Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Biggest Winners and Losers of MLB's Opening Week

The eyes of many fans were focused on quite a few players who were making their debuts with new teams. Other fans were eyeballing their favorite team after making wholesale changes to their roster.

Rookies were being watched as well to see how well they would perform under the bright lights for the very first time.

After losing on Opening Day, the Rockies won their next five games, sweeping the San Diego Padres with a convincing 9-1 victory on Sunday.

The Rockies are hitting—certainly not unexpected given that they finished third in the National League in runs scored last year.

Jhoulys Chacin worked 6.2 innings against the Padres, giving up just one run on six hits. He now has a 1.35 ERA in two starts after suffering through an injury-filled 2012 season.

The same for Juan Nicasio, who also made only 11 starts last season. Nicasio looked solid in his first start as well. Jeff Francis and Jon Garland even got into the act, both picking up wins over the Padres as well.

If the Rockies can actually get some pitching throughout the entire, it could change the entire outlook in the NL West. Granted, it's only week, but it's certainly an encouraging sign.

The Yankees hit just .242 with 24 runs scored. While that's not even close to the bottom in the American League, it was clear that the offense lacked the explosiveness seen in recent years.

Kevin Youkilis and Eduardo Nunez, replacing Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter respectively, both got off to hot starts. But Robinson Cano hit just .130 and Ichiro Suzuki just .111 in opening week play.

Chris Davis is now playing first base full-time for the Baltimore Orioles. He's also now in the record books as well.

Davis' grand-slam home run on Friday against the Minnesota Twins gave him an eye-popping four home runs and 16 RBI in the first four games. He tied an MLB record by homering in each of the first four games, joining Willie Mays, Mark McGwire and Nelson Cruz.

In being dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks during the offseason, reliever Heath Bell could wipe away the memories of an awful 2012 season with the Miami Marlins.

Bell did pick up a save against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, but not without allowing a run on three hits and the tying run on third base before he finally an end to things.

Bell posted a 15.43 in three appearances, wrapping one decent outing on Saturday against Milwaukee around two stinkers.

After two miserable seasons with the Boston Red Sox, two things that Carl Crawford wanted to avoid was a cold start or to not even start the season at all for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Crawford did in fact stay off the disabled list to start the season, his elbow sufficiently healed from his reconstructive surgery last August.

And he made his Dodgers debut in grand style, hitting .450 with two stolen bases. Hitting at the top of the order, Crawford looks relaxed and comfortable. Not since his days with the Tampa Bay Rays has that been seen, and the Dodgers are hoping to see a lot more of that look throughout the season.

Minnesota Twins center field prospect was attempting to make the jump from Double-A ball to the majors this spring. He hit .370 with four home runs and 18 RBI, beating out Darin Mastroianni for the job and earning the right to start.

Hicks was just 2-for-26 (.077) in the season's first six games, striking out 11 times. Manager Ron Gardenhire will likely Hicks some time, but if that cold start extends into late April, he could be back in the minors working out his issues.

After signing a six-year, $147 million contract, there were high hopes for Zack Greinke as he embarked on his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Those hopes were momentarily dashed when Greinke suffered through elbow soreness during the spring and finished with a 5.54 ERA in four Cactus League starts.

He was brilliant, scattering two hits over 6.1 innings while striking out six and not walking a batter. Combined with Clayton Kershaw at the top, the Dodgers appear to have a 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation that could be lethal indeed.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have extended their streak of consecutive losing seasons over the past two years by fading in the second half.

The Pirates stumbled to a 1-5 start, and the culprit was what general manager Neal Huntington tried to fix this past offseason—the offense.

In fact, Pittsburgh bats were downright offensive in the first week. They combined to hit just .119 for the week, scoring just eight runs in six games.

Much of the focus on the Los Angeles Dodgers this offseason was the money spent by ownership, especially for starters Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu.

The relief corps has posted a 0.00 ERA. In fact, it hadn't even given up a hit until Ronald Belisario finally allowed a single to Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jose Tabata in the seventh inning on Sunday.

The Chicago White Sox were looking forward to third baseman Jeff Keppinger making an impact at the top of their lineup.

Keppinger's first week in Chicago couldn't have gone much worse. He finished on Sunday with a .048 average (1-for-21).

The White Sox wanted a solid on-base guy to follow Alejandro De Aza at the top of the order. Keppinger has been off-base thus far.

The Mets starting rotation posted a stellar 1.98 ERA in the first two games, led by a completely dominating performance from Matt Harvey on Wednesday. Harvey allowed just one hit with 10 strikeouts in seven innings in a masterful performance against the San Diego Padres.

Dan Haren had to endure concerns about his hip and back through much of the offseason. A proposed deal with the Chicago Cubs was nixed because of health concerns in late October.

Those concerns led to just a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals. After his performance on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds, it's understandable if people question his health once again.

It didn't help that Haren was pitching at Great American Ball Park, clearly a hitter's haven. Haren has been prone to the gopher ball throughout his career as well.

With high expectations for the Nationals, Harper is doing his part thus far to make sure those expectations are met. And he'll gladly play the role of sophomore slump-buster.

Pujols got off to a very slow start for the Los Angeles Angels in his first year with the club last year. No doubt he and Hamilton had some healthy conversations about putting pressure on each other to impress their new mates.

It didn't help. Hamilton put up a 3-for-5 effort against his former team on Sunday night, but he still ended the week with a .160 average and just two RBI with 10 strikeouts.

The Angels would love to do all they can to avoid last year's horrendous 6-14 start. They'll need the bat of Hamilton to help in avoiding that same fate.

Will Middlebrooks was well on his way to an outstanding rookie campaign last year, hitting .288 with 15 home runs and 54 RBI. A wayward pitch last August broke his wrist, putting an end to a solid debut.

Middlebrooks broke out on Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays, hitting three towering home runs. He nearly hit a fourth as well, flying out to the warning track in the eighth inning.

The Houston Astros started the season on a bright note, beating the Texas Rangers on Opening Night last week in front of a national audience.

The Astros have since lost five straight, including a sweep at the hands of the Oakland Athletics. They hit just .199 as a team and a 5.00 team ERA didn't help their cause, either.

Atlanta Braves left fielder Justin Upton teamed with brother B.J. Upton on Saturday to provide fans with a taste of what could come in the next few years.

After B.J. opened the ninth inning with a game-tying home run off Chicago Cubs closer Carlos Marmol, brother Justin stepped to the plate two batters later and hit a walk-off solo home run.

R.A. Dickey's debut with the Toronto Blue Jays didn't go exactly as planned last Tuesday, giving up three earned runs in five hits with four walks in six innings of work in a loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Dickey gave up five consecutive hits to the the first five hitters in the Red Sox lineup, capped by a two-run home run by Will Middlebrooks.

In all, Dickey gave up seven earned runs on 10 hits in 4.2 innings, raising his ERA to 8.44. Not a great start for the new Toronto ace.

Aside from maybe throwing back-to-back no-hitters, the week couldn't have gotten off to a much better start for Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw started the season with a brilliant four-hit shutout against the San Francisco Giants with seven strikeouts and no walks.

He followed up that effort with another outstanding performance, giving up just two hits in seven innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates, striking out another nine batters with one walk.

Marmol gave up tying and winning home runs to B.J. and Justin Upton on Saturday night, prompting the Cubs to announce that Kyuji Fujikawa is the team's new closer.

Doug Mead is a featured columnist with Bleacher Report. His work has been featured on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, SF Gate, CBS Sports, the Los Angeles Times and the Houston Chronicle.

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