Wednesday's first pitch

Today is the 35th anniversary of Hank Aaron becoming the home run king. It's hard not to respect the man who passed the Babe's mark of 714 on April 8, 1974. One of the five greatest players of all time, he's handled everything with class, dignity and honor. So he's still the home run king in most people's hearts.

Now, on to another slugger. Jim Thome bashed his first homer of the season. It was also the 542nd of his career. People doubt whether or not Thome deserves a spot in Cooperstown. Well, if Thome is clean - he's never been accused of anything - he certainly should be a lock for the Hall of Fame. His numbers at the start of the season were 541 homers, a .279 average, 1,488 runs batted in, and a .406 on-base percentage. That's very favorable to Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson, Eddie Matthews and Harmon Killebrew.

Here are there numbers:
Yrs HR RBI AVG. OBP.
Thome 18 541 1,488 .279 .406
Schmidt 18 548 1,595 .267 .380
Jackson 21 563 1,702 .262 .356
Killebrew 22 573 1,542 .256 .376
Matthews 17 512 1,453 .272 .376

Now, back to the news for the region's teams.

• Manager Charlie Manuel must be a dunce. His lineup tinkering helped the Phillies get shut out. Just kidding. Not about the World Champs' offense stinking up the joint, but about the dunce thing. Uncle Cholly's a genius. Anyone who doubts that can borrow The Southpaw's DVD of the NLCS, in which he outmanages the era's best manager. One thing that was noticeable last night was Ryan Howard's improved defense. We here at The Southpaw were very impressed with the two bad-hop grounders he handled as well as his four clean picks of throws in the dirt. As far as the Braves go, Jordan Schafer is really impressive. Especially since he has yet to hit puberty. Imagine how strong he'll get after his voice deepens and he can shave. Gustavo Chacin signed with the Phillies
• In the Baltimore Sun, Dan Connelly profiles Koji Uehara. Also on the Web site, you can catch up with Sam Horn.
• The Washington Post looks at the struggles of Lastings Milledge while The Washington Times shows how hard the Marlins hit former teammate Scott Olsen.
• There was no magical comeback Tuesday. Nyjer Morgan is showing some leadoff thunder.

Here's a quick look at news from around the rest of Major League Baseball.

• Dan Shaughnessy has a good piece about Opening Day in Boston, which included a dominating performance.
• Oh, Joba, you card. Yankees fans will surely be forgiving now that the video is out with you making fun of The Bronx faithful. We here at The Southpaw admit your potshot at Yogi Berra was funny. But Yogi's one of the few Yankees everybody likes, so you should have left him alone. And why pick on Lawrence Peter anyway? Are you paranoid his nickname is better?
• Speaking of the Yankees, we have to hear more about how hard it is to be a Yankee. Well, if that was the case how come Danny Tartabull and Tom Gordon were impressive for the Yankees, but couldn't do squat for the Phillies. Then there's the case of Roberto Kelly, who was took his All-Star reputation from New York to Cincinnati, but couldn't stay in the lineup anywhere else. Every team has players who were hyped when they were brought in, but ended up being busts. Get off it, New York.
• John Shae looks at Cy Young and Cy Old. The Giants, meanwhile got off to a strong start.
• The A's offense woke up
• The Rangers season might rely on the right arm of Vicente Padilla.
• Lastly, no beer at the Blue Jays game.