Baseball-Week 1

After the first week, several things are clear; Mariano Rivera is not the Mariano Rivera of old, John Smoltz should return to the bullpen and the Phillies relievers leave alot to be desired.

First on Rivera; two blown saves in two days with one leading to a loss. The other would have been a loss if Jeter didn't bail him out with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the inning. The Yankee fans are apoplectic and the Mets fans are piling on. Hey Met fans, Rivera has as many saves as you have wins...zero.

Smoltz got shelled in his first outing and looked worn. Why Bobby Cox took him from the pen is anyone's guess.

As for my Phillies, Worrell, Cormier and Madsen are supposed to hold the line til we get to Billy Wagner and have yet to do so. The Phils have led late in every game and the pen chokes it away. One bright spot is that Pat Burrelll is on a tear; let's hope he can sustain it.

One last baseball note; my 9 & 10 year-olds won the opener today 5-1 and we had some good pitching. A 5-1 game with teams who've not seen live pitching is pretty good in week #1.