Sunny Day

Season: 2-2; Home Stand: 2-2
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun

A lot to like in Sunday’s game, but let me just pick out a few items.

Wilson Betemit. I have to admit that I was worried about having a 32-year old veteran with so much big league experience on the team (over 8 years with eight different clubs). He was out with an injury essentially all of last year while on the Baltimore roster. But so far, so good. The switch-hitter has started all four games (3-DH, 1-1B) and has brought a real power threat to the plate: 2 HR, 4 RBI, while drawing 5 BBs for an OPS of 1.221. Yesterday he opened the action with a 2-run homer that established a lead that held for the rest of the game. He is not on the Rays 40-man, so we can expect to see him around much of the year.

Vince Belnome, last year’s star, had been quiet since his scramble down and back from St. Petersburg. Until yesterday. 2 for 4 and a RBI. Things looking up for him.

I’m worried about Ray Olmedo, but probably not as much as he is. 8 Ks out of 11 AB is simply not like him at all. Surely he will come around, but I’m worried.

Not so much with Mike Montgomery if he keeps this up. We were fairly critical of Montgomery’s year last season, but, according to the Herald-Sun, he’s got a new pitch he’s comfortable with. He certainly did just fine yesterday.

Outside the game —

• Given what's going on outside right now, time to point out the “Coping With Rain” link over on the sidebar. I’ve done a modest update. That post describes my personal strategy for dealing with a rainy day and has a nifty video about a rainy day a couple of years ago. My strategy doesn’t always work. But worth thinking about today.

Matchup

The Charlotte Knights, a White Sox affiliate, started their season over in Norfolk. They are doing well. They have four games at the DBAP before they finally have a home opener in their shiny new downtown stadium.

These numbers won’t be particularly useful this early in the year, but I needed to remember how to chase them down. So here they are.