  He’s already getting obnoxious.  He’s going to rub off negatively on Aaron Judge and ruin him.  Noah Syndergaard struck out 10 in a win over the Cardinals.  I did keep up with the Rockies game and watched the ninth.  It was an 8-2 Diamondbacks win, and that was the last game of the day that also went pretty long. 

So, this wasn’t exactly a successful Opening Day from a watching and listening standpoint.  I’m going to have to be retired with some MLB viewing package to really enjoy this.  I miss that guy on Yahoo that would live chat the day’s games a few years ago.  That’s the way to do it and have fun.  Regardless, baseball is back.  Yea!