Thursday, April 5, 2012

Opening Day Is Good

Not as good as closing day, though... on 27 occasions.

The Mets actually won their home opener, 1-0 over the Atlanta Braves. Got 5 shutout innings from Johan Santana in his 1st appearance since... oh, I don't know, the Mets' last World Series win? Of course, Jason Bay got hurt...

In Detroit, 77-year-old Al Kaline threw out the ceremonial first ball, and the Tigers had a 2-0 lead on the Red Sox going into the 9th. But the Sox tied it... and then blew it in the bottom of the 9th, 3-2! Ha ha! The Magic Number to eliminate The Scum is already reduced, to 161!

The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Miami Marlins, 4-0, at the Great American Ballpark. Well, it's a pretty good American ballpark... Jose Cueto started, and did a little Luis Tiant thing with his windup. And the Reds produced the season's 1st rundown -- or, as it's sometimes known, "pickle." The Marlin who got pickled? Former Met Jose Reyes! Hey, Met fans, now are you glad you don't have him anymore?

The Marlins actually opened the season last night, with the 1st official game in Marlins Park, a one-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals. And lost, 4-1. This new era isn't getting off to a good start for the Fish: They were 0-2 before 17 other teams had even played once.

And, of course, last week, the regular season opened in Japan, at the Tokyo Dome, with the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners splitting 2 games.

The Yankees open tomorrow afternoon, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida against the Tampa Bay Rays. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:10 PM. CC Sabathia starts for the Bronx Bombers, while James Shields toes the rubber (LUV baseball jargon like that!) for the Strays. Most likely, the Trop will be sold out, then less than 30,000 will attend the other 2 games of the series, then they'll average maybe 20,000 the rest of the way.

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Elimination Numbers: Scum 161; Rays, Jays & O's 162

A-Rod: 225 hits for 3,000, 71 home runs for 700, 134 for record 763

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Hours until the Yankees' Opening Day: 19, tomorrow afternoon. Play Ball!

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 2, Saturday afternoon, at the Columbus Crew.

Days until Arsenal play again: 3, this Sunday, Easter, home to Manchester City. Beat Nasri!

Days until the Devils play another local rival: Unknown, as there's only 2 games left in the regular season. But they are in the Playoffs.

Days until the Yankees' home opener: 8, a week from tomorrow afternoon, against the Whatever They're Calling Themselves This Year Angels of Anaheim.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 15, on Friday night, April 20, at Fenway Park in Boston. Just 2 weeks.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 17, on Sunday night, April 22, vs. DC United at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. (Rescheduled from the night before.) They next play the New England Revolution the following Saturday afternoon at Red Bull Arena, and the Philadelphia Union on Sunday afternoon, May 13, at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 18, on Monday night, April 23, against the Philadelphia 76ers, at the Prudential Center. Under 3 weeks before New Jersey no longer has an NBA team.

Days until the U.S. National Soccer Team plays again: 51, Saturday night, May 26, against Scotland, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville -- formerly known as Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and Alltel Field, home of the NFL's Jaguars. A little over 7 weeks.

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 113 (July 27).

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown, as the Premier League announces its schedule for the upcoming season on the 2nd Friday in June, and the new season always starts on the 2nd Saturday in August -- meaning that the next Arsenal-Tottenham match can't be any earlier than August 11, which is 128 days (a little over 4 months) from now.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 149, on Saturday September 1, at the Superdome in New Orleans against Tulane University. Not exactly a rivalry game, although Tulane was founded by a Princeton man. And thus will begin the Kyle Flood Era. Good luck...

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 162, on Friday, September 14, opponent and location to be determined. A little over 5 months.

Days until the 2012 President election: 215, on Tuesday, November 6. Register to vote... and on November 6, vote!

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 231.

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 471 (estimated around July 20, 2013).

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 668 (February 2, 2014).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 741 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,576 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,610 (estimated -- estimating 28 home runs a year, he should get it late in the 2016 season, maybe around September 1, at age 41).

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