Opening day notes

Well the big day finally came and the results of all that hard work is coming to fruition.

The Newark Sugar Bears came roaring out of the gates, destroying newcomer Sardine City 15-3 and 18-7 in their doubleheader. The Sugar Bears have scored more in their two games than the rest of the Hanover Division combined! The first game saw fan favorite and longtime Sugar Bear Randy Johnson start as a "treat" for the hometown faithful. Johnson pitched adequately, but the pressure wasn't really on when Manny Ramirez drove in 6 runs. Chien-Ming Wang, who started game two, deferred his start in game one. Management feels that Wang is their true #1 starter, but gave the start to Johnson because of his iconic status with the fans. Wang didn't have a good start in game two but was rescued by an outpouring of offense and shutdown performance by the Sugar Bear pen.

Meanwhile the other newcomer, Team Buddah, didn't fare much better, though they had some luck in their schedule - the Buddahs only played one game on Sunday. Team Buddah dropped their opener to the Rat Pack, despite rallying to tie the game twice in the latter innings. In the end, Mark Teixeira came through with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to win it for the Pack.

Marietta's Francisco Liriano continued his spring training excellence by striking out 8 in five and 1/3 innings against Hoboken.

Who had the most dominant start yesterday? Take your pick between Philly's Johan Santana and Arkansas Pedro Martinez. Santana mowed down the South Boston lineup, striking out 12 in 7 innings and surrendering only two runs. Meanwhile, the defending McDonald Award winner shut down the Bushslappers by allowing only one run in eight innings and striking out eight. Martinez outdueled rookie Anibal Sanchez, who pitched a complete game.

Lots of transactions to pour through over the weekend as final roster cuts were due. Las Vegas gave up on Gary Sheffield, despite protecting him, but the Rat Pack were already over their five man limit on inelligible players and Sheffield was the oldest of the group. Hillsborough broke up their Cordero Connection by releasing Francisco. Arkansas claimed second baseman Brandon Phillips from Carolina.

Finally the first injury of the season was to Marietta's Bengie Molina. Molina, who is in his sixth DMBL season, was visibly shaken after his first at-bat, a fly-out to center field. Jorge Posada is expected to take the bulk of the catching duties, and Molina may be placed on the DL.