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.
Of course, its still far too early to predict what the opening day 40 man roster is going to look like, but so far so good. While I’d love to see Johan Santana in a Red Sox uniform, I’ll freely admit that I’m rather attached to Ellsbury, Buchholz, and Lester. Assuming that Johan never shows up in the weight room in Fort Myers, I’m still pretty happy with what I see on paper.
Beckett finished 2007 with a record of 20-7 an ERA of 3.27 and 194 strikeouts. These numbers were excellent, but not great enough to get him a Cy Young. From what little I know about Josh Beckett, I’m expecting even greater things in 2008. It is hard to imagine him improving on his record and ERA, but I do believe they will be better.
One of two things is going to happen in Dice-K’s sophomore season. He’s either going to be better acclimated to Major League Baseball and have fewer meltdown moments or the batters are going to figure him out and knock the stuffing out of him. I’m going to remain optimistic and expect better things from him in 2008. I am predicting a record around 17-10 and an ERA in the high 3’s, fewer dingers, and upwards of 210 strikeouts.
The real question with Curt is, “Can he stay healthy?” I’m convinced he’ll arrive at camp in excellent physical condition, and while that would certainly help there are no givens with 40+ pitchers. I do believe that we’ll see more starts out of #38, but I’m pretty confident they’re going to have him on an ironclad pitch count. If they can keep him off the DL, I believe he can win 18 even at his age. I am not expecting a big improvement over his 3.87 ERA for ‘07 though. He’s going to pitch well enough to win and the offense is going to go out there and get him some wins.
I did a double take when I saw that Wake started 31 games in 2007. My memory of the season told me that he missed more than just the postseason, but alas that is not the case. If the trend continues, I have no reason to expect that his performance will change substantially in ‘08. I’d like to see the ERA come down some, but If it does I don’t think it will be by all that much.
The feel good story of ‘07 has to be the return of Lester to the Major League roster, but his performance was not quite as inspiring. An off-season without chemotherapy will certainly help, and with any luck he can get his Major League career back on track. Assuming that Lester is the full-time #4 or 5 starter in the rotation and he gets a full 30 starts, this young lefty could probably go 15-10 without too much trouble.
Another young Texas right-hander, Buchholz dazzled us all with his no-no in Baltimore last year, but between Portland, Pawtucket, and Boston Buchholz threw nearly 150 innings and it was more than his young arm was accustomed to in a single season. In the off-season, Boston sent Buchholz and Lester down to Beckett’s ranch in Texas to train with their ace. I’m not sure where Buchholz fits in the rotation and while I’d love to see him start 30 games, winning 20 of them, I’m not real sure those are realistic expectations. I am confident, however, that Buchholz has more impressive things to show us in 2008.
When September came around last year three pitchers hit the wall. Buchholz came up from the minors and the other two from the other side of the Pacific. Assuming that Okie is physically up to the grind, I think we’re going to see a more consistent season out of one of the best set-up guys we’ve ever seen in a Red Sox uniform. I have no reason to expect that he can’t continue to dominate lineups in the 8th inning without having to share time with the juiced canadian.
I expect brilliance and unmatched intensity from the best closer in the game. I wouldn’t be surprised to see 40 saves, 100 K’s and an ERA under 1.50 from Papelbon in ‘08.
Red Sox rookies are leading the way to Boston’s second World Series in four years. Jacoby Ellsbury had four hits and two RBIs while Dustin Pedroia went 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs of his own. Even Daisuke helped himself out by going 1 for 3 and driving in Varitek and Lowell to collect 2 RBIs in the 3rd. On the other side of the ball, Matsuzaka pitched well enough to earn the win. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and fanned 5 in 5.1 innings. The other rookie pitcher, Okajima, gave up a 3 run shot to Holliday in the 7th, but only one of the runs was earned and he fanned two in an inning of work.
Despite the lopsided final score, the game was tight right up to the 8th when Ellsbury and Pedroia combined to put it out of reach with back to back doubles that drove in 3.
Game 3 MVP: Jacoby Ellsbury
Schilling comes up big on the biggest stage, but Mike Lowell and the bullpen tandem of Okajima and Papelbon, dubbed “Pap-ajima” by Schilling on his blog 38Pitches.com, stole the show. Schilling held the Rockies to a single run and four hits in 5.1 innings of work when he eventually handed over the reins to Pap-ajima who completely shutdown the Rockies. Together they allowed 1 hit, no runs, and fanned 6 in 3.2 innings; they were lights out.
Despite the stellar pitching, the Rockies did manage to take and hold the lead for the first time in the series. That is until Mike Lowell scored on a sac fly by Varitek in the fourth to tie it. He would later hit what would be the game winning RBI in the fifth with a double that would drive in Ortiz. After that, the bats went quiet and it was up to Okajima and Papelbon to shut the door, and shut the door they did.
• Bullpen comes up big: The Red Sox got 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief from Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon. Okajima entered with two on in the sixth and Boston up 2-1. He retired Garrett Atkins on a grounder and struck out Brad Hawpe to squash the threat and fanned three straight before he was pulled for Papelbon. Papelbon finished the rest of the game to secure Schilling’s win.
Game 2 MVP: Mike Lowell
For the first time in more than a decade the Boston Red Sox are the champions of the American League East. The Sox beat the Twins 5 to 2 and rather than make it close, the Yankees cooperated and lost 10 to 9 in the 10th at Baltimore. Ortiz had another great night at the plate, going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI. Not to be outdone Mike Lowell had another good night, going 2 for 4 and added another 2 RBI to his record for number of RBI in a season by a Red Sox third basemen. The story of the night, however, would be the strong outing from Dice-K. He went 8 strong innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and fanned 8. Papelbon worked a perfect 9th and the rest is history.
There are some things I just love being wrong about and while I didn’t commit them all to this web site I’ve made a lot of predictions that have all been wrong.
Fortunately for me and Sox fans everywhere, I haven’t got a clue.
Big Papi went 4 for 4 with 2 runs batted in and 2 runs scored, but the Sox still lost to the Minnesota Twins 5 to 4. Beckett wasn’t his usual self, allowing 10 hits and 5 runs through 6 innings and it was all the runs the Twins would need. Corey, Delcarmen, and Okajima all pitched well, collectively giving up no runs, 2 hits, and fanning 4 in the final three innings.