I watched lots of baseball the past two days. I'm a Royals fan, but I'd rather not talk about this year's opening day debacle. It looks to be another long season. Instead, I'll share some thoughts on last night's Rays-O's game.
- Matt Wieters had an impressive at-bat, working the count before hitting a homerun. The most impressive part was that he was fooled on the pitch he hit out of the park -- he was way out in front of a changeup and swung with one hand. He's strong enough to hit a no-doubter with one hand. Also, I've heard that his bat can cure cancer.
- Even Longoria's homerun was even more impressive. He hit it 470 feet into the upper deck. On replay, it didn't even look like he got his hands fully extended. Scary. The ball was jumping at the Trop yesterday.
- The two closers were both Braves last year. Both struggled, as Rafael Soriano of the Rays escaped a bases-loaded scenario when Carl Crawford made a good play on a crushed line drive, then Mike Gonzalez of the Orioles blew a save.
- The Orioles' use of Mike Gonzalez drives me nuts. He's the nominal "closer," so he had to pitch the final three outs. Nevermind that he's left-handed and the first batter of the inning was Pat Burrell, who has made a career out of being good against lefties and average against righties. It also speaks volumes about how far Burrell has fallen that he was the only Ray that Gonzalez was able to retire. The next four guys all reached, and the Orioles lost the game.
- Intentional walks are normally stupid. Last night was no exception. In a one-run game with runners on second and third with one out, the Orioles walked the bases loaded. The logic behind the move is that the winning run was already on second, so a runner on first scoring means nothing, while it sets up a force out at home. The problem is that it puts the pitcher's back against a wall -- if he falls behind in the count, he cannot afford another walk because that would tie the game.
- The batter that got to hit after the intentional walk was Carl Crawford. Normally, it is not a good idea to intentionally walk a player in front of an All-Star. The Orioles must have felt that it was worth the above advantage along with the fact that Crawford hits left-handed, and Gonzalez is usually excellent against lefties. The other logical flaw is that Crawford is really fast, so that takes the probability of a game-saving double play out of the equation. Not that it mattered. Crawford ripped a 1-0 pitch to right for a double. Game over, Rays win, 4-3.
