The Catch:

For baseball fans all over, this should make one recall Willie Mays and his over-the-shoulder catch. For non-Patriot/Giant football fans, you might think of Joe Montana - Dwight Clark. For Patriot/Giant football fans, probably David Tyree('s helmet). For Sox fans, and maybe O's fans, there's a new contender for the term. 

I wouldn't do it justice with a description. It's currently the frontpage video on redsox.com, and should probably remain there all season. Just fantastic. One of many moments that make you realize how lucky we are to have Manny in Boston. He'll rightfully have his Gold Glove any day now. 

Summary:

Unfortunately, that's about the total of awesome to come out of this short trip to Baltimore. I can take two losses in their park. But to have the last one come on the bat of Jay Payton would make even Coco Crisp vomit (more). 

Nice to see Jonathan Van Every make his ML-debut, though him having a decent arm, at least, would seem to beg a move of Ells back to CF and Van Every in RF. Not the case, though the Sox might've been trying to make Van Every feel more comfortable; all 38 of his games @ Pawtucket were in CF. Also good for him to get his first ML-hit out of the way.

Jon Lester was good. 7 baserunners and 4 Ks in 6 innings. I'll take that from him every time out. 

J-Lo was also good. Why he wasn't allowed to face Quiroz after getting what should have been an inning-ending GB from Freddie Bynum I'll never know. Should've been all kinds of confidence in him at that point, and I don't think Quiroz should ever be the kind of hitter you adjust your pitching to (though he did well today, no doubt). It'd be like a team bringing in a lefty specialist to face Alex Cora. ...WHY? Just...no. Nonetheless, Craig Hansen has no excuse, and Okajima doesn't need to inherit runners for awhile. 

Numbaz:

4: Blown saves for Oki, at the 1/4 mark (give or take) of the season, HRs for 'Tek and Lowell. DPs hit into by the Sox today.

14: Youks' 2Bs. 

15: Ells' SBs, 'Tek RsBI

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Manny Ramirez is about entertainment, baby.

First...

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Summary:

Two straight bad starts for Buchholz. Squeezed or not, a pitcher's primary weapon should be a well-located fastball. Buch hasn't had one for awhile, and the idea that he should go down to AAA to harness it/find one isn't one I'm against at this point. If Colon really is dialing it up to/near 97, then it's time to see if he can get ML hitters out. If not in this trip through the rotation, then next. The only thing that might be able to keep Buch at the ML-level is bigger struggles from Jon Lester than Buchholz himself has had lately. 

Livan Hernandez was his usual self tonight, the typical "keep it close" pitcher. He allowed Being's 498th bomb, a two-run shot, an RBI 1B from Papi just before the HR, and nothing beyond that. Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain were effective in finishing off the Sox over the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. 

The Sox pen, however, was somehow just as effective. Javy came in in relief of Buch, got 5 outs and handed the job over to Craig Hansen, who definitely reinforced the decision to DFA Tavarez rather than demote him. 13 pitches, 8 strikes, 2 GBs and a K. It's one inning, but he looked at least close to ready to take over for the struggling MDC in the 7th/8th inning mix. Timlin came on and got 3 outs and allowed a hit on a total of 7 pitches in the 8th. The Twins were clearly ready to go home for the day.

Player of the Game:

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It's the guy on the left, of course. 498. Look at how small he looks standing next to Papi. I have to interject, however, that it was Craig Hansen that gave me a lift about this game, and made me feel all right when it was all over.

The Shortstop Position:

Alex Cora
Excellent hands and good range
Is not a hitter. Pretty much at all. Runs well, though doesn't have the speed of a real base-stealing threat.

Jed Lowrie
Good hands, worst range of all three
Is a hitter. But we don't know how much rookie "jitters" could become a factor. Is...not ridiculously slow or anything.

Julio Lugo
Excellent range, poor no hands
Runs well, .OBP is almost .350. 

So who do we go with? Honestly, it's going to be Lugo and Cora until one of the two is injured, at least for this season. Lugo is not going to continue to have the kind of defensive issues all season long that have plagued him thusfar. And even if he does, Cora will just see more PT late in games to preserve leads, which Lugo's steadily rising OBP may help to create. I love Jed Lowrie, and under other circumstances I'd be yelling loudest to bring him back up and let him start. It's just not going to happen, not until one of the others gets hurt, or Lugo starts to be a complete black hole at the plate as well.

Tavarez is gone. How does the 'pen shake out?

Well. This was a bit unexpected, if only because most people were of the belief that Hansen would simply be sent down to create room for Sean Casey, and most people thinking DFA were probably attaching Timlin's name to it. Instead, Tavarez is out. I've seen comments around the web about "who is the Sox's long reliever now?" Am I the only one who thinks it's silly to just plan for your starters to be poor enough that within one turn of the rotation, you'll at least once need somebody to come in and throw several innings in a single game? Plus, Tavarez has only twice thrown more than 1 2/3 anyway. Aardsma already has 3 2 IP appearances under his belt, and would seem to be the logical choice (or J-Lo, depending upon situations/matchups) to get the game a little deeper. All the DFA really does is indirectly cause a change in the pecking order.

• Paps
• Oki
• Hansen !?!?!
• MDC !?!?!?
• Aardsma
• J-Lo
• Um.
• F.
• Anyone.
• Mike Timlin

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Summary:

I pretty accurately summed up Wake's outing in the title. Sure, the Tigers offense is struggling. But I think any time Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, and Carlos Guillen are limited to 1 hit in total (Granderson's was, of course, v. Timlin), most of the credit has to just go to the pitcher. Wake struck out 6 and allowed 2 hits (and no walks) over 8 IP, just to remind us all that yes, when he's on he is VERY good.

Offensively, kind of a mixed bag. The two at the top surely not Coco Crisp, Coco and DP were basically black holes. However, Kevin Cash went 3-4, Youks went 2-3 with a BB and 2 2B, and "Being" and Papi went back to back. Don't look now, but Julio Lugo's OBP is .341. Not tremendous, but is it just possible he's getting back to not making outs on a ridiculously frequent basis?

Papi's HR was a no-doubter that put an end to Nate Robertson's day. "Being"'s was to straightaway CF, and the proverbial "welcome to the big leagues" moment for Tigers' RP Freddy Dolsi. I should be more fair to Mike Timlin. He allowed the leadoff single to Granderson, but settled down and got a DP to erase Granderson, then got Carlos Guillen to flyout to LF to end the game. A decent performance, and the kind of pitch-to-contact, trust the fielders behind you kind of outing he needs to give us consistently. 

Player of the Game:

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Comment of the Game:

The Knuckler's a-Dancin' Tonight. -soxaholic

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Summary:

I don't even know what to say at this point. The Jays and the Sox have the best pitching since the I didn't care about actually looking that up. The Jays and the Sox also have the worst offenses, from the same timespan. There's no way to tell which statement is more true less false. Was Daisuke just good, or was he helped by a Jays' offense seemingly committed to ineptitude? Dustin McGowan, same question kind of.

Offense included a solo Papi HR, an attempt at a walkoff single by Brandon Moss, and a real walkoff single by Kevin Cash Jason Varitek. 35-almost-36 year old "Being" is apparently faster than our young non-DP middle infielder. WTF is that about, right?

Maybe this is just how we're going to do it from now on. And Paps will make a bid for 30 wins.

Player of the Game:

Kidding. I just really liked this picture. Here he is:

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Comment ...Sequence of the Game:

When you walk Julio Lugo, there's something very wrong with you, and you should have your (ed: expletive) sent to AA in the morning. -MerryGoByeBye

...on 5 pitches, no less - BoSox415

Before yesterday, I would have bragged that Lester would have done it 20% more efficiently. -nuthinboutnuthin

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Summary:

Jennings v. Lester

Woohoo and whatnot. Jon Lester threw 6 innings. I threw a little party for him last night, on behalf of that. Good work by the 'pen as well, with J-Lo, MDC, Timlin and Paps combining for three scoreless innings after Lester left. Hitting-wise, Dustin, Papi, and especially "Being" threw down the other night. Manny just keeps on hitting for us in big moments, answering the question we all wondered about just what might've happened 2003-2006 if Papi didn't come through every single time.

Millwood v. Wake

First of all, Wake was ridiculously efficient. Averaging about 2.7 pitches per inning, several innings were over before the infielders and outfielders were actually through warming up. The Rangers were jumping on pitches, exhibiting no patience, and actually were fairly successful doing so. They were able to get their 7 hits in bunches, and combined with two of those hits being HRs, scored 5 off of Wake by the 6th inning. If you caught the game thread, you know a lot of us were pretty despondent. In retrospect, I suppose I'm not sure why. I think it's that the runs scored off of HRs, which always seem like more than they really are. Nevertheless.

...so what happened? 2 runs in the 7th, run-scoring singles by Papi and Drew brought us to within 3. We entered the 8th inning, and the magic really began. All with 2 outs: Tacoby 1B, Jed Lowrie 2B (5-3), Papi 1B (5-4), DP PH 2B (5-5), Youks IBB, Drew BB, Casey BB (5-6). Kevin Cash, who made the first out of the inning, also made the third, and Paps came on for the save, though it wasn't the most relaxed save he's ever given us.

Players of the Gamez:

Jennings v. Lester

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Who else, really?

Millwood v. Wake

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Thank you, Yahoo! Images. This way I don't have to choose. Also, good job Jed Lowrie.

Comment-mania:

GIDP - Now Papi is trying to make Lugo look good. There’s a lot of love going on in this team. :) - MerryGoByeBye

There's no element of surprise. I'm just watching our inexorable march towards yet another amazing win.Tedious is hardly the word. - britsoxfan (Proper context: We were still down 5-2, and there were 2 outs in the 8th inning with only one runner on.)

With Ramirez enjoying his latest outburst against his favorite foe, New York reliever Kyle Farnsworth threw a 97 mph fastball behind the slugger's neck on the first pitch of the seventh inning, drawing cheers from the sellout crowd of 55,088.

"It just slipped. I was trying to be aggressive and go in on him," Farnsworth said.

Boston manager Terry Francona said "it's just part of the game,"

All right. Am I the only one who found DP to be the most reasonable individual about tonight's near-misshit?

"He throws 100 mph. That's career-ending if it hits him," Boston's Dustin Pedroia said.

As you might imagine, I was not impressed by that BS this evening. I think it was intentional. I don't know that I'm right about that, and I'll never know. But I'll say this. If you're "trying to be aggressive", you better be damn sure you can control what you're throwing. I could understand and better dismiss an actual hit on his thigh, back, or ribs or something. And on the 25-man roster of the Yankees, there's no player with less credibility in my book than Kyle L. Farnsworth. I'm not the kind of Sox fan who thinks everything the Yankees do is dirty, but this just pissed me off to all hell.

...moving on.

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Summary:

Too bad this episode had to sour (for me) an otherwise sweet victory. Vintage Becks, though not quite a "Vintage Papelbon Performance". A 4-run lead with Giambi-Posada-Cano in order? Oki would have sufficed, and has actually thrown a 1/3 less total innings than Paps to this point. The key, for Becks at least, was being the kind of pitcher who can throw multiple strikes to a single hitter (were you watching, Jon Lester?).

"Being" is one bad MF. He took care of business like we needed him to tonight, with two HRs off of personal whipping boy Mike Mussina. Jacoby "Slowpoke" Ellsbury was able to take 2 bases tonight, with a bonus base on a Chad Moeller throwing error. JD Drew continues to just make good things happen at the plate. 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI. That's what I like to see out of my completely non-disappointing RF. Youks, DP and El Capitan all had 2 hits apiece as well.

Player of the Game:

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Comment of the Game:

Sorry, kids. No one in the gamethread beat Becks today. On Manny:

"He's pretty good, huh?" Beckett said. "Hopefully, he'll invite me to his Hall of Fame speech."

Next up: Four at home against the Rangers. Daisuke, Lester, Wake and Buch for us. Kason makes his first appearance as an opposing starter: Mendoza, Jennings, Millwood, Gabbard. 

"Get off me, ball!"

(A more formal game report might come later from Allen or SoxDevil. But for the meantime, this is all that matters.)

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There's not much to say about Manny Ramirez except he's a bad, bad man.

Ramirez proved too much for the Yankees yesterday. While the rest of the Red Sox lineup didn't seem to get it all going, Manny was in the zone all 9 innings. Manny's 4th inning home run put the Sox on the board first. The Yanks struck back scoring two, but Manny wasn't done.

With the score 2-1, Manny smacked a double scoring Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. A Kevin Youkilis single scored Manny, putting the Sox up for good.

Josh Beckett looked a lot better than his first start of the season. Beckett went 6.2 innings, struck out five and only gave up three runs while only throwing 88 pitches.

This was one of the best games we could ask for out of Beckett. He wasn't perfect, but he didn't have to throw a lot of pitches to get a lot of outs. I think that's one of the most important things to look for when pitchers come off the disabled list. Only 88 pitches this time means he can throw more next time.

Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima combined to bridge the gap to Jonathan Papeblon who, after a two hour rain delay, struck out three batters in 1.1 innings to earn the save.

I sure do love that guy.

In other news, David Ortiz goes hitless again. Shocking. His batting average is now .070 ... Ellsbury was the leadoff man and went 2-for-3 with a run, a walk and a stolen base. This guy looks ready ... Pedroia and Youkilis also had two hits on the day.

Comment of the Game:

"where's the hawk that attacks small children when we need it?" - pedroiastroika

Boston Red Sox leftfielder Manny Ramirez watches the flight of his a two-run double off Oakland Athletics' Huston Street in the 10th inning of their Major League Baseball regular season opener at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, March 25, 2008. Red Sox won the game 6-5 (via d.yimg.com).

The storyline coming into Opening Day was about Daisuke Matsuzaka's monumental return to his home country of Japan. The storyline after 10 innings of back-and-forth baseball was about a "pencil into the lineup at the last minute" rookie that gave the Red Sox a victory on Opening Day 2008.

Outfielder Brandon Moss wasn't scheduled to start today's game against the Oakland Athletics. Odds are, he wasn't even going to play. But a late scratch from the lineup to right fielder JD Drew left manager Terry Francona with a decision to make.

Francona had two choices to replace Drew:

1. Coco Crisp - gold glove calibur outfielder that lost his center field job and is itching to play.
2. Moss - a rookie with only 25 career Major League at-bats

Deciding between a Major League veteran with a amazing glove and an unproven rookie seems like a trick question. Francona, however, decided to be the green Moss out in right field and bat him 6th in the lineup, squeezed between Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek.

I thought to myself: "Are you sure, Terry?"

And, after an edge-of-your-sit (or, better yet, edge-of-your-BED) 6-5 victory in 10 innings, Francona replied: "Don't second guess me, son."

Moss, the Pawtucket (AAA) MVP last season, earned the title of "Mr. Clutch" by hitting a game-tieing solo home run in the top of the 9th inning against A's closer Huston Street, allowing the Sox extra life. The Red Sox took the lead for good in the 10th after Manny Ramirez doubled to score both David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, giving the Sox a 6-4 edge.

A shaky 10th inning by All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon brought the score tighter 6-5. An RBI double by Emil Brown put pressure on the Sox, but Brown's baserunner blunder cost the A's a baserunner. Brown was caught in a pickle trying to stretch the double into a trip. Papelbon was able close out the game from their and notch his first save of the season, albeit a rough one.

Moss finished the game 2 for 5 with a run and 2 RBI. Ramirez did even more damage by going 2 for 5 with a run and 4 RBI in the opener. Ramirez put the nail in the coffin after the A's intentionally walked Ortiz to face Ramirez in the 10th. After that, Ramirez found his pitch, hit it hard and watched it 'till it almost dropped over the fence.

I was really impressed with Moss at the plate today. He seemed confident and ready to find his pitch and hit a gap with it. Unlike some rookies, it didn't look like Moss just wanted to hit the ball over the wall. He was looking for opportunities to get on the basepaths and put the Sox back into the game.

As far as our clean-up hitter, that's just Manny being Manny, baby. He's a bad, bad man. This is Manny at his best and I have a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot of this all season long. He wants his options picked up and he will with more games like this one.

Matsuzaka, the big story to start the day, was interesting to watch. His line really didn't tell the story though: 5 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 5 BB, 6 SO. That's a really mixed line. He kept his hits and runs down, but the walks were up. And his strikeouts were high, but he still only pitched 5 innings.

If you saw all of Dice-K's work today, you noticed he looked very bad in the first two innings. It was all about location -- he couldn't hit the plate and half his pitches were hitting the dirt. I'm going to attribute his struggles to nerves, though. He's back in his homecountry where the hype surrounding him is huge. He wants to live up to all the expecations and not let anyone down so he pushes too hard.

After the second inning I think Dice-K realized what was going on. He settled down and started to hit the corners of the plate. Although home plate umpire Rick Reed was a stickler for the strike zone, Dice-K was able to get the necessary outs and, more importantly, keep the Sox in the game.

Overall, I would say this was a good outing for Dice-K. Obviously you don't want to have a pitcher commit five walks, but I classify it as I did because of how well he rebounded. He bent, but never broke, giving the Sox enough daylight to snag the win.

What else is there to say about this game? The Red Sox kept the game close despite a few bad innings and were able to put it away thanks to some clutch hitting.

I know one thing: I never want to be this stressed at 9 a.m. ever again.