Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead. You Oughta Know... The Rangers have scored at least eight runs in their first three games of the season, the first team to do that since the 2003 Yankees. Those Yankees won the pennant. The Rangers are 3-0 for the first time since 1996, when they won the division.
"You couldn't be more excited right now coming off this first series, playing with energy and passion," pitcher Brandon McCarthy said. "The team chemistry in here is second to none, and right now it's a special team to be part of."
While that bodes well for the Rangers, it doesn't look so good for the Indians, who have been on the wrong end of these beatings. When your top three starters get hit like that, look out.
The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.
Has there even been a more wild night in Major League Baseball than Tuesday? Just in case you missed it all, after the jump you can enjoy a quick recap of all the crazy things that went down on the most shocking day in baseball history.
The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.
First Mike Mussina walked away. That was Nov. 21 -- almost four months ago -- and you had to love him going out on top, washing away the biggest knock on his borderline Hall of Fame career in his final season by winning 20 games. A few weeks later The Professor, Greg Maddux, hung 'em up too, officially the greatest pitcher of his generation now that Roger Clemens has been exposed as a cheat.
It took Curt Schilling a little while longer -- maybe he just wanted the stage all to himself -- but he too has now exited, taking his unrivaled October guts with him. Pedro Martinez, the most dominant pitcher any baseball fan under the age of 35 has ever seen, is sitting on a couch somewhere without a job, too proud to accept a paycut after all he has accomplished.
Bert Blyleven doesn't have it easy. Every year there's a Hall of Fame vote and every year he's a little bit closer to getting enshrined, but not quite close enough. The guy is fifth all-time in strikeouts, he posted dominant numbers, and yet, there's still a group of people with votes who want him kept out. Why, I have no idea. And yet, there will probably be people who vote for Curt Schilling and Jack Morris, but not Blyleven. But don't listen to me gripe about it. Let Blyleven do that! Via AA.
This is where I have the chance to be a bigger man than Curt Schilling. This is where I ignore his jerk quotient -- clubhouse politician, Capitol Hill steroids waffler, attention moth, blogging fool -- and state unequivocally that he belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some writers hold grudges when confronted with voting decisions about prickly players, forgetting that our responsibility is to history and not our tattered feelings.
The Astros exceeded expectations last season, but they still have some changes to make if they want the baseball world to see them as a serious contender. First, the bottom half of their tentative rotation (Brian Moehler, Russ Ortiz, the half of Mike Hampton that hasn't crumbled off) is looking pretty dicey. And second, their logo continues to look like that of an Internet service provider. Ever wonder why the cable guy never shows up on time? He's busy playing mediocre baseball in Texas.
The gut reaction, right now, is that he gets in -- despite frustrating any number of members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who had to deal with him.
The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.
Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox? Haven't we hashed and rehashed and re-rehashed this already? Ramirez has been a Dodger for what seems like ages now. It's really only been two months and change, what with the protracted contract negotiations between the mercurial slugger and his new team this winter, but when he grins, hugs Joe Torre and tells the camera "I'm baaaaaaack," well, it looks like he's completely content in his new home.
The Red Sox are doing just fine without Ramirez too. They are still the model franchise in baseball, still a financial juggernaut, still stocked with talent at every level of the organization.
You know, for trade talks that are supposed to be dead, there is still an awful lot of talk in Chicago about Jake Peavy coming over from the San Diego Padres. The Cubs were involved pretty heavily in talks with the Padres all winter about possibly prying the ace away, but San Diego's asking price was too high, and the Cubs never pulled the trigger.
Of course, just because the Padres didn't deal Peavy during the winter doesn't mean he isn't going to be the first contract on the trading block if San Diego stumbles out of the gate. That's why it was really nice of Peavy to stoke the fires after shutting the Cubs down in Arizona on Sunday.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
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This is where I have the chance to be a bigger man than 
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Blowhard Hall of Fame? On the first ballot.
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You know, for trade talks that are supposed to be dead, there is still an awful lot of talk in Chicago about 
