More on Matt Moore’s 2012 debut below (as I got to catch a significant portion of the game). The Cliff Notes version: he was somewhat unimpressive, with five walks, four K’s and four hits over 6.2 innings. I also didn’t think this was a great Tigers line-up and he gave up a ton of fly balls. That said, there’s probably some confirmation bias as I didn’t think he’d live up to the hype and certainly a two run 6.2 IP start from a 22-year-old is impressive. My only criticism: he wasn’t transcendent. The real takeaway for me was Austin Jackson working the count. If this approach continues, he’s going to be in for a phenomenal year.

I really wanted to catch Dee Gordon play and thankfully I caught his first inning single. Then he stole second on the first pitch to Mark Ellis. Gordon has four steals in five tries, my lord he’s going to steal a ton. Anything you can do, I can do better: Kenley Jansen gets the win and two K’s in an inning; Javy Guerra gets the save, K’s one and gives up a hit in one inning. So far so good for Guerra.

I caught a good bit of the Toronto-Boston game, mostly because I own an incredible amount of Blue Jays. That said, I found myself fascinated by Daniel Bard at the outset. In the first, he got good ground balls; they simply found holes. He was pretty dialed in thereafter until he had to go through the line-up a second time. That said, he was victimized by a sawed-off flair from Yunel Escobar and a grounder from Kelly Johnson through the hole created by Escobar being on first. He did leave a pitch up against Lind, which Lind turned into some RBIs. However, the majority of real damage was done by Bobby Valentine not wanting to stay in the game and turning to Justin Thomas in a 3-1 game with runners on. Bard’s six K’s against just one walk deserved a better fate, but the Sox got BABIP’d to death. On the other side of the diamond, Edwin Encarnacion stole two bases and hit a homer and Johnson kept hitting. Both will be solid regulars this year.

Neftali Feliz was good, as he should be, against a Mariners team that started 0-58 against him in Feliz’s career. Feliz did get 10 fly balls which is a tad disconcerting given his home ballpark, but he only allowed six base runners in seven innings. David Murphy, who looks like he’ll get more playing time than originally thought, went 3-3 in the game with the only RBI. He’s worth a look in almost every league right now, legit 15-15 potential.

Kyle Lohse keeps on trucking or whatever it is he does. He went six, giving up one run on four hits and one walk. For his career, Lohse has a 4.30 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and 2.24 K:BB rate in March/April, he barely touches those numbers in other months. David Freese is on fire (which when you think about is completely ironic, right?). If he stays healthy, he’s the fantasy baseball MVP. Devin Mesoraco got a start and drew a walk.

The big news for Mets fans wasn’t their first loss of the season but David Wright being diagnosed with a broken finger. It is a non-operative injury and there are hopes Wright can tolerate the pain and avoid the DL. In the New York AP article, Wright said "I couldn't grip a bat today.” Justin Turner, getting a start, went 1/4 with a RBI. If Wright misses significant time, Turner could provide a good bit of value in deeper leagues and becomes a starting middle infielder in a lot of formats. For the Nationals, Ross Detweiler got six ground balls and six K’s in five innings – he scattered just three base runners. Brad Lidge would have gotten the save had the Mets been able to score a reasonable amount of runs. Lastly, the Jason Werth comeback train continues to gain a ton of steam: he went 4/5. If you got him cheap, pat yourself on your back or get one of your sexy significant other(s) to do it for you.

Freddy Garcia threw five wild pitches, that’s just nuts, and he’s the leader in the club house for ceding a rotation spot to Andy Pettitte/Michael Pineda. Unfortunately, the Orioles didn’t take full advantage and the game went deep into extra innings. Wei-Yin Chen, in his MLB debut, fooled some Yankees with off-speed stuff, tallying six K’s in 5.2 innings. He walked one and gave up seven hits. Once the league gets a book on Chen, don’t expect similar K numbers to continue. Much to the dismay of logicians, Corey Wade struck out the side in the 10th (sometimes, ok most of the time, I hate the Orioles). That guy I liked, Derek Jeter, hit a homer, went 2/6 and is now batting .391. Mariano Rivera picked up the save, pitching a clean inning with two K’s.

The Brewers put up five runs in the first off Paul Maholm and the Cubs never caught up. Geovany Soto hit a dinger in the loss and remains a solid option in OBP leagues. Aramis Ramirez is going to like hitting behind Ryan Braun:  he now has five RBIs. Francisco Rodriguez only got a save because Jose Veras gave up a run in the ninth, making the score 7-4.

The return of Chipper Jones to action sparked the Braves to six runs. Jones chipped in a homer and two RBIs. Tommy Hanson K’ed eight in five innings, but allowed nine base runners – an uneven start to the year. It’s time for folks to stop ignoring Carlos Lee. He got off to a poor start last season but ended up with a solid average and good power numbers. This year, he’s sitting at .389 with six RBIs. If Jordan Schafer can get on base, he’ll steal a ton of bags. He had three last night. Surprising to no one? Chris Johnson bounced into a double play.

The other extra inning game of the night saw the Diamondbacks take it in the 11th as Chris Young hit a two-run homer. A healthy Young is a very good player. An aside: it must be nice for Diamondback fans to see Micah Owings blow a game for an opposing team for a change. While Edison Volquez got off to a slow start, his final line sparkled: seven innings, eight K’s and only three walks. If he can learn to locate and trust his stuff (something Petco should allow for), he’ll be a solid guy this year. In other news, Joe Wieland, a young pitching prospect the Padres got from the Rangers in the Mike Adams deal, was pulled from his AAA start after two innings, an indicator he might be slated to pitch this weekend. If so, he’s immediately streamable.

Danny Duffy abused an overmatched Athletics team, K’ing eight in six innings. Of course, he walked four. The game was delayed by weather and eventually only went seven innings. Chris Getz managed to get caught stealing and picked off in this one. The surprising part is that he was on base twice! Yoenis Cespedes struck out but also walked; he now has 10 K’s and two walks. 

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Tampa Bay Rays and Detroit Tigers

Carlos Pena continues to hit the ball well, as he scorched one into the glove of the shortstop in the first inning. Maybe hitting out of that two-hole has given him confidence. Miguel Cabrera made a nice pick in the bottom of the first. Maybe this third base thing is going to stick? Color me shocked.

Not surprising, Matt Moore made Austin Jackson look foolish in the first and then Brennan Boesch gave away a strike by pushing a bunt foul of third base before grounding out easily to first. Cabrera earned a full count walk after several pitches and fouls and then Prince Fielder popped up.

Jackson has seen a ton of pitches against Moore (and received two walks). Not sure who that says something about, really. That said, if Jackson can keep up this kind of plate discipline, he’s going to score 120 runs. After the second walk to Jackson, Moore has four K’s and four BBs. And I have to go back to work. 

Written by Albert Lang exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com

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