The Red Sox came out of Opening Day looking like that powerful new-look lineup was going to pay off, as they mashed five homers despite not starting regular first baseman Mike Napoli thanks to interleague rules. Dustin Pedroia hit the first homer of the season in the top of the first against oft-cited Red Sox target Cole Hamels, but the dingers didn't stop there.
Mookie Betts, who was the subject of so many Hamels trade rumors, was the next to go deep, and former Red Sox prospect Hanley Ramirez, who appeared in 1,221 games in between his last Red Sox game and Monday's season opener, crushed a ball to left. That wasn't the end of it, as Pedroia went yard a second time, and then Ramirez finished off the barrage with a ninth-inning, broken-bat grand slam to put the Red Sox up 8-0.
In fact, that Ramirez grand slam deserves a little more attention. Here it is in slow motion...
...where you can clearly see that Ramirez hit it more off the handle of his bat than the barrel and just straight-up muscled it out of the park. Seems like all that extra muscle he put on after moving off of shortstop is going to pay off.
And yes, Hanley went dugout dancing with Big Papi after. How could he not?
