HotCut is Grubs-Crads, Lester-Martinez. Yanks at Rays leads off the season, Tanaka-Archer. I've got it on Roku; John and Suzyn on Radio (WiFi). Rays have them loaded bottom one, one out, up 1-0.
Stats on the 2017 OverUnder:
-Common Picks:
Ray-John: 18
John-Nick: 13
Nick-Ray: 17
-Solo Picks:
Ray: 3
John: 8
Nick: 9
-Consensus Picks:
9
Now, back to the action. The Rays have run Tanaka in the third. Ouch. Longo and LoMo touched him for homers. He gave up seven runs, all earned, in 2 2/3 IP, ERA now sits at 23.63.
Rays batting, up 7-2 still, bottom eight, as Greinke deals to Span in Arizona. Opening Day Bridge is in place.
Rays had to call on Colomé for the save but they won, 7-3. Archer gets the win for seven strong: 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
MadBum is perfect through five with seven strikeouts. Greinke was cromulent through five, four hits, two walks, two earned, four Ks. Bu that is all for him, 92 pitches. On comes "The Bartender", aka Tom Wilhelmsen. He promptly serves up a double to Brandon Crawford. Bumgarner has also homered. Only him, Stanton, and CarGo have lifetime homers off of some impressive trio of pitchers including Kershaw, de Grom, and...Greinke? The Bartender's shift is quickly over after Nuñez singles. Lovullo calls on a lefty to face Jarrett Parker. It's Jorge de la Rosa! He was the Rockies Opening Day starter in 2016. I should save detailed commentary like this for HotCuts and Bridges—Nuñez steals another base!—but it's Soft Opening Day and my sap is risen. I have some worry, too, that I will not be very awake for much of tonight's HotCut. Replay on Nuñez's steal of third. Replay trivia: De la Rosa is the Rockies' career leader in wins and strikeouts. Nuñez...is...erased. There was a sliver of time between when his hand touched third and when his foot later arrived, the tag on him in the while.
Forsooth I spoke too soon. It's now 3-3 in the desert. The big blow was a 2-run shot from A.J. Pollock. That followed a Mathis triple to break up the perfecto and then a Nick Ahmed pinch-hit RBI single. Bum whiffs Lamb and the inning is over but we've got a classic on Soft Opening Day in Arizona.
MadBum swings and homers again, a no-doubter to left. His swing looks polished and he might be the Giants' best hitter. This is not hyperbole. It appears he has been practising his batting all winter. Two homers! It's great entertainment. I said; the D'Back broadcast said: put him in left. Spot him there, at least. He'd be perfect as a P/DH in the AL.
Greybeard Span picked off at first but it's being looked at on replay. I like Span's beard. Nuñez's not so much. The call stands and Span is out.
Jeff Mathis has three hits today. Rodney came on at 4-4 and yielded one. Melancon came on at 5-4, got the first two, then that Mathis double. It's up to the ScuZzer. He singles in Hazelbaker nee Mathis and it's 5-5, a classic. Pollock singles, ScuZzer to third. Melancon getting dinged, save lost, Owings at bat. Owings singles to right, no suspension bridge here, it's a walk-off. Snakes win, 6-5. That was a lot of fun. Good afternoon, from Arizona. Now we wait for the hometown team, the hometown game, the national game, Crads-Grubs. Rodney gets that win, the cat with ninety-nine lives. AmaZing.
It is 20:12 central. The HotCut has begun, I am awake for the first of ~150 HotCuts. But I am tired. Molina got a hit, Piscotty got a hit. Schwarber had a hit. The season is alive, baseball is un-hibernated. I'll fall asleep to this game, grounders gone foul, crowd noise, the silence of the final out. None of these teams will play tomorrow. But all the others will fill their absence, and that will be more than enough.
Post-Script. It is now Monday morning, April 3. I had the ESPN radio app feeding us the game as we got into bed but we didn't last long. At some point in the night B turned the radio phone feed off. I got these texts describing what occurred:
1) OK, 1-0 Crads. Worst AB of the season produced by Piscotty.
2) You asleep?
3) Bases juiced, 1 out. Carlos up
4) I'd pinch-hit with Smash
5) Looks like CarMart will hit
6) Damn. Double play to end this inning
7) CarMart is beasting. 7 innings, 10 Ks. 0 walks, only 4 hits. Dominating
8) Grich with a 2-run jack! 3-0
9) Ugh. Oh blows it. Going to the bottom of the ninth!
10) Grich delivers the winning hit. W1
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