It's Baseball Season Already? Ugh, Well At Least The Red Sox Won Their First Opener Since 2010

I did my best to avoid Spring Training like the plague that it is so I have to say it was strange to sit down this afternoon and watch the Red Sox 2013 regular season opener at Yankee Stadium against the Yankees. I got bored quickly and it went way too long (3:37) but that's how it always is for Red Sox-Yankees so the important thing is that Boston (1-0) won their first opener since 2010, 8-2 over the soon-to-be dumpster fire Yankees (0-1).

The expected pitcher's duel of Jon Lester (1-0) vs. C.C. Sabathia (0-1) never happened since both were gone after five innings. Who needs aces? Lester allowed two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks which made him look like Felix Hernandez compared to Sabathia: four earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and four walks.

Boston had 13 hits but only a pair of extra base hits: a triple by Jacoby Ellsbury (3 for 6, 2 RBIs, run) and a double by Jarrod Saltalamacchia (3 walks, 2 runs). Making their Red Sox debuts were Shane Victorino (2 hits, 3 RBIs), Jonny Gomes (2 hits, run, walk) and heralded rookie Jackie Bradley Jr. (3 walks, 2 runs, RBI, 1 sick catch in left field). Jose Iglesias had three hits, a run and RBI which is misleading since none of his "hits" made it out of the infield.

The Red Sox bullpen is seen as one of their few obvious strengths and they played that way for one game at least. Koji Uehara had a 1-2-3 sixth (on five pitches!), Andrew Miller got two outs then Andrew Bailey cleaned up his mess (two walks) by striking out Kevin Youkilis to end the seventh, Junichi Tazawa had a scoreless eighth and Joel Hanrahan put up a clean ninth albeit in a non-save situation.

Boston got all the runs they'd need in the second inning as Iglesias had an infield RBI single, Victorino added a two-run single and Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) notched an RBI single.

New York's only two runs were courtesy of Francisco Cervelli's two-run single in the fourth. With Curtis Granderson, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira all currently on the shelf, it's hard to see the Yankees playing well or scoring any runs for that matter. That's why the Red Sox and other AL East teams have to rack up as many wins as they can while the Yanks are fielding lineups more suited for the Royals.

Bradley Jr. tacked on a run via a grounder in the seventh, Ellsbury had an RBI infield single in the ninth and Victorino drove in Bradley Jr. with a single, a fitting way to end a memorable MLB debut for the 22-year-old former South Carolina Gamecock.

This always seems to happen but there is an off-day tomorrow so we won't see these teams again until Wednesday night (7 p.m., NESN) as Clay Buchholz faces Hiroki Kuroda.

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CC Sabathia Finally Solves The Red Sox In 2011

It's almost impossible to win at any level of baseball when you leave 16 runners on base. Even more so when you face CC Sabathia and your team counters with John Lackey.

Sabathia (18-7) finally got over his funk against Boston (0-4) coming into tonight as the Yankees (81-52) climbed within half a game of the Red Sox (82-52) with a 5-2 win at Fenway Park.

The series opening win gave New York some early momentum heading into the last series at Fenway in the regular season between the rivals while also cutting the season series to 10-3 in favor of Boston.

It made sense that after struggling so much against the Red Sox that Sabathia would eventually pitch as well against them as he does vs. the rest of MLB. It took a season-high 128 pitches just to get through six innings. He allowed two earned runs on 10 hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts (including Adrian Gonzalez three times) in a bizarre outing.

Lackey (12-10) threw nearly as many pitches (119) in one more inning of work. That amount of pitches from the starters alone is the main reason why this contest took place at the standard glacial pace for Red Sox-Yankees (3:59). Lackey allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Eric Chavez and Francisco Cervelli were unlikely heroes that turned in nice performances in the win. Chavez had RBI singles in the second and fourth (sandwiched around an RBI double by Robinson Cano) for a 3-0 Yankees lead.

Two equally unexpected guys cut it to 3-2 for the Red Sox in the fourth. Carl Crawford (2 hits, walk) hit a solo homer (his 10th of the season) and Marco Scutaro (2 hits) had an RBI double.

Cervelli hit a solo bomb in the fifth (his second career home run) and was going crazy around the bases which led to Lackey plunking him to start the seventh. Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild was tossed after the benches cleared (but nothing happened) and manager Joe Girardi was ejected in the ninth for arguing about Jarrod Saltalamacchia swinging when he got hit by a Mariano Rivera pitch.

It was a testy night as Jacoby Ellsbury was hit by Sabathia and Matt Albers plunked Jorge Posada.

Jed Lowrie had three hits and David Ortiz had two hits in the loss.

Cory Wade got an out in the seventh and Boone Logan had the last two outs in the frame, paving the way for Rafael Soriano (scoreless eighth) and Rivera who got his 35th save thanks in part to a bogus strikeout of Lowrie (two ultra shaky called strikes).

Albers was a bright spot as he got the last two outs of the eighth to keep Boston within three runs. He needed a positive outing like that since he's gone off a cliff in August. Alfredo Aceves also had a 1-2-3 ninth in four pitches.

Phil Hughes faces Josh Beckett tomorrow night in a matchup that clearly favors the Red Sox. Beckett has owned the Yankees this year although as Sabathia showed, things can change when you face a team so much.

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Red Sox Own That Fat Blob CC Sabathia This Season

I had to make a cameo appearance at an engagement party so I missed most of the Red Sox-Yankees game yesterday afternoon, except for the first couple innings on the radio and a couple frantic checks of my Droid.

So while I didn't see much of it (I did watch the highlights last night), I felt it my duty to report on the result since it was rather insane.

The Red Sox (69-43) beat CC Sabathia (16-6) for the fourth time this season in a 10-4 romp at Fenway Park over the Yankees (69-43).

It's hard to gauge which is more unlikely, that Boston has owned Sabathia (the AL Cy Young favorite) so much or that John Lackey (10-8) beat him yesterday. The win meant that the teams have the same exact record and therefore tonight's game (weather permitting) will determine who leaves town in first place in the AL East.

The other huge storyline was the continued ascendancy to superstardom of Jacoby Ellsbury. He had a career-high six RBIs (first Red Sox leadoff man to do that since Ellis Burks (!) in 1987) in the win.

Some other wacky stats from this weird game: Carl Crawford was 4 for 4 with three runs, an RBI and a stolen base (he's reached base in six straight at bats) while Francisco Cervelli led the Yankees with three hits.

In six innings, Sabathia was tagged for seven earned runs on nine hits with a walk and six strikeouts. He'll likely face the Red Sox a few more times in the regular season (2 more series) before the playoffs but it has to give Boston plenty of confidence knowing they can beat New York's ace.

Lackey or Big Hoss as El Pres has dubbed him went six innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. It was the fifth straight decision that he's won.

The Red Sox went up 2-0 in the third on Ellsbury's sacrifice fly that scored Crawford and Dustin Pedroia's RBI double off the Monster that plated Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 runs, 2 walks).

New York tied it up with a pair of runs in the fourth. A run scored on Nick Swisher's double play grounder and Eric Chavez (still alive and sporting a ridiculous moustache) hit an RBI single.

Boston scored five more times in the fourth. Crawford and Marco Scutaro had RBI singles which set it up for Ellsbury's big fly, a three-run bomb (his 19th of the season) to the first row of seats in right field.

The Yankees cut it to 7-4 as Derek Jeter had an RBI single in the fifth and Mark Teixeira hit a solo homer off Daniel Bard in the eighth.

Ellsbury added an RBI single in the eighth and Pedroia capped it off with a sacrifice fly.

If the rain lets up, Josh Beckett will face Freddy Garcia tonight in the series finale on Sunday Night Baseball. Beckett has absolutely owned the Yanks this season while Garcia has gotten roughed up in both his starts against the Red Sox this season. Boston looks to win the series and improve to 10-2 in 2011 against their biggest rivals.

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Yawn, Red Sox take another game from the Yankees

It was so considerate of the Boston Red Sox to get out to a big lead last night on the New York Yankees, meaning that you didn't have to worry about them while we watched the Bruins dominate the Canucks in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Boston (35-26) was up 7-0 in the top of the fourth and hung on for a 11-6 win over the Yankees (33-26) last night at Yankee Stadium. It gave the Red Sox six wins in the teams' seven meetings so far this season and also catapulted Boston a game ahead of New York for first place in the American League East.

The game that figured to be dominated by hitters with Tim Wakefield and A.J. Burnett on the mound, turned out just as you'd expect with both teams using them as batting practice.

Wakefield (3-1) at least saved some face and survived for 5.1 innings, earning the win. He allowed five earned runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

Alfredo Aceves, the former Yankee, picked up his first save of the season by getting the final 11 outs. He allowed one earned run on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts. More importantly, with Bobby Jenks back on the DL (what a useless tub of goo) and the Red Sox bullpen taxed, Aceves gave them some much needed rest in the brutal heat.

Burnett (6-4) used to own Boston when he was in the no-pressure zone of Toronto. Since he's been with the Yankees, he can't do anything positive against the Red Sox. Last night in 5.2 innings, he allowed eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts.

Jacoby Ellsbury (3 hits) led off the game with a single, he stole second and moved to third on an error by Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs). Adrian Gonzalez drove Ellsbury in for a 1-0 lead. For the second straight game, David Ortiz went deep (his 15th of the season) with a two-run bomb in the first. There was no bat flip so Joe Girardi will have to find some other inane thing to cry about.

J.D. Drew made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly in the second. The Red Sox tacked on three more runs in the fourth, including an RBI double by Ellsbury.

Alex Rodriguez really stepped up in the clutch with a solo homer when his team trailed 7-0 in the fourth. After Cervelli's RBI double, Derek Jeter's RBI single and Mark Teixeira's sacrifice fly, New York cut it to 7-4 in the fifth.

The teams both scored one run in the sixth before Boston put it away with a pair of home runs in the ninth. Carl Crawford (sixth of the season) had a solo homer and Drew hit a two-run bomb off somebody named Lance Pendelton (Joba is on the DL and is going to have Tommy John surgery).

Teixeira's RBI single in the ninth made it 11-6 which was the final margin.

Josh Beckett faces CC Sabathia tonight in the series finale. A win would give the Red Sox their second straight sweep in Yankee Stadium and it would plant some serious dobut in the Yankees' minds.

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