I don’t know about you, but I get tired of watching the highlights of the first two weeks of the season when the players have turtle neck shirts pulled up over the mouths.

Why not open the year in the warm weather cities and those cities with enclosed stadiums?

Home field advantage doesn’t apply when you have to play in 32 degree weather. It hurts both teams. Don’t you think Detroit would like to take their .133 batting average on the road and maybe have a chance of hitting the ball.

Plus, these teams come out of Florida or Arizona and then have to play in freezing temperatures. It just doesn’t make sense to continue this way, I’m sure the fans in the East and Midwest wouldn’t care if their teams spent ten days or so on the road to avoid the snowballs of April.

More action today in the majors, let’s look.The A’s go on the road and Texas will see its first lefthander of the year. Texas has been a troublesome place for the A’s to play early in the season (the Rangers are still in contention in April) and Barry Zito gets the ball. Texas has the thunder from the right side, but John Thomson hasn’t pitched a decent game in ages. The patient A’s will make him pay by the fourth inning, however I see some runs tonight.

People criticize the Giants 7-0 start. I don’t. They are playing excellent baseball. It’s not easy to win seven straight I don’t care who you play. In addition, these teams want to get off to good starts also. The Giants need innings from Damian Moss, Kurt Ainsworth, and Ryan Jensen. For that matter, Jason Schmidt was up to 60 or so pitches by the third inning yesterday which meant he was leaving the game early. Overworked bull pens come back to haunt after acouple of months of overuse. It bears watching.

First key series with the Braves and the Phils. Atlanta doesn’t field the ball very well right now. The big three in the order are getting loose, but this is a game the Phillies want and Randy Wolf can get the job done. The Phils need to make a statement tonight, so look to Jim Thome for a big hit.

Who knows what the weather will be like in NY, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and throughout the snow belt.

Bartolo Colon needs to show he can beat his former team. Ricardo Rodriguez is no slouch, but Cleveland doesn’t score very often.

San Diego’s Jake Peavy had a great opening day, maybe he can keep San Diego in the game tonight.

The Angels are an angry team after being blown out in Oakland. Either Seattle or Anaheim will be second in the West, let’s see if Jamie Moyer can find a team to beat. Both A’s lefties dominated the Angels over the weekend, so Moyer has fighting chance.

The rap on Seattle is their age. Edgar Martinez is already hurt which unfortunately will be their story this season.

Can Kansas City keep rolling. Why not? Young Jeremy Bonderman gets another start before his eventual demotion to AAA. Jeremy Affeldt can pitch and the Royals are the better team.

Jim Parque is courageous in his comeback. He has little on the ball and even Baltimore may hit tonight. By the way, when does Tampa Bay go on the road?

I’ve always liked Mark Redman, now with the Marlins, and he pitches against former Marlin Al Leiter in Florida tonight. The Fish might be better than most people think. Let’s see if Redman can duplicate his 10 K performance of his first start.

Bring your sweaters and blankets if you are in the East or sitting in the third deck at Pac Bell.

It’s cold out there.