"Corre, corre!"

One of the reasons I started this blog is to expose non-baseball fans to many of the fun and exciting aspects of America's Pastime.  I have already explained many of them in previous posts - the double play, the assisted out at home, the stolen base (and the "caught stealing") - and there are many more plays out there that will hopefully happen frequently during the season so I can talk about them here.  In yesterday's opening game between the Orioles and Rays, I got to watch Brian Roberts hit a triple.  The triple is so exciting, because the player is running as fast as he can, while the fielders are frantically scrambling to try and get him out.  I always yell "Corre!  Corre!", which is Spanish for "Run, Forrest; run!"  In last night's game, Roberts' triple caused two runs to score, while the "Village Idiot," Johnny Damon, caught the ball, fell down, and flipped the ball in hopes that someone would catch it.  Rick Markakis also had 2 RBIs, and the Orioles won 4-1.  What I didn't understand was why O's pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, who pitched 8 innings of 3-hit ball, wasn't allowed to pitch in the ninth to get a complete game.  I don't know what his pitch count was - don't get me started on pitch counts; that's a whole other topic of discussion!  But being in the American League, where the pitcher wouldn't potentially be batting in the next inning, I saw no reason why they couldn't keep in there for three more outs.  The funny thing was that the game was 4-0 when Guthrie left, and the first pitch that the reliever thew was hit for a home run (that's why the final score was 4-1).  If I was Guthrie, when the other pitcher returned to the dugout, I would have said "Thanks a lot, you jerk!"  I enjoyed watching this game because Jim Palmer was not doing the color commentary like he usually does.  Sorry Jim, but you bore me with your "back when I played" stories!

In other opening-day games yesterday, the White Sox beat the Indians 15-10.  What makes this interesting is that former Nationals first baseman Adam Dunn hit a hone run and a double, and had 4 RBIs.  In his past two years as a National, Dunn always had a slow April and didn't start batting well until mid-May.  Also yesterday, the Phillies beat the Astros 5-4, with Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard having two hits each.  Roy Halliday pitched OK, with 6 strikeouts in 6 innings.  In other games, the Red Sox lost to the Rangers, the Pirates beat the Cubs, and the Marlins beat the Mets.  This puts the Mets and Nationals in last place in the NL East at 0-1, with the Braves, Phillies and Marlins at 1-0.

Interesting note from Opening Day:  In Thursday's game between the Cardinals and Padres, Cards' outfielder Matt Holliday (yes, there is a Halliday and a Holliday) went 3 for 4 and then went to the hospital to have his appendix removed.  Looks like he played alrignt despite having a belly ache!

Today is the first day when all the teams play (since some played on Thursday and others played on Friday).  We're off to Nationals Park tomorrow (yeaaay!), so I'll be back Sunday evening to let you know how it went.  The Nats beat the Cardinals last time we went to a game, so hopefully our streak will continue.