Welcome to the 3rd Czar’s blog of 2016. It might still be April but it’s now serious. It’s Opening Day, the Dodgers are in town for the first time in 2016, and both teams look healthy. From the weather reports this upcoming 4 game series will be a mid-summer affair, and the ball may be flying at AT&T.
The Giants and the Dodgers – performing to expectations?
The G-Men come into the home opener 2 and 1 after meeting the rebuilding Brewers inside the dome in Milwaukee. Bum pitched the opener with the flu (which took out Denard Span yesterday) but was serviceable enough to get the victory because the bats came alive and crushed the Brewers 12-3.
The preseason expectation of Giants power (from Span, Duffy, Crawford, Belt, Posey and Pence) looks to be very accurate. Duffy has made everyone forget that there ever was a Panda (who, by the way, has been benched in Boston over, guess what, his weight – talk about dodging a bullet there!).
The back to back to back home runs in the Brewers home opener (Span, Panik and Posey) was an awesome moment (check out the video if you haven’t seen them) and if those dingers are signs of things to come this will be a terrific season.
Cueto was terrific in game two, which the Giants won 2-1. He is exactly as advertised and his defense is as impressive as his pitching. Game 3 was different however. Samardzija was not sharp, the Giants walked lead-off batters something like 4 times and walked 7 in the game. Still, they had a shot at the victory but lost 4-3. The Shark is clearly a work in progress.
Today’s game is important for Peavy, and this entire series (Cain on Friday, Bum on Saturday and Cueto on Sunday) will be like the playoffs. The players to watch are Span and Pagan (who is starting off the season very hot).
The Dodger’s, for their part, are coming off of a sweep of the Padres (the Padres scored exactly zero runs in three games against the Dodgers) and are coming into AT&T with an attitude. Expect a rumble today (although I would be surprised to see another shutout) and through the weekend.
It appears that the Dodger’s young talent is ably supported by good pitching (expected from Kershaw) but continued with Kazmir and Meada (who got a homer himself) pitching lights out against a team (the Padres) that has lots of problems. But those are the Dodgers, they love to brag about beating up on the weak teams (can you say bully?).
Today is Alex Wood against Peavy. Expect a lot of noise in the stands, if nothing else from me.
This blog is short because I’ve been focusing on Booze Rules (check that out) and I have to get to the game. Now is the time to plunge into the season. It feels like October in April.
BEAT LA!
Ciao, and GO GIANTS!
The Czar