2003 Season

Edition No. 5 

   April 1, 2003     

PLAY BALL!

Brethren:

    The season is under way.  Ain’t it great to have box scores to peruse on the computer, and to hear Harold Reynolds and Peter Gammons talking about the events of the day on ESPN? 

OPENING DAY

    There is nothing like Opening Day to revive a Midwestern fan after a long winter, and give him a taste of spring and hope for the months ahead.  To celebrate this year’s Opening Day, I took Joe and Will with me to Kansas City, and there we witnessed the Royals’ first Opening Day win since 1998, a 3-0 shutout over the visiting White Sox.  It was a beautiful day for the game, Kauffman Stadium was packed with excited and revitalized fans who actually believe that the Royals can lose fewer than 100 games this year, and we saw a terrific pitching and defensive gem that was over in an incredible 2 hours and 5 minutes.  It had to be the shortest game I have ever been to, and to think that it happened in the American League!

    I had a chance to wet my whistle a bit with Stretch at a tailgater in the parking lot before yesterday’s game, and we of course raised a glass to wish all of the rest of you well and good luck on the season.  It was a great day for baseball and to be alive, and I resolved to force the rest of you deadbeats to set aside the press of business for the day to help usher in the new season next year.

    What a remarkable Opening Day it was.  The Big Unit gets bashed around by the usually light-hitting Dodgers, and takes his first Opening Day loss.  Ditto Maddux, at the hands of the low-budget Expos, even with Vladdy on the bench.  Clemens gets Win No. 294 against the Bluejays, and Halladay gets spanked.

    Jeter collides with my back-up backstop, and goes down for who knows how long.  A-Rod hits his first-ever Opening Day jack, and man, did he ever jack it.  Juan Gone also goes Yard on Opening Day for the Rangers, and looks like he means business in ’03.

    Soriano hits a granny to show that there will be no sophomore slump, and Thome starts his career as a Phillie with a bang.  Scott Rolen hits a three-run jack for the Birds in front of a madhouse Cardinal crowd, and Carl Crawford laces a three-run, walk-off home run in his debut as a Senator.

    Bonds starts the year quietly, but Cory Patterson does not, and to think that SloPay even had him up in his starting lineup.

    And most notably, our cocksure defending champion, Itchie, who boldly predicted a wire-to-wire run for his Skipjacks’ fifth title, begins the season in the league cellar.  After Sunday night’s game in Anaheim, the Skipjacks started the season one to the bad with John Lackey’s minus 7-point performance, which offset A-Rod’s 6-point night.  After Monday’s larger slate of games, the Jax still bring up the rear with a total of 23.5 points, as Itchie prepares for the possibility of an entirely different kind of wire-to-wire run. 

    It’s going to be a great year.

LEAGUE CONSENSUS

    I failed in last week’s edition of FTB to give you the consensus predictions of this year’s likely finishes based upon our draft day selections.  For whatever reason, but most likely the influence of all of Itchie’s gum-flapping on Draft Day, the clear consensus is that the Jax will repeat in ’03.  Seven managers picked the Jax to finish 1st, two picked them to finish 2nd, and one 3rd, together with one 5th and one 6th, for a total of 25 points.   The Reds were next, with two 1st place predictions, four bridesmaid predictions, and one slap in the face that has them finishing last, for a total of 43 points.  As to the other three 1st place votes, one went to the Blues, strangely enough, and two went to the Redbirds.  Of course, the Blues also had one last place vote, as did the Redbirds, so there seems to be some diversity of opinion about how those two teams will finish.  In any event, here are the point totals based upon our predictions:

SCHEDULE FOR GUEST COLUMNISTS

    Here is the schedule for each of you to contribute your guest columns to From the Bullpen.  I have listed the week of play that you will be commenting upon, and the deadline that you have for getting your e-mail (or fax) to Linda for inclusion in that week’s newsletter.  Please give us at least three paragraphs of your thoughts on the week, the season, life in the Hot Stove League, and any other demented ramblings that you might have, but please, Possum, keep your composite total to less than three total pages. 

    So that you do not forget or perhaps lose the schedule, we have posted this on the website on the home page.

    Have fun, and good luck on the season.

                                      Skipper

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* 4:00 p.m. submittal deadline on Tuesdays, so that Linda can post it to the website by Wednesday night at the latest.