MLB Week 1 Wrapup: Longoria Injures Side, Brewers Injure Pride

What Happened

--Four teams got swept.

The Astros, Brewers, Rays and Red Sox, in alphabetical order and ascending order of surprise. Of these teams the Brewers probably had the most brutal weekend, blowing a ninth inning lead on Friday and then losing the next two to the division rival Reds.

–Progressive Field in Cleveland set consecutive low attendance records on Saturday and Sunday.

After an opening day sellout, the Indians sold 9,853 and 8,726 tickets over the weekend. I watched the games and there might have been a third of that many people actually in the stadium. The Indians finished last in baseball in average attendance last year.

–The Rays may be in trouble.

I was actually pretty surprised how well many writers picked this team to finish. After losing Crawford, Carlos Pena, Matt Garza and virtually an entire bullpen–Joaquin Benoit (60 IP, 1.34 ERA), Rafael Soriano (45 SV, 1.73 ERA), Grant Balfour (55 IP, 2.28 ERA)–and replacing them with a group of has-been hitters and journeyman/never-was pitchers, many still considered Tampa Bay  favorites to finish second in the East.

It could still turn out that way, but a team with Manny Ramirez as its cleanup hitter in 2011 is going to have trouble scoring runs. A team relying even moderately on Kyle Farnsworth as a closer is going to have trouble protecting leads. And even though everyone was worried about the Yankees starting pitching coming into the season, their five can probably match up decently with Tampa's, and they are going to score a lot more runs.

Oh and Evan Longoria is now on the 15-day DL and may miss three weeks with a strained oblique.

--The Cubs still can't beat the Pirates.

After losing ten of fifteen games to Pittsburgh last season, the Cubs kicked 2011 off in an identical fashion, dropping two of three.

What We Learned

It was one weekend, so very little. A few things that seemed likely going into the season did occur right away. The Rangers, Reds, White Sox and Yankees scored a lot of runs. The Phillies starting pitchers gave up very few. Bartolo Colon was ineffective.

Players Who Stunk:

Mauer/Morneau (MIN): 2/17, 2 TB, 1 RBI

John Lackey (BOS): 3.2 IP, 9 ER

James Loney (LAD): 2/15, .325 OPS, 1 R

Players Who Did Not Stink:

Jaime Garcia (STL): CG, 9 K, 4 H, 0 R

Carlos Quentin: .545 BA, 7 RBI, 3 2B

Joel Hanrahan (PIT): 2 SV, 0 ER, 3 K

Interesting Figures:

Of the 90 pitches Phil Hughes threw in his Sunday outing, 62 were cut fastballs. (Fangraphs)

On the same day the White Sox hit into their first triple play since 1978- unofficially the most lackadaisical triple play ever recorded. (See Video)

--The Crap 162: Race for the Worst Team in Baseball

My preseason favorites were the Astros, Diamondbacks, Indians, Mariners, Nationals, Pirates, and Royals, in no particular order... except that the Pirates are perennial favorites in this category. I see no reason to dramatically alter this list yet, but a few new teams are now on the radar as potential contenders.

The Astros went 0-3, but against the Phillies top-3 starters, on the road, it could be expected. The Nationals and Indians lost series at home, while the D-Backs split a two gamer after Sunday's matchup with the Rockies was postponed. The Mariners and Pirates each won a road series.

Leader(s) out of the gate: Astros, Nationals... because Houston can still go 0-162, and because the Nationals got their win in a weird double rain delay game, and hit just .209 as a team for the series.