A little break between now and Game 2, so here is some (mostly) non-Jays material to ponder:
• Small-sample sizes are fun, and one cannot get much smaller than one game, but yesterday's A's-Orioles opener was all too familiar for A's fans: high pitch counts for Barry Zito and the opposing pitchers, and a lack of timely hitting for the green-n-gold. Combine this with Bobby Crosby's back woes, Rich Harden's blister woes, and the general misery known as existence, and you can forgive A's fans for being dour today. At least they can take pride in the fact their home stadium is so lovely. Oh, never mind. Back to reading Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. That'll cheer me up!
• Further up the coast, Richie Sexson's two home runs were as welcome to Mariner fans as a rainy day in Seattle. Yes, you heard me. As welcome as a rainy day in Seattle. We're in a drought, don't you know? Oh, yes. Sexson. Advice to fantasy owners? Sell high.
• So Jeremy Bonderman is a trendy breakout candidate this year, and it's not hard to see whay. He strikes me as being comparable to Bret Saberhagen, with a bit more juice on his fastball and a touch less command. Of course, Saberhagen had won a Cy Young by the time he was Bonderman's age, so it's an imperfect comparison, to say the least. Zack Greinke is a natural comp to Saberhagen, but Greinke doesn't throw as hard, and I'm not sure Saberhagen ever threw a 68 MPH curve ball. One of my favourite things about the Bill James books in the early 1990s was his "most similar player" feature. For Kirby Puckett (and a few others I can't recall), he couldn't offer one. I suspect, when it's all said done, that Greinke will be one of those players. Not so much in the numbers, because one can always find statistical comparisons, but in his style -- in the way he pitches and carries himself on the mound.
• I find it hard to resist the urge to comment on the games I'm watching live, because obviously the news is dead the second it hits the airwaves, but within five minutes I saw: 1) Jason Varitek hit a game-tying home run against Mariano Rivera; 2) Cesar Izturis hit a lead-off home run against Jason Schmidt; 3) Derek Jeter hit a game-winning home run against Keith Foulke. The NCAA men's basketball tournament is rightly praised for being one of the greatest spectacles in sports, but baseball has no shortage of drama. And it's daily! Woohoo! (And Juan Encarnacion hitting a grand slam against John Smoltz? Yup. Anything is possible, eh?)
• I was subjected to the Devil Rays feed yesterday, and their announcers were pretty happy with Chris Singleton. Ok, so every home-team announcing crew pimps their own, stiffish qualities or not from the pimpees. And Ok, I know I'm a bitter fellow who is not often happy. But if the day ever comes when I'm happy with Chris Singleton being anywhere near my favourite team, something has gone horribly wrong. As I alluded to on the game thread yesterday, is Singleton really a better option than Michael Restovich?
• A dozen or so Fearless Predictions, in no particular order of certitude:
1) David Ortiz will hit 50 home runs
2) Randy Johnson will finish with an E.R.A. higher than 4.00 (yes, I realize I picked him to win the AL Cy Young -- call it a change of heart)
3) Milton Bradley will finish with a lower OPS than Eric Byrnes
4) The Indians will win fewer than 75 games
5) Adrian Beltre will out-homer Jose Valentin by 15 (sorry, Gleeman)
6) Vernon Wells will hit 38 home runs, two fewer than Carlos Delgado
7) Jason Lane will have a higher slugging percentage than J. D. Drew -- and play in 40 more games
8) Miguel Batista will lead the American League in saves
9) Wait, I'm sorry. I meant BLOWN saves
10) Oh, forget it, I really meant that he'll be starting by July
11) The hell with it, he'll save 34 games
12) Scott Podsednik will hit .300, steal 75 bases, the White Sox will win the AL Central, and Jayson Stark will claim Podsednik is the MVP
13) A smarmy blogger will predict that Jayson Stark will vote for an unworthy MVP candidate
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