NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, WASHINGTON
US President Barack Obama marked a 100-year tradition when he tossed the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
He received a loud ovation from the packed crowd, with a few boos scattered in. He sported khakis, a Nationals jacket and a cap from his favorite Major League Baseball team, the Chicago White Sox. His pitch forced Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to stand and lunge to haul it in.
“I was a little disappointed with the pitch,” Obama said. “It was high and outside. I was intentionally walking the guy. Fortunately, Zimmerman has a tall reach.”
The president suggested his accuracy would have improved with a longer outing.
“If I had a whole inning, I’m telling you, I would have cleaned up,” he said.
One hundred years ago this month, then-US president William Howard Taft led off the Washington baseball tradition with a toss from the stands to pitcher Walter Johnson. From Taft to Richard Nixon, every US president made at least one opening-day pitch in the nation’s capital, until the expansion Senators left town after the 1971 season.
Obama prepared for Monday’s opener by throwing practice pitches to aides at the White House.
Before making the pitch, Obama stopped to greet wounded veterans, then donned his cap as he walked to the mound. The left-hander president had a hitch in his delivery. Obama, an avid basketball player who has said baseball does not come naturally to him, was clearly going to err on throwing it too far rather than too short.
He might have been trying to make up for his opening toss at last year’s MLB All-Star game in St Louis, when St Louis first baseman Albert Pujols saved him the embarrassment of a short hop by moving up to scoop the low pitch centimeters off the ground.
When the action began in earnest, Placido Polanco hit a grand slam, Ryan Howard also homered, and Roy Halladay struck out nine batters over seven innings in his National League debut as the Phillies routed the Nationals 11-1.
The centerpiece of the Phillies’ drive for a third straight World Series appearance, Halladay (1-0) allowed one run and six hits and settled down to dominate after the Nationals scored in the first.
Ivan Rodriguez doubled to lead off the second, but Halladay then faced the minimum number of batters — with help from a pair of double plays — until the seventh, when he worked out of a two-on, one-out jam.
CARDINALS 11, REDS 6
At Cincinnati, Albert Pujols went 4-for-5 and hit two of a team-record four homers as St Louis downed Cincinnati on opening day, Monday.
Yadier Molina completed the Cardinals’ first four-homer opening game with a grand slam in the ninth. Only two other Cardinals have hit slams in season openers — Scott Rolen and Mark McGwire.
McGwire has returned to baseball as the Cardinals’ batting instructor this season, acknowledging that he used steroids when he broke the home run record in 1998.
On his second swing of the season, Pujols drove a 2-2 pitch from Aaron Harang (0-1) into the Reds’ bullpen area in left-center.
Joey Votto and Rolen hit solo homers for the Reds in the fourth.
ROCKIES 5, BREWERS 3
At Milwaukee, Ubaldo Jimenez stayed out of big trouble with his fastball and Ian Stewart homered on his birthday.
Jimenez gave up a run and struck out six in six innings. The Rockies won the matchup between the last two NL wild-card teams.
The 26-year-old Jimenez (1-0) became the first Rockies starter to win on opening day in six years.
Stewart, celebrating his 25th birthday, hit a solo homer off Yovani Gallardo (0-1). Carlos Gomez also homered in his Milwaukee debut.
PIRATES 11, DODGERS 5
At Pittsburgh, Garrett Jones homered in his first two at-bats, and pinch-hitter Ryan Church doubled home three runs as Pittsburgh started the new season the way it wound down 2009 by downing Los Angeles.
The Pirates, coming off a record-setting 17th consecutive losing season, won on opening day for the fourth season in a row as Ryan Doumit added a three-run homer in the eighth off reliever George Sherrill. Doumit also doubled and scored twice.
Vicente Padilla (0-1) gave up seven runs and six hits in 4 1-3 innings for his first loss with Los Angeles.
METS 7, MARLINS 1
At New York, David Wright hit a two-run homer and Johan Santana pitched six effective innings as the New York Mets finally got the better of Florida’s Josh Johnson.
Newcomers Jason Bay, Rod Barajas and Gary Matthews Jr each got two hits for New York, which improved to a major league-best 32-17 (.653) on opening day.
Manager Jerry Manuel also got three scoreless innings from his beleaguered bullpen, which he said was his biggest concern entering the season.
Johnson allowed four runs and five hits over five-plus innings in his first opening-day start.
BRAVES 16, CUBS 5
At Atlanta, Jason Heyward hit a three-run homer in his first major league game not long after catching the ceremonial first pitch from Hank Aaron.
Heyward, who had a run-scoring single in the eighth, was 2-for-5 with four RBIs.
Yunel Escobar drove in a career-high five runs as Zambrano gave up eight runs in 1-1/3 innings.
In other games it was:
• Giants 5, Astros 2
• Diamondbacks 6, Padres 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, ARLINGTON, TEXAS
Shaun Marcum didn’t give up a hit into the seventh inning for Toronto before the Texas Rangers rallied for a 5-4 win on opening day Monday thanks to a Jarrod Saltalamacchia RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.
Texas scored twice in the ninth off Blue Jays closer Jason Frasor (0-1).
Michael Young, the longest-tenured Texas player in his 10th season, had a leadoff double before Josh Hamilton took a called third strike. Vladimir Guerrero then had an infield single, though second baseman Aaron Hill made a diving stab deep behind the base to keep the tying run from scoring.
Nelson Cruz, however, hit an RBI double down the right-field line and Chris Davis was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Saltalamacchia’s flyball to right-center was well out of reach for the drawn-in outfield.
WHITE SOX 6, INDIANS 0
At Chicago, Mark Buehrle allowed three hits over seven innings and Paul Konerko got his 12th season in Chicago off to a good start with a two-run homer in the first inning.
Buehrle simply shut down the Indians, spoiling Cleveland manager Manny Acta’s debut and Jake Westbrook’s first start in nearly two years.
Alex Rios added a solo homer off Tony Sipp in the eighth and ended the game with a diving catch on Travis Hafner’s line drive to center.
Buehrle, starting his club-record eighth opener, looked more like the four-time All-Star he is than the guy who won just twice after his perfect game against Tampa Bay on July 23.
TIGERS 8, ROYALS 4
At Kansas City, Missouri, Johnny Damon and Brandon Inge drove in two runs each in a six-run seventh inning against Kansas City’s shaky bullpen.
Earlier on the wind-swept opening day, Yuniesky Betancourt’s two-run home run and Billy Butler’s bases-loaded single staked Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to a 4-2 lead over Justin Verlander in a duel between two of baseball’s premier starters.
Greinke departed after allowing six hits and one earned run through six innings.
Robinson Tejeda (0-1) got just one out and allowed three runs.
Joel Zumaya (1-0) went one inning and a batter, throwing 12 pitches.
In other games it was:
• Angels 6, Twins 3
• Mariners 5, Athletics 3
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