The Javelina hit .254 as a team week 1, but even that is misleading considering they hit in the .220's for most of the week before hitting .330 on Sunday. First round picks Ryan Zimmerman and Brian Roberts struggled into Friday's games before sitting out the weekend with injuries. Adam LaRoche opened the season 0-13 before driving in five runs over the weekend, Stephen Drew was largely unproductive after an impressive opening day performance, and Geovany Soto managed but one hit.
All that said, there were some positives to be taken from a fairly lackluster season-opening performance. First, the pitching was extremely solid. Jered Weaver established himself as the team ace with two very strong starts, A.J. Burnett threw six solid innings Sunday, and the bullpen allowed a mere two runs and fanned 21 over 19.1 brilliant relief innings.
From a statistical standpoint, the Javelina stole eight bases (T-2), won four games (T-3), fanned 59 (1st), and recorded 7 holds (1st). They finished at or near the middle of the pack in most other categories. One would have to believe this team is capable of making a playoff push if the pitching remains intact and the hitting meets expectations.
Hits and misses....
3B Ryan Zimmerman is expected to miss up to two more games with a tight hamstring....2B Brian Roberts was placed on the 15-day DL retroactive to Friday with a strained abdominal muscle....the team released SP Vicente Padilla following his opening day shellacking...Kyle Blanks fanned eight times....Hideki Matsui is hitting .389 with 2HR following the first week of play....Josh Willingham blasted a grand slam off of Johan Santana yesterday.
