Finally!
After playing in three countries and travelling over 16,000 miles, the Boston Red Sox have finally played their first game at Fenway. In what is easily the most sick and twisted start to any season, the Sox are finally home. Of course, like the ‘05 opener, there was a bit of pomp and circumstance to this one. The team will have to wait another day before they can just get down to business and play baseball without all the sideshows and exhibitions.
It seems impossible to fathom that the Detroit Tigers, 2006 World Champions, could start the season as poorly as they have, but they came in to today’s game as the only team without a win. Unfortunately, for them they’ll continue to own that dubious distinction for at least one more day. It is entirely possible that the pre-game ceremonies simply wore them down. There was an enormous flag on the Green Monster, a flyover by the Air National Guard, Pesky and Ortiz raising the ‘07 banner and former goat Bill Buckner throwing out the first pitch. Oh, and I almost forgot, some jewelry to dispense to the players. It would take over an hour from the start of the various ceremonies to the official utterance of “Play Ball”.
Pitching his first home opener, Daisuke pitched a good game going 6.2 innings of shutout ball and managed to give up 4 hits, walk 4 and fan 7. While it isn’t exactly a great line, the Tiger lineup is still quite formidable regardless of their record. The real pleasant surprise in the pitching line is that Delcarmen and Okajima accounted for 1 hit and 2 K’s over 2 and a 1/3. The bats were hot enough with Youk leading the way going 3 for 3 with 2 RBI. Drew and Crisp both knocked in a run each to make the final 4 to 0 and to me the season has finally started.
Tags: coco crisp, daisuke matsuzaka, detroit tigers, hideki okajima, j.d. drew, kevin youkilis, manny delcarmen