Opening Day Lineup

[ljshorty89]

According to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com and reported by Metsblog.com and Matt Cerrone, Jerry Manuel has announced that the following will be his opening day lineup.

1. SS Alex Cora
2. 2B Luis Castillo
3. 3B David Wright
4. 1B Mike Jacobs
5. LF Jason Bay
6. CF Gary Matthews Jr.
7. RF Jeff Francoeur
8. C Rod Barajas
9. SP Johan Santana

First off, Pagan SHOULD be starting in CF and leading off. Cora should be batting lower and Francoeur should be 6th. Also, Mike Jacobs splitting up Wright and Bay is absolutely dumb. You're using a guy with a .230 or so batting average splitting up two guys with (as far as I remember seeing) relatively little difference between lefty and righty splits. I'd rather see Pagan, Castillo, Wright, Bay, Francoeur, Jacobs, Matthews, Barajas, Santana for the first few games, until Reyes comes back and makes our lineup look less miserable.

[ljshorty89]

Lineup goes as expected. I'll be posting in here (probably the only one) as the game goes on...

...oh, PS, I'm skipping classes for this, so please god give me a win!

[ljshorty89]

David Wright with a 2 Run HR in his first at bat of the season! Wright hit just 11 last year, so getting off on the right foot is nice for this team.

He even utilized the shorter RF corner which the team didn't really utilize last year. I'm excited again!

"Just when I thought I was out...THEY PULL ME BACK IN!"

[missionhockey21]

Wright showing his power is huge... kind of wished I didn't pass on him in so many drafts, lol.

And I was about ready to say after seeing Jacobs hitting 4th that he must have had some huge breakout season that I didn't catch. Ha.

[ljshorty89]

Jacobs batting cleanup is absolutely stupid. I really don't agree with Manuel on that one, and Jacobs' 0/3 with 2 K's is proving me right.

[ljshorty89]

Good first game. Jacobs was the only player in the starting lineup without a Run Scored or Driven In. Johan looked good, the bullpen was fine, the hitting looked pretty good. This team is going to score runs, if they can get consistent decent pitching, they may surprise people and win 80-85 games and matter come September. Not that they'll be a playoff team, but they won't be eliminated in July like last year.

[missionhockey21]

Go Johan! I am in a auction league and a lot of people backed off on him due to the risk/price, I was wise/foolish enough not to.

[ljshorty89]

Honestly, there was no doubt in my mind he would be ready to go and give you Johan results. I drafted him in round 4 of my draft, and people thought I was being a homer (after Lincecum, Halladay, King Felix, CC, Greinke, Haren, Lee, and Lester), but from the looks of today, Johan should prove me right!

[redsrbetter]

Johan is sick! He and Halladay had very nice outings today. Did anyone expect less?

[ljshorty89]

Johan is sick! He and Halladay had very nice outings today. Did anyone expect less?

Somehow, from what I have heard and read, many people had doubts about Johan. I mean, granted, he did have elbow surgery, but (perhaps it was my bias) I had no doubt he would show the competitive edge (as well as sickening pitching skill) he's always had. He didn't have his A+ stuff today, but he made Cameron Maybin look STUPID, and pretty much had his way with the Marlins lineup. He certainly looked good, and I think he'll be proving people wrong (and me right) all season.

[missionhockey21]

Yes, but I think in Johan's case, the doubts were fair (for his first few starts anyway.) How was his velocity LJ?

[ljshorty89]

His fastball was between 91 and 93/94 the entire way through, hitting 93 in his 6th and final inning of work. The bigger thing to me, and according to everything I've heard is that, last year, Johan couldn't really finish his circle change, so the speed DIFFERENTIAL wasn't as large...well, his changeup was at about 80/81 early and in the mid 70's throughout the game. The 10-20 MPH differential was good to see, and he certainly looked good throughout. One game doesn't guarantee anything, but Johan looks healthy, looks like he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder thanks to the doubters, and looks like he's ready to give us the kind of season we've grown accustomed to from Johan.

[missionhockey21]

Awesome scouting report man, much appreciated.

It would pretty cool to see guys like Santana, Webb, and Peavy bounce back strong this season.

[ljshorty89]

Any time I can, I'm happy to help.

It'd be awesome to see those guys rebound, especially since I drafted Santana(round 4 or so) and Webb(round 20) in my Fantasy League