The Nats win an ugly one in 10 in Atlanta, I’ll take an ugly win over an ugly loss every time.
but I have the bad feeling that just before opening pitch yesterday will the the last moment the Mariners weren’t below .500. :mad:
They say the offense improved. Great. But if you can’t count on King Felix, what can you count on?
Yeah. I’m probably worrying too much too soon.
It’s baseball. You can never worry too much, or too soon.
Josh Thole, who isn’t much better a hitter than a lot of people posting in this thread, hit a home run in his first at bat. Even a blind squirrel…
Big Papi with a home run and a double in game 1 of the season. Great to see from a guy who’s been a notoriously cold starter the past few seasons. Hell, it was June last year a reporter asked if he’s washed up.
Jake Arrieta continued the dominance that led him to be the Cy Young winner last season. Heyward and Zobrist both had hits, so a bit of the pressure for them to produce immediately is off. Hopefully, Lester can keep it going.
The Jays started 3 left-handed batters against a left-handed pitcher. 2 of their 3 home runs against him were by left-handed batters. I know that people say that this lineup is set up to mash left-handed pitching but I don’t think that was the way that people imaged it happening. 
So the Astros get their opening day in a day late, come out with a win, a home run for Carlos Correa, and a hit for Tyler White in his first major league at bat. Not so bad.
If you can hit you can hit.
Thole’s home run was just his annual dinger (which he doesn’t always get) but it’s very nice to see Saunders continue to play well. A solid Saunders gives the Jays a much better chance of again having a devastating lineup, in light of the fact that a lot of other guys probably won’t hit quite as well as they did in 2015. The widespread assumption in Toronto seems to be that the offense will be equally incredible in 2016, but that really doesn’t make sense as an expectation, since
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You just can’t be that dominant two years in a row. Toronto in 2015 was ridiculously offensively dominant. It is simply not likely that a team will continue to do something extraordinarily far from normal.
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If one examines the lineup it seems obvious the likelihood is that they will not ht as well. Most of the players are at the age where they should decline, not improve, and even good performances would be a decline from 2015. Nobody will complain if Josh Donaldson hits .275 with 35 homers, but that is still not as good as 2015, and those slightly fewer runs count. Jose Bautista is 35; Edwin is 32, Donaldson is 30, Tulowitzki is 31 or 32 I think, and Martin, being a catcher, is the equivalent of 37. Colabello was a total fluke in 2015. Nobody is going to go out and turn into a pumpkin save Colabello (he will be released in June batting .225 with 6 home runs, you read it here first), but collectively a few homers here and a few singles there and you’re down 75 runs, and
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Batting Pillar leadoff is really stupid.
I won’t argue that Pillar shouldn’t be anywhere near the leadoff spot. You can’t have a guy with a career 4% walk rate in professional baseball up there. However, don’t forget that the Jays are going to get a full season out of Tulowitzki and most of a season out of Devon Travis, both of whom offer significant offensive upgrades over the players that they replace.
When Travis is back it’s entirely possible that 1B will be Toronto’s weakest position offensively.
I I dearly hope Travis gets back soon and is what he looked like in early 2015, but I’m not going to put a huge amount of faith on either eventuality.
I suspect, if Goins is still playing well (and he played REALLY well in the last half of 2015) that they will demote or dump Barney and platoon Goins and Travis, with whomever isn’t starting being the reserve infielder.
Interestingly enough, I am presently working in the Dallas area. Absolutely every single person here is convinced Toronto and Texas are fated to meet again in the playoffs and that they’re the two best teams in the league.
Add me to the get rid of God Bless America and do we really need a military connection to every game?
I guess we’re singing Take Me Out To The Ball Game in church on Sunday.
Hoo boy. Really controversial ending to the Toronto/Tampa game today. With the bases loaded and one out a grounder was hit to third. Tampa threw to second for the first out, but the throw to first was wide. However, the runner going to second reached his hand out a bit and tapped the second basement on the foot as he was trying to throw, and on video review the batter-runner was called out due to the interference, ending the game.
Okay, it was a dumbass move by Bautista to touch the defender, but that was a really harsh interpretation of the new rule in my (obviously biased) opinion.
There’s a GIF of it here
https://twitter.com/SNFaizalKhamisa/status/717537566644432896/photo/1
I think it was a good call, according to the new rules.
That looks plainly intentional and should have been called interference under the OLD rules.
Agreed - runner is clearly intending to mess with the fielder.
Tell me about it. I missed most of the Mariners loss on opening day, but I was able to tune in for tonight’s game. When the score was tied 2-2, I decided to make a run to the store to buy a bottle. I got back home to find the Mariners ahead 10-2. Yeah, I missed a 6-run explosion in the top of the 8th while I was wandering around Safeway.
As for the game itself, I’m curious to figure out why former Mariner pitcher, Tom Wilhelmson, apparently intentionally hit new Mariner catcher, Chris Ianetta. Even the announcers sounded confused by that.
ETA: Non-fans wonder what the fascination is, and my above description is it. In baseball, anything can happen. As Yogi said, “It ain’t over til it’s over”.
Also, congrats to new Mariners manager, Scott Sevais, for his first win as a manager!
Another year, another closer for the Tigers who falls apart.
I looked up the rules and it appears to me Bautista violated Rule 5.09, which ain’t new. Penalty is the batter/runner is called out. I think it’s plain as day.
The new 6.01j really isnt the rule being applied there.