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Sideline Pass:
Opening day is truly special
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Major League Baseball’s opening day might be the only sellout crowd many clubs will have the entire season.
While a strong argument exists that baseball has been replaced by football as America’s sport, there is no doubt that opening day is a special day in the sports world.
Due to weather, many games in the northeast portion of the United States were canceled, including the highly anticipated 2008 American League Championship rematch between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox.
The 2008 ALCS was one of the most unforgettable playoff series in MLB history due to the Rays’ underdog status. For those of you who forgot, the Red Sox, who were the defending World Series Champions, forced game 7 in Tampa Bay after trailing 3-1 in the series but were ousted by a score of 3-1 after a stellar pitching performance by the Rays’ Matt Garza.
Opening day for 2009 was supposed to belong to the Yankees $161 million man C.C. Sabathia, but the Baltimore Orioles had different plans.
Sabathia, in December of 2008, became the highest paid pitcher in MLB history after signing a seven-year deal worth $161 million, but the All-Star outing every Yankee fan was waiting for, was not to be.
At the end of the day it turned into one of the worst outings in Sabathia’s eight-year MLB career. Sabathia was shelled in his Yankee debut after giving up eight hits and five walks with zero strikeouts in just five innings of work.
Not the way the Yankees wanted to start their season.
The surprise on opening day has to go to the Texas Rangers who got out in front early and never looked back eventually leading to a 9-1 shellacking over the Cleveland Indians.
What was most surprising about the Rangers’ win wasn’t the Rangers at all. It was the way the defending American League Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee performed.
Lee, who was arguably baseball’s most dominant pitcher in 2008, looked completely outmatched by Texas’ young hitters led by Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton.
When it was all said and done Lee gave up 10 hits and seven runs before being pulled in the fifth inning.
Maybe the Rangers’ expectations leading up to the 2009 season concerning their up-and-coming hitters might not have been so far fetched after all.
Either way, my hat is off to the Rangers’ starting pitcher Kevin Millwood who only gave up five hits and one run in seven solid innings against a Cleveland team that many had predicted to reach the World Series in 2009.
The Chicago Cubs might have been the only team that lived up to their expectations Monday after handling the Houston Astros and their ace Roy Oswalt. The Cubs matched the Astros by putting their ace Carlos Zambrano on the mound in a move that paid dividends. Behind Zambrano, the Cubs were able to get up on Oswalt early and rolled to a 4-2 victory.
It was the first time Zambrano faced the Astros since his no-hitter Sept. 14, 2008 at Miller Park in Milwaukee after Hurricane Ike damaged the Houston area forcing the game to be played elsewhere.
TRENT LOOTENS
Arbiter Journalist
