MLB

On September 21, 2008, the Yankees defeated the Orioles 7-3 at the last game ever played at the old Yankee Stadium. However, the Yankees couldn’t get it together in the first game at the new Yankee Stadium opener against the Indians. Despite being tied at one going into the seventh inning, the Yanks bullpen imploded in the seventh and the team lost 10-2.

Quick ‘Cap:

Is this the year the Blue Jays can finally win enough games to enter post-season play? The way the first few games have gone, it sure seems like it's possible.

Last season, pitching was their strong point, and the batters let the team down. However, this year it's almost reversed, as the rotation's success relies on young arms, and no matter what trouble they get into, the bats get them out of it.

1) Yankees lucked out with the first sunny day of the 2009 season here in the New York Area...at least it seems that way.

I did notice plenty of empty seats in and around the dugouts and behind home plate.

2) The opening ceremonies were good with quite a few ex-Yankees announced, John Fogerty singing "Centerfield," and Bernie playing the guitar. Both were nice touches.

There's just something special about career milestones in professional sports; 10,000 rushing yards in football, 300 career touchdown passes, 25,000 points in basketball, and so on.

But the most prolific and famous milestone may belong to the sport of baseball, and more specifically pitching. It is the 300 game winner.

Only 23 pitchers have ever accomplished the feat in the 120 year history of the league. The list may be filled with the biggest names of any milestone list; Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, and many more.

The stolen base in Major League Baseball is sadly, a lost art. In an era that is slowly recovering from the aberration that was the "live ball era" (i.e. steroid era) and coming to grips that it all was just a sham, before this fad, was the art of the stolen base.

It was not all bad. The house was clean and all ready for its first of 81 home dates. What a sight it was!

You could not ask for a better day to play ball. The sky was bright and the $1.5 billion house that money built, in the face of a recession, was at its best. It was a full house.

Be it a groan, cheer, or a clever series of words strung together, everybody in and around baseball had an extreme reaction to the New York Yankees' offseason spending.

Through 10 games, it's not fair to judge the performances of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, or Mark Teixeira so far.

Fans and critics alike must give them ample time to settle in before making the decision to laugh at the Yankees' reckless spending or write a nasty letter to their own team's front office for not shelling out the green to land the big names.

I was at class today so I didn’t get to watch/score the game so here is the wrap from Astros.com:

Bourn 1-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 R
Tejada 2-4, BB, R
Berkman 1-4, BB, K, 3 RBI, R, 3-run HR
Lee 1-4, RBI
Pence 1-4, BB, RBI, HR, K
Blum 1-5
Rodriguez 1-4, BB, K
Keppinger 1-2, R, BB, 3B
Ortiz 1-2, RBI

Pitching lines:
Ortiz 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
Wright .1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER (got the W)
Sampson 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 ER
Byrdak 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 K, 0 ER
LeHawk 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, (save)

A.J. Burnett was always a thorn in the Yankees' side.

While with Toronto, Burnett continually shut the Yankees down, causing their hitters to look more like a bunch of little leaguers than professionals.

When Burnett chose to become a free agent after the 2008 season, a lot of people thought that the Yankees shouldn't go after him. Burnett has been plagued by a lot of injuries throughout his career. The last thing the Yankees needed was another pitcher with a high probability of landing on the DL.