Wait...We Lost to the ROYALS?!?!?!?

Greech had the honor of picking apart Big Schill and the Sox after their season opener (check it out here) so I guess I'll follow suit and take on Josh Beckett's first start. Still down in KC to take on the Big Blue Machine known as the Royals, at least they looked like the Big Blue Machine Monday afternoon. I managed to steal Beckett in the late rounds of our fantasy draft mostly so Leps couldn't have him. By the way congrats to my partner in crime The Greech for taking a commanding lead on Day One. It's gametime so let's get started. Hopefully I can be positive throughout and don't have to deal with watching Tony Pena's kid make the Sox look like, well, the Royals I guess.



The phenomenal Odalis Perez gets the ball tonight for KC. If we can't beat Odalis Freakin' Perez I'm becoming a Bruins fan.



Julio Lugo leads off the game with a groundout. Have to say I am finally on the Lugo Bandwagon. I was anti-Lugo for the past 3 seasons as his name came up in Sox trade rumors constantly, but everything I've read about him gets me excited. The Orlando Cabrera comparisons are what does it for me. Everyone talks about his upbeat enthusiastic attitude, and that's something that's been missing since 2004. Hopefully Lugo brings back that loose, "have fun" mentality that led to a ring. And I think I might lose it when the first Lugo-Ortiz 15-second handshake happens on camera.



JD Drew picked up his first RBI of the season on a double. Lotta questions need to be answered concerning JD in '07. Can he live up to the contract? Can he replace Trot in RF? Will he pay homage to Trot by dousing his cap in pine tar? How long before he's on the DL? How long before the Nixon chants start up at Fenway? Does any of this even phase him in the least?



I'm gonna be the first one to say it. You will all love Dustin Pedroia by the end of this season. I saw the baserunning blunder from Opening Night like everyone else, and yea for a guy that's here for his defense and baserunning skills that was atrocious. But just wait, come September this guy is going to have a Kapler-like following in Beantown. You know, unless we send him back down to Triple-A and overspend on an average 2B.



They showed an interview with Pedroia about the baserunning...we'll just call it "mishap" since I think we might be censored here, and his defense was understandable. He said "there were 2 outs and it was the right time to try and get into scoring position for the top of the order." It does make sense, but it would have been nice if the second-baseman didn't have time to catch the ball, turn around, watch an episode of The Office, decide which leg of DP's he wanted to tag, send a text message to the hot blonde behind the 1st base dugout, then FINALLY slap the tag down. Next time take the single big guy.



Wow, Manny just gets stranger by the day. Absolutely have to love the new hair 'do. Could anyone other than Manny pull this off? Manny had to have ridden the short bus to school. But hey if he's gonna put up 40/120/.300, who cares if he has pink hair, an orange goatee, and a water bottle in his back pocket...oh wait. Anyway here's a nice pictorial of same Manny being Manny moments over the years. Enjoy.

Bottom of the 3rd, Beckett gets into a jam after a pair of Mike Lowell errors. My guess is Lowell was distracted because the price of his Just For Men product just jumped up again. Beckett serves a fastball up to Mike Sweeney that was tagged into the right-center gap, and somehow JD Drew got to the ball to end the inning. He must have gotten confused about his contract, and thought for a minute that the incentives plan that was discussed actually got put in, and he had to make the catch to collect. Let's hope him and Boras don't take a once-over of the deal and realize it's pretty much all guaranteed money.

Everyone's talking about this being Coco Crisp's big breakout year in Boston. Supposedly we didn't see the real Coco last year because of an injured finger. Personally, I think you're all wrong and Crisp bombs again creating an opening for Wily Mo to take over CF and hit 50 homeruns between July and September. Actually that's a lie I'm buying into the Crisp breakout season theory. Especially if he does another commercial for the Red Sox Nation card with his father.

RemDawg and Donny O just reiterated my thoughts from earlier about the Sox needing to be more loose on the field. He said they were too professional and too serious last year. Turns out I might actually know what I'm talking about. Who woulda guessed it?

Sox up 3-0 in the 4th. Beckett looks like he should cruise through this one throwing 94 consistently and mixing in an 86 mph change with some slight control problems with the deuce, but I'm gonna throw in the towel early on this post. If he keeps this up, and Dice-K lives up to the hype (which after seeing 3 of his spring starts, there is no doubt in my mind he's worth the money) maybe the Big Guy at the top of the rotation might find a nice little motivation to lose a few lbs and actually get Tony Pena, Jr. out next time around. Either that or that blog title is going to become more of a reality and Curt's 38 pitches are all going to end up on the Mass Pike.

Dice-K debuts Thursday, and almost as importantly, Doug Mirabelli makes his first start of '07 on Friday. And in case you were'nt clear on Dougie's gameday routine, check it out here. Until next time, just remember, Dougie's going deep Friday night.






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