MLB Daily: Mookie Betts' Big Day; All Hail Ned Yost; Games Are Eight Minutes Shorter So Far!

Welcome to MLB Daily, a warm, loving place where allowing a pinch-hit Grand Slam to Stephen Drew isn’t grounds for immediate banishment across the Narrow Sea.

Best Betts: In six games so far in 2015, Red Sox centerfielder Mookie Betts is making a case toward being the best baseball player named Mookie since Mookie Wilson and one of the more-famous Betts since former Allman Bros. guitarist, Dickey Betts. During his Red Sox 2015 Fenway debut on Monday, Betts proved to be a one-man, five-tool wrecking crew with a home run, four RBIs, two stolen bases and some great catches. Since MLB.com puts almost every highlight online, you can watch for yourself:

Two steals on one play? That’s about as good a major league game as any one player can produce. Before we allow ourselves to fall into the hype trap — reminder that baseball is fun 140 characters at a time, but it’s a long, loooooooong season — Betts is batting .233 on the season, although with an above-average 112 OPS+. Last year in 52 games he slashed .291/.368/.444 which is a pretty good line for a rookie centerfielder who rates as a plus defender.

If anything, Betts’ solid lock on center in Boston means that one way or another the Red Sox are going to need to make a trade. Right now you’ve got Betts, Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, Brock Holt, Daniel Nava and Allen Craig in the Majors, with Jackie Bradley Jr. and Rusney Castillo sitting in the minors. Figure the Sox will trade one of these guys to supplement at catcher or bullpen as the season goes along.

The loss dropped preseason favorite Washington to 2-5 on the year. ******P-A-N-I-C on the Potomac*******

The expected regression to the mean hasn’t occurred yet at Winterfell Kauffman Stadium. The Royals lead baseball in runs (52) and more impressive, already have 10 home runs — which unofficially according to Lisk didn’t happen until Memorial Day last season.

For all the talk and jokes about Yost’s love of the bunt, if you’re a KC fan cross your fingers he doesn’t run Salvador Perez into the ground. The young catcher already has three homers and is batting .414. Last year he played 150 games and then 15 in the post season, via his 2014 game log Yost gave Perez three days off after the All Star break. In October, Perez batted .207, the long season isn’t the only reason but it’s something to mull over since he might be the most-important player on the Royals as well as usurping Yadier Molina as the Midwest’s best catcher/leader/etc.

Give him a rest every now and then, Neddard. It’s the honorable thing to do.

Also, has anyone spotted Yost around a “red woman” because the Royals are clearly using some type of blood magic.

Game time: An ESPN SportsCenter app alert told me on Monday that the new “pace of game” rules shaved nine — NINE — minutes off the standard nine-inning game through the first week of the season.  (The story on ESPN later said only eight minutes, so I guess someone got excited, probably me.) Over 162 games, that’s 1,296 minutes about 21.5 hours — almost a full day of your life. Games through the first week took 2:54 to complete.

Big Country: It’s still weird to see Billy Butler in an A’s uniform. Even so, he crushed this ball vs. the Astros.

Does the “Country Breakfast” name still apply now that he’s on the West Coast? Does said breakfast need to include an avocado now?

This & That: The Tigers finally lost, falling to the Pirates 5-4. Anibal Sanchez gave up three homers — including a leadoff shot to Josh Harrison — after posting the lowest home run ratio in baseball the last two seasons. … Who is calling more attention to himself? A-Rod or the dopey fan in Camden turning his back on Rodriguez’ at bats? … Four of Nelson Cruz’s seven hits this season have left the park. He homered twice vs. the Dodgers, but Los Angeles walked off in the 10th on an Alex Guerrero single. … We talked about Jon Lester’s yips already. … The latest twist in A-Rod vs. the Yankees now includes the club downplaying what exactly is considered a “milestone.” … Kris Bryant keeps on hitting the baseball in Triple A. Methinks he’ll be with the Cubs shortly.

Author’s note: If you happen to see anything weird/noteworthy/etc. in the course of a baseball day and would like it to feature in this column feel free to contact me on Twitter. As much as I’d like to, tracking all 30 teams and 15 games per night might be more than I can chew all season.

[Y-A-R-D-W-O-R-K?]

(*) Apologies in advance, as I’m sure the Yost/Stark/Game of Thrones comparsions have been made before on the Internet.