What Happened Last Night: Baseball! Starting Morning! Only 161 Games To Get

Did you watch? It was a lovely day for baseball yesterday, fresh air and hot weather and planting yourself by the tv screen for 10 straight hours. Vernon Wells batted 5th. This is exactly the same guy the Yankees just traded for, a player who is a layer of his former self, a player who, normally, is overpaid. Jon Lester came ultimately back to his 2011 type in his opening day start, allowing two runs over five innings and striking out eight. C.C. Sabathia, meanwhile, wasnat at his sharpest, laboring via a 4-run second inning before settling down and in the course of time being taken after five innings. But with this specific Yankees crime a without Derek Jeter, without Curtis Granderson, without Mark Teixeira, without Alex Rodriguez a' there only wasnat enough firepower to come back. Remember: Vernon Wells = 5th mixture. Kevin Youkilis, who's years beyond his primary, struck 4th. No Yankee obtained several hit, and by the finish of the afternoon it had been an 8-2 course at Yankee Stadium. Oh, and the Yanks set an opening day file with a $230.4 million payroll. To possess Vernon Wells bat 5th. Every thing about the Washington Nationalsa 2-0 win over the Miami Marlins was picturesque: star of the future a' and present a' Bryce Harper hit two home runs in his first two at-bats, Stephen Strasburg shut down Miami over eight innings, letting three strikes on 80 pitches, and the bullpen combination of Tyler Clippard and Rafael Soriano sealed the door shut for the win. Ohio, meanwhile, is set for what appears to be always a long season. After every one of the offseason turbulence because of manager Jeffrey Loriaas lineup purging, things arenat looking too bright. And though we canat fault them for setting up zeros against Strasburg, we donat assume that offense to create a lot of anything because the season moves along. The Nationalsa however, seem to be the Entire World Series challenger everyone else expected them to be. Photo via