Closers, starters are a mixed bag

The Angels would not start their season for another five hours, but the time had come for K-Rod. Scot Shields sat at his new locker, the one Francisco Rodriguez had occupied for the last six years, and watched on television.

Rodriguez looked a little different than he did with the Angels: New team on the front of the uniform, new number on the back of the uniform, six consecutive strikes right out of the bullpen.

“Hey,” Shields said with a laugh, “he’s got that in him.”

And so, without a single nail bitten off in New York or runner reaching base in Cincinnati, Rodriguez delivered his first save for the Mets, closing a 2-1 victory over the Reds.

The Mets paid dearly to acquire Rodriguez and J.J. Putz for their bullpen -- signing Rodriguez for $37 million, trading seven players to get Putz in a three-team trade -- and appeared brilliant for a day.

Johan Santana started for the Mets on Monday. Oliver Perez and Livan Hernandez also start for them, so we’ll see how many save opportunities Rodriguez gets.

The Dodgers breathed a sigh of relief too, with Jonathan Broxton looking every bit as fine as Rodriguez.

The Dodgers did not promote Broxton to closer until after Trevor Hoffman turned them down. Broxton pitched a perfect ninth inning Monday, striking out two in finishing a 4-1 victory over the San Diego Padres.

This was the best possible outcome for the Padres. Their ace, Jake Peavy, pitched well. They lost.

The Padres say they won’t trade Peavy so long as they remain in contention, and the National League West could be so poor that they can’t fall too far behind too fast. Yet the Padres are so weak that five pitchers were hastily acquired this spring, just to complete the staff. They need to crash and burn, and the sooner the better.

Peavy doesn’t belong there, not when he could fetch three or four legitimate prospects for a team desperately short on them. The Cleveland Indians got four for CC Sabathia last summer, getting more by trading him on July 7 rather than waiting until July 31.

Sabathia pitched the Milwaukee Brewers into the playoffs, setting himself up for a $161-million payday from the New York Yankees. He flopped miserably Monday, failing to survive the fifth inning, walking five and striking out none in a 10-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

In 254 previous starts, Sabathia never had walked five more batters than he had struck out, conjuring up visions of Dontrelle Willis for terrified Yankees fans. But Sabathia needed six starts last season to get his earned-run average under 10.00 and still did fine, so Yankees’ angst might be better channeled toward Alex Rodriguez.

He was on the disabled list, and it was still his fault, in vintage A-Rod fashion. Cody Ransom, filling in at third base for Rodriguez, botched what should have been an inning-ending double-play ball in the fifth inning. Sabathia walked two of the next three batters, forcing in a run, and was done.

But he lasted longer than Brandon Webb, in an ominous start that could tilt the NL West toward the Dodgers.

Webb gave up six runs in four innings in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 9-8 victory over the Colorado Rockies, then said he had been hampered by shoulder stiffness during the game. He had shoulder tendinitis toward the end of last season, when the Dodgers pounded him in consecutive starts.

Webb said he should be fine. He’d better be. The Diamondbacks can only dream of the financial resources necessary to trade for Peavy, and no prospect is so phenomenal as to replace a guy who finished first, second and second in the last three NL Cy Young races.

In the absence of such an ace, the Oakland Athletics went young, praying that Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill and Josh Outman might be the second coming of Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. The A’s are the first team to open the season with five starters under 26 since the 1978 Brewers.

The Oakland rotation entered the season with a combined 63 major league starts. Joe Saunders, hardly a veteran at 27, entered the season with 64 starts.

He pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings, leading the Angels past the A’s, 3-0. Jose Arredondo got one out, Shields three, and Brian Fuentes the last three.

The Angels’ old closer worked a perfect ninth inning in the first game on opening day. The Angels’ new closer worked a perfect ninth inning in the last game on opening day. Shields applauded them both, and on we go.

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com