Some West Coast Teams Are Living Up to Expectations
The Colorado Rockies started their 2008 season off on a good note. They won their first game by 1 run in St. Louis on Tuesday. Why Tuesday? On Monday, it rained in St. Louis, which prevented the game from being played.
The biggest reason why the league almost always puts an off day after the first game is for unplanned circumstances like that. Sometimes it rains or snows on the season opener and that one day off come in handy because most teams don’t have another one for two or three weeks.
Well the Rockies will take the win anyway they can get it but is surely wasn’t easy.
In the world of baseball, with teams playing every day, each off day becomes vital and teams have to use it to their advantage.
Each day is important and the Rockies know a thing or two about using their available time to maximize production.
One thing about the Rockies is that they may be young but they are not naïve. Many of the young players are as talented as big-named veterans.
Prior to the mad push by the Rockies late last year, the Rockies fans in Denver, CO didn’t care about their team as much as many other franchises did. How quickly do things change when you do the near impossible? Fast.
Now many people actually know what their team is all about. Dozens of fans followed their team to St. Louis with their Colorado Rockies merchandise on. Now the love of baseball in Colorado is starting to grow stronger.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are starting their season off on a good note, winning two of their first three games on the road in Cincinnati. They won Monday 4 to 2.
That’s good for Arizona because everyone knows that teams need to win at least one game every time they visit a city.
Arizona is not expected to be a big threat in baseball but they do have an ace of Brandon Webb on the mound, who pitches about every five days for the D Backs. Arizona fans loved to see Webb pitching because they know he is the only reliable starter they have. Now, others may step up and help carry the load but only time will tell.
Teams have to take advantage of their schedule, whether they are playing several weak teams in a row or several powerhouses. They have to take the good with the bad. Most importantly, there are almost always times in baseball games when one team had a chance to do something about a jam they were in but they didn’t.
The Diamondbacks don’t come to mind when analysts predict who will win the most games. D Backs fans know they don’t get that much attention but they are determined to help their team return to the playoffs by wearing their Arizona Diamondbacks merchandise to the home games.
The San Diego Padres are off to a decent start, winning about half of their games.
The Padres baseball team is one of three southern California teams to play. The Padres are in a division with a few teams that could make it to the playoffs.
The Padres also could make some noise as the season progresses.
Normally when a team misses the playoffs like they did last year, that causes them to try harder.
However, that doesn’t mean they will actually produce.
The Padres have a squad that could cause matchup problem on any given day. They have players who can hit the long ball. They have quality starting pitching. They have timely hitting.
Even though they are not a premier franchise, they have everything that a team needs to be successful in this league. Success, however, is not granted by the stars on the team. It is based on the wins and losses.
Sometimes they struggle to make runs but they still win. Sometimes they don’t play good defense but they win because they bring enough men home.
The Padres are not a historical franchise but their fans still attend the games wearing San Diego Padres merchandise, as if they were lifetime fans.
The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated their 50th anniversary by hosting the Red Sox at their old stadium. Holding about 115,000 it is arguably the largest stadium in the US.
One reason why the Dodgers don’t play their home games there is because it is almost impossible to get that many people to come to a game. It really has to be a heated rivalry with something big on the line.
Even though the Dodgers lost, everyone still felt the historical significance of their anniversary.
The Dodgers started their first regular season game with Joe Torry as manager. So far, they are undefeated. How long will that last? No one is sure and some are doubtful about the Dodgers chances of making the playoffs because there are several good teams in their division.
Since Torry is manager, there is no question about if they make the playoffs, it’s a matter of how far can they go. Everyone knows that Torry hasn’t won a World Series in about eight years and his main goal is winning it all in October.
Some Dodgers fans think by having Torry’s presence will win games. Dodger fans have embraced Torry, as many have bought Torry jerseys as part of their Los Angeles Dodgers merchandise.
What will the San Francisco Giants do since home-run king Barry Bonds is no longer in their presence?
Honestly, most think they will do the same thing as they did last year. They didn’t make the playoffs and that wasn’t a surprise as they struggled to win games against mediocre teams.
Well, the Giants didn’t get swept in their first series as might have been predicted by some naysayers.
They lost their first two games in embarrassing fashion to their cross state rival but rebounded in the third game, winning by 1 pt.
I bet the Giants are glad that an embarrassing loss only counts for 1 game. The final game was a nail biter, with the Giants coming from behind and winning.
The Giants need to regroup after a slow start from their Bondless crew. They can’t afford to get themselves in a big whole like they did last year and had to start digging their way out of it.
Well with Barry gone, there is little reason for Giants fans to come to games. The faithful fans will continue to wear their San Francisco Giants merchandise. Some might not come back because Bonds was getting all the attention as he was on the verge of setting the record. One thing that most people can agree on is that the Giants don’t have to deal with the burden of having an accused steroid player on their team, which was starting to damage their franchise.
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