Small Sample Theater: The First 2 Games

I'm pretty sanguine about the 0-2 start to the season: We're 1.5 games out with 160 to play. I think we can do this. While it was frustrating to be dictated to by a King, and even worse to play like absolute Eric Patterson on Tuesday, you can only analyze so much from any 2 game sample. So let me try...

I have to wonder if whatever issue Jarrod Parker was having with his middle finger (easily the most essential of the fingers if you live in New York City) might have affected not only his command, but specifically his pitch selection. Parker did not throw a lot of breaking pitches, and that's what you would have expected him to throw the aggressive-but-undisciplined Michael Morse with the count 2-2.

Coco Crisp, Fly Ball Masheeeen. What's up with that? We need Coco on 1B, where he has yet to set foot. Level out that swing and swipe a couple bases, Dr. Fro.

Josh Donaldson's swing so far has looked wild, like he thinks he's Charlie Brown and he's finally going to kick that football to Kingdom Come...Dial it down a notch and focus on "good eye, good contact". On the plus side, while neither Donaldson nor Brandon Moss has done anything at the plate, both have looked very solid in the field. I like the way Moss has progressed as a 1Bman -- right now he looks, if anything, a little above-average at the position.

Kudos to Eric Sogard, who has really been a bright spot in an otherwise dark 48 hours. Yes he committed one error on a routine ground ball, but he has made a sensational play, two other very good ones (cradling Donaldson's one-hop throw to 2B Monday, and the skidding stop, throw to 1B last night), and had several good ABs: A line drive single to LF, a key BB against Hernandez, and a shot headed to RF had it been hit in the "non-Smoaking" section.

John Jaso's defensive limitations are going to be exposed over time. Luckily, so far this spring Derek Norris' work behind the plate has looked much improved from last season. Look for Norris to creep more and more into the "primary catcher" picture as the season evolves.

The one guy who has looked pretty good at the plate overall is Seth Smith. He needs to be batting higher in the order, ahead of the "RBI guys". Ideally, against RHPs I'd like to see Jaso and Smith #2 and #3, with Reddick and Moss #5 and #6.

If we keep getting about 3 hits/game and issuing about 6 BBs/game we're in trouble and might go 0-162. However, I'm going out on a limb and predicting that Tommy Milone won't be wild tonight and that we can secure more than 3 hits off of Joe Saunders. Time for a win.