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As the beginning of the baseball season excites fans at heart and allows them to scream at their TVs for the next seven months or so, some teams are still waiting to hit the diamond. Two games were postponed due to snow, with the Astros and the Yankees having to wait it out along with the Red Sox and Indians. While both games will occur early Tuesday, the delay can add some rust as well as throw off the game of some of the players. The cold weather is not something that the players are used to playing through consistently, and the weather can have a huge effect on the grip of the ball, the air underneath it, and the flexibility of the players.
While those four teams await their opening game, 16 teams were able to start their season accordingly. The day was filled with extra innings, a few blowouts, and some superb pitching, all mixing together to make a beautiful first day of baseball.
The San Fransisco Giants took on the Milwaukee Brewers in Miller Park, serving them an ice cold thrashing of 12-3. After being tied at 2 a piece heading into the third inning, the Giants would go on to score 10 out of the next 11 runs registered in the game. Milwaukee’s pitching looked shaky, as starting pitcher Wily Peralta gave up five runs in only four innings of work. After getting pulled, the relief would give up another seven, including back to back to back homers from Denard Span, Joe Panik, and Buster Posey in the eighth inning. Madison Bumgarner provided solid pitching, and he says that everything worked really well for them.
However, this game looked extremely competitive when looked at opposed to the Dodgers-Padres beat down that occurred. LA blew out the Padres 15-0 in a superb performance from Clayton Kershaw. The 28-year-old All-Star only gave up one hit in seven innings, striking out nine in the process. On offense, nothing could go wrong, with no home runs but very solid team play from multiple players, such as Chase Utley and Adrian Gonzalez. The Dodgers will look to keep their momentum as they play the Padres twice before meeting with the San Fransisco Giants.
Across the nation, The Baltimore Orioles fought out a tough one with the Minnesota Twins, prevailing 3-2. The game included the seasons first walk off win with a bottom of the 9th single by Matt Wieters that led Chris Davis home for the score. The game was included a decent amount of hits from either team, but rarely enough to score the ball. Both teams will look to pick up their offense in the second game of the series in Baltimore.
In a very odd fashion, The Texas Rangers were able to defeat the Seattle Mariners by a score of 3-2 while getting just one hit. JUST. ONE. HIT. That one hit came in the fifth inning, as Prince Fielder lined a single out to left field, bringing home Elvis Andrus and leaving the bases loaded with the score tied at 2. An error on the part of shortstop Ketel Marte gave Texas the 3-2 edge. The Rangers would never let up the lead after that.
As the only game that went into extra innings, the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves in an early divisional matchup. Washington tied it as 3 in the ninth inning with a Michael Taylor sac fly that gave Jayson Werth the room to score. On offense once again in the 10th, Daniel Murphy hit a double that brought home Ryan Zimmerman and gave the Nationals the victory. Max Scherzer earned his first win of the season, and says that sometimes the harder earned wins are nicer to have. Although the Nationals may be happy with their victory, a 10 inning games shows that improvement is needed.
Other battles on the diamond included the Cincinnati Reds beating the Phillies 6-2, the Blue Jays taking a second game against the Rays with a score of 5-3, the Rockies running an offensive showcase against the Diamondbacks with a score of 10-5, the World Series favorite Chicago Cubs taking down the Angels 9-zip, and the Chicago White Sox downing the Oakland A’s 4-3.
Not much can be said about any of these teams considering the youth of the year. There is also the entirety of the bullpen, which most teams have yet to show as of yet. But with a few games under their belts, this season has the makings to be a very, very interesting one for baseball fans across the nation.
