Am I the Only One Exhausted?

That, my friends, was a weekend series that lived up to the hype. I'm going to bed.

Hub Still Smarting

One day after Major League Baseball completed it's celebration of the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut, Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley brings up point many people don't like to remember:

When it comes to minorities in baseball, Boston has nothing to be proud of.

Buckley approaches the topic from the angle of former Sox owner and magnate Tom Yawkey, who has a plaque hanging in Cooperstown despite only backing one World Series team. Yawkey's Red Sox were rife with cronyism and bigotry, stemming back to before the first efforts to integrate even the lower levels of the minor league system. Yawkey's team was famous for prejudice against Italians in particular, fielding a nine of Irish Catholics and Southerners. Most infamously, however, the Yawke-era Red Sox were the last major league team to integrate its roster, signing Pumpsie Green in 1959 to play second base and shortstop, though Green only lasted a short time. As a result of the delayed integration, as well as the city's own publicized issues with race, Boston has stuggled to shake the characterization as being a racist city.

Until lately, that is. Boston, along with the rest of the Northeast, has seen a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants, particularly Latinos. It's an increase that has been reflected dramatically in the most popular stars of the last 15 or so years. Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, and Pedro Martinez each came to the Red Sox with their own individual ticks and quirks, but each has managed to endear himself to New England, embraced as perhaps few player groups have been. Boston, though it bears an enormous responsibility for delaying full integration of the major leagues, has also managed to redeem itself in recent years.

Hopefully this weekend's celebration and the resurgent popularity of the game will help educate and inform the younger fans, avoiding the roadblocks that were in place not so long ago.

Good To Get This Out of the Way

In retrospect, tonight was a relief, in much the same way that David DeJesus' single and home run were each a release of collectively held breaths. Matsuzaka was bound to lose eventually, and better to lose by only allowing 3 earned runs in 7 full innings pitched, with 4 punchouts and only one walk. It's better still to lose when the winning pitcher has a no hitter going until the eighth inning, where he allowed his first and only hit on an infield dribbler just barely under the glove of a diving second baseman. Everybody spoke of the eventual matchup of Ichiro and Matsuzaka, but people in the know were looking at the real matchup between the two pitchers, as Hernandez was coming off a 12 K season debut against Oakland. The know-it-alls were right: pitching was the story.

Matsuzaka wasn't even bad, he just couldn't get his breaking balls to break the way he wanted them to. His fastball was there for most of the game, and he never let the game get away from him. It is there, in his ability to keep everything under control, that the ability of Matsuzaka shines through. Games like these frequently get away from pitchers in the big leagues, fluke doubles leading to opponents knocking down the door and breaking open a scoring rampage. That didn't happen tonight.

If there is any criticism to be dished out, it should go to the Sox batters. With the exception of Drew's single in the eighth, it was embarassing, like when I play MLB 07: The Show and swing at EVERY first pitch. All you end up with is a lot of quiet outs and an exceptionally low pitch count for the starter. Hendandez didn't crack 100 pitches until the ninth, meaning there was zero patience at the plate. He was lights out, no question, but in situations like that I firmly believe you have to just hang back and let the pitcher beat himself, which we failed to do. (Coco Crisp, I'm looking at you in particular.)

So the big offseason pickup lost his home opener, but he still pitched well. Let's hope the bats can wake up a little bit, so that good pitching performances like the one put in tonight don't go to waste.

Paps in the Days of Yore

Last night's 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers was both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. Curt Schilling buckled down after he was owned on a Frank Catalanotto home run in the bottom of the first inning, managing to go seven strong innings without alowing an additional run. David Ortiz, suffering from a serious power outage, managed to jack two long balls to right field off (never thought I'd say this) of a sizzling Vicente Padilla. Jonathan Papelbon, after only throwing once in the first five games, came into a bases-loaded no-out situation to save Joel Piñeiro's tail and the game, managing both velocity and location on his fastball, and disgusting bite to his splitter. All of those are the good things.

The bad thing is that the bats were as quiet as they have been all spring, as the Sox were unable to really muster any sort of team effort. The law of averages says that it won't last, but we can only hope they're right. Thankfully, the Sox will be able to get off the road and open at home tomorrow afternoon (and not tomorrow night). Here's hoping they return to form.

One word about Papelbon closing: I know that he was absolutely lights-out against the heart of the Rangers lineup. He had velocity in the mid to upper nineties, and he was spotting his fastballs beautifully on this outside half of the plate. Thing is, it's going to take me a while to watch him pitch and not worry about his shoulder on every toss. I still agree that he needs to be in the closer role in order to prevent games like yesterday's from getting away, but I just worry about the length of his career in that situation.

Unfortunately, I won't feel comfortable until the season is done with and he's still healthy. Here's hoping.

Matsuzaka-san.

(Photo: New York Times)

So, it's over, Matsuzaka's first official major league outing. It resulted in a 4-1 win and an increase in expectations for the young Japanese superstar. From the very beginning, Matsuzaka looked like he wanted to be there. The very first pitch, a fastball, ended up as a strike for David DeJesus, though the final result of the AB was a single to left center field. DeJesus would later leave the yard, plating the only run for Kansas City in their second loss of the season, a loss in which the Sox starter staked his claim to the pitcher's mound and validated his own hype.

The most impressive quality of the entire start was the way in which Matsuzaka approached hitters. On Wednesday night, Josh Beckett demonstrated the polar opposite of a Daisuke's start, relying heavily on his mid-nineties fastball to overpower batters, a tactic that typically results in a lot of foul balls, deep counts, and prolonged at-bats. Matsuzaka's style was more in line with the oft-preached but rarely heeded pitching adage of "Keep hitters off-balance," as his ability to mix in a variety of off-speed and breaking pitches from different deliveries and arm slots did exactly that. The resultant strikeout total (10) over his seven innings of work speaks volumes to his talent, and hopefully will serve as a sign of times to come.

Detractors of the start are going to mention one point in an effort to lessen the impact of the debut. It's the Kansas City Royals, not the New York Yankees. In my opinion, this point is moot. A major league team is a major league team, and while the Yankees strike fear into the heart of every opponent, the Royals have been one of those teams that has profited from an inability on the part of the Sox to beat lesser nines. The Yankees cause people to elevate their game, and so it appears we have a better record against them than the Royals in recent years. Additionally, the weather was so cold that a breaking ball pitcher like Matsuzaka should have been at the mercy of the hitters. He's already adjusting to balls using a slicker leather than those used in Japan, but add winter temperatures to that and he should have been toast. He wasn't.



All in all, it was a fantastic debut, one that will hopefully allow people to dissipate much of their nervous energy before his inaugural Fenway appearance next week. The first step is always the hardest.

Three To Watch: Coco Can't, Dustin Can, and J. D. Does His Thing

Coco Crisp's 2006 season was a forgettable one. A torrid spring and start to the season was capped off by a broken finger that never healed properly and a prolonged DL stint. He never quite got back into the swing of things, posting an embarassing line of .264/.317/.385 with 22 SB. His 2007 spring was a bad one, as he tried to put 2006 and the detachment of the fans behind him. The last couple games at Kauffman Stadium have been like playing a video game and swinging at every pitch for Crisp: fooled by the breaking balls, late on the fastballs, and under or on top of just about everything he puts wood on. Here's hoping he learns a little bit of plate discipline and puts his ego behind him, because his on-field performance and subsequent "Je m'en fous" attitude towards the fans and the city has him on the fast track to being obsolete.

Conversely, Red Sox rookie Dustin Pedroia is living up to his Ecksteinian comparisons, rapping out a .500/.545/.500 line in his first three games, with one walk and only one strikeout in his first 10 ABs. His defense is adequate to slightly above average, but his small stature and big league confidence have already begun to endear him to me and the rest of the Sox fans. The failure of Coco to do anything significant only puts Pedroia's small-sample-size success in a more flattering light.

Then, of course, is number 7. The Man Who Replaced Trot Nixon, J. D. Drew, is doing exactly what he was supposed to. An introductory line of .400/.500/.600 and some clutch defense in right field already has him on the upside of fan perception. Not much to say other than that it's been a pleasure to watch Drew's ABs, where his even-keeled, patient approach is like a drink of cold water after witness the hack-and-slash of players like Julio Lugo and the aforementioned Crisp.

In-Between Days

There isn't a lot to say about last night's season-opening loss to the Kansas City Royals, other than Schilling had neither velocity nor location, and everybody outside of J.D. Drew looked to be a bundle of nerves. From Pedroia's baserunning gaffe to some strange outfield play and a parade of bullpen pitchers, the Sox needed to get the juices flowing.

A bigger test of the team will come tonight, when Josh Beckett takes the mound against Odalis Perez. A few things to look for:

1. Beckett's off-speed pitches. He talked about them all throughout spring training, and his fastball was twice as effective, helping him pile up the strikeouts. Thing is, spring training is spring training, and he's running headlong into a Royals lineup bristling with up-and-comers named Ryan Shealy, Mark Teahen, Alex Gordon, and Tony Pena, Jr. Look for Beckett to dial it down in key situations.

2. Plate discipline. J.D. Drew looked the best out of everybody yesterday for his even-tempered approach at the plate. Most everybody else looked jumpy, with Dustin Pedroia being Exhibit A. Although Drew takes a lot of heat for his attitude (and I'll admit, when I heard the rumors I wanted no part of him), I've really come to appreciate his approach. He's patient and thoughtful, the kind of player we've gotten used to (at least as concerns their personality) in Mike Lowell and Tim Wakefield. Drew has the raw potential to be devastating to pitchers, so let's see if the rest of the lineup catches on to his approach and takes a few more pitches.

3. Terry Francona. It was discouraging to see a revolving bullpen door on the first game of the season. As much as I like Francona, he can sometimes be accused of overdoing matchups and overtaxing relievers in situations that seem out of reach. Joe Torre does the same thing. Yesterday's game would've been great to try and stretch out a reliever, but it feels just like the same old same old when you call for a new pitcher every two seconds.

Of course, we're all only waiting for two things: the first win of the season, and Matsuzaka's Thursday debut. Here's hoping we get one out of the way tomorrow night.