A whole lot of season left.

The first week of baseball is in the books. For most teams, somewhere between 7 and 9 games have been played and everyone still believes they have a shot. After all, who could really tell anything about a team this early in the season? Players get hot (and cold) and it just might take a little while for a team to gel (or fall apart). Here are some thoughts I have had during the first week of the season.

-The Cubs: They go on a 3-3 road trip which is not shabby and recieve excellent pitching from Lilly, Marquis, Hill, and Zambrano (his second time around). Wade Miller almost had me wishing for Mark Prior and the bullpen has been anywhere from lights out to crap. So far, they are 0-2 at Wrigley Field and that stat needs to change now. Given, that 0-2 is against the Astros, a team that has forever and all time given the Cubs a hard time. I don't know if they can make a run or not ( I hope so) but I am jumping on the Ted Lilly for NL Cy Young winner band wagon (even if it is a small wagon).

-The Mets: Will anyone be able to stop these guys? Although they are not currently sitting a top the NL East, they seem to have the most powerful offense by far. Between Jose Reyes constantly getting on base and being a speed threat (he was on base seven times in their last game against the Braves) and the big bats of David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Moises Alou, and Carlos Beltran, is there a better line up in the NL? They beat the Cardinals 20-2 over three games. So not only did the bats come out but the pitching seems like it should be able to hold up enough to win.

-Young Pitchers: Although they are probably not going to win the Cy Young Award this year, I find almost no greater pleasure in baseball than watching a young pitcher dominate. It might be only for one game or it could be for a stretch. Hell, they could go on to win 15+ games. Whichever it is, I really like to watch them. A few guys have really caught my eye. Here are their stats after a few games.

Felix Hernandez (Seattle Mariners) RHP- ERA: 0.00, SO:12, W-L:1-0, 2006 SO:176. Not to shabby for a 21 year old.
Rich Hill (Chicago Cubs) LHP- ERA:1.29, SO:6, W-L:1-0. He went 7 innings in his season debut and gave up only one hit.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (Boston Red Sox) RHP- ERA: 1.29, SO:10, W-L:1-0. I know there is a lot of hype around this guy, but if his stuff is half as good as people have said it is, he will be a damn fine pitcher. I can't tell you how much I want to see a gyroball.

-Interesting Fact: Did you know that Jason Schmidt has as many home runs as Ryan Howard? Did you know that Barry Bonds has as many stolen bases as Carl Crawford? The start of the season is so crazy.

Wrap Up:
-Off to a 4-4 start in the less than amazing NL Central, the Pirates will probably not stay at the top of race.
-Cincinattie might be able to.
-Barry Bonds will break the all time HR record. I will die a little inside.
-A.J. Pierzynski wins a game by getting hit by a pitch. He is one of the biggest jerks in baseball...that does everything to help his club win. Can't really argue with that.
-I know that snow has wrecked havoc on some baseball games. After all, it should not be snowing in April. But, this does not mean that global warming is not happening!