...which doesn't quite have the ring to it that Opening Day used to have, does it?  Maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon, but it does seem like the start of a baseball season was more special back before we got that pre-Opening Day "preview game."  It doesn't kill the anticipation, but it smacks it around a bit.

Notes from the games that were whisked into my living room yesterday:

* The high excitement of the Braves-Phillies opener bodes poorly for my Mets.  Either of these teams look like they could go the distance.  But they have to play 10 innings on Opening Day!  Don't you think ballplayers must hate that?  It's like staying late on the first day of school...

* Braves catcher Brian McCann was particularly kicking the snot out of the ball.  There's a guy I'd love to have on my roster for the next ten years.  Also impressive yesterday: Devil Ray rookie Elijah Dukes, who not only has an awesome name for an athlete but the power to homer rather effortlessly to center field at Yankee Stadium.  Proof that I'm falling out of touch in my old age: I'd never heard of Dukes before, even though the word "troubled" comes up repeatedly when you Google him.  When I'm missing out on crazy athleticism and accompanying controversy, it's time to spend some quality time with the Baseball Prospectus.

* This isn't exactly a new angle, but: Has there ever been a more underappreciated great player than Alex Rodriguez? Yankee fans keep focusing on his supposedly poor intangibles and ignoring the fact that he's freakin' Honus Wagner. Not that I mind. I hope they trade him. The Yankees don't need anymore Hall of Famers.

* Carl Pavano is starting on Opening Day for the Yankees?  Doesn't that sentence sound wrong to you?  And across the way a bit, the Red Sox lineup is filled with Julio Lugos and Dustin Pedroias.  Not that there's anything wrong with any of those players, per se... I just get the sense that neither juggernaut is what it used to be.

* We're officially entering the Isn't He About Due to Break Down With a 6.00 ERA Some Year? portion of Mariano Rivera's career.  Not this year, however: He's typically impressive in the opener.

* Baserunning news: Did anyone else think for a second that this might be 1987 when Tony Pena Jr. tripled?  Also, I've never seen a player more unequivocally thrown out going for a double than Pedroia in the second inning yesterday.  And who had Justin Morneau/Paul Bako in the First Good Plate Collision of the Season office pool?

* Finally, Manny Ramirez's dreadlocks are approaching epic proportions.  Just thought you'd like to know.

Forward to The Day After the Day After Opening Day...