Mack and Company on Opening Day

Mack and Company on Opening Day

Mack:  - Okay… one down. Thoughts on Johan, Sandy's pen, etc.?

Brian Joura  - It was a four-hit shutout, so obviously the pitching was great.  The thing that impressed me the most was Frank Francisco in the ninth inning getting three LHB out with ease.  Last year lefties had a .292/.361/.458 line against Francisco and this year in Spring Training they batted .355 against him.  That it came against the Braves made it even sweeter.

Christopher Soto - KKKKKantana looked good today. As should’ve been expected he started tiring in the 5th but pulled through to end the inning. Murphy continues where he left off last year, and Wright with a timely RBI hit so I'm happy.  Bay continues to suck. I'm slightly concerned about Torres on whether or not he was rushed back to the line-up too quickly. In any case now what? Run with Hairston for 2 weeks (or more) or bring up Cap'n Kirk


David Rubin - My dad always said "you play one game at a time, you win one game at a time, it's a long season but every game counts for something." He's right- today counted- it was the first game of a new season. It counted- we won. It counted- Johan came back and pitched beautifully. It counted- the bullpen closed a game for us for a change. It counted- the 42,000+ at Citi Field can surely attest to it. It counted- those of us who saw it on tv or listened to the game felt that surge of adrenaline that only Opening Day can provide. It counted...but only until the next game...and let's win THAT one, too!!!


Stephen Guilbert - There was a lot to be positive about today's win. Johan looked great, the bullpen was lights out, and Wright came through with a clutch hit. Most importantly, we beat a good team and started the year off with a win. The Torres injury hurts because it leaves the team without a lead-off hitter and forces either a youngster whose bat is not major league ready (den Dekker), another young center fielder coming off of an injury who has never played in the bigs (Nieuwenhuis) or a replacement player without the defensive skills or bat for every day duties (Baxter, Hairston) to man a pivotal defensive position on the field. Why hasn't Juan Lagares gotten more consideration for this role? Even if he can't handle center (which I think he could), you could start him in left and move Bay to center (yea, I know, that outfield defense is scary) and he has the best and most major league-ready bat out of our minor leaguers (if Captain Kirk is not ready, that is). It's worth consideration. I loved what I saw out of Murphy, Wright, Byrdak, Johan, Rauch, Ramirez, Francisco, Thole today. I think Terry managed his relievers well and the ceremony for Gary Carter was touching. We will need to see better efforts out of the middle of our lineup (Davis, Bay, Duda all looked lost up there today) and I am interested to see who mans center on Saturday and who will lead off. Given his on-base ability and decent speed, my vote goes to Ruben Tejada for the lead-off spot. Clueless about who will play center until Torres comes back. 

Craig Brown - It was great to see him out there...but I can't help but think about what we might get for him at the trade deadline if he keeps pitching well.

Conrad Youngren  - Yeah, Johan showed us what he's made of (shame on us if we forgot), the BP & the Double-D-Boys showed us what ST means, David was clutch-boy instead of whiff-boy, etc.   But you know, after 30 seconds reflection on that game (maybe not even 30 sec) the thing that stuck me was maybe we really have a catcher.  In every aspect, Josh Thole really had a great game. Does the Capt. Kirk era begin this weekend?

Michael Freire -  It was nice to see Johan on the mound again, regardless of the result.   The cherry on top of the sundae was Johan pitching like the Johan of old, for the most part.   Granted, he was limited to 84 pitches, but I would rather have a part time Johan, over no Johan.     The offense was pretty anemic, outside of David's RBI single, so that is still to be determined.    I am a bit worried about CF in the long run, since Torres looks fragile.    Bullpen was great!    Let's hope it all continues on Saturday!