The Los Angeles Dodgers salvaged a win on Thursday in a 10-2 affair over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ronnie Belliard had a big day, filling in at third base for Casey Blake. He collected four RBI's while falling a single short of the cycle.

Chad Billingsley looked sharped, going nearly six innings allowing just one run and striking out seven.

The 2010 season is officially on its way in San Francisco, with the home opener against Atlanta looming tomorrow.

While opening week is near the end of its run in the major leagues, today the Giants' minor league organizations begin their own Opening Days.

What should Giants fans expect this season, after the Giants' combined farm system finished with the best record out of any other organization in baseball?

Red Sox Nation has a voracious appetite for all things Red Sox, and the Boston media does everything it can to ensure The Nation will have plenty to read about.

The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Providence Journal, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, numerous other newspapers, NESN, NECN , the sports departments of at least five television stations, ad infinitum—all of these media outlets battle one another for readership/viewership.

This was not the debut that Cole Hamels had been hoping for. From all the hype of his spring training progress you half-expected him to go out and throw a no-hitter, and since it was against the lowly Washington Nationals, it might as well have made it a perfect game. 

Instead, Hamels labored through 5 innings. He gave up 5 hits, walked 4, and allowed 2 earned runs. It did not look pretty, but he was effective enough, and most importantly he didn't allow the "big inning" that plagued him during his 2009 campaign. 

I'm not bashing Brandon Medders and his performance in 2009 by any means. I thought he was a surprising reliever in 2009. He had a great May where he posted a FIP of 2.85, and a solid September/October where he had a FIP of 3.16, and proved to be an integral part of the Giants' success last year.

Curtis Granderson’s leadoff home run in the top of the tenth inning off of Jonathan Papelbon broke a 1-1 tie, as New York won their second straight with a 3-1 victory over Boston Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

Fans like Spring training for couple of reasons.

For one thing, it's the start of a brand new season. Second of all, it piques their interest of watching the young prospects play.

Teams take note of the latter. They hype their young players to get fans to watch these meaningless exhibition games.

I know it's only two games into the season, and just like Red Sox DH David Ortiz said during his tirade last night: "There's a 160 games left, relax." But, I'm still very impressed with what I have seen from Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, thus far.

Cano has wasted no time in reassuring the Yankees that they made the correct decision placing him behind Alex Rodriguez in the lineup.

Through his first eight at-bats, Cano has picked up four hits. Two of them for extra bases including the ninth-inning, solo-shot blast during last night's 6-4 victory over Boston.

On Monday I had the opportunity to attend Cincinnati Reds Opening Day. For anybody who has lived in Cincinnati, it is widely known that Opening Day is a Cincinnati holiday. It is also a day nobody does quite like Cincinnati. 

Cincinnati is home to the first professional baseball team some 150 years ago and in the Queen City, baseball has and always will be king. 

Every Opening Day in Cincinnati over the last 91 years has began with the Findlay Market Parade. The parade marches through the streets of downtown and is the highlight of the big day.

Some of his individual statistics don't look all that impressive. But a relatively new Yankee, Nick Swisher is quite a "package."

One would expect that from the first round 2002 pick of the Oakland A's "Moneyball" drafting process. In fact, Swisher finished with A's teammates Huston Street (the ultimate winner) and Joe Blanton in the top 10 vote-getters for rookie of the year in 2005.