One fine Day!

For all the great things in sports,the first week of April might be the best week of all.
Hockey races towards the excitement of the playoffs,the NCAA determines the basketball champion,the Masters starts and most of all -Opening Day for baseball....
Combine all of that with the absolutely gorgeous weather up and down the East Coast and you have maybe the best Opening Day in years,but one thing made it a great day-a Pittsburgh Pirates victory.
The Pirates smacked the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-5 and for one day looked like a team on the rise.
Zach Duke earned the win (1-0) with a five inning stint.
Garrett Jones hit two homers and Ryan Doumit added another.
The Bucs take today off and face the Dodgers tomorrow at 7:05.

Pirate Hooks

1) Those of you wondering about the long term performance potential of Garrett Jones had to feel better for a little while after his two homers.
The long bomb to right that left the ballpark and rolled into the river was the most visually impressive,but I was more impressed with the second shot that he hit to left.
Opposite field power is real power and if Jones can be more than a pure pull hitter,his chances of being a star power hitter go up substantially....

2) Ryan Doumit's homer gave me hope for the catcher having a good season.
Doumit's issues have never been one of production,only health....

3) John Russell and his silly "lets bat the pitcher 8th in the lineup" bit him in the ass yesterday in the fifth when Zach Duke had to be pinch hit for when he came up with the bases loaded and two out.
Now Russell's move worked out when Ryan Church ripped a bases clearing double,but had the lineup card been made differently,he would not have had to use his best pinch hitter and take out his pitcher after five.
This team is far from good enough to have make pitching decisions after five innings a few times a week.

4) One more word on this-I think Tony LaRussa is a great manager,but no one is mistake free and every time LaRussa tries something,it gets copied even if it doesn't pan gold.

5) The bullpen does not give me tons of confidence,even with a sizable lead,
The Buccos were up 8-2 and even before the Dodgers pulled within 8-5,I had the feeling that this game was far from over.

6) I wonder what the Dodgers reasoning was in starting Vincente Padilla of all people?
It could have been to relieve any pressure from Chad Billingsley or Clayton Kershaw,but I my guess would be that it was more along the lines of saving one of them for the home opener and the schedule didn't set up for someone to pitch in both games....

7) Brandon Moss did clear waivers and was assigned to Indianapolis.
I cannot say that displeases me as Moss could work things out there and return upon the inevitable injuries that occur.

8) Great day as I watched them with Ryan and Corey with grilled brats and ham and plenty of seamhead talk.
Looks like a weekend trip is in the works for July that sees 3 games in 2 days and also some stops for some of my favorite foods in Skyline Chili and my favorite pizza from Donna D's!
More on that down the road.
Thanks for coming over guys!

Bullpen Notes

The minor league rosters are out and I hope to have a look at the Pirate teams over the next few days.
The Pirate Top 15 prospect series will start when I have time over the next few weeks.
I also hope to have time to do a Indians season preview as well.

The Hagerstown Suns are having a meet the team party at the Muni on Wednesday.
Admission is two dollars and this seems to be a great way to get the new Suns cards signed,so I can work on the visiting teams from Hickory and Lakewood this week.

I also will be contributing some work for the new NationalsProspects blog at times over the season,so I will be sure to tell you when I have that coming up.

Devils in Atlanta tonight,so will be back then....

Photo Credit
Gregory Shamus-Getty Images