7-0

Today Josh Beckett takes the mound in Toronto going for a perfect 7-0 record. He deserves it, after much criticism last season with his high ERA. It shows a lot out of him to bounce back strong and prove to the city of Boston he's worth every penny we pay him. Toronto's been playing awful lately and it isn't Halladay or Burnett on the bump, so I like Beckett's chances for a perfect 7 win no loss start.

Yankees Series

In their first series meeting of the series, the Sox dominated the Yankees 3 games to 0. Pitching was excellent for Boston, and the offense finally got some runs for Dice-K when he pitched. Those runs came in an untraditional way, as the Sox belted 4 home runs in a row, tying the major league record to get themselves ahead of the Yankees. The first home run was by Manny Ramirez, then JD Drew, followed by Mike Lowell (who had another one that game as well), and finally Jason Varitek. It was exciting to see how those homers sucked the life right out of New York.

Sox bats quiet again for Dice-K

For his second start in a row, the phenom Daisuke Matsuzaka has not won. He has faced the Mariners at home and lost, and got the same result against the Blue Jays in Toronto last night. In his two losses he has given up only 5 runs (3 and 2 respectively) but has gotten only 1 run of support from the Sox in those games. In Toronto Dice-K had one bad inning, the 4th inning, but that was his only blemish. Through 6 innings he had 10 strikeouts and gave up only 2 earned runs. The lone Sox run came from a blast by Willy Mo Pena to centerfield.

It also seemed like Dice-K was shaken up after the 2 strike slider he threw to Vernon Wells that wasn't a called third strike. After that Wells reached on an infield single (also a controversial call) and that seemed to add to Dice-K's frustration. He proceeded to start throwing wild, walking batters, and gave up the 2 runs of the game. That was the 4th inning of the game and his only bad inning.

Josh Beckett

Josh Beckett is off to a great start this season. After a higher than expected ERA last season some people wondered if he was worth the money we coughed up. So far in '07, so good. He's been dominating and is off to a 3-0 start with a 1.50 ERA. Maybe it just took him a season to get used to the atmosphere in Boston, or who knows maybe this is just a good start, but I'd put my money on him finishing strong throughout the season. He's a smart enough pitcher, has great command and a low to mid 90's fastball, and his curveball has looked real sharp thus far this season. He's going to be the leader of the pitching staff this season I believe.

Home Opener

The Sox opened the season at Fenway with hot bats and dominant pitching by Josh Beckett, who earned his second win of the season. The Sox crushed the Seattle Mariners 14-3 and JD Drew had his first home run as a member of the Sox. Beckett lasted 7 innings and had 8 strikeouts and allowed only one run to get the win over Seatlle's Jeff Weaver.

There was a tussell in the top of the 8th when Red Sox reliever Brendan Donnelly struck out Jose Guillen. There were some words exchanged and both benches cleared, but there was no fight. Guillen was ejected and after Donnelly hit the next batter, he was also.

Texas Series

The Red Sox lost the series down in Arlington, Texas against the Rangers 2 games to 1. In game one it was Tim Wakefield picking up the loss as the Rangers edged the Sox 2-0. Julian Tavarez lost the next day as Texas won 8-4. It was an evenly matched game until the 6th inning when Texas erupted for 4 runs and Sammy Sosa got his first homerun of the season. The final game was the Sox' only win. Curt Schilling bounced back after his opening day loss to lead the Sox to a 3-2 win. Ortiz was swinging the hot bat on Easter Sunday as he connected for two home runs.

Games 2 and 3

Josh Beckett picked up the Sox first win of the season on Wednesday as they beat the Royals 7-1. Mike Lowell surprisingly made 3 errors, and Kevin Youkillis got his first home run of the season. The 3 error game was the first time that has ever happened to Mike Lowell.

Today Dice-K made his highly anticipated debut finally and beat the Royals 4-1. He lasted 7 innings while allowing only 1 run and struck out 10. His command was excellent and his pitches dominating. After striking out his first 3 times up at the dish Ortiz doubled down the left field line, and once again, Dustin Pedroia kept his hot bat going today.

Opening Day

The Red Sox started the 2007 season yesterday afternoon in Kansas City against the Royals. Curt Schilling started the game and was less than spectacular. Gil Meche started for Kansas City and carried the Royals to their first win of the season. David Ortiz picked right up where he left off last season with an RBI double in the 1st inning. The Sox didn't play well, couldn't get the timely hits, and lost 7-1 to the doormat team of Major League Baseball. On a bright side, they still have 161 games left to play.

Elsewhere in the AL East, the Yankees beat the Devil Rays, the Blue Jays beat the Tigers, and the Orioles lost to Minnesota 7-4.

2007 Closer

Jonathan Papelbon will resume the role as Sox closer for this season. Although I'd like to see him start and see how dominant he can be, there really is no sense fixing what isn't broken. I'd like to see Craig Hansen become the closer, but apparently he isn't ready yet. Papelbon turned out to be one of the most dominant closers in the game, and our rotation with the addition of Dice-K shouldn't be a problem. Julian Tavarez will take Papelbon's spot in the rotation.

Mike Timlin

Unfortunately, Mike Timlin will miss opening day in Kansas City this year. He strained his oblique and will start off on the disabled list, but will hopefully be ready for action around the time the Sox open in Boston, which is April 10th against the Mariners. Timlin is a solid pitcher who is very reliable out of the bullpen and I think he'd make a decent closer for us this year.

Through March 13th

So the Red Sox are an even 7-7 this spring after beating the Yankees in their only spring training match up this year in last night's game and losing to the Blue Jays this afternoon. 7-7 isn't as good as anyone was hoping for, but then again it is only spring training and a .500 record isn't likely to plague the Sox this season.

Daisuke pitched against the Orioles on Sunday and looked phenomenal. All his pitches are dominating and each one compliments the next. In the first inning he had back to back strikeouts against Melvin Mora and Jay Gibbons respectively to retire the side. In the process he mixed in his changeup very nicely, kept each hitter off-balance, and basically made them look silly.

Game 1

The first game of the spring training season ended in a 4-4 tie in 10 innings with the Minnesota Twins last night in Fort Myers, Florida. Curt Schilling started for the Sox and lasted 2 innings. He pitched well, his location was very consistent and for the most part he kept hitters off-balance. Schilling gave up 2 hits and no runs in his debut outing.

Julio Lugo made a throwing error in the field, but made up for it the very next inning with a single to score Dustin Pedroia. Previously that same inning, David Ortiz had an RBI single. Jacoby Ellsbury, the highly tooted Red Sox prospect who played his college ball at Oregon State 2 years ago, had a good showing as well with a two-run single and a stolen base.

Josh Beckett makes his spring debut today at 1:05 in a split-squad meeting where his squad takes on Northeastern University. The other squad also plays at 1:05, against the Toronto Blue Jays where Kason Gabbard will get his first start.

Manny Arrives....Early?

Manny arrived down in Florida to report for spring training yesterday, around a week after the rest of his position player teammates had. Manny was expected to report March 1st according to Julian Tavarez, but shocked Red Sox Nation by his early arrival.

It was a nice gesture for Manny to come early (for him) to show that he is committed still to the Sox and doesn't want to be viewed as a cancer in the lockeroom. He was rumored to have been tending to his mother who just received surgery, which makes a plausible excuse for a player to start late.

Even if he did arrive March 1st or even later, I don't believe it is as much of a deal as people hype it up to be. Sure it makes for better team chemistry and all that when you are there, but the players know who Manny is and how he has worked hard in the offseason. They know he will still produce no matter how much spring training he misses. After all, he did arrive late last year too and had a great year.

AL East Outlook

It's finally almost time. We've been waiting for many months now for this to happen, and now finally the Red Sox head down to Fort Lauderdale in just a few days. It should be nice seeing them on the news again with updates from Florida as it is supposed to snow up here in Fitchburg pretty hard the next couple days. Thinking baseball is thinking warm so it helps get your mind off the crappy weather.

I like the chances for the Sox with what we got so far. They may not take the AL East. It's going to be a good run against NY, but they will not finish below 2nd like last season. They should have no trouble obtaining the Wild Card if not the AL East. Beckett, Schilling, and Dice-K to power the pitching, a new shotstop (Julio Lugo) who adds a spark to the lineup as well, and of course the best hitting duo in all of baseball with Manny and Ortiz.

The American League East will be a tight race this year, and I think this may be the year the Tampa Bay Devil Rays make a climb up from the cellar. I'm not predicting them to come anywhere near the Sox or Yankees in the win column, don't get me wrong, but I don't think they will be the bottom-dwellers of the league this year. Carl Crawford in my opinion is one of the most athletic players in the game, and if Scott Kazmir can stay healthy he can lead them to 14+ wins. I think they will replace Baltimore as the 2nd worst team in the division.

It will be between the Yankees and Sox for top dog in the East, as it should come as no surprise. Randy Johnson is out, but what did he really do anyway. With Pettitte returning comes a valuable lefty veteran. It definitely won't hurt them that they have the Moose Mike Mussina in the rotation as well. The question with those two is "can they stay healthy for the whole season and help NY?"

Baltimore: Next team please thats where players go to lose....games and respect. They have a few notable players: Ramon Hernandez, Miguel Tejada, and Melvin Mora who can help them win some games, and play the Sox tough as they always do. Other than them however, who else is there. Brian Roberts had one phenomenal year, but besides that he's fell off the map.

As for the Toronto Blue Jays. Can their stud AJ Burnett come through for them this year? Roy Halladay should have another fantastic year, assuming he doesn't receive another tragic injury. Troy Glaus is always good for some bombs, and the emergence of Alex Rios last year showed how valuable he can be. And oh yea, Vernon Wells. For $126 million over 7 years, he better help the Jays out.

Predictions for 2007 season AL East:
1. Boston
2. NY
3. Toronto
4. Tampa Bay
5. Baltimore

Daisuke Matsuzaka

Will Daisuke live up to the hype? Good question. With less than a month to go until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, Sox fans are anticipating anxiously. For most of us, we only caught a glimpse of Daisuke during the World Baseball Classic, where he earned MVP honors while leading Japan to the championship. But how will he hold up with the tough schedule of the AL East?

Sure the World Baseball Classic is filled with some of the best talent in baseball, but it was basically a glorified spring training in the sense that players were still getting into the swing of things. Daisuke has proven himself during those games, but if he doesn't step up during the Sox season, there will obviously be a lot of criticism and he could even turn into a Boston version of A-Rod in NY.

I am anxiously awaiting this season to begin to see how he does and how he fits in with the Red Sox. For someone that every team wanted so bad that we had to throw down $51 million just to talk to the guy, there must be something special about him. Adjusting to the American lifestyle and working through hard times at Fenway will be difficult, but I believe Daisuke will have an above average season and show that he deserves to play in the Major League.