Bartolo Colon has been in the major leagues for 19 years now, and pitched against the Cleveland Indians yesterday, where it all began for him in 1997. He gave up two runs in 5.1 innings and secured the win to improve to 1-1 on the season.
Now at age 43, Colon is far removed from his days as an average sized young man. But the man can still pitch, and the Braves know that all too well. He has spent the last three years with the New York Mets, ensuring that we see him at least a few times every year.
Big Sexy has bounced from the Cleveland Indians to the Montreal Expos. He then spent a year with the Chicago White Sox in 2003, where he threw a league-high nine complete games. Among four years with the Los Angeles Angels, he led the league with 21 wins in 2005.
His career was beginning to fade after shortened seasons with the Boston Red Sox and the White Sox again, and did not pitch in 2010. But he took advantage of a cutting edge stem cell treatment, and in the years since with the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, and now the Mets, he has resurrected his career and shows no signs of slowing.
He's listed a 5-foot-11, 285 pounds, but I'll let you be the judge as to whether that's accurate or not.
Good ole Big Sexy. You can't help but enjoy watching a guy that has as much fun on a baseball diamond as him. It's even better when he has a bat in his hand. Hey, he had a career high four RBIs last season.
Around the National League East, the Washington Nationals are off to an 8-1 start, four games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies. But I don't think I'm disturbing any waters by admitting that the Nationals' start has been dramatically inflated by the fact they've played the Braves six times.
Their offense is clicking though, and Bryce Harper hit his 100th career home run in grand slam fashion off of best friend Julio Teheran last week (I don't really think they're best friends).
The Phillies are off to a decent start. Although Vincent Velasquez's 16 strikeout, three hit shutout against the San Diego Padres worries me. What would he do against the Braves? 20 Ks? No hits?
The Mets will get it going. As for the Marlins? Well, they just lost to the Braves, a feat no other team in baseball has been futile enough to accomplish so far.