Quick thoughts on Tuesday's excellent slate of major league action ... A's 1, Rangers 0. Yu Darvish just doesn't know how to win. This is a big victory for the A's as they take the first two of the three-game set.
The baseball gods don't give us these matchups often enough: Justin Verlander versus Yu Darvish, two first-place teams, a beautiful 81-degree night in Arlington, Texas. Seems like a good time for a running diary.
There are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon than watching Yu Darvish and Justin Verlander pitch. Especially if you're not at the ballpark and you can set up a laptop outside, put up your feet, soak in those first warm rays of early May and imagine what it's like to throw a baseball like these two guys.
The Washington Nationals, fresh off a 98-win season and expecting a similar result in 2013, enter their weekend series with fewer wins than their surprising opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Which team is better?
As a reminder: Odds to win AL East, March 25 (Bovada.lv) Blue Jays +160 Rays +250 Yankees +350 Red Sox +550 Orioles +750 AL East projected standings, March 26 (Dan Szymborski's ZiPS system) Blue Jays -- 94-68 Rays -- 88-74 Red Sox -- 84-78 Yankees -- 83-79 Orioles -- 82-80 Picks to win AL East, March 30 (ESPN baseball contributors) Blue Jays -- 20 Rays -- 20 Orioles -- 2 Yankees -- 1 Red Sox -- 0 Before the season began, everyone talked about how the AL East would be the crazy island of division races, but the consensus was the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays were the two best teams and the other three would be left fighting for wild-card scraps.
Before any games commence this weekend the focus will be in Boston as the Red Sox return home to Fenway Park for the first time since the horrific events earlier in the week during the Boston Marathon.
Friday was just one of those nights when we give thanks for the existence of the MLB cable package. Everywhere you turned there was something significant, bizarre, or significant and bizarre going on.
One of the best aspects of early April baseball is all the aces start on Opening Day. Then a few days later they meet again. Usually by each pitcher's third or fourth starts, the schedules get out of whack -- teams don't have the same off days, some teams will skip the fifth starter and so on.
Our first full weekend of the 2013 regular season will start with numerous Friday afternoon games, including the 1980 World Series rematch between the Kansas City Royals and Philadelphia Phillies, with Hall of Fame third basemen George Brett and Mike Schmidt scheduled to toss out first pitches.
Maybe we'll try and do this each morning. Maybe we'll get tired of doing it after two weeks. Anyway, quick thoughts from Tuesday's games. The story of the night obviously was Yu Darvish's bid for a perfect game.
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