Opening Day

First of all I would like to apologize for the long layoff. Expect regular posts throughout the season. Okay, down to the nitty-gritty.

1-0

All we can really ask for at this point. Haters can say what they want about posting a dominating victory over the Marlins, but this is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to take care of business against the Marlins, Nationals, and Pirates.

Oh, wait. Those other two teams all won yesterday. Oh, wait, they beat teams that are supposed to compete with us for a division title. Atlanta and Phillie both went down to teams that haven't been over .500 on the same day since March 31, 2003. Atlanta needed a gift from Jason Bay and Nate McClouth to even take the Pirates to extra innings.

Meanwhile, Johan did his thing in Miami, and David Wright continues his trend of extending hitting streaks between seasons with a double that blew this one open. Bullpen was shaky, but did the job on a day when bullpen issues were the big story, especially in Atlanta and Philadelphia.

The other big story: Former Mets helping us out. Xavier Nady (The Untier according to Baseball Tonight) hit two home runs against Atlanta, including the go-ahead 3 run blast in the 12th. Lastings belted a 2-run homer in Philly and scored the go-ahead run in the 9th. Lo Duca added an RBI double to extend Washington's lead.

If these guys do more damage against our division opponents for other teams that they did for the Mets then trading them works out well no matter what we got for them. As for our other trade this offseason, after one game it looks pretty good.

The Bonds Debate

Over at Amazin' Avenue Eric Simon gives us an account as to why we should sign Barry Bonds to strengthen our lineup.

I'm here to respectfully disagree. While I agree that he is one heckuva player and should go out on his own terms, I don't think he is the right fit for us right now. Don't worry, I have reasons that are strictly baseball related.

1. He is another aging player who will probably miss significant time. If we bring in Barry and he goes down in the first week of April, we are in the same situation we are in now. While anybody we bring in (or don't, I'm looking at you Angel Pagan) could potentially get injured, it is more likely an older guy like Bonds will get hurt.
2. We haven't had the best success bringing in aging stars. From Willie Mays to Mo Vaughn and Robbie Alomar this just isn't our thing. And we wouldn't want to fall back into that pattern and be the Washington Redskins of the MLB.
3. Bonds doesn't hit well at Shea. Barry's career statistics at Shea are .265 BA with 13 homers and 60 RBI. This is over 115 games there in his career. Also, is OPS is .800, compared to a 1.051 career OPS. I don't think he can change his luck in his 23rd season.
4. He doesn't play first base. The benefit of bringing in a guy like Xaiver Nady (I know its a stretch) is that he can also fill in at first if Delgado misses time (and if you ask some Mets fans, he can fill in in left and at 1st at the same time).
5. Barry is left-handed. So are Ryan Church, Endy Chavez, and Marlon Anderson. We need some right-handed pop to add balance to the lineup. Barry doesn't fit the bill.

When you throw in his baggage and the potential problems he could cause, bringing in Barry could have a devastating effect on our team this year. I'm sure Omar and Willie are well aware of this too.