Week 1 (and a half) observations

• Last I checked the sky has not fallen. Despite the 0-6 start (now 2-7), up is still up, dogs and cats still don’t get along and America is still the world’s greatest super power with a thriving economy. Well 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. The point is, things are not as bad as they seem. The team got over its mental block with the first win Friday and then took their first series of the season Sunday with a commanding win over their rivals. 0-6 is not a fun hole to dig out of, but it is by no means an impossible one. Especially when we have the following team coming to town…
• The Rays. They could seriously be in trouble. With Sam Fuld (who?) leading off, Dan Johnson batting cleanup and Felipe Lopez (who the Sox couldn’t even get free agent compensation for because nobody wanted to give him a big league deal this offseason) batting sixth, this offense could be really bad, even when Evan Longoria comes back from his injury. The whole thought that maybe the Rays could still be good this year hinged on a still strong starting rotation and the hope that two aging bats could find the fountain of youth enough to passably replace the departures of Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena. Johnny Damon has looked as bad as ever to this point, and then of course there is…
• Manny Ramirez. We all knew this guy was dumb. His antics in Boston were legendary and loveable almost until the end. Then he quit on the team one too many times, threw an old man to the ground and was shipped out of town, only to blow up with the Dodgers playing like a cross between Barry Bonds and Jesus. Of course, almost immediately the next season, he was suspended for PED use and most people started to question his legitimacy. And now this. Faced with a second possible suspension (he would be the first to EVER receive the 100 game suspension), Manny decided to screw over yet another team and retire before taking his punishment like a man. Manny’s steroid use will never taint the way I viewed him as a player.  Thousands of players probably took steroids and none of them could hit like Manny Ramirez. He was the greatest right handed hitter I ever saw, and steroids or not, his picture perfect swing will always be what I remember most about him. Unfortunately, Manny’s steroid use will also never taint the way I viewed him as a person. He was an ignorant man-child who seemed to care for very few others besides himself and was either so arrogant, stupid or both that he thought he could continue to take drugs even after the new policies were put in place. This weekend we lost another great player who was a lot of fun to watch. But luckily, we still have…
• Dustin Pedroia. I wish he was 6 feet tall so people could stop focusing on his height and focus on the fact that Pedroia is a great baseball player. He was absolutely crushing the ball this weekend, looking like there was no way he was going to let the Sox lose this series. And did you see the double play he turned Sunday on the Brett Gardner grounder up the middle? He’s moving around like a jack rabbit on crack and looks to be back in full health. The same may not be true for…
• Kevin Youkilis. Youk has never been known for slow starts; in fact April is his second best hitting month. He’s clearly not lost at the plate (his 11 walks lead the American League) but he is not hitting anything with authority. His injured thumb was on his right hand so it shouldn’t sap his power, but I wonder if it is doing something to his mind where he can’t make the same swings he is used to. I expect he will snap out of this once he is more sure of himself, but the slow start is frustrating out of a guy who typically fades down the stretch. Perhaps more troublesome is his early season defense at third base. He seems a step slow and his reactionary instincts have left something to be desired. With a pitching staff who will feature 3 guys with average or below strikeout numbers, we need strong defense all around. Watching Youk’s chubby ass flop after balls at the hot corner makes me yearn for the days of one of my baseball man crushes…
• Adrian Beltre. He is off to a semi-slow start with the bat, but his defense is no doubt contributing to the Rangers having the lowest ERA in all of baseball (I told you they wouldn’t need Cliff Lee). When they have Josh Hamilton in left and Julio Borbon in center, this is an absolutely dominant defensive team that will allow their starters to put balls in play and last longer into ball games. The rotation looks great, the hitting IS great and the bull pen should be just good enough. For the first time in a long time, the Rangers look like the team to beat in the American League, not the…
• New York Yankees. I have to say I was a little underwhelmed by this team this weekend. The pitching is definitely going to be an issue all year especially if Phil Hughes is sitting 89 on his fastball the whole time. The offense also may not be as good as advertised. In game 1 I was definitely nervous about this lineup. The 3-4-5 of Tex, A-Rod and Cano is the best I can remember probably since the Griffey, A-Rod and Edgar core of the Mariners. Add in the fact that the rest of the lineup was going home run crazy (in game 2 also) and this looked like a scary lineup. Then I remembered that John Lackey was pitching and realized there are some holes in that lineup. Derek Jeter still looks like a player on the decline to me rather than one who just had an off year last year. Jorge Posada is 38 years old and a former catcher, so his hold on the DH spot does not bother me much. Russell Martin is definitely not this good and Curtis Granderson is almost this bad. Nick Swisher is a decent bat, but any inning where 3-4-5 does not come up, should be a huge sigh of relief from a pitching staff. This is definitely not your older brother’s Yankees, where every batter 1-9 knew how to take a pitch and make you pay for your mistakes. I still think they will finish in the top 3 in runs scored at the end of the season (with the Sox and Rangers), but it could be on the backs of a lot of solo homeruns. Of course, any offense would have looked silly Sunday night when they ran into the buzz saw that was…
• Josh Beckkkkkkkkkkett. 10 strikeouts. 94 MPH fastballs. Knee buckling curves. 89 MPH changeups (in Spring Training and his first start, his changeup was sitting around 86 MPH. Usually you want an 8-10 MPH split between your changeup and fastball for deception’s sake, but I wonder if Beckett was changing his mechanics in order to get the bigger split because the pitch was not very effective. Sunday he got back to the fast change, which ends up working more like a sinker and if we look at it that way instead of a changeup, it can be a nasty pitch when he locates). A bat sawing cutter. This was 2003/2007 Josh Beckett. The man regularly compared with Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. The dude who won a World Series and ALCS MVP. The hombre who wouldn’t take no shit from no one. If we get this consistently from Beckett along with typical Jon Lester, it may not matter that John Lackey now pitches like he looks (as my old boss Jeff Maultsby used to say, “He’s Oscar Gamble ugly”). Now that the O-fer is finally over, we can all enjoy this incredible collection of talent that Theo has assembled. It’s going to be a long season, but I would strongly bet that it will be glorious.
• Small ball: Albert Pujols off to a ridiculously slow start, batting .143/.225/.229 with 1 HR. By comparison, Willie Bloomquist is batting .394/.429/.545. Yet another reason why you don’t panic over early season performance…Are the Tribe for real? After sweeping back to back series from the Sox and Mariners, they are on a 7 game winning streak and have the second best record in baseball. The offense may be better than expected, but I’m guessing the pitching looks good due to a slumping Red Sox lineup and a still historically bad Mariners one. Also, after drawing 40,000+ fans for opening day, the next 4 home games didn’t even equal that in combined attendance. I know it’s cold there, but this is probably as well as that team is going to do all year. Fan up!...My buddies in Cincy are looking real good. Joey Votto is absolutely destroying National League pitching. Must have been that offseason batting practice he received in 2007 from X Mark (ya that was a heavy name drop)…The Braves are in last place. What idiot picked them to win the East over the greatest 4 man rotation of all time? Oh ya…If the playoffs started today (they don’t), Baltimore, Cleveland and Kansas City would be in, the Red Sox, Yankees, Rays, Twins, Tigers and White Sox would be out…Finally, in my best impression of Russell Hammond, I dig baseball.