The 1883 season began and put the "there's no place like home" theory to test. Home team's went just 4-12 this week.
Game of the Week
It took 16 innings before rookie
Elmer Foster was finally able to get his first big league hit, but his single in his 7th at-bat of the game was a walk off hit that gave the Steelers the 9-8 16 inning victory. It was a game that featured sloppy defense, with both teams combining to make 20 errors on the night, including 5 by Steelers first baseman
Jim Forman.
Dylan Smallwood pitched 11 innings for the Steelers while allowing just 1 earned run, but 8 runs overall.
Recap
There are a lot of unfamiliar faces among the starting pitcher's this year, but
Scott Young of the Cardinals is one of the familiar ones. Young started this season with a 5 hit shutout win over the Bears, with the Cardinals winning 5-0.
Henry Larkin picked up 4 hits for the Cardinals and drove in 2 runs with a pair of doubles.
The Tennessee Titans beat up on
Jim Britt and the defending champion Baltimore Ravens with a 6-3 victory.
Dan Brouthers tripled twice and added a single for the Titans, with
Cletus Boyer connecting on a grand slam.
In Cleveland it was a surprising decision when the Browns announced that
Tom Belles was the starter over
Tim Keefe, but the 29 year old reliever, who hasn't pitched an inning in the majors picked up the first win of his career with a complete game 8-2 win. Belles added 2 hits and drove in 2 runs - both team highs. Not a bad debut for Belles.
Aaron Jackson allowed just 2 runs in the Saints complete game 4-2 win over the Colts.
Mike Mansell drove in a pair of runs with a seventh inning triple for the Crescents.
On the Mound
It seems like there has been a mass changing of the guard with starting pitchers, so I'm trying to piece together who is who. Up first is the Detroit Lions, with second year starter
Sam Johnson. Last year Johnson went 5-6 with a 1.65 ERA as a first year starter, after pitching out of the bullpen for three years. Johnson's season came to a premature end with an injury to his tricep, but he returned to the mound tonight with a complete game win over the Jets.
Johnson was a former first round pick, and took over from former starter
Lee O'Neill after eleven seasons. Johnson appears to be the Lions starter for the immediate future though, and recently was ranked as the 20th best starting pitcher in the league.