M's 3 ...
=== Brett Anderson ===
Right now, Anderson doesn't look a whole lot different to me, from a young C.C. Sabathia. Dallas "Better Changeup" Braden followed his 10K detonation of the M's with a quality start and win in game 2. Justin Duchscherer is a quality pitcher. They've got Harden, er, Sheets. And Gio Gonzalez wiped out the Angels from the 5 slot: 6 6 2 2 1 6. Right now, the evidence is coming in on the side of Bill James' fears about this being the year for the Angels' pitchers.
Anyway, a very tough, high-K lefthander in Safeco ... SSI thought that the Mariners put an excellent night's worth of at-bats on him. After 7 innings, the M's had left 9 men on base, and were pretty unlucky not to have a decent lead for Fister.
Very possibly, the first week was just over-pressing, and as the season gets into its rhythm, the lineup will get into its game. Tuesday, despite the scoreless innings, it was.
.
=== Milton Bradley ===
Having "watched" him from the same city for a month or so...
(1) Don't believe that he's been misunderstood, especially. Just a real tough guy to get along with, is my take. Dr. D is not going to be a big fan on a personal level.
(2) Was worried, after the .300+ SLG all of last year in Wrigley, that maybe he'd aged past his power. Not very worried now. He takes vicious cuts, should have three home runs in 9 games (54/year prorated), and the homer Tuesday was Branyanesque. Verrrrrry high, well back into the seats ... and it was off a pitcher's pitch.
His lefty fly balls are going to hit the Safeco seats. 30 to 35 homers, pro-rated, seems likely to me. If you're playing roto, go get Milton Bradley right now.
(3) The superb franchise support system should logically make the difference. Had Milton experienced this slow start elsewhere, it might (in Chi, actually did) snowball. Not in Seattle. He's going to be able to ride it out until the hits start falling in.
That may have been Tuesday.
...........
Bottom line: MB will probably have a big year in 2010. Despite the .090 AVG, I love the way he looks at the plate.
.
=== Ichiro ===
His tendency towards bad Aprils is now a well-established fact. He OPS+'s only 82 for his career in April.
No idea why; he doesn't come from a hot climate. Japan's climate is very similar to Seattle's.
When Michael Jordan returned to basketball, it took him a good 2-3 months to find his groove again. He explained this as, it took him that long before he could see the seams in the defense and play his game.
Ichiro's game may occur on such a high level that it takes him a while before he starts seeing things in his own dimension...
Good news is, May is as good for Ichiro as April is bad. Let's hope that the M's get to May within striking distance, because once they're hitting on all cylinders...
.
Cheers,
Dr D