20 points for 20 innings: Mets vs. Cardinals

It may be a little early to dive headlong into the MLB season, but those who waited have missed a classic day.

It starts in St. Louis, with a 2-1 Mets’ win over the Cardinals in 20 innings. That’s right, I said 20. And as a fan of the Cardinals, I was duty-bound to watch every second (except for the three 10-minute naps I took in innings eight, 11, and 13).

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Here are some notes for what you missed (and we’ve got 20 innings to recap, so we’ll be here a while):

– The game was scoreless for the first 18 innings, the longest scoreless game in 21 years.

– The Mets broke through in the 19th inning with a sacrifice fly from Jeff Francoeur, which was answered by an RBI single by Yadier Molina. Jose Reyes hit a sac fly in the 20th to earn the win for the Mets.

10 things to watch for the upcoming MLB season

As I watch what actually has turned out to be an interesting season opener between the Yanks and the Sox (in the Michael Wilbon voice), I guess there’s no better time than the present to give you my 2010 MLB season preview. Here are 10 storylines to watch as America’s pastime opens 2010 in earnest tomorrow.

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Repeat?

It’s been another busy winter for the Yankees, though this time with a tighter grip on the purse strings. The 27-time World Champs signed former farmhand Nick Johnson as their DH and added journeyman Randy Winn to provide a capable outfielder off the bench. But the other additions came through trades. Curtis Granderson, fresh off a career-high 30 home runs with the Tigers (written as he takes Josh Beckett deep with two outs in the second inning), was brought in for pitchers Phil Coke, Ian Kennedy, and top prospect Austin Jackson. The rotation was strengthened by the acquisition of Javier Vasquez (another former Yankee returning to the Bronx) for misfit Melky Cabrera. Vazquez and the reintroduction of Phil Hughes to the rotation stabilizes the back-end of one of the best starting fives in the AL, while Chan Ho Park and Joba Chamberlain’s return to the bullpen gives them depth there. Despite playing in baseball’s toughest division, the Yanks are still a front-runner to take home another World Series Title.

Phil me up again?

What’s that line about if it ain’t broke?

After Cole Hamels’ stellar pitching performance last night, the Giants proved that turnabout’s fair play as the Giants took advantage of their own good pitching and took one from the Phils by a score of 4-0.

Tonight’s loss revealed the offensive drought that the Phillies have been in for the past three series. Since the beginning of the series against the Pirates, the Phils have only scored three or more runs twice, as high-quality starting pitching has kept the lead in the NL East comfortably at seven games.