Brett Myers made it through the Nats in the top of the first very easily. He threw 13 pitches – mostly fastballs – and got back to throwing strikes after starting off two of the three hitters with first-pitch balls.
As one can guess, I’m really into the theory behind first-pitch strikes. I’m not a huge stats guy, but the first-pitch strike one makes a lot of sense.
Jimmy Rollins belted a sixth-pitch strike to the wall in left for a standup double and then moved to third on a nice bunt by Shane Victorino. The scorer gave Victorino a sacrifice, which is the correct call, but I suspect he was bunting for a hit. The thing is Victorino bunted it toward third at Ryan Zimmerman who will vacuum up anything. He’s good.
Rollins scored on Chase Utley’s long sac fly to deep center. That means the Phillies lead the league in sacrifices. That’s hardly a Moneyball type stat, though it got the Phillies a run.
That’s 1-to-zip at the end of the first frame of the season.