So Opening Day is in the books for most teams. And some of the last 2 days worth of games came with interesting foreshadowing.
The first game of the year featured Brett Myers (starting for an injured Cole Hamels) of the Philadelphia Phillies taking on Derek Lowe of the Atlanta Braves.
Myers started the game with a ball, low and outside, and was behind from there on out. He spent six innings getting behind in counts, letting up at least 1 base runner every inning, with a runner who scored or was in scoring position in 5 of 6 innings.
Lowe, on the other hand, was masterful. In eight innings, he allowed only 2 base runners with neither scoring. Instead of missing low and outside, he consistently dropped his breaking stuff on the outside corner at the knees, a pitch that was too consistently in the strike zone to take and too perfectly placed to drive.
A day later and in distant Cincinnatti, the New York Mets watched as Nick Green, J.J. Putz, and Francisco Rodriguez closed out a scoreless 3 1/3 innings to save the opening day victory for Johan Santana.
Are these signs of things to come? Will Philadelphia’s pitching be the weak link that prevents their potent offense from reaching the postseason again? Will Atlanta’s decisions to remodel the front end of their rotation return them to October? Will the Mets find solace in the strength of the similarly remodeled back end of their bullpen?
Only time will tell.
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