Baseball

The first thing that comes to mind when reflecting back upon this week's opening day debacle in Kansas City is that there may not be a time more apropos than now to cite one of my favorite movie quotes.

Adam Wainwright is coming off a season where he posted career bests in wins, earned run average, strikeouts, games started, and innings pitched.

The scary thing for opponents is that Wainwright didn’t just beat his career bests last season—he shattered them.

His previous best in wins, 14, was replaced with a National League leading 19; his best ERA, 3.12, was replaced by a 2.60 ERA; his career best strikeout total of 136 was upped to 212, and his previous career high of 202 innings pitched was increased to 233, which was also tops in the NL.

I heart Matt Wieters !  I heart him very, very much.  The second year backstop for the Baltimore Orioles is going to be an absolute stud this year and he got off to a great start with a home run in his first game.  I am definitely suggesting that you at least look into getting him on your team, although perhaps after a home run it might not be the best time.  He is worth trading up for if you have a sub-par catcher and he is worth trading down from if you have a top-tier catcher and perhaps you can improve your team somewhere else.&nbs

As part of our journey to watch and score 162 games this season, Tuesday night featured the Orioles/Rays opener in Tampa.

Game No. 3—Baltimore Orioles vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Adam Jones went 3-for-5 with a single, double, and HR.

Don't panic yet.

For every person in the baseball world saying that the Colorado Rockies are going to be a great team, there are two people reminding them that this team is terrible in April.

Someday soon a man wearing a suit should appear in the Houston Astros clubhouse. After confirming the players are indeed the 0-2 Astros, the man should then give them a stack of documents and say three ominous words:

"Consider yourselves served!"

The documents would then state that Roy Edward Oswalt and Wandy E. Rodriguez are suing Astros hitters for an unspecified amount of money for one simple reason:

Lack of run support.

So much was made of the fact that while, yes, Carlos Zambrano pitched terribly on Monday, at least he didn't act like a maniac on the mound.

Oh yeah, that has been the source of much of the criticism levied against Big Z over the years.

That is, he has acted immature at times, and that his behavior on the mound is part of the reason why he has failed to live up to his status as the ace of the Cubs.

So a slimmer, calmer Zambrano showed up in camp this spring and most everyone said that he was headed for a monster season.

Meanwhile, what happened?

Ordinarily, I'd be writing that opening the 2010 Major League Baseball season with two dominant wins over the Houston Astros is no reason for fellow San Francisco Giant fans to get excited.

By all accounts, including a very limited eye test, Houston is going to be awful.

The offense is frail and still should be questionable even when Lance Berkman returns from the disabled list. The pitching looks shaky even if Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez pitch to expectation.

So, have you heard about this Heyward kid?

I think he's really going to be special someday.

Obviously, you have heard a little about the J-Hey Kid by now, unless you've been in a coma for the last 24 hours—or two years.

Describing my reaction to the moment is not that difficult.

President Barack Obama has a predecessor, William Howard Taft, to thank for the spectacle he had to stare down Monday. Taft was the Commander In Chief that started the tradition of throwing out the first pitch 100 years ago at a Washington Senators game on April 14, 1910.

Every leader of the free world has given it a go since except for Jimmy Carter. While others like Taft, Richard Nixon and Franklin D. Roosevelt took the easy way out by throwing the ball from their seat, Obama threw from the rubber -- a precedent established by Bill Clinton.

Obama was following George W.