Today was the first full day of baseball and it was great. We already saw a 16 inning game, two 1-0 games, and a walkoff. Here are
three observations I made from what I was able to watch.
1. Johan’s back: I watched all of this game and if any Mets fans did too, I’m sure they are breathing a sigh of relief. Johan Santana threw 84 pitches over 5 shutout innings and was absolutely nasty. He topped out at about 88mph but the ball was diving and cutting all over the place and his change up was nasty. He had the Braves hitters off balance all day, though the lineup’s ineptitude all by itself surely helped. This was Santana’s first start in more than a year and it’s only day 1 o the new season so Terry Collins’ decision to pull Johan when he did was understandable. Collins’ call looked even better in light of his new bullpen’s stellar performance. The Mets offense still stinks but the team has to be very pleased with the work of their ace and ‘pen.
2. Verlander and Lester: This was an awesome opening day pitcher’s duel. The Mets-Braves game was 1-0 but mostly because of terrible offense, this one was close because of dominent pitching. Verlander went 8 and surrendered only 2 hits and striking out 7. The bottom 3 in Boston’s order, Cody Ross, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Mike Aviles never even had a chance. JV was simply overmatching one of the major’s best lineups. The best part? Jon Lester was matching him every step of the way. The lefty went 7 and walked 3 while striking out 4. He gave up 6 hits and a run but it wasn’t until the 7th. Great game. Both these starting pitchers are poised for huge seasons.
3. Bullpens struggled: Johnny Venters loaded the bases before getting out of his inning, Chris Perez blew Justin Masterson’s gem and sent the game into extras, Kenley Janson gave up an absolute bomb to Cameron Maybin, and Mark Melancon and Alfredo Aceves were awful and blew the game right after Jose Valverde blew a 2 run save chance in the top of the 9th. All over the place, bullpens struggled. This is a big deal for everyone but particularly for the Red Sox who will have to rely heavily on Melancon and Aceves with Andrew Bailey out for the foreseeable future and the Braves who counted on Venters, Craig Kimbrel, and Eric O’Flaherty more than any team in baseball counted on the back end of their ‘pen. It’ll be interesting to see wether these guys settle down as the season progresses or wether we’ll have even more proof of the volatility of relievers.
-Max Frankel
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