Opening Day Notes

Giants vs. Dodgers
-This is a great pitching matchup between Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw, but I'd like to congratulate Brandon Belt on his first major league hit.


Yankees vs. Tigers
-Days ago Curtis Granderson was listed as doubtful for opening day, but he is batting 8th in the lineup and made a diving catch in the first inning.
-Brett Gardner is batting first in the lineup with Derek Jeter batting behind him.
-Detroit has scored their first round of the season on a sacrifice fly after back to back singles from Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez.  The Tigers will hope this is a common occurrence this season.  
-Mark Teixeira just hit his first home run of the season.  A three run shot off Justin Verlander.  Teixeira who is usually a slow starter was 1 for 17 off Verlander before this at bat.

-The starting pitchers have now exited the game.  C.C. Sabathia's final line is 6 innings, 6 hits, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts, and 2 earned runs.  Justin Verlander's final line is 6 innings, 3 hits, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts, and 3 earned runs.
-Austin Jackson, who lead the AL in strikeouts last year is on his way towards the top already, with 3 strikeouts in his first three at bats.
-Curtis Granderson who wasn't suppose to play, just hit a go ahead home run off Phil Coke in the 7th inning.  Interestingly enough it was Coke and other players who were traded to the Tigers for Granderson last season.
-Mariano Rivera closes down the first game of the season as the Yankees win 6-3.

Braves vs Nationals
-Brian McCann has driven in his first run of the season, driving in Chipper Jones with an RBI single.
-Jason Heyward has hit the first home run of the season, a blast off Livan Herandez.

-Livan Hernandez and Derek Lowe have looked great today, and it's 2-0 Atlanta after 6.  Neither are great fantasy options.
-A lot of debate about who was going to close for the Braves this year happened during spring training.  The first save opportunity went to Craig Kimbrel.  He has an absolutely effortless heater and a quick slider, and has been closing throughout his minor league career.  He shut down the 4th, 5th, and 6th batters in the Nationals and struck out two.  Kimbrel should continue to close down games, and I'm not too worried about Jonny Venters.

Milwaukee vs. Reds
- Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez hit back to back home runs off Edinson Volquez to start the season for the Brewers.  A great way for my NL Central pick to start the year.
-Joey Votto has his first rbi of the season after a Drew Stubbs double and the Brewers lead 3-1 after 1 inning.
-A lot of people's breakout outfielder, Drew Stubbs, hit his first home run of the season.  Batting in the leadoff spot will hurt his rbi total, but definitely benefit his runs and stolen bases.
-My NL MVP pick this season just hit his first home run as Ryan Braun hit a solo shot to make the game 5-2 in the 5th inning.

-Yovani Gallardo hasn't been particularly sharp this start, but he has managed to get through 6 innings only giving up 2 runs, qualifying him for a quality start.
-Joey Votto has hit his first home run of the year.
-John Axford came in with a three run lead in the 9th, and has struggled.  He loaded the bases with no outs before striking out Jay Bruce, and getting a fly out.  Then he gave up a walk off 3 run home run to Ramon Hernandez.  A dramatic ending to the Reds first game of the season.

Cardinals vs. Padres
-After the Padres went down 1-2-3 in the first, the Cards struck with a Matt Holliday RBI single.
-A double for Nick Hundley has driven in a run to make it a 2-2 game.  Chris Carpenter has looked very sharp only giving up 2 hits in 5 innings.
-Matt Holliday just collected his 3 hit of the day, this one a go ahead solo home run in the 8th inning.
- Cameron Maybin just hit a 417 foot shot to straight away center off Ryan Franklin with two outs in the 9th inning.
-And the Padres come back and pull off the win 5-3.  This team is still very pesky even without Adrian Gonzalez and Mat Latos on the DL.