Grab a beer, it is here

This archived article was written by: Hayden Peterson

This is no April Fool›s joke ladies and gents, the MLB season is underway and a few of the big names in baseball had themselves a day to remember. The Washington Nationals had a few players do some special things with their opening day as well as some other teams. They will continue to hope their injured players can return to the lineup. We will check in on the Upton brothers in Atlanta, as well as visit one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.
Bryce Harper, the second year player for the Washington Nationals, who showed no signs of being disrupted by the off season as he stepped to the plate in the first inning with two outs and nobody on base and he hit a homerun. As the Nationals’ bats continued to struggle the score was still one to zero entering the bottom of the fourth inning and the leadoff batter was Mr. Harper himself and not to be out done by himself in the first inning, Harper dug in and got another pitch he wanted and this time he went ahead and gave it a ride to the cheap seats once again. Not a bad start for the second year man out of Las Vegas who also chipped in on the defensive side of the ball as well when he caught somebody trying for home from left field with his explosive arm. The Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman stole three bases on the day but never reached home-plate as the Nationals would win two to zero.
Not very often do we speak of two brothers playing the same professional sport but even more rare is when you find yourself patrolling the skies for the same team in the MLB. The Upton brothers are doing just that in Atlanta.  B.J. and Justin are the first brother to be taken in the one and two spots in separate drafts. They are also the first brothers to be in the 20-20 club which is hitting 20 homeruns and stealing 20 bases in a single season. They kicked off there first regular season game on Monday April 1 against the Phillies. The brothers went 1-8 and had three strike outs, their one hit was from Justin as he hit his first homerun of the year.
How about those teams from New York? The Yankees with all their stars and money learned quickly that having one of the higher payrolls doesn’t mean teams automatically give you the win as they face division foe and rival the Boston Red Sox on Monday and lost 8-2.  While a few of the Yankees were out of the line up including Center fielder Curtis Granderson the Sox looked tough and flat out played the Yankees that day. As for the other team from New York they showed up and embarrassed the San Diego Padres as they put up 11 runs to win the game 11-2.  The Mets’ Collin Cowgill busted the game wide open in the seventh inning as he hit his first career grand slam. Jon Niese pitched well as he went 6 2/3 innings, the left-hander allowed two runs on four hits, striking out four and throwing 101 pitches.
Seven of the Mets players recorded RBIs in this game as the Mets would finish with 13 hits on the day. On Tuesday April 2, 2013 Yu Darvish came as close to making history as you can without actually making it. In the Rangers second game of the season Darvish went 9 2/3 innings without giving up a hit. When the final batter stepped to the plate Darvish knew that if he could retire him he would have thrown a perfect game. Marwin Gonzalez stepped into the batters box anxious to get his at bat over with. He didn’t wait long to make his decision. Gonzalez took away any suspense as he swung at the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the ninth inning and shot a clean single up the middle, shocking the Minute Maid Park crowd that was on its feet in anticipation of history. Even though Darvish missed the history books, his team won the game to get back to 1-1 on the season.
Until next time like three strikes, I am out of here.