A Grand Opening

While I packed the bucket of wiffle balls into the back of the car, a headphoned jogger passed the house and called out, "Happy Easter!" My first thought was: Don't you mean Happy Opening Day?


Night, Day, whatever, Opening ____ was Sunday, between the 2009 World Champion Yankees and the hometown Red Sox. It's all I've been thinking about for weeks. And while I shovelled fat slabs of pink ham and white onions, puck-sized biscuits, genetically enhanced potatoes, and probably other things I was hardly aware of into my mouth, I inched closer and closer to the greatest moment of the year.

The game really had it all. What began as a disappointing pitching performance by Boston's "ace," ended with an exciting comeback and an encouraging performance from the Sox offense. But let's talk about Beckett.

Beckett was not effective. The Yankees were letting his sissy curve sputter through the opposite batters box and just sitting on the fastball. Like my brother said during the game, the guy had the whole off season to work on his pitches, he's getting paid millions of dollars to learn how to throw these pitches, and he can't take the time to learn how to actually throw a curve ball? It was really pitiful. It was like watching me try to throw a screwball at Jacuzzi Park. Yeah, I can get it to bite 1-of-10 tries, which is good enough to strike out your Joe Reardons and Dan Allaires, but this is the majors. If Beckett has to rely solely on a fastball and change up, he will be dog meat in the AL east, or fragrant meat as they call it in China.

The infield was super. I'm going to disregard the failed attempt to stop the double steal. Victor probably shouldn't have throw the ball to 2nd, so it's hard to say whether Scutaro was in the wrong for intercepting it and not being at the base. Granted, the Yankees had sent Gardner two pitches earlier, so you would think the element of surprise had vanished. But infield play was clean and fine. I think the Sox possess the best defensive infield in the majors, and offensively I think it stacks up against most teams as well. It won't have the fire power of the Yankees infield but it'll be a hell of a lot slicker on the diamond.

Ellsbury really pissed me off on Sunday. I know it's only one game, but you've got to swing the bat with guys on base and 2 outs. When he came up in the 5th and took 4 straight pitches to go down looking, with two men in scoring position, I wanted to pitch my throw blanket right through my dad's giant TV. The force required to do such a thing was beyond me, so I can only complain about the lack of fundamentals. Did Ellsbury really think he was going to work a walk in that situation? Off CC? You need to be up there hacking. Force the defense to make a play- this to me was the most aggravating moment of the game. Worse even than Posada's lame 300 ft HR down the right field line. The Sox already have J.D. Drew to stand there and take pitches 1/12 off the plate.

What can be said about Pedroia's HR? That could easily go down as one of the most exciting moments of the year. When he turned on it I thought it was foul. Of course, it wasn't, and it appeared that Pedroia shouted "Fuck Yeah!" as he pumped his fist and rounded first base. He also supplied the insurance RBI in the 8th on an opposite field poke. How could anyone not love this guy? Hopefully his performance portends another MVP caliber season and a year of inspiring comebacks for the Sox.

Best of all, was that seriously the Yankee's bullpen? Damaso Marte and Chan Ho Park are the go-to guys when the game is on the line? It became a contest of bullpens after both starters suffered reasonably early exits. The Sox bullpen struggled a bit too, but didn't look nearly as penetrable as that of the Yankees. Joba didn't have his best stuff but he'll probably succeed, being back in the setup role. Marte had awful control, and with a weak defensive catcher behind the plate, bad things are bound to happen. Marte did finish 2009 with a 9.45 ERA, so the Yankees shouldn't be too surprised.

In closing, I'm very excited about the 2010 Sox. I stand by my pre-season prediction that the Sox will win 99 games this year, and the AL East, before going on to the World Series to face the Cardinals.