Surprises Abound to Start Season

This - other than the playoffs - is really when MLB is exciting. At least it is to me, as an Orioles fan, and I'm sure fans of Toronto, Kansas City, Seattle, Florida and San Diego would agree with me. It's early in the season when the teams playing with less payroll and talent than the New York's and Boston's of the world have a chance to get a fast start. They're playing on adrenaline and hustle and grittiness, and they scrap out wins. The problem with baseball is that it's a marathon. A ridiculously long marathon. So, by September, C.C. Sabathia will have learned exactly how to get each and every Orioles batter out, and he will have perfected the stuff he needs to do that. Meanwhile, When Koji Uehara is pitching to Mark Teixeira, Uehara will know how to get Teixeira out, but Teixeira will already know what Uehara is going to do, and will best him. It's a simple matter of talent. 

But maybe I'm just cynical. 

That's really all I had for this one, but I would never exit without a few quick hits to catch people up in case you've been too busy mourning the end of the NCAA tournament/anticipating the NFL draft. 

So, the Nationals still haven't won a game.  They're 26th in the majors in runs scored, 21st in hits and 27th in home runs. They're 29th in ERA, 29th in strikeouts and 29th in batting average against. Oh, by the way, they're 27th in errors and 29th in field percentage. Not being good at anything generally translates into 0-7. Their lone bright spot (Cristian Guzman, hitting a ridiculous .515 to start the season) has a hurt hamstring. It's not looking likely that they will finish anywhere but last in the NL East, especially because ...

The Marlins are playing the best baseball in the league right now. You liked that segue, didn't you? Anyway, the Marlins are 7-1, and even though they're playing in a division with the defending World Series champs, the new-bullpened Mets and the fellow upstart Braves, the Marlins feel they can hang around until the end. Josh Johnson had two brilliant starts to lead off the season (he's 2-0 with 15.2 IP, 15 SO, and an ERA of 0.57). The bullpen has been solid too; the most runs they've given up in a game this year is six. Six, by the way, is less than the average runs given up by the Orioles this year. Oh, hey! Speaking of the Orioles ...

Wow, the Orioles can hit. And wow, the Orioles can not pitch. Make no mistake about it, Baltimore fans see the light at the end of the tunnel - apparently their pitching prospects in the minor leagues are second to none. They will be fixtures for next year, though. This year, the Orioles will have to suffer through watching a rotation consisting of an average number one starter (Jeremy Guthrie), a number two starter who should be a number three (Koji Uehara), a number three starter who should be a number five (Mark Hendrickson), and two other starters who have no business being on a major league roster (Alfredo Simon and Adam Eaton). That being said, the Orioles are still 6-3 because they have arguably the best 1-2-3 hitting trio in baseball. Brian Roberts is perenially underrated. Adam Jones (pictured, right) is one of the best young talents in baseball, and you can book Nick Markakis before the season even begins to hit .300 with 20 HR and 90 RBI. Aubrey Huff and Melvin Mora can both knock in runners, and Luke Scott isn't a bum himself. Throw Matt Weiters into the mix come June, and the O's will continue to be one of the better offensive teams in the majors. In the end, though, asking the bullpen to give them at least five innings every game won't be enough for this season. 

Keeping it in the east, the Blue Jays are hitting a lot better than we anticipated. Everyone knew they could pitch. And pitch they've been doing well. The magic number early this season for the Blue Jays has been five; they've yet to lose a game when they scored at least five runs. Thankfully for Toronto, they've scored at least five runs in seven of their ten games. Led by the rejuvenated Scott Rolen (no, I didn't know he was still around, either), Toronto is leading the American League in batting average and is second in runs scored. I don't know that they can hit this well for the entire year, but I do think they can pitch this well. Toronto has a far better chance to be around near the top of the AL East come September than the O's do. 

That will wrap this one up. Sorry to show my ESPN-like east coast bias, I'll try to do better next time. The college basketball late signing period started yesterday, so look for updates on that, and of course the NFL draft is a mere nine days away. Keep checking back here for info on all that. 

(Photo Credit: AP)