Opening Day Part 1.5

Below this is my first take on Opening Day, but now that the LA-SF game is over I thought I'd comment on that. It was of course a pitchers duel with Tim Lincecum matching up against southpaw Clayton Kershaw. Both battled beautifully, aided by the shadows that cascaded from the walls of Dodger Stadium. The game remained 0-0 until some 6th inning mistakes put the Dodgers up by 1, and they never looked back. 

The 6th inning was a weird one, with a lot of miscues from the Giants. Buster Posey made a bizarre throw to Pablo Sandoval, hoping to pick off Kemp who had his back turned (but was already back to the bag by the time of the throw). Sandoval missed the throw, allowing Kemp to easily jaunt into home to score the games first run. Before that, it was a throwing error, by Miguel Tejeda, that allowed Kemp to advance to third. In the end the Dodgers needed one more run to seal things up and get there first win, 2-1, of the 2011 season.

Game Notes
Matt Kemp: Kemp looked like a new man after an incredibly disappointing 2010. He had a single, 3 walks, scored both the Dodgers runs, and had a stolen base. It is still just game one, but that's a pretty good line against Tim Lincecum.


San Francisco Miscues: The Giants looked sporadic on defense tonight. Usually a club that is locked down in the field, you could tell they missed the Uribe/Renteria combo at SS. Brandon Belt and Sandoval made some great picks, but Buster Posey seemed to lead a slew of miscues. There were some location mix ups with Lincecum, and then there was the errant throw to third allowing Kemp to score in the 6th.


Brandon Belt: Belt had a good debut, playing some excellent defense at first, and going 1-3 with a walk. Representing the tying run, with two outs in the 9th, his youth came through; but, he put up a great battle. He sliced at his first pitch (an ugly Broxton slider in the dirt), took a ball, hit a foul, took another ball, fouled a slider, barely fouled one back, fouled, and then popped a 98 MPH heater into the glove of Juan Uribe.

Don Mattingly: Everybody had their eyes on how he'd do as a manager, and tonight he got his first win. Congratulations to Donnie Baseball!

Clayton Kershaw: Tonight Kershaw began his march to the Cy Young. He pitched 7 solid innings (96 pitches), putting up a doughnut, with 4 hits, 1 walk, and 9 Ks.