Baseball Squads Feature a Closer...and an 'Opener'

In baseball parlance, an "opener" was historically the season's first game, or maybe the first game in a series against another team. Ya know, I'm skipping work to hit the opener at the Stadium, or, Kershaw is pitching in the opener against the Giants.

These days, opener probably refers to the Tampa Bay Rays' intriguing experiment of going with a cadre of relief pitchers every fifth time through the rotation, with an "opener" starting the game and offering a couple innings, and giving the opposing hitters one less look at the guy picked to hurl most of the innings.

The first true opener, according to The Ringer, was Sergio Romo:
The new terminology itself indicates the novelty of Romo’s weekend role. He started two games after making his first 588 career appearances as a reliever. But he was doing so on consecutive days, with the express purpose of clearing the top of the Angels’ lineup before making way for pitchers—normally starters—who would give Tampa Bay more innings. Romo was technically starting, but not in the traditional sense of the term. He was opening—the games, and, perhaps, a futuristic path to ordering a pitching staff.

The blog Rays Colored Glasses applauded the Tampa Bay squad for upending baseball tradition, only to question, a week later, if it was "Closing Time on Openers." 

The first story--the complementary one--read:


Give Kevin Cash and the Rays organization credit for again trying something different.  There’s no doubt that the Rays must be different to compete.  They will never have the payroll as many other teams in baseball.  But, they seem to have taken an aggressive approach to numbers.  Statistics.  And, that cannot be overlooked.

The whole opener debate took off in a Reddit post May 22. Reddit defines the opener as:

The Opener is basically a relief pitcher used at the start of the game. Like many standard relievers, the Opener has a limited, but important role to play in how teams could win games.

Mets Manager Introduces New York to 'Dirtball Read'

During the Mets game last night, the broadcast shifted to a taped interview with manager Mickey Callaway, who addressed a question about the Mets' general lack of speed, and said that savvy and aggressive baserunning can make up for the mostly old, mostly slow runners on the Mets squad.
Callaway talked about a ball in the dirt, and how a smart baserunner can make a good "dirtball read" and bolt to the next base.

In fact, he said "dirtball read" twice.
And when the interview ended and things went back to the booth, Gary Cohen was delighted to share the new baseball term he'd picked up.
Yes, dirtball read. How well you pick up on a pitch in the dirt.
Ron Darling offered his own take on "dirtball read," saying how his parents would advise him to stay away from a "slovenly person" when he was a kid.
The guys sensed they were on to a cool, funky term. "It may be viral," they said. "It may be a t-shirt."
Googling "dirtball read," I see the term has been around for a bit. Here's Pittsburgh City Paper last month:

On March 19, Gerrit Cole had his best spring-training outing to date. The Pirates pitcher struck out five and gave up only one run, and the control on his fastball was pretty masterful. But when he met with reporters after the game, it was his other performance that started the conversation.

Cole went 1-2 at the plate with a two-run single, and almost a stolen base. He took second on a pitch in the dirt; the official scorer didn’t award him the steal, but he wasn’t discouraged.

“That’s all right. I’m not chasing stolen bags, I’m chasing stars,” Cole said referring to the “Stargell Stars” that coaches hand out for standout performances. He was looking for one from Kimera Bartee, the Bucs’ first-base and base-running coach. “And what we say in here is the fastest way to get a star is to get 90 feet. KB’s real generous with those stars, so I’m hoping I get my first one.”

Cole even impressed his manager, Clint Hurdle. “It’s called a dirtball read,” Hurdle said with a smile.

And here's the Boston Globe four years ago, when Mike Napoli dislocated his finger. 


“Good dirtball read like that, I was digging myself, and then I looked at my finger and it’s freakin’ sideways so it’s good news it’s not broken,” Napoli said. “I know I hit the bag pretty hard and I looked and it was right there in front of my face, then I saw it and I went, ‘oh, God’ [umpire] Jim Joyce was going ‘oh my God,’ calling for the trainer. It’ll be all right.”