2009 Boston Red Sox

[Dispatch]

Well in one week the Red Sox will be opening the season at Fenway.

I don't know about the rest of you but I feel like this team is either going to be awesome, or they're going to to have a hard time over coming injuries.

My main questions going into the season are:

• David Ortiz wrist, I highly doubt he will ever hit 50+ again but can he hit 30-35 .285/.380/.550?
  
• Can Buchholz bounce back and prove it was only a sophomore slump? With his performance this spring it appears to be that way.
  
• Can Ellsbury raise his OBP? There's no way he can bat lead-off and put up a .336 OBP again.
  
• Finally, will Jason Varitek hit over .220? I pray to god we find another option at catcher some point through out the season.

My things to watch for:

• Daniel Bard will be a major factor in the pen by August.
  
• Possibly a team in a financial crunch looking to get rid of a good player? (Miguel Cabrera )

[clerks37]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

We are loaded with pitching if we can keep our stars healthy it could be a 92-94 win season.

[CWood2]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Not pretty out. I'll pretty much watch any game today, but part of my "holiday" ritual involves skipping work to catch my Sox. Hope they play ...

[Misfit]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

I wasn't disappointed with the rain out. The 4 o'clock start time today means I could bounce out of work a little early to catch most of the action. So far so good. There's nothing like Opening Day, its replaced Christmas for me now that I'm older (though that might change when/if I have kids).

[Misfit]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Lead-off walk followed up by a Crawford double for the Rays put men at second and third with no one out. The following hitters (Longoria, Pena, Burrell) go popout, strikeout, ground out. Love it!

[Dispatch]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Great game today. Oki had a tough time in the 8th but besides that a pretty solid performance by the Sox.

I would have liked to see Ellsbury get a hit since I think he needs to get off to a good start to boost his confidence.

[Misfit]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Yeah, a great win with more positives than negatives. Fourteen punch-outs for the pitching staff (including a golden sombrero for Pena, ouch!) and a solid offensive showing against Tampa's number 1 (or 1A). The only two negatives were Okajima being unable to locate much of anything in the 8th and Ellsbury's failure to reach base from the lead-off spot. Ellsbury clearly doesn't read the change well out of Shields' hand so hopefully he gets things going tomorrow, though good luck with Kazmir on the hill.

[Suiko]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Possibly a team in a financial crunch looking to get rid of a good player? (Miguel Cabrera )

If only =(

Can't complain with that first win. Only 172 to go.

[Misfit]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

This series was like a re-run of the last 3 these two teams have played. Red Sox dominate the first game, then lose the next two. Dropping two out of three at home to a division rival is not the right way to start the season.

[Dispatch]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Last nights game wasn't to much better then the last 2 vs Tampa Bay.

So far are offense seems like its having a hard time getting going, besides Youk who is off to a great start, no one has a batting average over .300. I know its a very small sample size but I'm hoping this isn't the norm for the rest of the year.

Hopefully when Smoltz is ready I hope he takes Wakefields spot in the rotation. It's not that Wake is terrible it's just that he so frustrating to watch.

Let's see what Penny can do today.

[Misfit]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Nice to see the Sox get a win out west against Anaheim after failing to do so in the regular season last year. The offense was all homeruns, which is nice, but not something this team can rely on. The first three innings the lead-off man reached and the Sox failed to score. That last AB with Kendrick was driving me nuts as 'Tek and Papelbon refused to go inside or out of the zone. Kendrick smacked a liner right at Baldelli so it worked, but I didn't like the approach. Papelbon certainly will not be available to pitch tomorrow. I don't know what the final pitch count was for him but it may have been closer to 40 than 30. Penny looked okay and gave the club a quality start for the win. He threw all of his pitches with the fastball between 91 and 95 for most of the day. The stuff was there, but it he tired fairly quickly. As a fifth starter, he should do fine as long as his health permits.

[eXperiment63]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Gotta remember,Penny only pitched 12 innings this spring... he was bound to tire fast. Give him a few starts and his strength will be there.

[Dispatch]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Tonights game = nightmare.

nuff' said.

[Misfit]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Ortiz just struck out swinging on a fastball up and in from a right hander that was 88 mph. To say his bat has slowed is an understatement. He's looked worse than Varitek.

[Suiko]

Re: 2009 Boston Red Sox

Hate to jinx this but we're gaining some pretty good momentum. Today's performance was amazing, hopefully Papi will continue like this and prove he's not on the decline