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Opening Day Quick Thoughts

It's good to see Joe Mauer in the lineup at "C."

Jeremy Bonderman looked great yesterday, and it wasn't all because he was pitching against the Royals. His stuff was excellent, and he was locating it very, very well. People predicting a big breakout for him this year should be quite pleased.

The sale of blood pressure medication went up 47% yesterday among Mets fans.

Bobby Crosby left yesterday's game with a "sharp pain" in his back, possibly related to where he was hit by a pitch on March 22. X-rays were "inconclusive," and we should get a more detailed report (hopefully) this afternoon about his condition.

I was going to make fun of Dewon Brazelton as an opening day starter, but he pitched a good game. Most notable is 4 strikeouts and 0 walks in 7.1 innings of work. Command within the strike zone has been a big problem for him in the past. I've made the prediction that he'll be better off in relief, so we'll keep close track of how he does this year and find out how stupid I'm going to look.

Speaking of "making fun", Tike Redman as your number three hitter? Are the Pirates conducting a real-life experiment to find out if batting order really does have only a small effect on runs scored? If I were the Pirates, my lineup would have been:

Lawton, RF
Redman, CF
Bay, LF
Ward, 1B
Wigginton, 3B
Wilson, SS
Santiago, C
Castillo, 2B

I guess that's not much better. How would you have jiggled the Pirates lineup yesterday, assuming you had to start the same people?

I will be on MLB XM satellite radio this afternoon at 3 PM central, discussing the suspension of 38 minor league players for drug use.