Early Impressions

-Jason Heyward has made a HUGE splash in the media...and lived up to it and maybe created a bigger scene around him with a homer on opening day in Atlanta, as well as hitting his second last night in San Francisco.

-Jeremy Bonderman went five innings yesterday against the Indians, allowing just one run on one hit and two walks. After such a long absence due to injury, this was a positive sign for Tigers fans no doubt with their concerns about the bottom of the rotation. Dontrelle Willis also had a good performance in his first outing of the year.

-CC Sabathia was simply dominant last night in Tampa Bay, holding a no-hitter until surrendering a hit with two outs in the eighth inning to Kelly Shoppach.

-Sticking with the Yankees, Mark Teixeira finally got a hit last night. He is known for slow starts...but really? He is an all-star player no question, there is no explanation for these slow starts really. But we know this, he will perform this year in the pinstripes.

-Manny Ramirez recorded hit number 2,500 last night, another milestone in his impressive career.

-No undefeated teams remain after yesterday's game, but five teams stand at 4-1, while the Twins are 5-1. Also, all the Twins games have been on the road thus far, the opener at new Target Field will be this Monday.

-Nate McLouth needs to start hitting in Atlanta, after not hitting ANYTHING in the spring, he has just two hits in 13 at-bats. His job might soon be in jeopardy if he does not start getting it together. 

-As far as big off-season pick-ups go, these are some early performances of note:

Placido Polanco PHI-he is hitting .542 thus far, including a grand slam on opening day. He has knocked in eight runs so far, also having scored eight.

Roy Halladay PHI-threw 7 innings of one-run ball on opening day in his first game with Philadelphia.

John Lackey BOS-went six solid innings without allowing a run, and giving up just three hits.

Curtis Granderson NYY-yet another Yankee comment, but Granderson has been smashing the ball early in the year. He hit a homer on opening day, and has another one since then. This is while posting a .316 average into today's game.


-I will close with the note on Mark Buehrle's play on opening day...WOW. I saw that happen while watching it on tv, and as that play developed you could not help but get excited-what a play. Surely one of the best that will be seen this year and it came so immediately in the season. He also threw a great game that day.