Morning Wood

Cleveland Indians 10 Chicago White Sox 8

Well, Opening Day didn't go quite the way I would have liked. Things started out well when Jim Thome hit a two-run homer in his first at bat of the season, but then the Indians responded by scoring 7 runs in the 2nd inning off Mark Buehrle. The good news is that the White Sox didn't just lay down and die after falling behind 7-2, something they did quite a bit last season, and actually managed to tie the game at 7. Then the umpires decided to fuck them. While I understand the missed call at first base when Ryan Garko's foot was off the bag (Ump had a bad angle), and I get the interference call on Cabrera at second base (he may have touched the bag, but you can't grab the shortstop), but I have no idea what the hell the umps were thinking on the Crede play at home. If you don't know what I'm talking about, the Sox had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 8th inning. Orlando Cabrera then hit a chopper to short, and Jhonny Peralta fired home to get Crede at the plate, and the throw was high causing Kelly Shoppach to leave the plate and try and tag Crede, which he didn't. Joe was called out anyway. The Sox wouldn't score in the inning, and Casey Blake would hit his three-run double in the Cleveland half of the inning. Of course, if this recap wasn't enough for you, you can go read my live-blog of the game.

Milwaukee Brewers 4 Chicago Cubs 3 10 inn.

The Cubs lost their opener as well, but I'm willing to bet it didn't do anything to dampen the Fukudome love flowing around Wrigleyville right now. With Ben Sheets and Carlos Zambrano dominating all afternoon, both teams had to wait until the closers came in to start scoring runs. In his first appearance as the Cubs closer, Kerry Wood allowed three runs to cross the plate in the 9th inning, and fans are immediately calling for Carlos Marmol. Fortunately for the Cubs, Milwaukee's closer absolutely sucks. Eric Gagne started the 9th by giving up a single to Derrek Lee, and then walked Aramis Ramirez. That's when Kosuke Fukudome earned the undying love of Cubs fans everywhere by hitting a three-run homer to tie the game. Fukudome finished his first Major League game only a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-3 with a walk. Too bad he doesn't pitch as well, because the Cubs other closer candidate, Bob Howry, got saddled with the loss when he allowed the Brewers to score in the 10th inning.

Pittsburgh Pirates 12 Atlanta Braves 11 12 inn

Now this was by far the craziest game of the day. Even when the Pirates win a game they nearly kill their fans in the process. After taking a 9-4 lead into the 9th inning, the Pirates bullpen allowed the Braves to score 5 runs to tie the game and force extra innings. Then in the 12th inning the Pirates scored 3 runs to take a 12-9 lead, and allowed the Braves to score two runs in the bottom half before finally getting the last out of the game and escaping with the win. "That," said Braves catcher Brian McCann, "was probably the craziest game I've ever been a part of."

AL

• Royals 5 Tigers 4
  
• Rays 6 Orioles 2
• Mariners 5 Rangers 2
• Twins 3 Angels 2

NL

• DBacks 4 Reds 2
• Nationals 11 Phillies 6
• Dodgers 5 Giants 0
• Mets 7 Marlins 2
• Padres 4 Astros 0