WTF?

I have to say, this was a great weekend for me and Daisy to go without TV. For earth day we decided to give up non-essential electricity for a week. Anyway, it looks like we saved ourselves a ton of headache!

Swept by the Rays?! WTF!

Still Manny being Manny steals second for some unknown reason... first in 2 years!

Plus - Where is everyone? THis is pathetic. I can't do this by myself!

Two down 16 more to go

Fox's coverage yesterday was pretty miserable. In fact, at one point Daisy was moved to scream, "why don't you go into the dug-out and suck on his balls?!", in reaction to Buck's and McCarver's typical ass-kissing. I love that girl! Naturally, the 131-minute rain delay made things interesting. It was good to see Pap shut down Arod with 3 pitches and go onto to a smooth 9th. Manny is the man and I can't wait for Ortiz to get out of his slump.



So today is the rubber match: Dice-K vs. Phil Hughes. It's actually quite fitting. The Yankees have finally stopped their annual binge and purge of dead-arm veteran pitchers and over-the-hill sluggers. Phil Hughes is the face of the "Next Generation" Yankees, along with Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain. On the other side, Dice-K is the Sox's 100 Million dollar man.

Advantage, Dice-K: With a BB/K ration of 9/22 and an ERA of 1.47. Hughes struggled against the new look Royals, but rebounded against the Blue Jays (5/6 BB/K and 5.00 ERA). Of course, this could come down to bullpens. As we all know, Dice-K can take an inning or two to find the strike zone. If the Sox can build an early lead, that might help motivate Dice-K to challenge hitters out of the gate.

Home opener

This is awesome. Three years too late (I still get pissed off when I think about that "We forgive you" banner), but a great gesture. I'm surprised (and happy) he agreed to do this.

Game at 2:05pm. Anyone around for a game thread?

update: today's Boston Herald: "All is Forgiven". God I hate the media.

Some good news...

...as the Sox sit in the AL East basement. (On pace to win 69 games! Oh no!)

The New York Times is (probably) about to fire Murray Chass.

Trivia

Okay, so the Sox are back to being a .500 team. That puts them in 4th, behind the Bay Rays, Orioles, and Blue Jays. Question: what was the latest in the season the Rays were first in the division? What was the latest they had a winning record?

0-4

The Tigers just lost their fourth in a row (3 to KC, this one to CHW). Small sample sizes are fun, but: rough start, or are they just not as good as people expected? Anyway, I was a little shocked to read this:

Not exactly the start hoped for by Detroit, which at $138.7 million opened the season with the second-highest payroll in the major leagues behind the New York Yankees.

This hasn't gotten that much press I think - everyone thinks of the Red Sox as having the 2nd highest payroll. In fact, they're not even third - the Mets have a higher payroll as well. Full list here. Top 2008 salaries are here - Yanks have the top three (ARod, Giambi, Jeter) and five of the top 12 (Abreu and Pettitte). Red Sox only have one player in the top 25 of salary - Manny Ramirez, in at #4.

Also, this is great.

Also, where is everyone? (Busy sulking about your crappy fantasy teams?)

Special Agents Embree and DiNardo...

...still on the payroll evidently. Nice to see the Sox pick up where they left off last year - getting the starting pitcher out of the game early.

"Guyner?"

The Sox recently signed 26-year-old right-hander Terumasa Matsuo, who will report to Fort Myers later in the week. Matsuo pitched for the "Kagawa Olive Guyners", whose logo and mascot are shown here. Apparently all the teams in Japan's Independent Shikoku Island League (of which Matsuo was the MVP last year) have similarly ridiculous team names and mascots. While I like the Olive Guyners (it looks like a Pixar movie!), the "Tokushima Indigo Socks" may be my favorite.

Opening Day...

...in Washington DC. Check out these two videos, of the same event; the crowd noise is very different...





(I like the first one better.)

Coliseum

Not too often, but sometimes, I miss Southern California. The restaurants, the weather, and this. Man that looked fun - 115,300 fans! I especially like this:

“Wakie’s a fly ball pitcher. That’s great,” Varitek said some 3 1/2 hours before the game as he walked down the Coliseum tunnel and glanced toward the left-field screen.

Then, in his best broadcast voice, Varitek he intoned: “Dodgers 85, Red Sox 81.”

And the 2-8 putout (Andruw Jones was playing behind 2nd base) is not bad either.

Second game today at 4:10 eastern.