[grimes]

Alright, new thread it is.

My predictions are:

NL East: Phillies
NL Central: Cards
NL West: Padres
AL East: Yankees (prove me wrong Jays, prove me wrong!)
AL Central: Indians
AL West: who cares, they'll just get smoked in the first round of the playoffs anyway.

[Lizard King]

Excellent debut by the Dice-K:

7.0IP 6H 1R 1ER 1BB 10SO 1HR 1.29ERA

I just got back from the game. Dice-K is the real deal. Will be interesting to see if hitters can start to figure him out after seeing him a few times.

Greinke won't get the hype, and that's fine, but he had just as nice of a start:
7.0IP 8H 2R 1ER 1BB 7SO 1.29ERA

Hoping the Royals can surprise a bit this year, but that's tough to do in the AL Central.

Greinke pitched a good game today, his team let him down, especially with the errors, a wild pitch and Gordon letting that grounder go through his legs didnt help the team much. It was close up till then.

[grimes]

Excellent debut by the Dice-K:

7.0IP 6H 1R 1ER 1BB 10SO 1HR 1.29ERA

I just got back from the game. Dice-K is the real deal. Will be interesting to see if hitters can start to figure him out after seeing him a few times.

Greinke won't get the hype, and that's fine, but he had just as nice of a start:
7.0IP 8H 2R 1ER 1BB 7SO 1.29ERA

Hoping the Royals can surprise a bit this year, but that's tough to do in the AL Central.

Greinke pitched a good game today, his team let him down, especially with the errors, a wild pitch and Gordon letting that grounder go through his legs didnt help the team much. It was close up till then.

Considering the batters they were facing, Greinke's line is a lot more impressive than Dice-K's.

[thedaver39]

After the debacle of an Opening Day in Cleveland, today's games are cancelled. That makes it an entire series. I can't believe what I witnessed on Friday (I won't say much more than that - for fear I may blow a gasket...again). I read on the Tribe's web site that they are considering forfeiting their chances at playing Anaheim at home this year so they can move the T-R games to California so they can *at least* play the games. This is unreal.

[tigerthelion]

After the debacle of an Opening Day in Cleveland, today's games are cancelled. That makes it an entire series. I can't believe what I witnessed on Friday (I won't say much more than that - for fear I may blow a gasket...again). I read on the Tribe's web site that they are considering forfeiting their chances at playing Anaheim at home this year so they can move the T-R games to California so they can *at least* play the games. This is unreal.

I love how the Indians were a strike away from winning that home opener and making the game official and then the umpires called the game. That was disgraceful. :x

[VioletlightHeron]

How weird is it going to be for the Indians to play their series against Anaheim in Milwaukee? The last time the Indians were the home team in Milwaukee was at the old County Stadium for the movie Wild Thing. :lol: :lol:

[grimes]

Though not quite as bad as Cleveland, it wasn't exactly baseball weather for the home opener here in Toronto tonight. It sure is nice to have the dome at this time of year. Great effort by the Jays tonight, and great to see such a large, lively crowd at the Rogers Centre. Let's hope we can keep up both all season long :thumb:

[sullivand]

Great effort by the Jays tonight, and great to see such a large, lively crowd at the Rogers Centre. Let's hope we can keep up both all season long :thumb:

Great effort by Perez, too. He gave it all he could for nearly two innings. Congrats on drawing the Royals to start the homestand. (great -- one week into the season and I'm already a bitter KC fan)

[The Horrible Esthete]

I love how the Indians were a strike away from winning that home opener and making the game official and then the umpires called the game. That was disgraceful. :x

I think that decision was best for those circumstances.

I know that both teams had to deal with the weather, but no MLB game should become "official" under those conditions. Baseball was not meant to be played in a snowstorm.

[thedaver39]

I love how the Indians were a strike away from winning that home opener and making the game official and then the umpires called the game. That was disgraceful. :x

I think that decision was best for those circumstances.

I know that both teams had to deal with the weather, but no MLB game should become "official" under those conditions. Baseball was not meant to be played in a snowstorm.

I have to disagree. The decision that *would* have been best would have been to call the game from the start. I was in Cleveland that day, and it was snowing the entire morning. Why they decided to even give it a try was beyond me. But once they did, the right thing to do would have been to let Byrd throw one more pitch and try to end the game. He had a no-hitter going, and Mariners had played one of if not THE worst 4+ innings of baseball that I have ever seen from an MLB team. You're right when you say that baseball was not meant to be played in a snowstorm, but once you let them get that far, all bets should have been off. Seattle didn't say a thing when Byrd was walking men that inning because of the weather.

[The Horrible Esthete]

The decision that *would* have been best would have been to call the game from the start. I was in Cleveland that day, and it was snowing the entire morning. Why they decided to even give it a try was beyond me.

Agreed. It was dumb to even try to play, but I still think it's even dumber to allow the results of five innings of "snowball" stand for an offical game.

But once they did, the right thing to do would have been to let Byrd throw one more pitch and try to end the game. He had a no-hitter going, and Mariners had played one of if not THE worst 4+ innings of baseball that I have ever seen from an MLB team.

To me, that only demonstrates that they had no business trying to play baseball in those conditions. Beltre had 3 errors (2 throwing) in 4 innings, when the guy had committed only 39 errors in his previous 916 innings. Isn't that a 'red flag' of sorts?

And the issue of the no-hitter is also irrelevant, imo. A 5-inning "no hitter" in a snowstorm is not even worth recognizing. It's hard enough to hit MLB pitching, and it's next to impossible in a squall like the one which was occurring at the time they called it. I don't care if it's just one pitch or just one batter -- it's not fair to allow another pitch which could seal an "official" game when you can't focus on the baseball through blowing snow.

You're right when you say that baseball was not meant to be played in a snowstorm, but once you let them get that far, all bets should have been off.

It was irresponsible on behalf of MLB to start that game, and would have twice as irresponsible to let it continue, after guys have to sit around in subfreezing temperatures for undefined periods of time waiting for the snow to let up. Your star catcher suffered a quad strain, which was most likely due to the cold + periods of inactivity. Allowing that game to continue would only further jeopardize the health of multi-million dollar investments. One dumb decision doesn't excuse another.

[thedaver39]

Esthete, I can't argue any of those points. You've brought up the thing that burns me the most though - Victor potentially being on the DL. Word is that he is doing better and with the days off we ended up having anyway, he may be able to avoid a stint on the 15-day.

The no-hitter thing certainly would have been with an asterisk, and I suppose I just wanted to see it more for my own pleasure of being able to say that I *saw* a no-hitter (not many can say that).

Again, I can't argue any of your points but I still feel the same way. Perhaps if you had been there in the stands for a little over 7 hours in sub-30 temperatures and a constant driving snow watching a Reds game, you might have my slightly different perspective. I felt so bad for our team. The decision to start the game verged on irresponsible, but the fact that we got nothing but injury and controversy out of the day was the most disheartening. In the post-game interviews Byrd said that as soon as they called the game, he looked over to the Seattle dugout and the Mariners were laughing and high-fiving each other. They knew that they got away with one.

[kleh]

Though not quite as bad as Cleveland, it wasn't exactly baseball weather for the home opener here in Toronto tonight. It sure is nice to have the dome at this time of year. Great effort by the Jays tonight, and great to see such a large, lively crowd at the Rogers Centre. Let's hope we can keep up both all season long :thumb:

yeah aj looked awesome, it's really really too bad the crowd is much smaller tonight (even though there's no leafs or raps tonight) PLUS it's twoonie tuesday isnt it??! argh, id be there every tuesday for sure...

poor Towers got some un-lucky bounces tonight, we're clawing back but it's getting late...heading to the last of the 9th now

[tigerthelion]

Though not quite as bad as Cleveland, it wasn't exactly baseball weather for the home opener here in Toronto tonight. It sure is nice to have the dome at this time of year. Great effort by the Jays tonight, and great to see such a large, lively crowd at the Rogers Centre. Let's hope we can keep up both all season long :thumb:

Well, it didn't take long for that to end. :thumb:

[grimes]

Though not quite as bad as Cleveland, it wasn't exactly baseball weather for the home opener here in Toronto tonight. It sure is nice to have the dome at this time of year. Great effort by the Jays tonight, and great to see such a large, lively crowd at the Rogers Centre. Let's hope we can keep up both all season long :thumb:

yeah aj looked awesome, it's really really too bad the crowd is much smaller tonight (even though there's no leafs or raps tonight) PLUS it's twoonie tuesday isnt it??! argh, id be there every tuesday for sure...

poor Towers got some un-lucky bounces tonight, we're clawing back but it's getting late...heading to the last of the 9th now

I missed the game tonight as I had a work function to attend, but frankly 22,000 against the Royals, in April, with Towers starting, isn't too bad. It was twoonie tuesday, and I checked this afternoon and all the best $2 seats were sold (in the 200 level, and in the 500 level behind the plate in the first 10 rows). I'll probably go to a game or two against the Tigers this weekend, and I've already got my $2 tickets for next Tuesday against the Red Sox. While certainly far from the daily sellouts we experienced back in the early 90's, there is definitely a buzz in this city about the Jays this year, and I think we'll see some respectable attendance numbers on average if they can stay competitive.