We’re only a few series into the regular season and already some of the pre-season predictions of At Home Plate are coming true.  The Red Sox are already living up to their hype, Johan Santana seems well worth the price tag the Mets paid for him, and San Francisco is doing a terrible job.  Of course, not everything is going as planned for us or for the various clubs out there, but that’s a good thing.  If everything we thought would happen did happen, baseball would become dull and lifeless.  So, let’s look at some of the surprises that have put teams in a good place, and some upsets that we did not see coming.

Jeff Francis - Even though many people aren’t relying on the Rockies to win it all this season, there were still a lot of people who were banking on certain players to pull something off for their fantasy teams.  If you picked Todd Helton or Brad Hawpe, you’re doing OK so far.  If you picked Francis, the story is not as sweet.  In the St. Louis home opener, Francis just couldn’t seem to get the ball where he wanted it to go.  Allowing five runs in less than three innings, he was grateful when the Heavens opened up making the stats for that game null and void.  However, the game is still in the minds of some Rockies fans, and wonder how the staff ace will do when he takes the mound next time.

San Diego Padres – At first, I thought the Padres had the potential to go all the way, but then a friend of mine told me to take a second look at their batting.  I quickly changed my mind and said I thought Arizona or the Dodgers would take it all in the NL West.  Here we are, six games in and the Padres are sitting atop their division.  San Diego’s pitching (which is undoubtedly their strong point) did play a huge role, especially in their latest contest against the Dodgers.  However, the strong pitching and defense didn’t put four runs on the board for San Diego.  With their domination of Houston, looking to end the series with a win against the Dodgers, and San Francisco coming up we can probably expect the Padres to be up there for at least another week.  Can they hold onto this past then?  Only time will tell.

A.J. Pierzynski – When I snagged Victor Martinez as my catcher for two of my fantasy teams I thought to myself “I probably don’t have to sweat catching, but I should get a back up just in case.”  Sadly, I had few options left and I grudgingly picked up hot-blooded White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski.  I figured his flagging batting average would only be called upon when Martinez was going to sit one out for the Tribe.  Little did I know I would be benching one of the best hitters for Cleveland in favor of Pierzynski.  Batting .529 with 7 RBIs and 2 home runs, it’s hard not to be happy with my reluctant pick.  What really struck me as odd was when I found out one of Pierzynski’s secrets.  Special health drinks?  Harder work outs?  Superstitious rituals?  Believe it or not, Pierzynski has been spending extra time in the locker room with his Nintendo DS.  Pierzynski played a game on Nintendo DS designed to improve your visual acuity so that he could get more hits.  Looks like Japan might be doing more for baseball than giving us Ichiro and Matsuzaka.

Atlanta Braves – In Atlanta, you don’t have much else going on in the sports world except the Braves.  The upside was that the Braves were optimistic about this season.  Manager Bobby Cox was upbeat about his line up, there were very few questions about their position players, and their pitching had more depth than last year.  Then up comes opening day against the Nationals at National Park.  Most people had probably picked the Braves on this one.  Nine innings later, Washington comes out ahead with one run.  The Atlanta faithful had little to fear though.  Their home opener was against the Pirates.  What could go wrong?  Extra innings and 12 runs is what went wrong.  The Braves finally got their first win after April Fool’s Day, but starting the season with a 2-3 record is not what they were hoping things would turn out.  Atlanta will have to do some tweaking (most likely with their batting) in order to stay competitive in the competitive NL East.

Some will say it is way too early in the season to be making any sort of calls.  Well of course it is.  Long time professionals will tell you that the race to October is not a sprint, but a marathon.  However, part of winning that race is coming strong out of the gate, and those with upsets (be they for good or for ill) need to make sure that whatever they’re doing they make sure it stays in their favor.  In other words, when it comes to making decisions about baseball, there is no time like the present.

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