NL West Recap: What Was Joe Torre Thinking?

Pirates 11, Dodgers 5

A couple things about this game.

-- The Dodgers got what they deserved for naming Vicente Padilla their Opening Day starter. What the hell did Joe Torre expect to happen? When you have a Clayton Kershaw and a Chad Billingsley at your disposal, I don't know why you'd ever pass them for Padilla. Weird decision.

-- The Pirates can really rake. It's far from a complete, all-star filled lineup, but there aren't many holes here. Garrett Jones is a nice anchor in the #3 spot. He has power to all fields, as he proudly displayed in the opener. Obviously Andrew McCutchen is a special type player, and Jeff Clement should be good, too.

Diamondbacks 6, Padres 3

-- The Padres are going to struggled to find offense.  The centerpiece, Adrian Gonzalez, is about as pretty as you'll find, but everything around it is pretty bland.  I like the power potential of Kyle Blanks, though.  There's some speed in a couple places.  I just don't know what those guys will be on base enough for it to matter.  I guess we'll see.

-- Stephen Drew showing off the wheels with the inside-the-park job.  You never know what you'll see, especially on Opening Day.  Dan Haren, pretty good.  Arizona has some solid pieces in place.

Giants 5, Astros 2

-- Yeah, those two runs the Astros got?  Not off of Tim Lincecum.  No one was touching him.  All those overrated struggles from Spring Training were nowhere to be found.  Thankfully there's only one Tim Lincecum, and thankfully he can only pitch once every 5 days.

-- If I had one prediction to do over, and I understand this is only after one game, I would probably pick the Astros last in the Central.  There is very little to get excited about when watching this team.