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Opening Day
Apr. 2nd, 2007 03:10 pmOkay, technically Opening Day was yesterday, with the Mets at the Cardinals, but 'most everyone else is starting today (except the Giants and the Padres who will wait until tomorrow). The Mets looked good last night, cuffing around the World Series champs with timely hitting, aggressive base-running, and Tom Glavine's crafty¹ pitching. The Cardinals did not look as good, running into outs with over-aggressive base-running and timely strikeouts. What in the name of the Wide World of Sports is Tony LaRussa (The Smartest Manager in Baseball™) doing batting Yadier Molina (.216 avg/.595 OPS) fifth? If Molina's the best hitter he has for that spot, the Cardinals are in a heap o'trouble.
( The Dodgers break camp, and Grady Littles's Saturday night surprise... )
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¹ The adjective "crafty" as it applies to pitchers is almost exclusively used for left-handers, and only those with less than first-rate stuff. Randy Johnson, although a lefty, would never be called crafty. For that matter, Glavine wasn't usually referred to as crafty when he was younger, but at age 41 he relies more on guile and smarts than he had to back when he was winning Cy Young awards in the 90's, much like his old friend Greg Maddux, who has always been the smartest pitcher on the planet. Maddux, however, is right-handed, so would never be called crafty.
( The Dodgers break camp, and Grady Littles's Saturday night surprise... )
——————
¹ The adjective "crafty" as it applies to pitchers is almost exclusively used for left-handers, and only those with less than first-rate stuff. Randy Johnson, although a lefty, would never be called crafty. For that matter, Glavine wasn't usually referred to as crafty when he was younger, but at age 41 he relies more on guile and smarts than he had to back when he was winning Cy Young awards in the 90's, much like his old friend Greg Maddux, who has always been the smartest pitcher on the planet. Maddux, however, is right-handed, so would never be called crafty.
