The first series of the year: a disaster

A few notes about a very painful 4-game, season-opening series against the Minnesota PeaceFrog. In case you were smart and didn't bother watching the games this weekend, we lost all four games:

- A four-game sweep may cause some people to panic, and don't get me wrong, it's a terrible way to start the season. But think of it this way: while games in April count just as much as games in September, don't let those April losses get you down just because the record looks worse. Sure, right now we're 0-4, and that is an ugly record. But imagine if it was later on in the season and we were 50-30. Now a 4-game losing streak makes us 50-34. Doesn't look quite so ugly, does it? The point is, there's a ton of baseball left to play, and this team isn't as bad as their 0-4 record indicates.

- Minnesota is a lot better than I thought. Four games isn't enough to judge a team, but I believe they are a stronger squad than people give them credit for. Just wait until Murray Mahaffey and Howard O'Brien heat up.

- In my last post I said we should pray the bullpen doesn't blow too many games for us this year. After four games, our bullpen is 0-2 with a combined ERA of a bazillion. There's nowhere to go but up, but this 'pen will be a problem area for us this year.

- Don Wang's season ERA is currently 189.00. Almost makes you wish we left him in for the full 9 innings to actually see a 189-0 game, doesn't it? But seriously, Wang had an awful start, but I expect him to do very well this year. Tim Juden, too. Don't worry about the rotation, it's the least of our problems.

- While the 0-4 record looks ugly, let's not overlook the fact that two of those losses were by 1 run. It says a lot about the bullpen, but it also encouraging that we weren't blown out every game.

- We had some massive bright spots this series from unlikely contributors. Alberto Felix pitched like the 3-time All-Star we expected last season, going 5 shutout innings en route to a 13-inning loss. Vic Servet and Willie Ayala also started the season reasonably strong after disappointing years in Season 8. But the real showstopper was Danny Milligan, who went 7-for-17 to hit .412 with a homer, a double, and three walks. This rookie looks like the real deal so far; hopefully he keeps up the good work for the remainder of the season.

Our chances look decent tomorrow, when we throw out Ivan Dotel to face the equally limping Milwaukee Cream Citys and mediocre starter Patsy Cummings. I'm not giving up hope, but if we can't nab a win tomorrow, I will become a bit pessimistic about this season...