Opening day is finally upon us.  Although the day was disappointing as the Chicago Cubs started off the season on a down note, it's great to have baseball back.  With that, the GNUru is here to share the top headlines from Opening Day 2007! 

Observations from Opening Day
It's often said that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If that's the case, Ken Rosenthal says Alex Rodriguez may be in for a big season and Gil Meche was worth every penny the Royals paid for the pitcher.

Sparkling start for Hernandez
Younger and slimmer was certainly better for the Seattle Mariners - for one, promising day, anyway. Felix Hernandez, the 20-year-old would-be phenom who has lost 20 pounds since a disappointing 2006 season, thoroughly dominated the defending AL West champion Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 victory Monday. The youngest opening day pitcher in the major leagues in 22 years allowed three hits and struck out a career-high 12 in eight innings.

Royals leave Sox all Meched up
All those critics who said Kansas City overpaid for Gil Meche will be hard to find now. In his first start since signing a five-year, $55 million contract, the right-hander outdueled a shaky Curt Schilling on Monday and pitched the Royals to a 7-1 opening day victory over Boston. The right-hander, being counted on to improve the worst pitching staff in the majors, went 7 1-3 innings and gave up one run on six hits, with one walk and six strikeouts.

Sheets dominant in first start
Ben Sheets started the season in dominating style. Sheets gave up an early home run, then retired his next 22 batters in a two-hitter Monday that led the Milwaukee Brewers over the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-1 in their opener. Sheets allowed Jeff Kent's homer leading off the second and Brady Clark's double with one out in the ninth.

Yankees rally past Rays in opener
On an emotional opening day, the New York Yankees got big hits from Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez - and even a few encouraging innings from Carl Pavano. The oft-injured Pavano pitched his first major league game since June 2005 and Giambi hit a go-ahead single in the seventh for his third RBI, leading New York past the baby-faced Tampa Bay Devil Rays 9-5 Monday.

Tribune, Cubs sold for $8.2 billion
Tribune Co. has accepted a buyout offer from real estate investor Sam Zell in a deal valued at about $8.2 billion, the media company said Monday. Tribune said Zell plans to invest $315 million in the deal and the company will sell the Chicago Cubs baseball team at the end of this season. Zell will eventually become chairman of the Chicago-based media company's board when the deal is complete.

Dunn powers Reds past Cubs
Adam Dunn still looks more like the Bambino than Ichiro. Trying to merely put the ball in play, Dunn homered in his first two at-bats on Monday, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-1, opening-day victory over the Chicago Cubs. While Dunn quickly got away from trying to make contact like Seattle's slap-hitting Ichiro Suzuki, right-hander Aaron Harang had his way with a Cubs lineup that got an offseason infusion of cash and power in the offseason, allowing only one unearned run in seven innings.

Renteria homers twice in Braves win
Edgar Renteria showed he's a better hitter than bunter. After twice failing to execute a sacrifice, Renteria ripped his second homer - a two-run shot - in the 10th inning to lead the Atlanta Braves over the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 in the season opener Monday. Renteria's solo shot off starter Brett Myers with two outs in the eighth inning tied it at 3. John Smoltz went six innings, Bob Wickman (1-0) pitched out of a jam in the ninth and Chad Paronto tossed a scoreless 10th for the save.

Cy Young winner, MVP lift Twins over O's
The MVP came through for the Cy Young winner. That's the advantage Minnesota has with more than one star. Justin Morneau went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs, helping the Twins survive an underwhelming outing by Johan Santana in a 7-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Monday night's season opener. Torii Hunter also drove in two runs, including his homer on the next pitch from Erik Bedard that followed Morneau's shot in the second inning.

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The Fantasy Baseball season is upon us and with only a few hours before the first pitch of the 2007 Major League Baseball season, it's time to set your fantasy lineups. While you may have done your homework, drafted a stellar team there is still work to do.  With all the early season injuries and lineup changes it's important to stay on top of what is going around the MLB.  In what the GNUru calls Lineup Literacy, the GNUru will provide you with all you need to do to set your weekly fantasy baseball lineup. 

GNUru Hitting Planner

Since it's only week 1 there is not much that one can do to plan for week 1.  The only bits of useful information are which teams play 7 games in the first week of fantasy play. More games, mean more at bats and more at bats mean more points.  Below is a list of teams who play a full seven games in week 1:

GNUru Pitching Planner

While those in Roto leagues may not care much which pitchers are slated to make 2 appearances in week 1, those in head to head leagues are salivating at the thought of their aces taking the hill mulitple times.  What a better way to reward those who did not have Pitcher Phobia in this years draft than to boast a lineup loaded with top of the rotation pitchers.  Below is a list of starting pitchers scheduled to make 2 starts this upcoming fantasy week:

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Recently the GNUru was asked to participate in a piece entitled "Voo Doo Sabermetrics".  Voo Doo Sabermetrics is an attempt to quantify the intricacies of sports and how we value players.  By value we mean more than the traditional measure of a players value, typically statistics.  Value is determined by categories such as nicknames, appearance, behavior, clutchness, atomic mass, date quotient, hottness, scrappiness, jollyness, and exposure.  Below is an exceprt of the inaugural article including the GNUru's take on "Clutchness".  For the full version, please visit The Extrapolater.

Voodoo Sabermetrics reminds us that our love for the team includes our love of individual players. We usually have a favorite superstar hitter or pitcher or both. But what about those guys that you just... like? Maybe someone who pinch hits or steals a base now and then. Maybe an aging vet who is like an extra coach in the dugout. Rather than judge everyone by their stats, we're going to use unique categories and scoring methods to check out baseball's characters.

Our High Voodoo Council are:

Jack Cobra from 3manlift.com Neighbor Quotient and Scrappiness
Texas Gal from Ladies... Hottness and Behavior
Uncle Sunil from Hurricanes Are For Drinking Atomic Mass and Exposure
Gary Gnu from The GNUru Fantasy Sports Clutchness and Chuck Norrissness
Sooze from Babes Love Baseball Jollyness
TC from Mr. Thursday's Curious Mechanism Appearance and Quotability
Extra P. from The Extrapolater Name Quality (including nicknames)

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