Edward Mujica Picked the Right Day to Shit The Bed

If ever there was a day for the Red Sox to fall apart in the ninth inning with very few repercussions, this was it. You see today was the final celebration of the 2013 World Champions as Boston faced Milwaukee in its 2014 home opener at Fenway Park. It was a perfect celebration with the ring ceremony while Boston Marathon victims and the Boston firefighters that were killed last week were all honored as well.

A 2-2 game heading into the ninth turned into a 6-2 win for the Brewers (2-2) after they hung four runs on Edward Mujica in the ninth. In truth, the Red Sox (2-2) had no business winning this game anyway as they only managed five hits as a team. They continued to struggle with runners on base, going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and leaving five on base.

Jake Peavy still looked very hittable but he went six innings and only allowed two earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Something called Marco Estrada basically matched him (5.2 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, 6 strikeouts, 3 walks). Milwaukee's underrated catcher Jonathan Lucroy (double, 2 walks) hit a solo homer in the second inning and Carlos Gomez (4 singles) added an RBI single for a 2-0 Brewers lead.

Boston tied it on an RBI single by Ted Williams I mean Grady Sizemore in the second followed by a solo homer for Will Middlebrooks in the third. His first homer of the season went over the Monster, no doubt somewhere Jenny "Boom Boom" Dell smiled while shooting a show on NESN that'll never air. Former Brewers reliever Burke Badenhop (fantastic name) pitched two scoreless innings in his Red Sox debut. Mujica had pitched a scoreless frame at Baltimore on Wednesday but today he simply didn't have it as Milwaukee knocked him around to the tune of four earned runs on four hits.

Bet you didn't know that Lyle Overbay (who was cut in spring training last year with the Red Sox) was still in MLB. He had the go-ahead two-run double in the ninth for the Brewers while Gomez and Aramis Ramirez-who I think has played for every NL Central team-kept the line moving with RBI singles.

Francisco Rodriguez is Milwaukee's closer and even though it wasn't a save situation, he was summoned for the ninth. He got a 1-2-3 inning including one strikeout in 13 pitches.

Boston's enigmatic fifth starter (really) Clay Buchholz makes his first start of 2014 tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) vs. Wily Peralta. As always with Buchholz, he could pitch a no-hitter or also be out for the rest of the season with a sore throat or broken nail. I guess we'll have to wait and see, the good news for the Red Sox is that they don't have any more openers (0-2) this season as far as I know.

UPDATE 4/6: Will Middlebrooks went on the 15-Day DL with a Grade 1 calf strain (whatever that means). Brock Holt was called up from Pawtucket to take his place.

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You Can Never Have Enough Mediocre Backup First Basemen

MLB Spring Training is finally here which means for 2+ months we're subjected to non-stop puff pieces and non-news stories from the most boring time in the sporting calendar. That's why when something at least a little bit notable happens, we have to pump it up and make it seem way more important than it has a right to be. Today, the Red Sox traded a player to be named later or cash considerations to the Seattle Mariners for first baseman/outfielder Mike Carp.

Almost by default, he has to win the backup first baseman job (behind Mike Napoli) over such bums like Daniel Nava, Mitch Maier, Lyle Overbay and Mark Hamilton. Two years ago, when Carp played 79 games for Seattle, he seemed to have some promise: he's a left-handed hitter and he put up 12 homers and 46 RBIs on a bad team with an awful lineup in a cavernous park. Fast forward to last season when he missed 79 games because of shoulder and groin injuries and I guess you can see why the Mariners made him expendable.

Carp is only 26 and he's versatile which means he can also play in the outfield when I'm sure numerous Red Sox outfielders will go on the disabled list with assorted freak/fake injuries. He won't win them many games but at least compared to those scrubs I mentioned earlier, at least he's not a glorified Triple-A player which should be considered slight progress for the Red Sox front office.

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