The Giants play their home opener this afternoon as they host the Atlanta Braves. Jorge Sosa faces Noah Lowry, but I'm curious to see the crowd reaction to Barry Bonds. I expect it to be good, but you never know.

The move to Atlanta in 2005 made a huge difference in Jorge Sosa's ERA last year. He posted a 5.53 mark in Tampa Bay during the 2004 season, but cut that by more than half in 2005. Fewer baserunners and fewer home runs allowed made the difference.

Lowry's first full season in the majors was a success. He held opponents to a .249 batting average and a .320 OBA. There's room to improve on the walk numbers, but the strikeouts are very good. This should be a good pitching matchup, too.

Today's big debut belongs to Pedro Martinez, making his first start of the year after a toe injury pushed him back from pitching opening day. He'll face the Washington Nationals at Shea with Ramon Ortiz on the mound. It might be a mistake to think that Ortiz will improve with the change of ballparks, playing his home games at RFK instead of GAB. But this is a pitcher who gave up 40 home runs pitching for the Angels one year. If seems you can take Ortiz deep in any ballpark.

Pedro pitched well vs. the Nationals in two starts, but came away with an 0-1 record in 2005. He struck out 10, walked 1 and gave up 0 home runs in 13 innings, but poor run support in one game and a poor bullpen performance in the other kept Pedro away from the W.

Enjoy!