Ah, Opening Day. I hope you had as much fun as we did (full report at Ducksnorts). Beyond the thrill of a packed house at Petco Park watching Jake Peavy spin a shutout, here are a few items from Monday that caught my eye:

The Mets beat the Marlins, 7-2. The planet’s best pitcher against a Triple-A squad — who could’ve have anticipated such a result? Uh, everyone.
The Pittsburgh/Atlanta game was insane. The Pirates took a 9-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but the Braves tied. Then the Bucs jumped ahead in the 12th, 12-9, before allowing two runs …read more

The Boston Red Sox have acquired right-hander David Aardsma from the Chicago White Sox for right-handers Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich.
The White Sox, you will recall, designated Aardsma for assignment when they threw large wads of cash at Octavio Dotel. I thought that someone should give Aardsma a shot, and it doesn’t surprise me that a team like the Red Sox would be the ones to do it. They are smart enough to see the value of a guy who can put the ball past big-league hitters.
Nice pickup by Boston. I expect Aardsma to provide similar value in 2008 to …read more