Baseball

My diabolical plan worked.

With the Atlanta Braves coming to town to open the 2010 Major League Baseball season at AT&T Park, and Jason Heyward's majesty gaining momentum, something had to be done for the benefit of our beloved San Francisco Giants.

I mean, it's gotten to the point where "they" have given the 20-year-old rookie a nickname that conjures the spectre of Willie Mays at the height of his glory. The so-called Jay-Hey Kid's very moniker testifies to the certainty of his greatness.

Trading in fantasy sports can be simplified to a four-word common denominator: Sell high, buy low.

The key is knowing which players will bounce back from a slow start and which ones will crash and burn after lighting the fantasy world on fire early on.

It should be noted that at the moment, not even a full week into the MLB's regular season, you won't find too many owners panicking enough about Mark Teixeira's slow start or overzealous about Vernon Wells' astronomical stats thus far.

It is never too early in a season to open up the cupboards and take a gander at just how much talent is waiting in the wings. 

For the casual fan, the vast rosters of the minor leagues can be a little overwhelming.  Keeping track of the up-and-coming stars that were acquired in past drafts is often difficult to follow all the way from draft-day selection to final call-up.

On a recent airing of the Mike and Mike show on ESPN Radio, Mike Greenberg (he’s the metrosexual “Mike”) revealed that he predicted the Milwaukee Brewers would win the NL Wild Card in 2010.

Mike Golic (he’s the schlub “Mike”) and whatever interchangeable ESPN baseball analyst was guesting at the time immediately set about ridiculing Greenberg for his hilariously misinformed opinion—blasting him as if he had claimed that Jim was the most talented Belushi brother.

After an Opening Day victory against the Florida Marlins, the Mets dropped the following two games to start the season 1-2.

With the exception of last night, the team showed that it is capable of scoring runs. The preseason idea that the Mets will remain in a lot of games if their pitching is at least serviceable appears to be holding true.

With that in mind, the Mets will turn to essentially their No. 2 and No. 3 starters Friday and Saturday for the first two games against the Washington Nationals.

So it wasn't his back, but it looks like Brian Roberts will be headed to the DL.

Roberts came up wincing and in noticeable pain after swiping his second base of the year in the first inning of the Orioles home opener against the Blue Jays. The diagnosis: an abdominal strain.

Roberts was a spring-training worry for the Orioles, missing almost all of the preseason schedule with back issues. He reportedly had them straightened out, and he looked to be rounding into regular season form with a two-hit performance last night in the O's victory over the Rays.

For the last two years, the Baltimore Orioles relied on George Sherrill to close games for them.

Now, the Orioles look to another lefty, Mike Gonzalez, to fill that role.

Unfortunately, for the health of Orioles’ fans, the two might be a little too similar.

The Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be the perfect mix of youth and veteran players on paper. With great young talent in Matt Kemp, Andre Either, and Clayton Kershaw, and solid veteran leadership from Casey Blake and Rafael Furcal, this team is set for another run at that elusive National League Championship. That is, if they can make the playoffs.

It was only one game into the 2010 baseball season for New York Yankee fans, there were 161 more to go, but panic was in the air. The newest addition to the bullpen, Chan Ho Park, was roughed up. Curtis Granderson reiterated to all involved that he couldn't hit left-handed pitching, CC Sabathia couldn't last through six innings, and Joba Chamberlain's performance in the eighth inning indicated that he couldn't get out batters whether he was a starter OR a reliever.