Spikes Up hopes you all enjoyed the first week of action and that your teams fared well. We don’t really want to talk about our own team at this point. Let’s just say that our formerly potent offense could use a dose of Cialis™.

A First for the Fish: When Dontrelle Willis started on Opening Day for the Marlins, he became the first lefty to do so in the history of the franchise. It’s a fascinating list, those who have taken the ball in first games for Florida: Charlie Hough (twice), John Burkett, Kevin Brown (twice), Livan Hernandez, Alex Fernandez (twice), Ryan Dempster (twice) and Josh Beckett (three times).

There are some nice names on the list and now Willis joins that fraternity. He certainly lived up to the honor, tossing five shutout innings and giving up just one hit in getting a no-decision. On the downside, his pitch count was closing in on 110, hence the short outing. Willis will be hard pressed to duplicate the seven complete games he pitched last season if he lets his pitch total get away from him like that.

Twenty Doesn’t Go as Far as It Used To: How hard is it to win 20 games? Well, there were just three starters that turned the trick in the National League last season – Willis, Chris Carpenter and Roy Oswalt. For Oswalt, it was his second straight 20-win effort, the first back-to-back such seasons for an Astro pitcher since Joe Niekro turned the trick in 1979-80.

Oswalt is off to the races again this year, tossing eight shutout innings (with just five hits and a walk allowed against eight strikeouts) to earn the win on Opening Day. He wasn’t nearly as effective on Saturday, getting smacked around a bit in a no-decision and failing to make it out of the seventh inning. The Houston righty has a penchant for quick starts to the season, but be aware that May is traditionally a tough month for him (just four wins in 16 starts with a .280 BAA in the past three seasons).

Clubhouse Chemistry: The Bosox lost much of their dirtbag quality this season with the exodus of Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar and Johnny Damon. So they go out and add a character like Julian Tavarez? Is this supposed to fill the hole in the team chemistry? It didn’t take long for Tavarez to find himself in the middle of controversy. He seems quite adept at that, actually. How about punching someone in the face in a Spring Training game? That move cost him 10 games.

This isn’t the first time Tavarez got in some hot water during an exhibition game. In 2001, he was suspended and fined for his part in a melee when Russ Davis attacked the mound because he thought Tavarez was showing him up after a strikeout. There’s no doubt that Tavarez, from a talent perspective, can help the Red Sox bullpen, but if he’s going to continue to be a divisive force, does the cost negate the gain? He’ll be back on Thursday and we’ll see how long it will be before he finds more trouble.

Mini Spikes

• That investment in Carl Pavano is looking pretty good for the Yankees, isn’t it? Oh, and that pain in the ass you’re feeling, Carl? It extends to your fantasy owners, this writer among them. It’s going to be at least a couple of weeks before he’s ready to help anyone.
• How can you help but cheer for Tim Salmon? His career has been in free fall for three years and now he has two dingers and a double in six at-bats to start the season. Salmon took an 0 for 3 Saturday, but he’s not the first to do that against Randy Johnson.
• Poor Chris Snelling, on the DL again. Will we ever get to find out what this guy can do? He’s like an injury-prone Lenny Dykstra. Think about that for a second.
• After a tremendous year in Texas – his first full season – the idea of Chris Young pitching in San Diego is an appealing prospect. While he did get touched up for a pair of long balls in his debut Friday, Young gave up only four hits and a walk through 5.1 IP, fanning seven. During one stretch, he retired 11 straight Rockies.
• Mediocre starter heading to Coors Field who’s surrendered fly balls at a higher rate than ever last season – this is the fate that Josh Fogg has in store for 2006. He’s given up 94 dingers in the past four years and to make matters worse, he has the unenviable task of replacing Rockie legend Byung-Hung Kim (insert irony here). And sure, Fogg looked decent Friday night, but that was at Petco, a pitcher’s paradise. Stay far away.
• Courtesy of Ryan Klesko going under the knife, Adrian Gonzalez is finally getting a chance to show why he went first overall in the 2000 draft. The early dividends – 6 for 14, including a pair of doubles and a home run through four games – are extremely encouraging. He’s being compared to a young Raffy Palmeiro (but hopefully a clean Raffy Palmeiro). Gonzalez will have some nice value until the All-Star break, possibly longer. If he’s available, grab him.

MAILBAG

CREATiVESPORTS.com’s very own Brian Walton wrote to me in response to last week’s comments about Alex Gonzalez being a defensive upgrade over Edgar Renteria for the Red Sox. His letter speaks for itself and provides a differing view on the topic:
 
I have to comment on Alex Gonzalez vs. Edgar Renteria, specifically "Alex Gonzalez is definitely going to be an upgrade defensively over Renteria…" Though each played on a World Series winner in Florida, ER has two Gold Gloves and four All-Star appearances, while AG has none and one, respectively.

Since those are subjective, let's look at career fielding metrics, including ER's dreadful 2005 in Boston. While AG holds a slight edge in two of these three measurements, both players are above league average and to me, look very similar.

    
     Range factor vs. league
     # games played per error
     Errors/putouts

     Renteria
     4.23 vs. 3.94
     7.12
     9.6%

     Gonzalez
     4.31 vs. 3.93
     7.04
     9.1%

Since ER's career numbers were substantially better prior to 2005, and we have no idea how AG will react to the pressure of playing in Boston in 2006, I find it difficult to support your contention.

With respect,
Brian

NEXT: Spikes Up heads out on a baseball road trip later this week, with stops in Atlanta and Baltimore. So we won’t reappear until April 24. Basketball fans should check out Three in the Key, next appearing tomorrow.
 
Comments? Questions? Criticisms or witticisms? You can reach me at rob@creativesports.com if you’d like further information or have a question you’d like me to answer in an upcoming column. Have a suggestion for a column or want to hear analysis about a particular player? Feel free to write. I might even answer!

Rob Blackstien is a freelance writer and the principal of Pen-Ultimate (www.pen-ultimate.ca), a Toronto-based writing and editorial services firm. Position Battles, a column he writes for www.rotoworld.com, also appears on usatoday.com and foxsports.com.