It’s Opening Day! 14 games:

Opening Day is here, first with a pair of Boston-Oakland games in Japan, then with Ryan Zimmerman’s unbelievable walk-off homer to beat Atlanta in the first regular-season game at Nationals Park in Washington, and now with 14 Major League Baseball games today, including the last opener at Yankee Stadium.

Every Opening Day, I have this tradition. I pray — hard. One prayer for each loss in the previous season. It usually takes all day. But I think it’s working.
Royals fan “Troy” in Liberty, Mo.

Sorry, Troy… it hasn’t worked out since Tartabull and Saberhagen were hot, but I applaud your unrelenting fandom.

W got booed [I guess for his leadership off the ballfield], but even the die-hard lefties have to admit that kid’s got a cannon [watch video of it here].

I invite everyone to participate in the Principal Financial Group 401-K Challenge. It’s easy - you predict which Major League Baseball team will be the first to record 401 pitching strikeouts at home in the 2008 season. If you guess correctly, you’re entered into a drawing for:

• Grand Prize: If you choose the winning team, you are eligible for a random drawing at the end of the season for five thousand dollars ($5,000).
• Local First Prize: All other entrants will be entered into a local drawing for one of 56 first prizes that include:
  • $100 Best Buy gift card
  • A free six-month membership to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY

I’ve been to Cooperstown, NY before. It’s a nice place! And, of course, the National Baseball Hall of Fame is a one-of-a-kind institution that everyone should visit at some point - baseball fan or not.

My pick is the Kansas City T-Bones. [Hat Tip: Beartwinsmom]

And if you didn’t catch statistical analysis messiah Bill James’ interview on 60 Minutes last night, by all means, watch it here.

James’ contributions to statistical analysis are enormous. Some of us even believe that re-thinking data could help out in education [others, like the UFT, don’t]. Listening to James talk about applying data to the game - and the limits of that data - is sobering, and the commentary from Bob Costas and other notables is wonderful.

Good luck on the 401-K Challenge, enjoy your opening day games and may Bill James change the way you look at box scores.

Sawx rule.

That is all.