Opening Day has come and gone (if you don’t count the games in Australia) and a couple things stood out – Jeff Samardzija looked sharp for the Cubs (as did Francisco Liriano for Pittsburgh), the Angels bullpen may struggle this year, and the ball can really travel in the newly configured Citi Field.

As for the former Boise Hawks…

In the Cubs-Pirates game, Samardzija tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just five hits and striking out three.  At the plate, Welington Castillo was 0-for-2 for the Cubs with a strikeout, while for the Bucs, Josh Harrison struck out against former Tri-City Dust Devil, Pedro Strop, in a pinch-hitter role.

Al Alburquerque pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Tigers in a 4-3 win over the Royals; Jerry Blevins struck out three, but allowed a two-run homer to David Wright in his Nationals debut in New York; Francisco Rodriguez locked down the save in a Brewers 2-0 win over Atlanta; while Donnie Veal retired the one batter he faced for the White Sox in a 5-3 win over Minnesota.

Ryan Flaherty got the start at third for the Orioles against Boston, going 0-for-3 in a 2-1 victory; both former Hawks played for the Rays in their win over Toronto – Brandon Guyer scoring a run as a pinch runner and Joel Peralta tossing two-thirds innings of spotless relief; with Josh Donaldson going 2-for-4 in the A’s 2-0 loss to Cleveland.