Baseball

"Opening day is always a pain in the (rear). There’s always stuff around there. It’s almost the most overrated thing. But it’s always nice for the fans. This day is for the fans. Opening day is just for the fans. To me it’s just another game. Just thank God you have another year in the big leagues. But I think the fans should be excited."-Ozzie Guillen.

The fans are excited.  How could you not be?

So much for the Tampa Bay Rays being a playoff team.

After watching them in this homestand, they are 0-5 for a reason. They feature no hitters that scare the other team. It's not surprising Jeremy Guthrie, Chris Tillman, Zach Britton, Jered Weaver and Dan Haren had their way with them.

One week down, plenty of panic buttons pushed.

It's been an upside down week for Major League Baseball. The Red Sox look like a slumbering bear just awoken from hibernation. The Twins actually won in the Bronx. And the Reds are quietly keeping busy—not that any of us have noticed...or have we?

A red-hot cleanup hitter and a clutch bullpen performance led the host Phillies past the feisty New York Mets 10-7. With the victory, the home team held onto first place in the very early stages of the 2011 pennant race.

With the temperature holding around 50 degrees, both the climate and the final score more resembled a defensive battle in the National Football League. Of course, it was a cool evening for baseball and an unexpected April slugfest.

By Friday the Chicago Cubs will have already been downed two starting pitchers; Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner.

Wells has a right forearm strain, while Cashner has a strain in the back of his rotator cuff. After two MRI's, neither player showed any structural damage. Both will be put on the DL by weeks end and are expected to be sidelined nearly a month.

Shin-Soo Choo got his swing back in the first inning—he rocked a two run homer scoring Michael Brantley. Travis Hafner did a great job of getting pitches out of Daisuke Matsuzaka.  After nines pitches, Prunk took the walk. Orlanda Cabrera was hit by a pitch, but the Indians couldn’t make anymore out of the first inning leaving two runners on.

The Colorado Rockies completed a two-game sweep of their division rival Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday afternoon to take a half-game lead in the NL West over the San Diego Padres.

Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki hit a two-run shot in the fourth and first baseman Todd Helton added a solo bomb to right field, driving in three combined runs. Tulowitzki now has two homers in as many nights, while Helton's home run was his first of the year.

When San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was slammed to the ground and kicked repeatedly in the head in the parking lot at Dodgers Stadium during Opening Day last week, the news garnered national attention.

Today, the Dodgers have taken steps to address their overall stadium security.

The Cubs pulled off two miraculous comebacks in the first two games against the Diamondbacks.

That wasn't the case in Wednesday's matchup.

As amazing as the comebacks for the Cubbies were, they were still fighting from behind.

In all three games of this series, and pretty much this season so far, the Cubs dug themselves a hole that they then had to climb out of. It skewers the comebacks and creates an illusion.

The Seattle Mariners need to learn from their mistakes as they prepare for their 2011 home opener.  After being swept by the Texas Rangers, they sit at 2-4 and in third place in the AL West, which is shaping up to be a difficult division.