Baseball season is here. I can see it over the snowbanks. The Twins will host the defending AL Champion Detroit Tigers today at Target Field, while my beloved Milwaukee Brewers will lift the lid against the Colorado Rockies at Miller Park.
I'm not sure what we're going to see from either team this year, which ordinarily isn't a good sign. The Twins are probably 2-3 years away from being a contender, especially given that they are sending out Vance Worley as their opening day starter. There are some big arms in the Twins system, but they are a few years away from contributing, apparently. Worley is a righthander with marginal stuff that the Twins picked up from the Phillies in the Ben Revere trade and he's had a pretty rough spring. He's got a chance to win about 10-12 games this year, but he's not the sort of guy who is going to make you forget Johan Santana. I don't mean to pick on Worley, who is good enough to pitch in the major leagues, but he's not a number one starter. On a good staff, Worley would be, at best, a number three or four. The Twins do not have a good staff. Once this guy and this guy get there, it will be different, but that won't be until later, perhaps much later.
Meanwhile, the Tigers come to town with Justin Verlander, the best starter in the American League, on the mound. It's going to be cold out there today; it's possible the temperature will not get above freezing in the Twin Cities. I'll bet it will be a lot of fun for the Twins to try to hit Verlander, who can throw it about 98-99 miles per hour when he thinks it appropriate.
The Brewers will be sending their ace, Yovani Gallardo, out to face a guy I've never heard of, Jhoulys Chacin, for the Rockies. The Brewers played very well down the stretch last year but there are a lot of questions about their pitching beyond Gallardo, who should win at least 15 games this season. The Rockies appear to be a train wreck, so this isn't a bad way to begin the season. The Brew Crew should be much like they've been in recent years -- a very good team offensively, with dicey pitching. The key could be whether the gendarmes go after Ryan Braun for his (ahem) business relationship with Biogenesis, the Miami-based clinic that might have been providing performance enhancing drugs to major leaguers. Braun beat a drug test last year and I suspect that he'll be getting a whole lot of scrutiny for the rest of his career. If Braun continues to anchor their lineup, the Brew Crew will be dangerous. If he gets a suspension, they'll be toast.
This is the time to have hope, of course, but I don't see either the Brew Crew or the Twins being very good this year. If I were to guess, I'd pencil the Brewers in for a 3rd place finish in the NL Central (behind Cincinnati and St. Louis) and the Twins to bring up the rear in the AL Central, although Cleveland doesn't look like they're going to be much, either.
If I were to guess, I'd figure that the World Series will be Detroit vs. Washington. Which means both teams are likely doomed. Make your picks in the comment section.
4 comments:
Gendarmes? Where do I scratch the checks for the daily vocabulary lessons?
...oh wait, I already know. My son is attending Carthage College this fall. Beloit was never in the running.
As for the Brewers, who knows is the right answer. I'm happy to see Kyle Lohse in Milwaukee, but I'd have been happier to see Zack Greinke stay. Alas, the budget issues of a small market team.
I watched a few innings of the Astros vs. Rangers last night, and didn't know that the Astros has left the NL for the AL West. What I do know is that watching baseball made me happy. John Kruk was on the broadcast and he had some great banter with Orel Hershiser about hitting the "dry side" of the ball. I love baseball!
Gerry
I'm liking the return of baseball. Not because I'll watch all that much of it (can't bear the TV), but because I love it being there in the background of life. Oh, and I'll be trying to win my fantasy baseball league again this year. Not so sure I'll be able to pick up someone like Mike Trout as a free agent though!
Gerry,
Heh. You can probably blame Xavier High School for "gendarmes," though -- Beloit could use a few gendarmes, but that's a separate issue.
Congrats to Matt on going to Carthage, by the way! We're going through that college-picking process now and it's a little daunting.
By the way, I neglected to mention that, if I hadn't seen the name before today, I'd have assumed that "Jhoulys" was a particularly daunting rack of Scrabble tiles.
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