The 10 best moments from April that remind us that baseball is great

Were you sleeping through April? Perhaps work got busy and so you couldn't watch dozens upon dozens of games. Or perhaps you did watch 11 hours of baseball every day (as doctors recommend) and now you're ready to relive the very best moments of recent history, the ones that made you all fuzzy and warm and happy on the inside. 

Good, that's what we want to do, too. So here are the 10 best moments that remind us that baseball is great from the month that was. 

10. OPENING DAY

That's right, Opening Day happened. The grand high holiday of baseball. The day where beauty and goodness is celebrated. And just like every year, it was the very best of things.

Hanley Ramirez hit two home runs, including a grand slam in his return to the Red Sox. (His two at-bats with Boston in 2005 with Boston counts.)

Bartolo Colon, the greatest living being in the world's history, defeated the Nationals' $210-million man in the game's first day. And swung with the might of a man who believed his bat could end the world's suffering:

And Mike Trout continued his dominance over Felix Hernandez with this blast. It was even enough to make Felix exclaim, "Oh drat! That rascal has bested me once again. But have no fear, young Trout, you may have won the battle, but the war is far, far from over! BAHHAHHAHA BAHHAHHAHA BAHHAHAHHA!" (I may be inferring a little.)

But, most importantly, it signaled that baseball was back.

9. Nelson Cruz is the bash king of Bash City

Nelson Cruz led the Majors in home runs with 40 last season. Considering that was a career high and he was moving to a more pitcher-friendly park in Safeco Field, many expected to see that total drop in 2015. What we weren't expecting was that Cruz had traveled to the mystical land of Bash City during the offseason and, after defeating their previous king in a thumb war, had become the land's newest king. 

At least, that explanation seems about as good as any as Cruz has shot out from the gate this Spring with 10 homers in the month of April. That includes an astonishing five-game home run streak, two multihomer games and this 483-foot homer that nearly landed in the mystical city that he now calls home. 

Since the start of last season, Cruz has now hit 50 home runs. Second most: Giancarlo Stanton with 43. That's a pretty hefty difference. 

8. Jon Lester and his adventures in throwing to first

Jon Lester is very good at throwing a baseball. Unfortunately, it seems like it's only in one direction: To home plate. 

After the Royals stole three of their seven bases in the AL Wild Card Game off of the southpaw, it was revealed that he hadn't made a single pickoff attempt since April 30, 2013. After not throwing over in his Cubs' debut, Lester finally threw over while facing the Reds on April 13. 

It went, well, not "good," but not bad either thanks to a friendly assist from Jorge Soler. 

Six days later, the Cubs ace had a few more issues as a grounder back to the mound had became lodged in his glove and he had to toss the whole thing over to the bag. 

But here's the thing: We're not laughing AT Lester, we're laughing WITH him. I am, ostensibly, a professional writer. And yet I can't ever spell "occasionally" correctly (WE ALL KNOW IT SHOULD HAVE TWO S'S! THIS IS SIMPLE!) 

At the same time, in a world with everything tracked and studied and gloriously Statcasted, there still managed to be a truly bizarre statistic that seemingly slipped through the cracks for years on end. And for that, we thank you, Jon Lester. 

7. Billy Hamilton is very fast

While we knew Billy Hamilton was fast, the offseason dulled our memories, those wintery months placing a blurry Instagram filter over Hamilton's game-changing speed. 

Despite injuries limiting his playing time and a .282 OBP keeping him off the bases, Hamilton was a monster once he was on the bases, swiping 13 bases in only 86 plate appearances. It's the fewest plate appearances for that many steals in a month since September 2013 when Hamilton did it on 22 PA while being used mostly as a pinch-runner. 

Just look at this beautiful GIF. No, it has not been edited to make it look like he's faster. I can't wait until he shows up in an episode of CW's "The Originals." Oh, were you expecting a "The Flash" joke? 

6. Yankees and Red Sox team up to play 19 innings

- Red Sox and Yankees

- Dodgers and Giants

- Urkel and Carl Winslow

These are some of the greatest rivalries in American culture. And just as you wouldn't say no to a six-hour "Family Matters" miniseries epic, so too were we happy to accept the Yankees and Red Sox playing until the early morning hours. After all, it's not often that you get a baseball game with an entire free baseball game within it. 

But while the entire game was notable for Chase Headley's ninth-inning game-tying home run, 628 pitches and Mark Teixeira turning a whole year older during it, the very best was Bob Costas' late-night lesson on cultural differences and animal cruelty. After all, at some point there are no more baseball lessons to share. 

@lana https://t.co/jhqGekysAX if u learned anything tonight, it's this from Bob Costas

- Victor (@GuyInGreenWWE) April 11, 2015

5. The chicken finger from the sky

While we spend plenty of time on this website talking about crazy ballpark foods -- from the newest hot dogs, to the craziest desserts, to all the bacon, there is one classic that too often is forgotten amongst all the fads: the chicken finger. 

That mostly white meat, pulverized, breaded and spiced food is so perfect that it doesn't need to be gutzied up and made flashier for the cameras. But still, they are sometimes jealous of the lack of respect. 

So, when the Giants and D-backs squared off, naturally one wonderful morsel fell from the heavens and interrupted the game for 20 seconds.

The lesson here: Never forget about how delicious chicken fingers are.

4. Nolan Arenado is a third-base magician

Dear hitters, 

Here's a tip for you: Stop hitting the ball to Nolan Arenado. With two Gold Gloves to his name, hitters probably should have known that. In fact, there are some rumors that NASA is planning on classifying the area around third base at Coors Field as a black hole since no light or baseballs escapes it. 

Which makes sense when he does things like this: 

And doesn't have the dignity to even recognize field barriers: 

That's just rude to the stadium architect. He spent a lot time planning that stadium. 

3. The magic of Bartolo Colon

Listen, I know what you're thinking: "More Bartolo Colon hitting GIFs? We get it -- he's very exuberant." But that's where you're wrong. This is focusing on Bartolo Colon the pitcher. The amazing, no-other-player-like-him pitcher. 

Consider: 

- Colon is 42 years old. The Rockies' LaTroy Hawkins is the only pitcher older than him. 

- Colon has struck out 25 batters while walking only one. To contrast that, Phil Hughes set the record for K/BB rate last year with an 11.63 K/BB rate. 

- He throws fastballs 88.1 percent of the time. That's nearly 8 percent more than Jarred Cosart who is second among starters. 

- And all this despite an average fastball velocity of 88.6 mph. That's good for 95th out of 112 starters in the Majors. 

Just remember all this the next time you focus solely on Colon's performance at the plate. The dude is exciting no matter what he does. 

2. Kris Bryant

After slugging nine Spring Training home runs and defeating the Klarxons in an Intergalatic battle (which wasn't released in any mainstream media. Just know that it happened and the only reason why Earth is still here is thanks to Bryant), the third baseman with a future of gold was sent down to the Minors to begin the year. 

But still, Bryant was just a prospect. And plenty of top prospects/intergalatic warriors have still managed to flame out at the Major League level. Probably because they're tired from battling alien threats. So after Bryant was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his first game, we were all slightly concerned. 

We shouldn't have been.

Since then, Bryant has hit .350/.490/.450 with four doubles, 10 walks and two stolen bases.

Oddly enough, though, he hasn't hit a home run yet. Though he's come close. Kind of. 

1. The Mets can't be beat

Coming into the season, the Mets were expected to be competitive, but would probably end up settling for a record around the .500 mark. But after an 11-game winning streak, their longest since 1990, and a 15-8 tear through the month of April, they have their sights set a little higher. After all, they've opened up a 4 1/2-game lead in the division, the largest in the Majors. 

And they've done it by being extremely exciting. 

In addition to Bartolo Colon, who we have already covered extensively, Matt Harvey has returned and looks as effective as ever with a 4-0 record, 10.5 K/9 and only three walks this season. More importantly, he has some very cool bats:

Juan Lagares catches things that mere mortals would have simply waved their hands at and given up: 

And Jacob deGrom's hair may have actually achieved sentience: 

Oh, April. You were wonderful. But now get out of the way because May is gonna be baller.