Week One Thoughts

At lunch today, a coworker and myself headed over to a pub next to the office to catch a couple innings of the Twins game. Took about 15 minutes longer than usual and caught innings 5-7, just enough to kind of get my fix for the time being. I was there long enough to watch Delmon Young collect his 2nd hit of the day (ended with 3), Pat Neshek throw two scoreless innings, and people to start whining for a roof (after celebrating it not being there two days before) because of a little rain.

We walked back to the office and talked about how nice it is to have somewhere so close to jump over to for a quick bite to eat and a couple of innings of baseball. The conversation ended with a thought that summed up my feeling for the day: "It's a long season, man, so can't get too caught up in each game...but it's so hard to not get caught up."

So after one week, a lot of us want to jump to conclusions about which guys have finally arrived, which guys are done, and which guys we're going to hate for the season (by the way, the last one I'm all for. You can see pretty early on the guys you're going to despise watching and sometimes it's the same guy as every other year that maybe played for the Cubs last year and plays for the Mariners this year. Not that I'll name names.). So instead of going against nature and holding off on predictions, assessments, and all sorts of other forward thinking that will inevitably prove false, let's embrace those things!

1.) Hot start for Milton Bradley. I know, I know, he's hitting the hell out of the ball so he can keep up his usual shenanigans as long as he keeps hitting. Wait, he's not hitting either? Oh that's right, he's ONLY HITTING .115. And it's not just that he can't hit anymore. Tonight, he ran straight through a stop sign at 3rd base to simply stand and watch the play unfold (the play that was a backdoor throw to 3rd to nail him. Good work, Milton). I really wonder how much longer he's going to last in the league. I think most thought that a city like Seattle might prove to be his saving grace, somewhere that's a lot of love when you do well and general disinterest when you don't (as opposed to active hatred that comes in places like Chicago). Most were wrong.

**UPDATE** MB just laced a two-out bases loaded single. It didn't take 5 minutes for me to look stupid. Who cares? I'm posting this anyways. He'll still end up hitting. 235 with 5 HRs and 3 punched umpires.

2.) Is there really any argument as to who the best player in baseball is at this point? He's never had a bad year, really never anything less than a great year, and this year he's out to an even better start. Is this the year that he pushes that 50 HR number? We'll see. Looks like that offseason elbow cleanup surgery is paying off.

3.) The NL West will actually be fun to watch this year. The Diamondbacks have good, young hitting (Stephen Drew, Justin Upton) that looks like it is really ready to turn that proverbial corner and should be ready to really make it interesting when Brandon Webb gets healthy (hopefully sometime in June). The top two, Giants & Rockies, should be a lot of fun to watch. The Rockies have more offense but the Giants have a ton of starting pitching. Hopefully they can actually score some runs to support that pitching. Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez are an awesome top three--hopefully they find someone to help Pablo Sandoval in the scoring department.

It's only been a week and a half but, just as with every baseball season, I'm far too invested and excited. And my favorite thing about it is that it's always something different. No two seasons are the same. Only 150+ games to go.