Less smiling more hitting, Willie.

Bottom 1: Willie Harris struck out swinging against Jason Marquis

Bottom 2: Called out on strikes against Marquis

Bottom 5: Singles to right field off of Marquis

Bottom 7: Called out on strikes against Chad Gaudin

Bottom 10: Harris struck out swinging against Drew Storen

On the day: 1-5 with a run scored, four strikeouts

The Golden Sombrero presents MLB Look-alikes: Jim Thome and Jamey Sheridan

Mike Scioscia kept Mathis in the game to ensure a sombrero

Bottom 3: Jeff Mathis singles on a line drive to left field

Bottom 4: Mathis struck out swinging against Brett Cecil

Bottom 6: Mathis struck out swinging against Carlos Villanueva

Bottom 9: Mathis flied out to center fielder Rajai Davis

Bottom 11: Mathis struck out swinging against Octavio Dotel

Bottom 14: Mathis struck out swinging against Jon Rauch

Two of the American League’s top pitching prospects were on display in the first week of the 2011 season, and suffice it to say, they both lived up to their respective hype.

First up was the Blue Jays’ Kyle Drabek, who used his 89-91 mph cutter to befuddle the Minnesota Twins’ offense on Saturday.  He allowed one run in seven innings, while walking three and striking out seven.  Oh yeah, the Sombrero’s No. 33 prospect took a no-hit bid into the sixth.  In his “10 Rookie Predictions” piece, John Sickels even predicts that Drabek will toss a no-no in early May – a bit bold, but definitely not unimaginable.

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For those who don’t already know, I spent Opening Day weekend in Ohio with my buddy Clint from Diamond Hoggers, where we took in the Reds and White Sox opening day games.  As it turned out, both were two of the weekend’s most exciting games, as the Reds won with a dramatic Ramon Hernandez walk-off, and the White Sox hit the crap out of the ball and put up 15 runs.  Their bullpen implosion is a story I’ll save for another day, however.

When we arrived at Progressive Jacob’s Field, the White Sox were in the midst of batting practice.  Based upon how my boys were crushing the ball during BP, I should have known they were going to put up 15 runs.  Adam Dunn was effortlessly going 15-20 rows deep with each swing and even deposited one in the right field upper deck.  Clint was busy tweeting/texting and almost lost his life after a Dunn line drive skipped off the top of the wall and right past his melon. Alex Rios had the best ball flight of anyone on the team – his blasts were majestic and looked like they were still rising even after they cleared the fence.  I watched Edwin Jackson throw a knuckleball to an unsuspecting John Danks, who had the ball deflect off the palm of his glove and flush into his chest.  The best part: Danks was laughing harder than EJax after it happened.

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