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.

Batter and Pitcher of the Week

With Zane Smith missing in action, we've been charged with awarding the weekly prizes. Since the Olympics have just ended we'll do this in an Olympic fashion...

Batter of the Week

Bronze Medal - Akinori Iwamura, Tampa Bay - The Plunkers have been red hot this week, winning nine in a row before dropping two yesterday. Iwamura has been just as hot over that stretch. He was tied for second in the league with 10 RBIs over the past week and batted .385/.500/.692 with 7 runs scored.

Silver Medal - Troy Tulowitzki, Carolina - Carolina had given Tulo up for dead after he couldn't cross the Mendoza line for much of the season. After the roster purges just before the deadline, he got another chance to get some at-bats and has been much better. This week, Tulo batted .391/.423/.870 with 3 homers and 7 RBIs and brought his average up over the .200 mark to .205.

Gold Medal - Magglio Ordonez, Philadelphia - Magglio has made a strong case as MVP of the Endzone Animals, leading the team in RBIs, runs, average, OBP, slugging, and doubles. This week was no exception as he hit .500/.541/.781 to claim the JR Cigars Smokin' Batter of the Week prize. We'll be sending a box of Flor de Baloneys to the dugout in time for tonight's game!

Pitcher of the Week

Bronze Medal - Francisco Rodriguez, Blue Ridge - K-Rod has been money since coming over to the Bombers (1.19 ERA, 32 K in 22.2 IP, 0.93 WHIP). This week, he was exceptional, striking out 11 in 8 innings of work in 7 games (he's gotta be tired). All that and he even got a W for his efforts.

Silver Medal - Mariano Rivera, Marietta - The Master still has a small edge over K-Rod. Rivera saved 2 games this week in 6 games (7 IP), striking out 7 with an 0.57 WHIP.

Gold Medal - C.C. Sabathia, Hillsborough - the pitching has been a big reason why Hillsborough has been winning lately (9 in a row as of Sunday!) and there's no bigger pitcher on the staff than C.C. Hmmm I think that may have come out wrong... Anyway, Sabathia was 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA this week, including 15 K in 15 innings and an 0.93 WHIP. He gets to enjoy this week's Baracky II Pitcher of the Week Award!

Burnett no-hits Sugar Bears

You read that right. The mighty Sugar Bears offense, which set all sorts of crazy records last year, were no-hit by Las Vegas' A.J. Burnett. Burnett gave up his first baserunner of the game right in the first inning, walking Jack Cust with two outs, but quickly retired the next four batters. In the third, Jarrod Saltalamacchia drew a leadoff walk but was left stranded at third base - and that's as close as the Sugar Bears got to scoring. Burnett would go on to strike out 11 Sugar Bears. It was the first no-hitter in the DMBL since July of 2004 when Curt Schilling combined with three Falcon relievers to no-hit the Westwood Deductions and the first solo no-hitter since John Lackey of Phoenix shut down the Hillsborough Destroyers in 2003. Carlos Pena provided the offense for the Rats, going 3-3 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Newark now stands at 19-0 at home, but a paltry 6-12 on the road.

Vancouver's Ben Sheets won his first game of the year by shutting down the Blue Ridge Bombers. Sheets held them to one run on five hits in eight innings, while striking out 10.

Hillsborough rallied from a 4-1 deficit to upend the Endzone Animals. The Hitmen scored a couple of runs in the seventh to come within one then tied the game in the next inning with a Carlos Lee single that scored Mike Cameron. Howie Kendrick then tripled in the next at bat, scoring Lee. Russell Martin brought Kendrick home with a sharp single over Aaron Hill's head. Takashi Saito pitched a perfect ninth for his 8th save.

Roy Halladay won his 99th career DMBL game with a solid eight inning outing yesterday against the Falcons. Chuck James held the Mudcats to only 2 hits, but an Orlando Cabrera error led to 2 unearned runs and saddled James with a no-decision. The Mudcats took the lead when Troy Tulowitzki laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt in the eighth that scored Johnny Estrada. Tulo had three RBIs on the night.

Early Spring Surprises (and Disappointments)

Blue Ridge's Shawn Green is off to a hot start, batting .375 in 32 at bats with 7 RBIs. Green really has no chance at a starting job with the Bombers - they already have Guerrero, Rios, and Byrnes occupying starting roles, but he just might find a role on the bench or in a platoon role. Speaking of Guerrero, the slugger is still trying to find his groove. Vlad is batting a mere .163 with a .471 OPS in 49 at bats. Maybe Green has a shot afterall...no not really.

Carolina's Troy Tulowitzki spent all of last season on the Cats' farm team in hopes that he'd be better prepared this season. So far Tulo has been struggling at the plate (.195 average, .261 OBP), but there are some signs of hope - he has two homers and a triple. The entire Mudcats team has struggled offensively (.651 team OPS), so it might be more of a teamwide problem than an individual one.

Hoboken has to be happy with second-bagger Kelly Johnson. So far Johnson has raked to the tune of a .357 average and a 1.113 OPS. Johnson's main competition is Cutter pet project Ian Kinsler, who is also having a great spring (.417, 1.000 OPS). So far, manager Wally Backman has the two youngsters platooning, but he might finding a way to squeeze the two of them into the lineup at the same time.

More tomorrow...