Lastings Milledge was in the two-hole in Washington's 4-1 loss to the Marlins. With the latest news on Milledge being his declaration to steal 30 bases this season, batting near the top of the order will give him more chances to fulfill that pledge.
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In their 10-3 to the Braves, the top of the Dodgers line-up was Raphael Furcal, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, James Loney and Andy LaRoche. There wouldn't be too many unhappy fantasy players if that held true in the regular season.
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Rule V draftee Brian Barton lead-off for the Cardinals in their 5-4 victory over the New York Mets. What I find interesting is he was reported to have had knee discomfort and preceded to start at DH, LF and now CF the following three days. Barton is the sleeper in the Cardinals OF this season.
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Denard Span started in CF and was relieved by Carlos Gomez after going 1-2. This hints that there is no edge between either of them for the Opening Day CF role. Gomez had started the previous game in CF.
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Erick Aybar started at SS while Brandon Wood was the DH. Aybar doubled and walked in his three plate appearances, and Wood hit a HR in his four. Given Sioscia's preference for Aybar, Wood is going to have do a lot more if Aybar produces like that.
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Rookie Matt Antonelli hit a two-run HR and walked twice in the Padres 13-9 loss to Kansas City. He is slated for AAA, but fantasy players should not be discouraged. In front of him is one-year signee Tadahito Iguchi, who could be displaced if the Padres determine Antonelli can help them more.
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Travis Buck hit lead-off for the A's in their 11-4 victory of the Milwaukee Brewers. I heard he was the favorite to lead-off this year. That could hurt his value some as he won't use those extra ABs for more SB opportunities as an A, and the bottom of the line-up isn't going to provide the RBI opportunities he'd have hitting in the middle of the line-up.
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Interestingly, Rich Aurilia started at 3B and Dan Ortmeier at 1B. With Omar Vizquel out until the begining of the season, the Giants infield is going to offer lots of ABs and position eligibility to players who would normally not get it. At 2B was Dave Luciani favorite, Travis Denker.
In the Giants' other split squad game, Eugenio Velez started at 2B and swiped two bags. He is a deep Sb sleeper after stealing 58 bases between AA (49), AAA (5) and the majors (4) last season.