Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
It's been like a strange dream so far. The first four days of the baseball season have come and gone, and although it's too early to really get worried, there are some disturbing trends that have already begun to surface.
For instance, Albert Belle makes about one million dollars more than the entire 25-man roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates. If money shows the true worth of a player, then the White Sox would not trade Belle for every major league player the Pirates have. However, the White Sox have one win, the same number of wins as lowly Pittsburgh. The Pirates have a number of scrappy youngsters who do not realize that, if they were in almost any other system, they would be in the minors.
Second, the two teams who fought for the National League Pennant last year are a combined 1-5. John Smoltz and Greg Maddux, the winners of the last four Cy Young awards, lost on consecutive nights to the Houston Astros, a team with a broadcaster as their new manager. The St. Louis Cardinals, though riddled with injuries, were swept by the Montreal Expos, a team with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.
And then there is Minnesota. The Minnesota Twins are 3-0. They haven't been 3-0 since who knows when and are 1 1/2 games in front of Cleveland in the AL Central. The AL Central is supposed to be dominated by the Indians and White Sox, two teams mired in mediocrity in the middle of the division.
Then there are some of the individual accomplishments that have been performed so far. If I were to name the 20 players I felt most likely to have a three-homer game, the Yankees' Tino Martinez would not have even crossed my mind. But there he was, an ex-Mariner, parking three pitches in the outfield seats and racking up seven RBI in the process against his former team.
Roger Clemens was the next name to come to mind. With one outing, Clemens resurrected his career. Critics, including myself, thought he was over the hill, past his prime. He showed everyone that he still is overpowering. Now if he can only stay healthy.
And talk about resurrecting careers, Eric Davis has played like he did when he roamed the outfield in Cincinnati under the nickname of Eric "The Red". Davis is hitting .444 in the clean-up spot for the Baltimore Orioles.
Davis' old team, the Reds, have a surprise of their own. Deion Sanders, who only plays baseball about half of the season, is doing an amazing job. He already has two doubles and two stolen bases. He skipped last season entirely and is playing better than before he took the extended layoff.
Of course, some things are going as expected. The Florida Marlins, with the additions of Moises Alou, Bobby Bonilla, Alex Fernandez, and new manager Jim Leyland are 3-0. They walked over the Cubs in the opening series in impressive fashion.
Seattle and New York battled to a split of their two-game series. Ken Griffey Jr. hit home runs in his first two at bats to give the Mariners the game one victory, while the three-homer game from Martinez led New York to a 16-2 victory in game two.
Also as expected, Barry Bonds has seen about two good pitches so far this season. With Matt Williams gone to Cleveland, the Pittsburgh pitchers simply pitched around him for the first two games of the season. He had one hit in four at-bats in game one. But in game two, he had one official at-bat. The Pirates had no problem walking Bonds and pitching to Jeff Kent.
Admittedly, it's too early to say that these numbers are going to hold up. The numbers should came back to reality in a short time. The Braves and Indians will be in first. The Pirates and Twins will be near the cellar, and balance will be restored. Until then, I'll continue to reside in this dream world of strange first place teams and even stranger individual accomplishments.
