Early baseball is fun and crazy

When it comes to baseball, April tends to make fools out of a lot of us. It’s understandable. After a long winter, baseball lovers tend to overreact once the season begins. We know better, but we just can’t help ourselves.

April baseball is as crazy and unpredictable as the snowstorms and tornadoes that strike Colorado on the same day.

For instance, the defending World Series champion Giants, lacking offense, defense and focus, lost eight consecutive games for the first time since 2007, Barry Bonds’ final season. Their 3-9 record through Friday matched the worst start in San Francisco history.

Meanwhile, the Rockies swept the Giants in San Francisco last week and opened the season 6-0 on the road for the first time in franchise history. The Rockies went 6-39 in their final 45 road games last season. Go figure.

And one final bit of April weirdness, from esteemed ESPN baseball writer Jayson Stark: Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, the $325 million man, finally hit a home run Thursday. Stark counted 164 players who homered before Stanton did — including Elvis Andrus, Billy Hamilton and Jeff Francoeur.

Hundley’s impact. I’m used to players praising their teammates, but I’d never seen so many players go out of their way to compliment a player as they have Rockies catcher Nick Hundley.

“I let him call the games. He steers the ship,” rookie right-hander Eddie Butler said. “But it’s kind of funny, because it’s like he knows what pitch I want to throw.”

That’s no accident. The first thing Hundley did when he signed a two-year, $6.25 million contract with Colorado was to begin studying his new batterymates.

“That started in the offseason, establishing relationships with the pitchers before we even got to spring training,” manager Walt Weiss said. “He did a great job of connecting with them once we were in Scottsdale and earned their trust right away. That’s critical for a pitcher and

catcher.”

The Catch. There have been a lot of comparisons between the catch Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado made Tuesday night at San Francisco and the catch former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter made against the Red Sox on July 1, 2004, at Yankee Stadium.

For the record, Arenado’s was the tougher catch. His was an over-the-shoulder job, and he collided with the tarp without warning. Then he got up and threw the ball, from his knees, from atop the tarp, attempting to complete a double play.

True, Jeter had a longer run, but he saw the stands coming after he made his catch, and then he made his dive. Plus, it was in his home ballpark.

I’ve had Yankees fans e-mail me and say that Jeter’s catch was better because it was the Yankees. One man e-mailed me, saying, “Every game in New York is a playoff game, so Jeter did it on a bigger stage.”

I say, “Gag me.”