Opening Day Coverage Of Afternoon Games, Part I

Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Indians: Through three innings and only two at-bats, Jim Thome has two homeruns. I know it’s early (really early), but Thome is currently the no. 1 player in all of fantasy baseball. At this point, if a Thome owner can find a dope in their league to take Thome for a top player, they probably have to at least consider trading him (and yes, I do realize it’s the first day).

The Indians also batted around and put up a seven-run bottom of the second. Grady Sizemore homered, and Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez secured their first runs scored and RBIs of the season in the inning. Mark Buehrle pitched 1 2/3 innings for the Sox before getting the boot, and his 5-1 Opening Day record is currently in jeopardy.

Arizona Diamondbacks at Cincinnati Reds: One of many games delayed by wet weather across the Northern Midwest. Brandon Webb is throwing a one-hitter through three innings, and apparently took it personally that FBD chose Johan Santana over him for the NL Cy Young, despite picking the Dbacks to win the NL West.

Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays: If Tampa Bay played in the NL Central, would they be the favorite to win the division? If so, oh well, they play in the AL East and are almost guaranteed to finish fourth place (behind the Sawks, Yanks, and Jays). The Rays are up 4-2 through five innings. Carl Crawford has his first run scored and RBI of the season. He was knocked in by B.J. Upton.

The Rays offense will likely not have a problem scoring runs, but will their pitching hold up through the rigors of the AL East? Outside of Scott Kazmir and James Shields, probably not.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Catchers, Designated Hitters, Fantasy Baseball Players, Fantasy Baseball Tips, First Baseman, Outfielders, Second Baseman, Starting Pitchers, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.