Shenanigans and a Victory

(originally posted 4/10/07)

Opening Day at Fenway Park went pretty much according to plan. A classy opening ceremony featuring the 1967 Sox. Rico and Yaz! Robert Goulet! (My 2nd favorite Goulet of all-time, after Michel.) The Sox player introductions. Daisuke! PAPELBON!!! Harry Connick, Jr. with the singing of "America the Beautiful." (OK, I might have gone in a different direction there, but that's alright.) A tearful Johnny Pesky exclaiming, "Play Ball!"

The whole ballplaying part also went pretty darn well, with the Sox triumphing 14-3, in a game that wasn't as close as the football score would seem to indicate. The Seattle Mariners hadn't played in about a week (they had spent that time watching snow fall in Cleveland), so they were a bit on the rusty side. Considering that, at their best, the Mariners are a below-average squad, they didn't have much of a chance at defeating the Sox in any competition today that didn't involve making snow angels. Eight of the nine Seattle starters were batting .231 or less by game's end, with 3 starters at .083 or less. Only Ichiro was batting over .300 (.308) at game's end, after Beckett struck him out in all three of the 2nd best Japanese player's ABs. Beckett picked up his 2nd win and lowered his ERA to 1.50, with a 7 inning/8 K effort, in which he allowed only 2 hits, ZERO walks, and 1 earned run. Joshua Patrick Beckett is starting to make me forget about the 5.01 ERA and the 36 HRs he allowed last season.

The Sox battered Mariners starter Jeff Weaver for 7 ER in the 1st 2 innings, gifting Weaver with a bloated 31.50 ERA, and probably leaving him wishing that he hadn't left St. Louis. J. D. Drew had a HR and 3 RBI in the blowout, with Jason Varitek also getting 3 RBI (3 for 4, now batting .250), and Kevin Youkilis going 3 for 5 (.286). The Sox had 14 hits in a dominating effort.

Even though Francona and the Sox were warned prior to the game that there were to be "no shenanigans", shenanigans did in fact erupt in the top of the 8th inning. Sox P Brendan Donnelly struck out old buddy Jose Guillen. There were some unpleasantries exchanged between the two, and Guillen took a few steps towards the mound, bat still in hand. Donnelly prepared for battle by removing his glove and his glasses, because that's how he rolls. The benches and bullpens cleared, but no punches were thrown. I'm pretty sure I saw Julian Tavarez in the middle of the fray, nunchukas poised to damage all who foolishly challenged him. It was convenient that he was positioned in the dugout, as opposed to in the bullpen, as his close proximity to the area of concern allowed him to assert his presence in a very timely manner.

The game lacked a game-ending performance by Jonathan Papelbon, but, besides that, it was finely scripted. With Daisuke Matsuzaka making his Fenway Park debut in a potentially great pitching matchup against phenom Felix Hernandez, and a certainly great matchup against Ichiro Suzuki, Red Sox Nation has another great day to look forward to on Wednesday.