Nick Swisher: Great backup outfielder, or the greatest backup outfielder?

Nick Swisher has fun out there. He enjoys playing baseball. He smiles. In other words, Joe Girardi will probably hate him by the end of May. 

With 5 RBI today and a grin on his face usually reserved for some sort of creepy clown obstacle on a miniature golf course, Swisher was half of today's one-two punch of second-choice free agents. Burnett and Swisher were supposed to be consolation prizes for whoever didn't get Sabathia and Teixiera, but at this early juncture they look like the better pair. I'm sure that's subject to change after Burnett's first injury and once Teixiera settles in, but...yeah. 

It was a good showing all around...home runs are nice but I was much more interested in the prolonged rally in the 6th. Not every game will feature pitching as miserable as the Orioles had today, so the small-ball stuff is much more meaningful as far as I'm concerned...that's how you beat good pitchers as well as bad ones.

Still, because it's my nature to wrest anxiety from the jaws of a feel-good moment, I can't help but notice that this was yet another blowout win. The 2008 Yankees only knew how to win in a blowout, and always seemed to choke in the close games. Until I see some wins without absurd run differentials, I will remain skeptical. However, the energy level was definitely encouraging today, led in no small part by Swisher and Burnett, who looked, unlike most Yankee players in recent memory, like they wanted to be there. That's the kind of thing that carries you through those long, hot summers under the tabloid magnifying glass, and that's what I like to see.

One down, 2429 to go

The first game of baseball year 2009 is in the books. No longer is everybody in first place, at least in the division once known as the NL Least. The Braves are in first, and the (chokes repeatedly trying to say it) World's Champion Phillies, in their goofy gold-trimmed uniforms (bush even by Philly sports standards, and that's quite a bit of bushitude) are in 5th. And so the Mets, Nats and Marlins begin their campaign with a half-game lead over the Phils but a half-game deficit to  make up on the Braves. If Willie Randolph were still managing the Mets, their fans would be calling for him to be fired tonight.

But in the other five divisions, most notably the AL East of course, the zeroes still have it, standing silent vigil up and down the table until tomorrow. The Royals are tied for first in the central, which is how you know it's Opening Day. The dawn of a new season awaits, another chance for the New York Baseball Yankees (yeah, get used to that...I really like to say "New York Football Giants," but football season's a long way off and I need a fix) to show some heart and hustle, two things not associated with the Bombers in recent years, unfortunately, unless you ask A-Rod where he was after the game last night and he tells you "Heart and Hustle, my favorite strip club."

The months ahead will have their ups and downs, their injuries, their screaming liners, their screaming fans, their screaming back pages. The weeks ahead will have their growing pains, their teething problems, their time-will-tells. The days ahead will have their comically meaningless batting averages, the .000s, the 1.000s, the .500s and everything in between. Consider these the signs of a season still wet behind the ears, but know this: September and October will be here before you know it, and this child-season will be either an old friend we'll miss when it's gone, or a crotchety old man who mocks us by his refusal to go away. The hours ahead will have their own frustrations: Is it game time yet? Is it game time yet? Are we there yet? Yes. Almost. 

Almost.