Marty: Yesterday was Opening Day for many of the clubs. The Dodgers opened with a game in which they had 15 hits, 5 bases on balls and two runs in an 8-2 loss. This is a club which, for some strange reason, has been picked by media observers and some baseball fans for a first place finish. The emphasis seems to be on what is perceived to be a strong pitching staff. With the addition of Bradley they may have beefed up their hitting but their pitching is likely to be the unexpected, to the media and other misguided souls, Achilles heel. Weaver in place of Brown is not encouraging.
So much for the Dodgers and on to more important things.

Click below for Ed’s initial look at the 2004 baseball season.

Thanks Ed!
Barry Bonds hits two doubles, is walked, and then, with the game on the line, the former American League manager, decides to pitch to Barry with two on and one out in the 8th inning. The inevitable home run ties the score and the Giants go on to win it in the ninth. When will they learn?

The Giants face Pettitte today in Houston. Two more games there, three in San Diego and then home for 16 of the next 19 games. We may see a repeat of the 2003 season, with the Giants going wire to wire in first place.

This is a franchise which drives the experts mad,as in emotionally disturbed. They can’t quite figure out how this team won 100 games last year or how they have managed to consistently, these past few years, win more games in the regular seasons than almost every other club in either league. The explanation most frequently given is that they are in a very weak division. One of the teams in that “very weak division”, Arizona, won a World Series. One is compelled to believe that they only play teams in their own division. What is overlooked is that they didn’t simply win their division. They overwhelmed the opposition, making the last ten games of the season meaningless.

This brings us to Barry Bonds, certainly one of the truly great ball players, in every respect. His past three seasons, approaching forty years, have never been equaled. Until Bonds proved otherwise, no one would have predicted that any player could have approached the records he has set these past three years. He has a positive impact on every game he appears in, whether he ends up driving in the important runs, as he did yesterday, or not.

He makes his teammates better players by his presence. Despite a reputation for separating himself from the team, a reputation encouraged by press reporting, one hears from teammates, such as Grissom, of Barry’s willingness to help them improve on a daily basis. His presence in the lineup causes the opposition to worry, throughout the game, how they are going to deal with Bonds on his next plate appearances. No other player has had a similar impact on the day to day game.

It is certain that Bonds feels the need this year to prove himself. It isn’t simply because of the records he is approaching, the fact that he will any day now pass Willie’s home run totals and take aim at those still in front of him. He intends to wipe out the asterisks which some people would like to place alonside those records. It would not be surprising to see Bonds have a better year in 2004 than he had in 2003. There may be a greater incentive.

As for the rest of the team and it’s prospects, readers of this page know that I have already predicted another first place finish. I believe the team is stronger than last year’s if one assumes that Schmidt comes back healthy. Williams is the important key to the pitching. They need a strong number two pitcher and Williams, based on last year’s performance, is the one most hoped for to fulfill that role. Spring training, one must assume, was an aberration.

The loss of Nen, which may be for a longer period than the team hopes for, has a good chance of being overcome. Herges may very well be a better closer than Worrell was last year. Nen, it is quickly forgotten, had his problems as a closer. He was not the overwhelming ninth inning pitcher one wanted to see every time he stepped on the mound. He blew his share of games which the team had apparently already won or were in a position to win.

The team has changed since the end of last year, which is a tradition with Sabean. Perez is at shortstop. He is a very bad hitter and there is little reason to think that he is going to get better. However, he is a much better fielder than Aurilia and gives the team what is probably the best infield fielding in the league. He can be carried. Aurilia was no bargain last year. His fielding was only adequate; his hitting was vastly overrated. For some reason, knowledgeable observers continue to be impressed with Aurilia as a hitter when he hasn’t had more than one truly impressive year, 2001.

They are much stronger at catcher, where Santiago showed his age last year. Pierzinski and Torrealba together give the team as good or better catching than any other team in the league.

The rotation is, of course, the problem. One would like to see Rueter as a number four starter, not number two. Tomko and Hermanson don’t inspire the confidence of a Clemens and Pettitte. There aren’t too many young pitchers on the roster who are likely to be as successful as Williams was last year when he was brought up.Valdez throws hard but as Rick Peterson was quoted on occasion when he was pitching coach for the As, he was not interested in how well a pitcher was throwing. He wanted to know how well he was pitching. There is a difference and it usually comes with experience. Aardsma is young but he shows a mid-ninetys fast ball and an improving slider. It was a surprise that he was not sent down, given his inexperience. It may be a measure of the team’s need for pitching that he wasn’t.

Be that as it may, the pitching may be as good as last year’s. Ponson was no bargain. The feeling here is that somehow, they will prevail. They have in the past, with no more reason to be optimistic than we have today.

In any event, in a world which daily seems to have more and more serious problems to bedevil all of us, it is helpful to have a baseball season once more in front of us. There has to be some sanity left.

Ed