Not much was decided between the White Sox and the Royals Wednesday other than the fact that neither team has a closer that can be relied on when the game is on the line.

Jon Garland acquitted himself quite well over the first six innings of the game before losing his spot in the seventh when Benito Santiago and Carlos Beltran took him deep cutting his lead to 6-5.

For five innings Garland looked like a more than decent third starter and that’s good news for Chicago.

On the other hand, Jeremy Affeldt is nowhere near the pitcher that KC needs to win this division. Affeldt is all over the place with his curveball and can’t command his fastball either.

Both teams can hit. Beltran can be an MVP, but only if this team develops some pitching.

Now the closers. Curtis Leskanic doesn’t have the stuff to get big league hitters out on a nightly basis (Mike MacDougal is still out). Billy Koch is a disaster every time he steps on the mound. Seeing Koch give up homers to Beltran and Sweeney, the latter giving the Royals a short lived 9-8 lead in the ninth, was painful.

Cliff Politte should be given the closers role before Koch destroys another good pitching performance.

The AL Central is wide open until someone comes up with a bullpen, then watch out.

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The Angels have the formula down for beating the Mariners. See how many runs Seattle can score early in the game, then let the big bats clobber the either the Seattle starter or the out of shape Mariner bullpen.

One thing I like about Vladimir Guerrero is his smile. It seems every time the slugger comes through with a big hit or scores an important run, his face lights up.

Last night Rafael Soriano continued his spring training session in the majors with another loss, his second of the year.

Scott Shields, who should be in the rotation, Francisco Rodriguez, and Troy Percival ended the game in fine fashion for Anaheim.

Tonight Freddy Garcia who pitched extremely well in his first start against the Angels goes against Ramon Ortiz, a pitcher the Angels would love to trade.

The A’s got timely hitting and a big out from Chad Harville to hang on against Texas.

What’s up with Barry Zito?

Is it focus? Arm strength? Who knows, but this pattern of his not being able to consistently make an important pitch when he needs it, is getting old.

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Tim Hudson is looking very good. Unbelievable, Hudson’s major league record is now 81-33.

We are talking Whitey Ford, Spud Chandler, Pedro Martinez winning percentage right now for Hudson.

This man can pitch and should be resigned this season before his contract runs out in 2005. I wouldn’t wait around.

The Mariners are struggling and can’t get the big hit or the right pitch when the game is on the line as they fell to 0-5 Saturday.

Just as Rafael Soriano showed he needs more spring training on Friday, Eddie Guardado’s debut Saturday indicated that the lefty’s velocity is not where it should be right now.

Marco Scutaro continued his magic weekend, driving in the tying run and playing major league defense in the field.

It’s too early to determine just where Scutaro will be in a month when Frank Menechino and Mark McLemore are back, but for the first week of the season, Scutaro is a major reason the A’s are 4-1.

The Angels were pounded by Texas again Saturday.

What does it mean?

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Seattle has been a force in the AL West over the past few years because of its excellent bullpen and stellar defense.

After watching last night’s game in Oakland, one the Mariners gave away following a dramatic four run seventh inning rally that catapulted them to a 6-4 lead, it became painfully obvious that Randy Winn is not to close to replacing Mike Cameron as a centerfielder and Rafael Soriano is nowhere near being in pitching shape for this season.

The A’s are a hungry team being carried offensively by Bobby Kielty, Eric Chavez, and Jermaine Dye.

Chad Bradford didn’t have his usual stuff last night, neither did Ricardo Rincon. Chris Hammond had a great changeup and Arthur Rhodes simply blew Seattle away for his third save.

A’s bullpen was better than Seattle’s and that turned the game when it mattered.

But the story for me was Winn and Soriano, two big parts of the Mariner puzzle.

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Vladimir Guerrero and company are swinging from their heels right now. They don’t come up to the plate looking to play small ball or hit the ball the other way.

They let the bats fly and are truly very scary. Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, and Darin Erstad are nice and loose right now. The key may be David Eckstein who is healthy and getting on base.

Jarrod Washburn like Steve Trachsel for the Mets last night couldn’t hold the big lead, but the Angels held on to win once the bull pen got involved, opposed to the Mets whose bull pen got rocked by Atlanta.

The Rangers have a decent bullpen as they showed yesterday against Oakland. Francisco Cordero can close and the lefty Ramirez can get the tough lefthanders out.

The Rangers are very young offensively. A different team from last year when A Rod, Palmiero, and Juan Gonzalez hit 3-4-and 5.

Blalock, Soriano, and Teixeira need to grow into their roles and they will need a full season to do it, but this team is headed in the right direction for a change.

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It didn’t take long for me to realize that baseball is a game of bullpens and you better have a good one.

How about Ozzie Guillen and the Chicago White Sox?

The new manager of the Sox is in for a long season.

Short reliever Cliff Politte closed the seventh and eighth for Guillen before the new manager inexplicably ran him out there for the ninth inning with a 7-3 lead.

Politte walked the first two batters in the ninth, Billy Koch added fuel to the fire, then Damaso Marte gave up two homers, the first a three run shot by Mendy Lopez tied the game 7-7, then Carlos Beltran ended it with a two run jack to win it 9-7.

Tough opening day for the Sox. The Royals will have many games like this because starter Brian Anderson got hit hard (KC pitching is suspect), but KC can smack the ball which they did in their six run ninth to win a game the Sox had in the bank.

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Now we finally can get to the real opening day. When the first pitch is thrown in Cincinnati this morning, I will feel that this baseball season is truly underway.

Growing up, I fondly remember old Crosley Field in Cincy and the ropes they used to put up in the outfield on opening day because the overflow crowd was allowed to sit on the “goat hill”, which the terraced hill in the outfield was called.

Reds outfielder Jim Greengrass hit four doubles on opening day in 1955 or so, at least two into the crowd on the hill.

Cincy always was the scene of the first pitch, that is until the comissioner decided that it was a good idea to start the season on Sunday night or in another country.

Anyway, when Cory Lidle, yes that Cory Lidle, throws his first pitch to the Cubs at 11:00 AM Pacific time, this marathon is underway.

So, what did you think of the Red Sox and Pedro last night?

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The season begins on U.S. soil tonight with the Red Sox playing the Orioles in Camden Yards.

Are the Red Sox a lock for the playoffs as Peter Gammons hopes?

Will the wild card come from the American League East?

Are the Dodgers becoming a small market operation under the direction of Paul DePodesta?

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The beauty of baseball is wrapped in the notion that somehow we can predict what will take place over the next six months in what is the greatest test for any sports team.

Who can predict injuries? Which rookies will make an impact?

Every spring each and every fan has an opinion on what will take place on the field over the course of 162 games.

Sometimes we get it right, often times we don’t.

Managers of the teams that we didn’t figure would have great seasons, usually win the manager of the year awards.

So, our predictions do have a place in the scheme of the baseball season. Predictions also give us a starting point to get the year underway.

Sort of like that first hot dog at the park. Now, you know baseball is back.

With that in mind here are a few of my picks for 2004.

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The injury bug is starting to make itself known throughout baseball.

Boston is in jeopardy of not only losing Trot Nixon on opening day, but now Nomar Garciaparra is hurting with a leg strain.

Seattle is making noise about acquiring Ellis Burks from Boston, but with these injuries Burks is no longer expendable. in fact, Burks turned down more money from Seattle to sign with Boston, so it doesn’t make sense that the Red Sox would trade the veteran after he expressed his desire to sign with Boston.

More importantly, Pokey Reese may slide over to short until Nomar is ready.

How about Shane Reynolds and his last two starts for Arizona? The overmatched righthander has given up about 20 runs in his last two outings.

With Steve Sparks and his knuckler not doing much in Arizona, the Diamondbacks have to be looking for pitching.

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