• Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 12:40 p.m. PT — Hiroki Kuroda looked outstanding in his North American debut. I expected the funky delivery that is characteristic of pitchers who come over from Japan, but the velocity caught me by surprise. He was pumping 93-mph fastballs against the Padres. Micah Owings gets the call for Arizona. He dominated the Rockies in his first start of ‘08 (although he only went 1-for-4 at the plate, LOL). Wasn’t there talk that the Snakes might stick Owings in the field at some point? I think that’s crazy, but it would be pretty cool — you know, in the same way that handlebar moustaches are cool.
• Reds at Brewers, 5:05 p.m. PT — Like offense? Josh Fogg and David Bush hook up at Miller Park. The lineups will include guys like Ryan Braun, Adam Dunn, Prince Fielder, and Ken Griffey Jr. I’m going to set the over/under on home runs at seven.
• Yankees at Royals, 5:10 p.m. PT — Two promising young pitchers square off in this one. Zack Greinke seems to have gotten his career back on track, while Ian Kennedy is still trying to figure out how the Rays beat the snot out of him last week. The Royals are 5-2. Heck, the Orioles are 6-1. And people say the world isn’t going to hell in a handbasket.

Rock on, my peeps…

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• White Sox at Tigers, 12:55 p.m. PT — At 0-4, Detroit is the only team without a win so far this season. Baseball is a strange game. Dontrelle Willis makes his Tigers debut. For a guy who should be in his physical prime, Willis sure has fallen fast. Where’s Steve Avery when you need him?
• Dodgers at Padres, 12:55 p.m. PT — This is by far the best matchup of the day: Brad Penny goes up against Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy. Penny is 0-2 with a 6.67 ERA over his last five starts against San Diego.
• Diamondbacks at Rockies, 5:05 p.m. PT — Last year’s NL West playoff participants square off this evening. Two good young pitchers — Brandon Webb and Jeff Francis — hook up in this one. It’s also a good excuse to watch Justin Upton play, which is always a treat.

Play ball!

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At THT, I’ve gone with the popular pick except for AL West (I chose Mariners over Angels), AL Wild Card (Indians over Yankees), and NL Cy Young (Jake Peavy over Johan Santana — there’s my Padres bias kicking in because, hey, someone’s got to have a Padres bias).

I also have the Diamondbacks beating the Tigers in the World Series. We’ll see what happens…

How about you? Any predictions you’d care to share?

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Anywho, I took a bunch of photos. Enjoy!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

See full photo set at Flickr.

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• Jim at AZ Snakepit wonders about the Diamondbacks pitching staff.
• Eric at Philliesflow searches for hidden gems in right field.
• Harper at Oleanders and Morning Glories reacts to news of Paul LoDuca’s inclusion in the Mitchell Report.
• Kurt at Goat Riders of the Apocalypse muses on the nature of hypocrisy in sports, specifically as it relates to the current steroid flap.
• Lisa at Astros Dugout rejoices in the signing of right-hander Jack Cassel.
• Dave at U.S.S. Mariners fantasizes about how much better the world would be if he ran the Mariners.
• Eric at Rays Anatomy calls for Bud Selig’s resignation as puppet, er, MLB commissioner.
• Evan at Fire Brand of the American League is under the mistaken impression that the NL should adopt his favored league’s “DH experiment.”
• Lee at Tiger Tales examines his team’s starters and relievers.
• Aaron Gleeman discusses the Twins’ signing of Mike Lamb.

Okay, then. You’ve got some reading to do…

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• Jon at Dodger Thoughts reminds us that rumors are, well, rumors.
• Jim at AZ Snakepit transforms a couple Diamondbacks into South Park characters.
• El Lefty Malo talks about Barry Bonds.
• Mark at Bad Altitude complains that Troy Tulowitzki should have won the NL Gold Glove at shortstop over Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins. He’s right, of course.
• Speaking of shortstops, MB at Friar Forecast presents the relative merits of Khalil Greene.

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Larry on baseball writers:

I commend you for your restraint, Geoff. Baseball writers have been so wretched they shouldn’t have a say in ANY post-season awards OR the HOF.

Go to the HOF site and see what the writers have done since 1936. The first ballot was tough, with Cobb, Ruth, Honus Wagner, Hornsby and Walter Johnson on the ballot.

400-game winner Johnson got in, but 500-game winner Cy Young didn’t. He got in the next year, in 1937 – with 76%. Imagine, 24% of writers didn’t think Cy Young belonged in the Hall.

Honus Wagner and his 8 batting titles and .327 lifetime average got in, but Hornsby’s 7 NL titles and .358 average got less than half the vote. I guess they forgot about his three .400 seasons or his two triple crowns.

Hornsby not only didn’t get in, he was dropped from the ballot in ‘37. He got back on in ‘38 and got 19% of the vote. He was finally voted into the Hall in 1942, with 78% of the vote.

The writers have been stiffs since day one. You were much too kind, Geoff.

Rain Delay on Seattle’s managerial situation:

The Mariners are under .500 with John Mclaren at the helm. You’d think all of the time as he spent as Lou’s bench coach he would’ve learned, something… heck anything…

I pray that he’s not hired on for 2008.

Sorry, bud; next time pray harder.

Vegas Watch on the Arizona Diamondbacks:

In looking back at various preseason predictions, I think it’s interesting that everybody was so wrong about the Diamondbacks, but ended up being right (if that makes sense).

As you said, the young hitters didn’t come through, as they’re third to last in the NL in R/G. The pitching ended up carrying them – third in the NL in ERA.

That adds up to about an average team, but of course they completely outperformed their Pythag record. I doubt there has ever been a team that has ended up being this different from people’s expectations, yet finishes (potentially) right where everybody expected.

Joe Ruiz on classic rock:

If I hear Foghat during the next commercial, I’m switching to Gameday Audio.

Derrick on Jimmy Rollins for MVP:

J-Roll has put up historical numbers from the lead off spot. He also should win the Gold Glove. Holliday is not a leader the way that Jimmy Rollins is. Nor is he the defensive player that Rollins is. The MVP is the single player that helps their own team to win and to hold that team together. J-Roll backs up what he says. Have you guys heard of Super Bowl III? Great players back it up on the field. No player in baseball has held a team together like Jimmy has this year.

BV on the AL Cy Young race:

Other than the fact that Josh Beckett has one more win than CC How can anyone build a legit case that Beckett deserves the CY… CC should win in a landslide…

And there you have it…

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You thought I forgot. Go ahead, admit it. You noticed that we didn’t run a poll yesterday, and you thought that I’d forgotten about NL Manager of the Year.

Now, why would I do that?

Right, I wouldn’t. I also wouldn’t vote for anyone other than Clint Hurdle or Bob Melvin for this award. I suppose you could make a case for Charlie Manuel or Ned Yost, maybe Bud Black.

I kinda liked Willie Randolph before The Collapse (TM). Lou Piniella? Not so much for me. His bosses went out and bought the best team money could buy, and he barely managed to win a very weak division. Color me unimpressed.

Am I missing anyone? Manny Acta? I’m actually not being facetious; I could see him getting votes. The Nationals were supposed to be historically bad, but they lost only 89 games. And I guess Bobby Cox always has to be part of the equation.

But really, it comes down to Hurdle or Melvin. In my mind, Hurdle gets the nod because of preseason expectations. I had the Diamondbacks winning the NL West and the Rockies finishing fourth. Hurdle’s club outperformed my wildest expectations. The only other National League teams I can say that about are Milwaukee and Washington, neither of which reached the playoffs.

I’m going Hurdle, Melvin, Yost. How about you? Who do you like and why?

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Ah, yes: the old “the Diamondbacks were just lucky” argument. First, this demonstrates a basic misunderstanding, very common among statheads, about the game of baseball. It’s not about having the highest team batting average. It’s not about posting the best run-differential. The game is decided simply by scoring more runs than your opponent on the day. That is the only measure of “best” which actually means anything, because playoff spots are not awarded on the basis of Pythagorean Projections.

Bingo. Dismissing a team’s success solely as the product of “luck” is at best intellectually lazy and at worst, well… We touched on this issue a while back, and it’s important to remember that just because a reason doesn’t present itself right away, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It is not the job of reality to mold itself to any theoretical constructs devised by humans, dig?

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