Joe Torre raised some eyebrows when he named Vicente Padilla as his Opening Day starter.
Today's performance is a good reason why.
Torre went with his hottest hand at the end of last season, and it backfired. Padilla gave up seven runs in 4 1/3 innings, and the Pirates used three long balls to crush the Dodgers, 11-5. It was pretty ugly all day long.
The Dodgers were the ones to strike first to start the game off of Zack Duke. Russell Martin hit second and worked a walk with one out, and Andre Ethier doubled for two on. After Manny Ramirez flew out, Matt Kemp hit a two-run single to make it 2-0.
It sure looked like a good beginning, but Padilla walked Akinori Iwamura to lead off. Garrett Jones then launched a two-run homer to even the game at two. From there, the Pirates took off and never looked back.
Padilla wiggled out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the second, but Jones's second homer of the day made it 3-2.
It all unraveled in the fifth, when Andrew McCutchen was beaned to lead off. Lastings Milledge and Ronny Cedeno had RBIs, but the big blow of the inning was a bases clearing double from Ryan Church, making it 8-2.
The bats tried to make a game out of this, as Manny's two-run single and James Loney's RBI groundout in the seventh made it 8-5. Consecutive singles by pinch-hitter Garret Anderson and Rafael Furcal made for another threat in the eighth, but nothing came of it.
George Sherrill came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth, and he had struggled all spring. That continued, as Ryan Doumit unloaded on a three-run shot, putting the game away at 11-5. Octavio Dotel set the Dodgers down in order to end the game.
The offense did generate 12 hits, but left 10 on. That included leaving six on with runners in scoring position and two out. They got at least one hit every inning, save for the last one. So at least they didn't look wimpy at the plate.
On the mound, however, was a different story. I justified giving Padilla the ball in game one, but it's hard to now. He simply looked lost. It could have actually been a lot worse had the Pirates capitalized in the second. So in a weird way, he should feel a little lucky they didn't.
I'm not as worried about him as I am about Sherrill. One of the strengths I talked about in my season preview was the end of the bullpen. Well, that sure didn't look to be the case today. Sherrill had a 7.50 ERA in the spring, and looked every bit of it today. Yes, it's certainly too early to panic, but let's hope he shows some positive signs soon.
With Opening Day in the books, both teams will get Tuesday off before going back at it on Wednesday. Clayton Kershaw (who sure as heck looks like he should have been today's starter) will go against Ross Ohlendorf.
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