1. Nice start for Josh Beckett
This season hasn’t gone the way of the ace so far, with CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Justin Verlander and Tim Lincecum all struggling for their respective teams. But one No. 1 that didn’t struggle in his ’09 debut was Boston’s Josh Beckett, who fanned 10 in the BoSox’s 5-3 victory over the Rays on Tuesday. You hate to make claims that a pitcher is already in midseason form after only one outing, but Beckett’s two-hit, one-run effort against Tampa was impressive.

2. Speaking of Tim Lincecum…
Boy did he struggle yesterday for the Giants. But the good news for San Fran and the reining NL Cy Young winner is that his velocity wasn’t down, it just looked like he had a major case of the yips in his Opening Day debut. He looked too pumped up from the start and just never settled down. Fortunately, Aaron Rowand, Bengie Molina, Travis Ishikawa and the rest of the G-Men offense helped Lincecum out as SF romped the Brewers 10-6. Huh, what a concept – the Giants offense bailing out the pitching for once…who would have thought?

3. Dombrowski better be taking heat today in Detroit
In the offseason, Tigers’ GM Dave Dombrowski’s answer to solving the bullpen issues in Detroit was signing former Arizona closer Brandon Lyon instead of pursuing other avenues like J.J. Putz (who is now a setup man for the Mets). At least for one day, the decision backfired as Lyon blew Edwin Jackson’s (7.1, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 K) gem in Toronto by giving up three runs on three hits as the Jays knocked off the Tigers 5-4. Granted, Lyon has plenty of time to bounce back but if he doesn’t, the Tigers will be left with mental midget Fernando Rodney to close games, who didn’t necessarily earn the role this spring with a 7.00 ERA. Considering Joel Zumaya may never pitch again due to freak injuries and Nate Robertson (who Dombrowski just gave a 3-year, $21 million deal in January of ’08) is pissed about being taken out of the starting rotation, Dombrowski has quite a mess brewing in Detroit.

4. Speaking of Dave Dombrowski mistakes…
On October 29 of 2007, Dombrowski traded outfielder Gorkys Hernandez and pitcher Jair Jurrjens to the Braves in exchange for shortstop Edgar Renteria. Long story short, Renteria started for the Giants in San Francisco on Tuesday following one horrible season in Detroit, while Jurrjens shut down the Phillies in Philadelphia by allowing four hits and no runs in 5.2 innings of work. Jurrjens looks like one of the better young arms in baseball and it looks like people better keep an eye on Atlanta this year in the NL East.

5. Speaking of the Phillies…
I absolutely love the panic surrounding the defending champs already. They’re 0-2 and have scored just one run in two games, which of course has led to ESPN and every other media outlet to ask, “What’s wrong with the Phillies?” Let’s relax a little, shall we? No, this isn’t a good start for the World Series champs, but there’s still 160 games left in the season. Maybe these first two games are an indication of things to come, or maybe this is just a slow start and we should let the season roll on little before everyone hits the panic button.

6. Who the hell is Emilio Bonifacio?
If you’re a baseball fan, how do you not like the Marlins? Every year this team rolls out new young talent and this year looks no different. In November of last year, Florida traded pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham to the Nationals in exchange for Jake Smolinski, P.J. Dean and a young infielder named Emilio Bonifacio. In his first two games of the season, Bonifacio hit an inside the park home run and is 6 for 11 with three steals, four runs scored and has driven in four. He still might drop off the face of the earth soon, but you gotta love this kid’s start – and the Marlins’, who have started off 2-0.