Baseball

Opening Day has come and gone, but not without incident.

Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez led off the Brewers’ season with back-to-back jacks, while John Axford blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning. Curtis Granderson hit a home run on Opening Day for the third consecutive season, while Jason Heyward hit a home run in his first at-bat on Opening Day for the second straight year.

Flukes—it's a funny word to say, sounding more like a cereal than a sports reference, but it has a much deeper impact on sports than Wheaties.

There has been a lot of talk about the Texas Rangers world series run last year being a fluke; not even Cliff Lee could take the Rangers seriously when he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

It's not hard to believe—after all there is reason to be skeptical.

It's all over. The Giants lost the first game of the season.

Wait, there are 161 more games? There is hope!

After watching the Giants' Opening Day game against the Dodgers on Thursday night, there were a few of things that jumped out.

Tim Lincecum's Performance

Tim Lincecum went seven innings and allowed no earned runs against a Dodgers team with a middle-of-the-road offense. Despite this, he did not pitch very well.

After ending last season with a bad taste in their mouth, the San Diego Padres opened the 2011 campaign against the team that ended their last two playoff runs.

Despite having only one win in their last 13 meetings in St. Louis, the Padres got off on the right foot against a familiar foe.

Today did not feel like Opening Day in baseball should feel. It was absolutely freezing at the stadium, windy, and at times we were hit with freezing rain/hail.

However, the Yankees looked pretty great for Opening Day. The bats came alive after a slow start, and the pitching looked top notch. 

CC Sabathia tossed six innings, giving up six hits and three runs (two earned). He had seven Ks and two walks, tossing a total of 106 pitches. 

Philadelphia Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. made a small move today, signing Ronnie Belliard to a minor league contract.

Belliard, set to turn 36 on April 7th, was released by the rival New York Yankees this past Monday after showing up to spring training overweight and just hitting .136.

Two opening days, two first at-bat home runs for Jason Heyward.

Last season, in what may have been the single biggest home run call of the year, Braves rookie phenom Jason Heyward went yard on his very first at-bat against Carlos Zambrano and the Chicago Cubs.

One year later, history and Heyward repeated themselves.

Heyward took a 2-1 pitch from Washington Nationals pitcher Livan Hernandez chest high and belted it over the right field fence, extending the Braves' lead to 2-0.

Jered Weaver pitched 6.1 strong innings, Torii Hunter and Jeff Mathis provided solo home runs, and the Los Angeles Angels won their seventh Opening Day game in the last eight seasons, defeating the Kansas City Royals, 4-2.

When Weaver left the game with one out in the seventh, he had a 4-0 lead. However Hisanori Takahashi, pitching in his first game for the Angels, gave up a home run to Jeff Francoeur, ruining the shutout bid.

As the New York Yankees kick off the 2011 baseball season in the Bronx with a win over the Detroit Tigers, the Seattle Mariners prep for their own inaugural game in Oakland on Friday.

**This and other articles are also featured on Archway Number Nine**