Opening Day Win--Again - Peter

I'd say it's deja vu all over again, but that's Yogi & we don't quote Yankees here unless it's completely necessary. In this case, it's not--the actions of the Sox speak volumes all by themselves. I went to the home field opener for Oakland against the Sox tonight and, as usual, found myself adequately supported by myriads of other Sox fans that I was surrounded by--along with a few die-hard A's fans. The game was a sellout, according to signs posted as you entered the park and it was a clear cool night. What else would you have on April Fool's Day? But no jokes on the Sox--well, maybe one--Dice-K gave up an early home run to Jack Cust, but it was virtually his only bad pitch all night. He was fabulous. Tito obviously had him on a pitch count, because with two out in the sixth and only 96 pitches, he was pulled for Okajima. Dice-K's line score for the evening was a sharp 2 hits (including the 4 bagger), no walks (how's that for a WHIP!) and 9 K's. On three occasions, he struck out 2 batters in an inning. The guy was just awesome. I think he could have gone the distance, but you can't fault Tito--it's early in the season and it was a cool night with the temp dropping from its game time high of about 54 to the high 40's by late in the game. With our bullpen, it made sense, though disappointed the legions of Sox Nation in attendance.
Speaking of which, Okajima came in,ended the seventh, entered the eighth and after one quick out, had control problems, walking the next guy on five pitches and following the four balls with two more consecutive balls to the next batter before getting him on an easy fly. Francona'd clearly had enough and yanked him for Papelbon, who'd already been warming up. As the ball count rose, so did the intensity of Papelbon's warmup. When he came on with two down in the eighth, he fired one 98 mph fastball that the Oakland batter feebly offered at more in self defense than anything else and the inning was over. After a brief Sox 9th against Keith Foulke (remember him?), Papelbon came back out and was Papelbon exponential! Pick up a bat sometime and try to hit a laser coming at you. You'll feel lucky just to see it, much less hit it. That's the way Papelbon was tonight. The death stare was on for real and with a slowest pitch of 93--yes, slowest--it was three up and three down--all K's. You almost had to feel sorry for them. It's true--Papelbon really does save!
Lest you think it was all pitching, the Sox offense had flashes of its expected brilliance. Youk went 3 for 4, including a triple and scored a run. Manny got a hit and had all Sox fans up off their seats in the sixth with what looked like a sure homer to dead center. But it died near the wall and was just a loud out.
Then we get Varitek. The man has a wonderful sense of timing. Call it clutch or whatever,it's almost as good as Papi (and we'll discuss him in a moment). Tek got robbed twice tonight. He probably feels worse than the folks at Brinks. First he hits a rocket to right that looks like certain extra bases, only to be snared with a great effort by Oakland's right fielder, Travis Buck (How's that for a name?). Than, in the sixth inning, score 1-1, and a man on base, he drives one even farther to right. It hits ABOVE the yellow line that signifies home run and is ruled a double by the blind men in blue. So, instead of two runs and a 3-1 Sox lead, Tek ends up on second with a double and we're leading only by a run, 2-1. That was the eventual score, but it made it bit tense. He keeps getting jobbed like this,he'll have to have his own contingent of guys from the FBI.
Now to get to Papi--I know it's early and hitters generally like to hit more when it's warm. But Papi is now 0 for the season. OK--it's only three games and one good game and he's back on the beam, but it appears to this fan's experienced eye as if he's a little off in his timing. It looks like he's swinging a tiny bit late on many pitches. The result is that even when he gets a good piece of the rock, it goes to die in the middle outfield--not a good portent if it keeps up. He had an opportunity to break the game wide open in the sixth with the bases loaded and hit a hard grounder to first--inning and rally over. For now, I'm confident he'll get caught up, but if not, it could be a long season in the Fens.