As an international student from a cricket crazy country, it surprises me how interested I have become in baseball. None the less interested I have become and I am going to indulge that interest by dedicating this column to the new baseball season.The 2003 season opened with a number of interesting questions that should be answered over the course of the season.
The Braves, whose hallmark is pitching, have reconfigured their starting rotation. The biggest difference of course is that Tom Glavine is now a Met.
Speaking of the Met, their new ace is Glavine and they have a 40 year old David Cone as their 4th starter. That’s definitely one to watch.
The Yankees have a Japanese slugger who is under immense media scrutinty and pressure to perform. They also have more starting pitchers than you can shake a fist at. Add the fiasco over David Well’s book, and you don’t have the ideal situation for good team chemistry.
How will the Cubs perform under Dustry Baker and the Giants under Felipe Alou? Will Buck Showalter make a difference in Texas?
Then you have the defending World Series champs in the Anaheim Angels. Last year they took everyone by surprise. Can they repeat their success again this year? The same holds true for the Minnesota Twins.
The Phillies have added Jim Thome, Kevin Millwood and David Bell in an attempt to change the balance of power in the NL East. Will these high profile acquisitions pay off?
What will Barry do this year that no one has ever done before? And will that be enough to give the Giants another shot at a World Series?
I don’t pretend to have any answers to any of these questions. I’m not even going to stick my neck out and predict who will make the playoffs come October. What I will do is say that the new season stacks up as one of the most exciting and intriguing seasons in my recent memory (which albiet isn’t that long), and one that I shall be watching unfold with much interest.they’re not in form, and off form,’ and all this kind of stuff. It was all rubbish. Everybody was playing great. There wasn’t just two or three or five or seven good players, all 12 were great. And they all did their part.”
Darren Clarke said, “We came here as a team, we dined as a team, we talked as a team and we won as a team. That’s all I can say.”
That’s all anybody needs to say, and the Europeans have the Ryder Cup to prove it.