Stay For a Nightcap - Opening Day

Did Opening Day deliver or what? We had premier players performing at their best, a smashing debut by the top hitting prospect in the game and a highlight reel play that will be difficult to be topped.

Each night we're going to recap the major fantasy events of the day, with a few non-fantasy observations along the way. We'll pay special heed to closers and in-season job battles, so that you might find a few gems. Feel free to chime in the conversation, and help direct us with what you want us to cover.

Notables:

- Big Names Producing Early On - While Chris Liss and I were hosting RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today, the early games were just getting started. It was pretty cool to see the big names all being responsible for the early scoring - Albert Pujols, David Wright, Ryan Zimmerman and Matt Kemp were responsible for the first runs scored in their respective games.

- Garrett Jones, at least for one day, made all of his doubters (self-included) look silly by homering in his first two at-bats. The first of the two was a moon shot that bounced into the river.

- Mark Buehrle's crazy play - in case you're one of the 10 guys that hasn't seen it yet - got all the play on Monday, but lost was just how well he pitched. Seven shutout innings, three hits and just one walk allowed. He's never going to be a big strikeout guy - and in fact struck out just three on Monday - but he's remarkably efficient, needing just 95 pitches to get through his seven innings on Monday.

- Jason Heywardwas the top trending topic on Twitter for a brief period on Monday, after his first-inning homer. How often is it that a highly hyped prospect actually goes off in his first major league swing like that? Braves fans have to be positively giddy seeing him play.

- CarGo |STAR|2: Both Carlos Gonzalez and Carlos Gomez went 4-for-5 in the Rockies-Brewers game. The latter CarGo is certainly considered the lesser, but at least for one day, he was a huge fantasy producer, homering and stealing a base (after going 11-for-11 on the basepaths in spring training). Gomez once was a pretty hyped prospect, certainly not on the Heyward level, but a big prospect nonetheless. He's got some post-hype sleeper potential and will get plenty of opportunities to run if he can get on-base frequently enough out of the 2-hole.

- Colby Rasmusand Andrew McCutchen were virtual equals in most prospect rankings before 2009, and at the All-Star Break Rasmus might have been the leading NL ROY candidate. But he faded while McCutchen took over the second half, and now McCutchen is ranked well ahead of him in most draft rankings. Rasmus had a big spring, though, has the full-time CF job secured in St. Louis and is hitting behind Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday. He justified that love on Monday, going 2-for-4 with a homer, a walk and a highlight reel catch robbing Scott Rolen.

- Shaun Marcumtook a no-hitter into the 7th inning in his first game action since 2008. Alas, a three-run homer by Nelson Cruz eliminated even a chance at the win for him. Though maybe it shouldn't be "alas," as I missed out on him in all of my leagues.

Save Chances:

- Jason Frasor - blown vs. Texas. This one was not |STAR|entirely|STAR| his fault. He made good pitches both to Vladimir Guerrero (infield single) and to Nelson Cruz (opposite field punch shot that landed for a double). But the leadoff double by Michael Young was smoked. On the game-winning hit by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, it's hard to tell whether the Jays would have caught it had they been playing at regular depth. It was hit reasonably well, but not like Young's, and there was some air under it. But when we talk about pitcher's BABIP and the role of luck in this game, Frasor's outing is a good example. Scott Downs pitched a perfect eighth inning, and Kevin Gregg did not pitch.

- Franklin Morales - converted vs. Milwaukee. It was a very shaky save for Morales. He started out with a HBP and then a bloop hit that Brad Hawpe played into a double. One run came in on a sac fly, and then two line drives were caught to end the game, including one on a leaping catch by Troy Tulowitzki. Rafael Betancourt pitched a perfect eighth inning, and Manny Corpas did not pitch.

- Brian Wilson - converted. The chance was gifted into Wilson's lap, thanks to Brandon Medders giving up two runs while up 5-0.

- David Aardsma - converted, two strikeouts.

- Brian Fuentes - converted, one strikeout.

Other Closer Outings:

- Frank Francisco - Got the win, striking out two while allowing one hit in a scoreless inning.
- Andrew Bailey - Came into the game in the ninth inning in a 3-3 game, with two on and two out. He should have gotten out of the inning but for an error by Kevin Kouzmanoff. He subsequently gave up a two-run single, handing Brad Ziegler with the loss.
- Francisco Rodriguez - Clean inning in garbage time, no strikeouts.
- Ryan Franklin - Franklin got stuck in a garbage time outing when the Cardinals turned a two-run lead into a seven-run lead, and subsequently gave up two runs on three hits.
- Octavio Dotel - Clean inning while pitching with a six-run lead, after the Pirates scored three in the eighth.
- Billy Wagner - Everyone in Atlanta was buzzing about a new Brave's debut. And Wagner did well, too, in a classic "get-work" outing.
- Jose Valverde - Sight seen - Valverde forgetting how many outs there were with two on and one out, after catching a comebacker. He got the next out, but you never like seeing your closer have a lack of game awareness.

Job Battle Watch:

- Reds OF - Laynce Nix started in left and Chris Dickerson in center, leaving presumed starter Drew Stubbs on the bench. Stubbs later pinch-hit for Nix and got two hits. Dusty Baker said that it was a matter of getting as many left-handers in the lineup against Chris Carpenter as possible, but he's not necessarily going with a platoon. One can only hope that Baker doesn't keep finding a way to get his fifth, maybe sixth best outfielder option in the lineup on a regular basis.

- Rockies OF - Seth Smith got the start in left field over Dexter Fowler and appears that he'll start against righties to start the season. Smith hit .300/.381/.513 (277 at-bats) against righties last year, Fowler hit .240/.357/.372 (296 at-bats).

- Rays 2B/C - Sean Rodriguez will start at second base on Tuesday against the O's and bat eighth. Dioner Navarro will start ahead of Kelly Shoppach and bat ninth.

Lineup-ology:

- Reds: Chris Dickerson and Orlando Cabrera went 1-for-10 in front of Joey Votto (with the "1" coming in the ninth inning on a hit by Dickerson). O-Cab killed one rally with a GIDP in the fifth, when the Reds were still down just two.

- Padres: Tony Gwynn Jr. and David Eckstein went 0-for-8 in front of Adrian Gonzalez, who came up with the bases empty in all four at-bats.

- Diamondbacks: Conor Jackson might have been the most unconventional leadoff hitter on Monday. That's not a bad spot for him if they keep him there.

Tough Days:

- Seth Smith: 0-for-4, 3 strikeouts.

- Cameron Maybin: 0-for-4, 3 strikeouts, all swinging, plus some Magellan-esque routes in center field that cost the Marlins a couple of runs.

- Carlos Zambrano: 1.1 IP, 8 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 1 punitive HBP and 1 egregious throwing error. Zero watercoolers were harmed in the filming of this show, however.

- Jake Westbrook's control: 4 WP, 2 HBP, 4 BB. Often Tommy John recoverees struggle with their command even after they're back at full-strength. Westbrook decided to provide an extreme demonstration.

- Dodgers Bullpen: Ramon Ortiz, Russ Ortiz and Jeff Weaver all saw action in the Opening Day loss to the Pirates. Insert joke about this being a good staff in 2003 here. Ramon Ortiz poured gasoline on the fire started by Vicente Padilla in the fifth inning, letting all three inherited runners score, leading Chris Liss to make the first punitive drop of the season in the Yahoo Friends & Family league.

Coming Up Aces:

- Roy Halladay: 7 IP, 9 K, 1 ER, 8 baserunners.
- Johan Santana: 6 IP, 5 K, 1 ER, 6 baserunners.
- Ubaldo Jimenez: 6 IP, 6 K, 1 ER, 9 baserunners and a 11:3 G:F. Brewers hitters were reporting that Jimenez was hitting 98 mph with wicked movement (https://rotosynthesis.rotowire.com/Opening-Day-Live-Blog-BBD1874.htm).
- Tim Lincecum: 7 IP, 7 K, 0 ER, 4 baserunners.
- Dan Haren: 7 IP, 4 K, 1 ER, 3 baserunners.

Spring Training Stats Mean Nothing, Part 174,001:

- Adam Lind homered in his first at-bat after hitting .222/.263/.444 in 54 spring training at-bats.

Twins Bullpen Watch:

- Jesse Crain entered the game in the fifth inning, and got five outs without allowing a baserunner.
- Jose Mijares allowed two solo homers and turned a one-run deficit in the 8th inning to a three-run deficit.
- Pat Neshek cleaned up the mess after Mijares, allowing one hit and getting one strikeout.
- Matt Guerrier and Jon Rauch did not pitch.