It takes a lot to knock some of the joy out of MLB’s opening week.  Nick Adenhart’s tragic death certainly did just that. 

That it should come mere hours after he had pitched brilliantly for the Angels showed what a loss to the sport he will be.  While his death reminded us all that baseball is just a game, the circumstances also reminded us just what this game means to the lives of so many people.  You could see from the footage of what turned out to be his final start that Adenhart loved being out there on the mound, finally making a mark in the Majors.  The Angels took a day off and then got back out there on the field, honouring their teammate by playing the game he loved. 

The fantasy season begins

The first week of real MLB action also means the first week of fantasy baseball action for many fans, including the 1800+ who have already signed up to the FantasyBaseballUK competition.  My teams in FBUK and our own BaseballGB Head-to-Head league have had a decent opening week, but Wednesday night provided my first dose of fantasy baseball despair in 2009. 

I had three starters scheduled to pitch that night.  Two of the three, Zack Greinke and Randy Johnson, were pitching in late games; however my slight annoyance that I couldn’t watch their debuts for the Cheddar Chasers was tempered by the promising performances I woke up to (one win and fourteen strikeouts from the pair) and the knowledge that missing a start is better than watching one slowly dissolve into a nightmare.

The first member of the Cheddar Chasers’ pitching staff to take the mound that night was Javier Vazquez.  Braves fans will know exactly how this story ends. 

I had settled down in front of MLB.tv with a scorecard for the Braves’ game against the Phillies and was quite pleased at how things had gone when Vazquez finished his six innings of work.  It was far from his best outing, and at one stage I was worried he might not pitch the five complete innings needed for a starter to get credited with a win, but he left the game with a seemingly comfortable 9-3 lead.  When the Braves plated another run in the top of the seventh to make it 10-3, the first ‘W’ of my BGB fantasy season looked a certainty.

By the end of the next half-inning, the Phillies were leading 11-10.  And the Braves’ bullpen didn’t just give up eight runs in the seventh inning, they did it in as cruel a fashion as possible.

Especially for someone writing down every play on his scorecard.

It started with one run to make the score 9-4 on a bases-loaded single.  No great problem, I thought.  Then one more run followed on another single and I started getting twitchy.  The twitches turned to full-on object throwing (accompanied by cries of ‘can’t any of you even throw a strike?’ – expletives deleted) as three consecutive bases-loaded walks reduced the Braves’ lead to a single run. 

That lead, and my ‘W’, was soon erased by the next batter (Shane Victorino) hitting a single to bring home another run.  The fourth bases-loaded walk of the inning that put the Phillies in the lead sealed the Braves’ misery but by then I was already a depressed wreck. 

I virtually always complete a scorecard once I’ve started filling one in; however this particular scorecard will remain unfinished, stuck at the end of the seventh inning like a clock stopped at the time of an earthquake.

Fantasy baseball should come with a health warning.

Pitchers: the good and the not so good

Javier Vazquez wasn’t the only pitcher down on his luck this week.  The reigning Cy Young winners got off to a bad start, with Cliff Lee being punted around in his two outings and Tim Lincecum lasting just three innings in his game against the Brewers.  CC Sabathia had a fairly average debut for the Yankees (4.1 IP, 6 ER, 0 SOs), although his 7.2 shutout innings pitched against the Royals last night will ease the worries of any impatient Yankee fans. 

Carl Pavano would have been hoping to win over the fans in Cleveland after leaving New York under a cloud.  Giving up nine runs in your first inning isn’t the best way to make friends however.  The lack of good will towards Pavano contrasts strongly with St Louis’s feelings towards Chris Carpenter.  His outstanding performance against the Pirates (giving up one run and one hit over seven innings) after two injury-riddled seasons was widely cheered even among those without any allegiance to the Cardinals.

The first week at MLB.com

The good and bad performances from the week could all be watched on the new Flash-based MLB.tv media player that has been launched to mixed reviews.  While some have been furious at picture problems, others have been basking in the glory of HD quality footage.  My experiences have been somewhere in between.  I haven’t been able to enjoy the full HD picture yet without a lot of buffering, but I’ve watched sections of many games over the course of the week with few problems after turning the picture quality down a touch. 

My one major complaint so far has been the lack of Condensed Games.  These are a real favourite of non-US based fans who want to follow their chosen team but can’t watch all the games live or in full via the archives.  They were promised to us as part of the subscription package, so hopefully they will be available very soon.

Meanwhile, I got a surprise when I opened Gameday earlier in the week and saw a panel announcing a new Gameday Premium service.  Gameday currently includes a host of new features that allow you to analyse the tendencies of batters and pitchers.  It’s a little sketchy at the moment because there isn’t a lot of data to go on (some batters “love to face” and “hate to face” the same type of pitch, for example), but it looks like a fascinating addition to the service. 

These bells and whistles will come at a price from 20 April: $19.95 to be exact (£13.61).  Still, the promise of “in-line streaming of Gameday audio feeds” would make it an attractive audio and visual alternative to MLB.tv.  Baseball fans that paid $14.95 just for Gameday Audio will be hoping that they can simply pay $5 to upgrade, although there is no word on this as yet.