It begins again…

2012 Boston Red Sox

Game 1 at Detroit (4/5/12): And so the 2012 campaign kicked off in Motown as the Sox had the unenviable task of facing reigning AL MVP/Cy Young Winner Justin Verlander to start the season. You  know that he’ll chainsaw the Sox’ bats in two today. It’s Opening day, a time when the media usually touts the Hometown Nine to be contenders, but such is not the case this year. Pretty much everyone is taking a wait-and-see approach to this year’s entry.

In the early going, both pitchers delivered as advertised. Ortiz doubled to lead off the second but Verlander retired the next three batters. Lester benefitted from double play balls in the first and second innings. Both pitchers both brought their ‘A’ games as there was no scoring until the bottom of the eighth when Peralta and Avila hit back to back doubles. The lack of speed in the Sox’ outfield was very apparent. The Tigers scored another run in the bottom of the eighth when Jackson tripled and scored on Fielder’s sacrifice fly to center. Give the Red Sox credit as they came back to tie the score in the ninth. Pedroia doubled leading off and moved to third on Gonzalez’ single. Ortiz then drove in Pedroia with a sacrifice fly to center. With two outs, Ryan Sweeney tripled to right and Gonzalez came across with the tying run. Alas, the bullpen melted down in the bottom of the ninth as Melancon and Aceves were both ineffective. With one out, Melancon allowed singles to Peralta and Avila. Aceves was brought in and hit Santiago with a pitch. Austin Jackson (who had three hits on the day) singled to left and the Tigers walked off with the win.

Game 2 at Detroit (4/7/12): Josh Beckett started and gave up five home runs as the Tigers crushed the Sox, 10-0. Games like that are outliers and don’t mean a thing over the course of 162 games. Sure, it’s troubling to see Beckett serve up five meatballs but there is a lot of baseball to be played.

Game 3 at Detroit (4/8/12): The Sox came back from an early 4-0 deficit to take a 7-5 lead. The Tigers then tied it 7-7. The Sox came back again to take a 10-7 lead. Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer to tie it at 10. The Sox came back again in the 11^th to take a 12-10 lead. With Melancon on the hill and one out, the Tigers scored a run to make it 12-11. With two outs and a runner on first, Alex Avila hit a two-run homer to right and the Sox lost again 13-12. If there’s any consolation, the Yankees have lost their first three games as well.

Game 4 at Toronto (4/9/12): Felix Doubront started for the Sox and pitched quite well, going five innings and allowing only two runs. The Sox’ bats were quiet over the first five as rookie Henderson Alvarez pitched stellar ball. Pedroia homered in the sixth to cut the Jays’ lead to 2-1. In the top of the ninth, with Jays’ closer Sergio Santos on the hill, Pedroia doubled leading off and scored on Gonzalez’ sacrifice fly. The Sox then went ahead 3-2 when Ryan Sweeney singled to right, scoring Darnell McDonald on a close play at the plate. Cody Ross then scored the Sox’ fourth run on a wild pitch. Aceves (and his ERA of ∞) was given another shot to close out the game and he retired the side in order. They’re already three games ahead of last year’s pace.

Game 5 at Toronto (4/10/12): Daniel Bard started for the Sox against Kyle Drabek on Tuesday night. The Jays got to Bard early for three runs as Drabek mowed down the Sox’ batters over the first five innings. In the sixth, Ellsbury walked leading off and moved to third on Pedroia’s double to the gap in left center. Ellsbury then scored on Gonzalez’ sacrifice fly to center and then Ortiz walked. That was all for Drabek as Jason Frasor came out of the Jays’ bullpen to face Youkilis, who doubled in the second inning. Youkilis grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to kill that rally.  Bard allowed the first two base runners to reach in the bottom of the sixth and Bobby V came out to pull the plug. Bard’s line was just so-so (5IP, 8H, 5ER, 1BB, 6K). Justin Thomas was brought in to face the lefty Thames and walked him to load the bases with no outs. Thomas appears to be incapable of throwing strikes. Arencibia lined a base hit up the middle and two runs scored. Rasmus then hit a sacrifice fly to left and Thames scored. Ryan Sweeney continued with his torrid pace, doubling off the wall to open the seventh. Encarnacion hit a bomb over the wall off of Michael Bowden with two outs in the seventh to make it 7-1, Jays. So as to tease their fans, the Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth. Gonzalez hit a ground rule double to right, scoring two runners. Ortiz struck out looking on a pitch right down the heart of the plate to end it. Sox lose, 7-3.

Game 6 at Toronto (4/11/12): The Sox played the rubber game in what was a duel of aces as Jon Lester started against the Jays’ tough lefty Ricky Romero. The first two innings played true to form as neither offense could get much traction. The Sox grabbed a lead in the third as Aviles singled, made it to second on a fielder’s choice at third and scored on Ellsbury’s base hit. The Jays came right back to score a pair in the bottom half of the inning as Thames singled and scored on Rajai Davis’ triple to right. Davis later came in on Escobar’s sacrifice fly to right. Both pitchers buckled down after that and the score remained 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth when the Jays scored an insurance run as Davis singled, stole second and came around on Escobar’s base hit up the middle. In the ninth, Ellsbury and Pedroia each walked to start the inning. Gonzalez then hit a fly to deep center that Rasmus hauled in, advancing both runners into scoring position. Romero was then relieved by Santos. Youkilis struck out swinging and then Ortiz grounded out to short to end the ballgame. Both teams mustered three hits each, but the Jays made theirs count.

So, the Sox wound up their first week of the season at 1-5 and in the basement of the AL East. It seems like an annual rite of passage that the Sox stumble out of the gate. They always seem to eventually rebound and play competitive ball but it is torture to watch them start every season this way. This year seems different and may be a down year for the Red Sox. Things could get awfully ugly in a hurry. They do have a day off on Thursday to prepare for the home opener and four games with the Rays. It’s really hard to find fault with the manager and the GM for this terrible start. This is, by and large, Theo’s mess. He really got a pass while he was here as the Golden Boy who could do no wrong, but the Red Sox are saddled with four big contracts of players who are out of the lineup with injuries (Daisuke, Jenks, Lackey and Crawford—totaling $50MM). Not that any of these players were bowling over the opposition when healthy. Their designated closer is gone for most, if not all of the year. The bullpen is a mess, put together with chicken wire and chewing gum. Crawford had a minor setback with his elbow and no one knows when he’ll return. Youkilis and Ellsbury can’t hit their way out of a paper bag. Beckett’s first outing was a disgrace, serving up five gopher balls. Five! All of this for the second-highest payroll in MLB, it’s pathetic.

Naturally, the media loves to stir the pot and there have been no shortage of opinions, with most of the vitriol leveled against the ownership group. Henry, et. al are more focused on the 100th Birthday bash on the 20th than they are with the ballclub’s current on-field performance. Supposedly, every living player and coach who has worn the uniform has been invited to attend the festivities. We know that the preceding manager won’t be in attendance as his nose is still out of joint after the way his reputation was trashed after he was let go. Who can blame him? Apparently hard words were recently exchanged between Francona and the CEO after he told them what they could do with their invite. Good for him! What did ownership expect? That’d he’d come running back with his arms wide open? Some gutless “unnamed sources” in the organization burned Francona but good and he has every right to refuse the invite. It’s simply a damned shame that the team’s greatest manager won’t be there to celebrate an event in which he would’ve been rightfully honored. His absence casts a dark cloud over what was supposed to be a celebration. He still should be managing this team.