Opening Day is twice as nice!

The 2010 season kicked off yesterday with a doubleheader for most teams. Let's take a look at some of the highlights...

Carolina and Sardine City faced off in an odd home and home series, with the Cats crushing the Straphangers in both locales. Troy Tulowitzki started the season off perfectly with a 3-3 line in the first game, leading the Mudcats to an 11-3 shellacking of Josh Johnson and the Sardines. Then Tulo hit his first homer - a 3 run shot - in the second game and Prince Fielder also hit a homer and drove in 4 runs to lead the team to 10-3 victory in game 2 in mysterious Sardine City. "We lost one run in the second game" said Cats skipper Mark Carreon. "That king of dropoff is unacceptable."

Hillsborough and Philadelphia battled it out in both games, taking it to overtime in both matches. Game one started out as a pitchers duel between Felix Hernandez and Roy Halladay. The Hitmen took a 3-1 lead after 6, but the Endzone Animals racked up 5 runs in the 7th and 8th to take the lead 6-3. The Hitmen rallied to tie the game up in the 9th, tying it up on a Tony Gwynn double. The Hitmen continued their offensive surge into the 10th, scoring another 2 runs to take the lead. George Sherrill finished the bottom half of the inning to earn a save. The Hitmen were still reeling off runs when Game 2 began, scoring 3 runs right off the bat in the first inning. But in the 6th, the Animals tied up the game on a Mark Teixeira home run. It took until the 10th inning for the Hitmen to answer, but Shin-Soo Choo smacked a solo homer to reclaim the lead and Sherrill sent down the side in order again in the bottom of the 10th.

It looked pretty unusual to see Newark with a losing record, but thanks to Tim Lincecum and the Rat Pack, the Sugar Bears start the season at 0-1. Lincecum struck out 9 in 6.1 innings of work, holding the Sugar Bears to 2 runs on 3 hits and 4 walks and earning the W.

The defending champion Mighty Men are also off to a good start, defeating the Buddahs by 9-1 and 7-1 margins. Joel Pineiro pitched a complete game in the first game, holding New Jersey to 4 hits and Derek Jeter was 4-4 with 3 RBIs in Game 2, as John Danks struck out 9 in 7 innings of work.

What a game between Bridgewater and Vancouver in their game 2... After taking care of the Mallers 4-2 in game 1, the Fist were anxious to keep the momentum rolling. Both offenses showed up for the contest, however, as the lead changed several times before Vancouver unleashed a 5-run eruption in the bottom of the fifth to take an 11-6 lead. But the Mallers kept coming back and tied the game up in the 7th on a Ryan Zimmerman double. Both bullpens blanked their oppositions for the next 5 innings until the 13th when Bobby Abreu broke the tie with a single to right field. The Mallers tacked on another run to make it 13-11. Huston Street was perfect in the bottom frame, preserving the victory - their first in Bridgewater.

Gang trades Carpenter

In case you missed it last night, the South Boston Gang traded star pitcher Chris Carpenter to Vancouver for Prince Fielder. South Boston had been in negotiations with Marietta as well, but decided to fill the gaping hole at first base instead. The Gang, who had tried out Ty Wigginton and Dan Johnson at first base the past two years, needed a fixture at the position vacated when the club did not protect Mike Sweeney a few years back. Fielder who was drafted twice by Vancouver and is finally playing in his first year in the DMBL lost his starting job to fellow rookie Conor Jackson. "Although we think Prince will be a tremendous player in the future, we felt like we needed to go for it all" said Vancouver owner Yaro Zajac. South Boston has announced that more changes are possible. The Gang has a lot of depth at the middle infield positions and could deal some of those players. Meanwhile, Vancouver has sent Jake Peavy off to AAA Tacoma to work out his kinks and to make room for Carpenter. Carpenter will start tonight's game against - who else? - South Boston.

The Golden Falcons broke their losing streak yesterday by edging Carolina 7-6. The Falcons won despite only 7 hits thanks to 8 walks issued by the Cats' pitching staff and a 5-run eighth inning...oh, and no Brad Lidge in the game.

Sardine City won a close pitchers' duel last night in Marietta. Rookie phenom Francisco Liriano took his first loss off the year despite only allowing 2 runs in 8 innings. Chris Capuano pitched a gem for the Straphangers - 6 IP, 4 H, 8 K, 0 runs - and the bullpen shut the door on the Mighty Men.

Newark's Randy Johnson closed in on two giant milestones last night. Johnson pitched six innings allowing only three hits and an unearned run. With the win, he now has 6 wins on the season and 192 in his career. With Newark's powerhouse offense behind him, Johnson should hit the 200-mark some time over the summer. His two strikeouts also move him closer to 3000 for his career. Johnson is now only 52 Ks away from the mark. It's possible that the Unit will hit both milestones in the same start, so stay tuned...