The Padres are the 12th team for Matt Stairs, matching the big league mark set by Jim “Deacon” McGuire and tied by Mike Morgan and Ron Villone. Given that Stairs is a solid candidate for a midseason trade, don’t be surprised if he holds the mark by himself in the near future. …
The two youngest players in the big leagues on Opening Day were with the Mets: pitchers Jenrry Mejia and Ruben Tejada, both 20. The next youngest were the Braves’ Jason Heyward (20), the Tigers’ Rick Porcello (21) and the Rangers’ Elvis Andrus (21). …
The Diamondbacks’ Chris Young went 0-for-2 against the Padres’ Chris Young on Wednesday, dropping him to 0-for-16 against his namesake. …
Milton Bradley became the 23rd left fielder for the Mariners in their 34 Opening Day lineups, and he needed only two games to cause a loss with his glove. …
A taste treat at Target Field in Minneapolis — walleye on a stick. …
There were questions about Frank McCourt’s finances when he bought the Dodgers, but he assured fans he always would keep his team in the top quarter of major league payrolls. They entered this season 11th, evidence the McCourt divorce is affecting the team, which somehow has become a playoff regular in the McCourt years. There’s less margin for error this season as the payroll has dropped from $118.6 million in 2008 to $95.3 million. Joe Torre believes a motivated Manny Ramirez will make a difference this season. We’ll see. …
Trevor Hoffman is a little bit embarrassed the Brewers hung a banner beyond the outfield fence to track his countdown to 600 saves. He says it’s motivation to get there quickly. He was at 593 entering the weekend. …
The Orioles’ Latin American effort has been an embarrassment in the Peter Angelos era. Among 231 foreign-born players on big league rosters to start the season, only two ( Erik Bedard and Koji Uehara) began their MLB careers in Baltimore. …
Those Forbes rankings of franchise value make good copy, but clubs don’t take them seriously. Marlins president David Samson explained why: “We have no idea how Forbes comes to its conclusions given the fact they have no access to our numbers at all, given the fact they have no understanding of our business and how it’s run.” …
Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco — sacrificed by the Cubs for Juan Pierre long ago — has set a goal of working 200-plus innings and walking 25 or fewer. The only two pitchers in the last decade who have done that are David Wells and Brad Radke. Greg Maddux did it twice previously. …
How deep are the Phillies? Most nights they have an All-Star hitting seventh in Shane Victorino or Raul Ibanez. …
Chicago teams do enjoy a significant travel advantage. The Angels will fly the most miles in the majors this season: 50,509. That’s more than twice as many as the White Sox (22,832).
