What I Learned From Opening Weekend

What did I learn about MLB from watching Opening Day weekend?  Not a lot.  I don't think we can judge how teams are going to play throughout the season based on one series, especially the first series of the year.  We saw some exciting baseball, a lot of comebacks and some things we didn't expect.

Starting with the White Sox, we saw a team explode to score 15 runs in the first game and 8 runs in the second game of a three game series with Cleveland.  Starting Pitching in each game was ok, but the bullpen really failed in each game.  The bullpen will need to hammer out these kinks early or it will be a long season.  The guy who seemed to choke the most this weekend was Will Ohman, who leaves Cleveland with 2 IP, 6 ER and a 3.00 WHIP.

The hitting was definitely there, at least in the first two games.  Quentin hit .545 with a home run, 7 RBI and 3 doubles and 3 runs scored.  He paced the way but others were great also.  Gordon Beckham hit .455 with 4 runs scored, a double and 2 RBI.  Adam Dunn hit .400/1/5, AJ hit .385 with 2 RBI and Konerko hit .364 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored.  I am really glad the guys came out swinging this year, because the Sox in the past have typically not hit this well until the weather got warmer.  The only player I am slightly worried about is Rios, who didn't record a hit at all in the series.  However, it's still early and he should come around.  I think he'll be fine.

Elsewhere in the league, we see that Texas just ran over the Red Sox, the team everyone sees doing big things this year in the AL East and in the AL period.  Texas lost Cliff Lee, and that was supposed to slow this team down, but they looked better than ever this weekend.  Cruz and Kinsler became the first teammates ever to each hit a home run in their team's first three games of the season.  They outscored the Red Sox 26-11, games started by Lester, Lackey and Buchholz.  Looks like the Rangers are clearly the class of the AL West again.  The Angels looked awful this weekend against the Royals, and may end up dropping 3 of 4.

The Cardinals, Cubs and Brewers didn't look like they want to challenge the Reds for the NL Central.  Pirates took two of three from the Cubs, Cards dropped two of three to the Padres and the Reds swept the Brew Crew.  Axford looked lost as the new closer of the Brew Crew, blowing the first game of the year to the Reds in the 9th on a home run.  Over in the NL West, the Giants faltered against division rival Los Angeles, dropping three of four.  I think they will find the Dodgers pesky this year, but they should pull it together and make it a good NL West race this summer.  Their starting pitching is too good to keep losing games.  The NL East looks like I thought it would with Philly and Atlanta at the top.  The Phillies looked good in their series without Chase Utley.  Atlanta's pitching and hitting both looked great, so they should be right there all year.

Probably the best story this weekend was the Baltimore Orioles.  Buck Showalter has taken that team to a new level.  They were atrocious last year until he arrived, and he went 34-23 to finish out 2010.  They have not cooled off going into this year, as they swept the Rays and played very well.  They have good young pitching, good young hitting and some key veterans to round it out.  Let's face it though, it's mostly Buck Showalter getting them to play.  He's a really good manager and has been over his career.  I like him and think that he is definitely one of the best minds in the game.  He has some crazy rituals, but that's what makes him great.  The O's may surprise us all this year.

Ian Kinsler, Mark Teixeira and Nelson Cruz are leading MLB with three home runs, while Carlos Quentin and Teixeira lead MLB with 7 RBI.  Out of players who have played in at least three games this weekend, Mike McCoy leads MLB in Average at .571, followed by Carlos Quentin(.545) and Ryan Howard(.538).  Ryan Braun & Ludwick and Placido Polanco lead the league in runs scored with five.  Willie Bloomquist and Ichiro lead the league with three stolen bases.

Pitching stats really can't be analyzed from just one start but we have seen some good pitching this weekend.  Felix Hernandez and Jamie Garcia pitched complete games in low scoring, close wins(Garcia's was a shutout).  Matt Garza K'd 12, Cliff Lee K'd 11 and Clayton Kershaw K'd 9 in their starts.  Most of the guys we expected to pitch well did, which means early on at least, the standings will start to reflect in the way that most of us had them going.

A few pitchers faltered.  I would say the most important guys who fell flat in their first starts were all three Red Sox starters, Ubaldo Jiminez, Fausto Carmona and Mike Pelfrey.  All of those guys(minus Carmona) are extremely important for teams that are looking to not only make the post season, but win the World Series.  I'm sure that a few of these guys will get it together, but they all looked pretty bad in their starts.

You can't take too much from one series, but a lot of good things happened as MLB got off to a solid start this year.  Teams are hitting, guys are pitching and stories are appearing to make this a good year.  Can't wait to see where 2011 takes us from here.