Yesterday was the first full set of games in the major leagues. An exciting day for baseball fans everywhere.

American League

Yankees 9, Devil Rays 5 in New York.

A Rod and the Yanks get off to a fast start. Well actually they got off to a rocky start with starting pitcher Carl Pavano allowing 4 runs in the 5th inning to put the Yanks behind 5 to 3. But the Yankees ridiculously loaded lineup was able to easily come back against the awful Devil Rays. They scored in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. Rodriguez went 2 for 5 with a home run. So the Yankees were able to start off with a win despite poor pitching and poor defense (3 errors including an error each by the happy couple of Rodriguez and Jeter.) This game is a likely indicator to how things will go all season. The Yankees can afford awful pitching and poor defense because their lineup is so stacked. But again I think it will catch up to them in the playoffs when they are playing talented teams and against the top pitching.

Mariners 4, A's 0 in Seattle

20 year old (21 on April 8th) Felix Hernandez got the season off to a great start by pitching 8 scoreless innings with 12 strike outs. He allowed just 3 hits and 2 walks.

Blue Jays 5, Tigers 3 in Detroit

Can Detroit prove last year was more than a fluke? They are not off to a good start with this 10 inning loss to the Blue Jays.

Twins 7, O's 4 in Minnesota

2006 AL MVP Justin Morneau starts off the year by going 3 for 4 with a home run.

Indians 12, White Sox 5 in Chicago

Jose Contreras has a 63.00 ERA after allowing 7 earned runs (and another unearned) in the first inning. Bad news for White Sox fans and for anyone who has Contreras on their fantasy team.

Angels 4, Rangers 1 in LA

Sammy Sosa goes 0 for 3 in his return to the Rangers all these years since Dubya traded him away. I predict Sosa to have a season similar to that of 1989 when he was last with the Rangers. Although already he has more walks than he did that season. He was walked once in this game while in 1989 he had 84 at bats without a single walk.

Royals 7, Red Sox 1 in Kansas City

Both the Red Sox and the Yankees started their seasons out against poor teams. Unfortunately for the Red Sox they lost their first game as Curt Shilling got shelled. He allowed 8 hits and 5 runs in only 4 innings.

National League

Marlins 9, Nationals 2 in Washington

They're still the Expos to me. For Florida Dontrelle Willis got off to a good start with just 1 earned run in 6 innings. Marlins lead off man SS Hanley Ramirez started the year off with 4 hits including 2 doubles. Miguel Cabrera had 3 hits with a home run and 4 RBI.

Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 6 in Denver

Forget steroids. Games in Denver throw off the numbers to a far greater degree. Todd Helton has a career .333 batting average yet would be struggling to even attain a career .300 batting average if he had played his career in San Francisco for a great example. Seriously. I'm not joking. Look at these combined numbers from 2004 to 2006. Helton hit .353 with a .613 SLG at home during this period and .293 with a .473 SLG on the road. Sure it's normal for a player to have better numbers at home but not that kind if disparity year after year. I'd ban Coors Field before steroids. Coors Field has a much bigger impact on the numbers. If a truly great player ever plays for the Rockies it will make a true mockery of all MLB records. Oh yeah and the Diamondbacks won this game.

Braves 5, Phillies 3 in Philadelphia

After failing twice at bunting ahead the runner in the 10th inning Edgar Renteria hit a 2 run homer that put the Braves in the lead. They held the Phillies scoreless in the bottom of the 10th for the win. This was the usually light hitting Renteria's second homer of the game. He hit a solo shot in the 8th inning that had tied the game at 3. This was the 6th career multihomer game for Renteria. His career high for home runs in a season is 16.

Pirates 4, Astros 2 in Houston

The Astros wasted a good start by Roy Oswalt who allowed just 1 earned run in 7.2 innings. Jason Bay hit a 2 run home run in the 10th inning to give the Pirates the lead & the win as the Astros were held scoreless in the bottom of the 10th.

Brewers 7, Dodgers 1 in Milwaukee

Good news for Giants fans like myself. The Dodgers vaunted pitching staff is off to an awful start with Derek Lowe allowing 6 earned runs in 4 innings. The Brewers' Ben Sheets on the other hand started the year off with a complete game 2 hit gem. He allowed 0 walks.

Reds 5, Cubs 1 in Cincinnati

Read Ryan's entry for this one.