Steve Davis: What I Liked About Opening Day
Obviously, it is a no-brainer to say that it was quite the "Welcome to Baltimore" Opening Day for Nelson Cruz. A walk that ultimately scored the first run, a homer for the game winner, and a snow cone catch to save at least a run. That is a great day.
And, for those of you ready to worry about his shaky defense in left, just a quick heads up. I went and looked up his stats. Of his 760 career starts in the field, Cruz only had 44 starts in left prior to coming to Baltimore. So, that very well might have been his first time in left in Camden Yards: be patient!
Zach Britton impressed me. It was the first time he ever came out of the bullpen in the majors, and all six of his outs were ground balls, important to note for a sinkerballer.
Ryan Flaherty filled in quite admirably for Machado at third. The guy is an excellent defender.
Adam Jones dealt with a swirling wind and made it look easy.
Hunter made us all sweat, but he had a better debut than Jim Johnson, who lost his first game for the A's, giving up 2 runs in a 0-0 game.
And, I loved the first pitch by Admiral James Winnefeld, the 4-star Admiral that threw out the first pitch; he took off his jacket, licked his fingers, and went to the rubber. That's a bad ass military man.
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