Opening Day Part II/ 2012 All Opening Day Team

Opening Day Part II

Today was the second day of the sort of split opening day, and it was yet again filled with more great games. The day started with the Chicago White Sox taking on the Texas Rangers. Ian Kinsler proved that new contract he signed was worth it as he went two for four with a solo shot off of John Danks. Colby Lewis went six innings and struck out nine as the Rangers went on to win 3-2. Honorable mention goes out to Adam Dunn, who went one for three slamming out a solo shot after a subpar 2011. Tampa Bay beat the Bronx Bombers today 7-6 off a game winning single from the returned Carlos Peña, who also jacked a grand slam off of CC Sabathia. The Cards handled the Brewers with ease today 11-5. The Cards had a three homerun third. Their two through five spots hit .344 today, scored five runs, and managed six RBIs. Carlos Beltran also added a stolen base to this. Ian Kennedy got his first win after winning twenty one last year ,and handed Tim Lincecum and the Giants a 5-4 loss. The pitching performance of the day would have to go to Chad Billingsley, who struck out eleven after only allowing three hits in 8.1 innings of work as the Dodgers beat the Padres soundly 6-0. Jered Weaver struck out ten in 8 innings of work as the Angels blanked the Royals 5-0. Albert Pujols in his first official game as an Angel went 0 for 3 with a walk.
Nick Markakis went two for three and drove in three with a homerun and triple, and Jake Arrieta pitched seven scoreless innings. The Orioles handed the Twins a 4-2 loss. So with MLB opening day in the books for 2012 officially, I thought it would be nice to put together a 2012 all-opening day team:

1B- Carlos Peña – Tampa Bay Rays

                Gotta be Peña, who went 3 for 5 in his return to the Rays. He hit a jaw-dropping grand slam off of CC Sabathia to bust the game wide open 4-0 in the1rst. Peña then hit the game-winning single in the bottom of the 9^th, totaling 5 RBIs!

2B  Ian Kinsler—Texas Rangers

                Kinsler’s double and solo shot off of John Danks were at one point the only two hits for the Rangers. Kinsler ended up scoring two out of the three runs scored in Texas’3-2 victory.

3B David Freese—St. Louis Cardinals

                Freese went 2 for 5 today adding a home run and three RBIs. A weird comparison I have is between him and Eli Manning of the New York Giants. At the beginning of the season a lot of people questioned if Eli was in the elite tier of NFL quarterbacks. The question I have is: Is David Freese among the elite infielders of Major League Baseball? Guess what? We still have 161 games to answer that question.

SS Ian Desmond—Washington Nationals

                Desmond went 3 for 5 with an RBI in a 2-1 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Thursday. By him putting the ball in play he allowed the Cubs bullpen to ruin a great start by Ryan Dempster, and ultimately led to a 2-1 win.

LF Chone Figgins—Seattle Mariners

                In a tough demographic to choose from (among Left Fielders), Figgins went 3 for 4 and drove in 2 in Seattle’s 7-3 victory over the A’s as the Mariners improve to 2-1.

CF Matt Kemp—LA Dodgers

                Kemp has shown MVP status in the first two games by driving in 4 runs total. He also managed to steal a base tonight as the Dodgers pounded the Padres 6-0.

RF Andre Ethier—LA Dodgers

                Ethier drove in 4 tonight and hit a triple. See above for remaining comments.

C J.P. Arencibia—Toronto Blue Jays

                Thank goodness for Arencibia ,or the Jays and Tribe might still be playing their opening day game. He sent a 3 run blast into the seats in the 16^th as the Jays went on to beat the tribe 7-4 in the longest game played in opening day history.

P Chad Billingsley—LA Dodgers

                Billingsley dominated the Padres tonight with 8.1 winnings of mowing Padre hitters down. He struck out 11 and only allowed 3 hits. Oh yeah, not to mention no earned runs. As Charlie Sheen would say, “WINNING.”

DH Adam Dunn—Chicago White Sox

                Dunn hit a long ball. A good omen to his 2012 after enduring a horrible 2011. Good for him.

Honorable Mention:
-RF Nick Markakis-Baltimore Orioles- Went 2 for 3 including a HR and Triple...drove in 3 runs
-P-Jered Weaver-LA Angels- Went 8 scoreless innings with 10 Ks
-P-Ryan Dempster-Chicago Cubs- Went 7.2, only allowed 1 run, 10 Ks
-RF Carlos Beltran-St. Louis Cardinals- Went 2 for 4 with a solo shot and a stolen base
-SS Troy Tulowitzki-Colorado Rockies- Went 1 for 3 with a 2 run shot

Well I hope you enjoyed part two of my opening day analysis. As always if there is anything you’d like me to blog about email me at JCGriffin13@yahoo.com or shoot me a tweet @griffaldo !