Welcome back, Red Sox!
How many days have we been waiting for this, now? Too many. And yet we'll have to wait one more day. I feel sorry for every Red Sox fan out there who had a ticket in hand, dying to get to Fenway Park today. And if for some terrible reason you can't go tomorrow, I expect you to send me an email in capital letters letting me know you have a present for me...
Kidding, kidding. Although I've never been to Opening Day, I know the god awful feeling of not attending Fenway Park after waiting for months to go. I personally am bummed about tonight because I was hoping to DVR the game and watch it after getting out of work. Since that didn't work out as planned, I'm going to get some text updates as the game goes along.
Many friends of mine have asked whether or not this will be a good year for the Sox. I say yes. That might seem a little obvious. But here's why:
-Pitching: Last year, as Ian Browne pointed out on redsox.com, Bucchholz was put in the rotation before he was really ready to be, simply because there was not enough depth in the rotation. This year he is ready, and yet the Sox have their five starters. Although this must be frustrating for Bucchholz, it's great that we have him as a back up. We all know how stressful it gets when one of our starters goes on the DL. With Bucchholz ready, we should be all set.
The addition of Brad Penny makes our rotation even stronger. With Lester, Matsuzaka, and Beckett on the mound, it gives us fans great confidence of putting a W on the board. It's great to see Wakefield back as well, but I have to admit I'm a little nervous about the nicest guy in baseball. He was not very dependable last season with a 10-11 record. It seemed as if he'd a get a W every other start. I hope things change for the better this season for Wake.
-Line up:
Folks, we have the same infield and outfield that we left off with. Ellsbury will now be our started in center with Coco being traded to Kansas City. Lowrie will resume his role as SS until Lugo is healthy, after which the competition for starter will resume against Lowrie. Everyone seems to be pulling for Lowrie, and I have to say I'm on the same boat. Unless Lugo shows significant improvement from where he left off in 2008, I don't see him getting his job back (especially with the numbers Lowrie pulled up during Spring training).
What I mean by all this is that we have the same team as last year, with a few improvements. We had a great team last year, and unfortunately they couldn't bring home a pennant. But this year we have a healthy Mike Lowell and David Ortiz. We have Jason Bay who showed up to Spring Training on time. And we have Brad Penny who will hopefully solidify our rotation. And how about the additions to our relief pitching? I personally am looking forward to seeing Ramon Ramirez be a go-to guy with the bases loaded. We'll see how that one works out.
So I say to my friends, yes, we have a good team this year. I'm expecting big things. GO SOX!
