Red Sox Experience a Perfect 2015 Home Opener vs. Nationals Including a 9-4 Win

Even the most negative Red Sox fan (which are few and far between these days) would have a hard time complaining about anything that transpired on Monday afternoon at Fenway Park. Boston (5-2 overall) pounded Washington (2-5 overall, 1-3 away) 9-4 in the 2015 home opener that featured a moving pregame ceremony with my man Pete Frates and Jane Richards among others. Oh and did I mention that it was 70 degrees and sunny without a cloud in the blue sky? The fact that it was my first ever home opener made it extra special too, if I'm smart I should probably never attend another one since I doubt that this one can be topped.

Once the game started, Red Sox rookie center field and leadoff hitter Mookie Betts was the unquestioned star. He robbed Bryce Harper of a possible two-run homer in the first inning, roped a three-run homer (2nd of the season) over the Monster in the second (for a 4-0 Boston lead) and also stole two bases on one play then added an infield single that opened it up to 7-0. Rick Porcello (1-0) picked up his first career win for Boston with an eight-inning effort: four runs (three earned), on four hits with six strikeouts and a walk.

The Nationals have gotten plenty of hype but so far in the very early going of this season, I couldn't tell you why. For some reason, they played like they didn't want to be there. They dropped two pop-ups that would make average Little Leaguers weep. Jordan Zimmermann (1-1) was charged with eight runs (seven earned) in 2.1 disastrous innings. The only real offense that they could mount was a solo homer by Ryan Zimmerman in the fifth inning and Danny Espinosa's homer to right center.

As most expected, the Red Sox lineup looks dangerous and versatile. David Ortiz was 2 for 4 with solo homer and RBI single and Pablo Sandoval was 2 for 4 with a run. Xander Bogaerts continued to be on fire, going 2 for 3 with two runs, RBI and a walk. Finally, Sandy Leon was 3 for 4 with run and RBI against his former club that traded him to Boston a few weeks ago in Spring Training.

It wouldn't be part of the full Hanley Ramirez experience if we didn't worry about an injury barely a week into the regular season. He left in the sixth inning after fouling a ball right off his foot, ouch! We can only hope that it's not too serious since he's been known to miss weeks for numerous injuries in the past few years.

Tomorrow night's game is a weird start time (6:10, NESN) and it features Justin Masterson (1-0) making his return to Fenway vs. Stephen Strasburg (0-1) who hasn't looked right for years.

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"Who Needs an Ace When You Can Get a Bunch of No. 3s & 4s?"- Red Sox So Far This Offseason

I refuse to be the reactionary type that calls into sports talk radio or bitches on Twitter and Facebook in the immediate aftermath of the Red Sox making a curious move in December. Nope, the Winter Meetings just concluded in San Diego and Boston has not one, not two but three new starting pitchers in its rotation (at least for the moment). Still, especially with the whirlwind of activity the last few days with the Red Sox, I want to hold off from completely bashing them since this can't be it, right?

It started earlier this week when Jon Lester finally made up his mind and chose the Cubs over the Red Sox (has anyone else ever done that in baseball history?). That set off dominoes all over MLB and locally, Boston traded pitchers Rubby De La Rosa and Alan Webster to Arizona for Wade Miley. Then they dealt outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, reliever Alex Wilson and prospect (RHP) Gabe Speier to Detroit. Finally, they signed former Red Sox great Justin Masterson to a one-year deal worth $9.5 million with incentives built in that could add up to $2.5 million.

At best, these seem like reasonable moves. Webster stinks and De La Rossa has outstanding stuff but apparently Boston wasn't too enamored with him. Miley was not good in 2014 (8-12, 4.34 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 183 Ks, 75 BBs). Still, he was on a terrible team and he's a 28-year-old lefty that should be entering the prime of his career. Most importantly for the Red Sox, he should deliver innings. He went over 200 IP the last two seasons and nearly three in a row (194.2) in 2012.

Porcello undoubtedly has the most potential of this group. He's still only 25 (he turns 26 on December 27) but the former first-round pick already has six years of big league experience under his belt. He quietly improved with the Tigers (his only MLB home before now) but last season could be fairly termed his breakthrough campaign: 15-13, 3.43 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 3 shutouts, 129 Ks/41 BBs in 204.2 IP. The thing you wonder about with him is how he does with more pressure since he's been able to hide in Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer's (among others) shadows all those years.

Masterson is a Patriots-esque move: bringing back a guy that had moderate success with them then blossomed somewhere else but later lost it amidst injuries and general struggles (hey LeGarrette Blount). It's safe to say that last season was a disaster for Masterson as he was traded from the Indians to the Cardinals but never could find it, eventually excluded from St. Louis' postseason roster (keep in mind that he was an All-Star in 2013 with Cleveland). He came up with the Red Sox in 2008 and was part of the Victor Martinez trade with Cleveland the following year so he knows manager John Farrell and should have a good feel for what it's like to be a Red Sox.

I am disappointed that the Red Sox seemingly gave up Cespedes for less than I thought he was worth but apparently there wasn't a great market for him or something. Still, I realize that to get anything of value in a trade, you are going to have to give up a good player and not the last guy on your bench or some Single-A scrub that nobody knows. It would have been fun to see him get a full season in Boston in a real lineup with Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez after he was solid in his short stint here last season but what can you do?

Despite all this, the fundamental truth remains the same: Boston has no ace (you could also argue no No. 2 either) since who can trust Clay Buchholz or Joe Kelly to do that? The scary part is that the Red Sox always try to act like they are smarter than every other team yet here they are once again completely changing their focus. Their philosophy goes from one extreme to another each season: pay out their ears for overrated free agents, save money and sign veteran guys and most recently I guess they watched the ALCS this fall between the Orioles and Royals and thought "hey, aces are overrated." Wrong, the Giants captured their third World Series in five years thanks to Madison Bumgarner's singular brilliance. You can win plenty of regular season games with smoke and mirrors but eventually in the playoffs, their true colors will show.

Scherzer is a free agent that could command upwards of $200 million while Phillies ace Cole Hamels is thought to be available via a trade since Philadelphia is still rebuilding. Unless they get one of those guys (clearly I'd prefer Scherzer) or somehow luck into another top of the rotation guy, it's hard to get too enthused about the Red Sox in 2015. This team has finished in last place two of the last three years so it'd be nice if they acted with a little more urgency here. Fenway Park has the most expensive tickets in MLB and Boston had the fourth highest payroll in the league. In other words, there is no excuse not to field a contender almost every year with no salary cap.

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The Aaron Cook Experiment Settles Into A Predictable Fate

After four good starts in a row since returning from the DL, the wheels have started to fall off for sinkerballer Aaron Cook (2-5). He's struggled in his last three starts (especially the past two) and as a result, hasn't recorded a win since June 29.

Boston (53-52, 27-29 home) weren't able to complete the three-game sweep of Detroit (55-50, 27-29) as the Tigers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fifth tonight vs. Cook and held on for a 7-5 win at Fenway Park. It also snapped the Red Sox' four-game win streak.

Cook doesn't walk anybody (4 walks all season) but he also doesn't strike anybody out (4) which means he's pitching to contact. Lately, he's been leaving fastballs and hanging curveballs up in the zone, leading to many home runs. The game got out of reach when Miguel Cabrera (2 hits) hit a two-run homer (26th of the season) over everything in left in the fifth which was followed by Prince Fielder's (2 hits) solo homer to center (17th of the season), making it 6-1 Detroit.

In 4.2 innings, Cook allowed six earned runs on nine hits. Rick Porcello (8-6) usually struggles against the Red Sox and he wasn't great this evening (5.2 innings, 4 earned runs, 8 hits, 6 strikeouts, 2 walks) but he handed it over to a nearly flawless bullpen.

Phil Coke allowed a solo homer to Carl Crawford (2nd of the season) in the seventh to make it 6-5 Detroit but Octavio Dotel (1 inning, 1 strikeout), Joaquin Benoit (1 inning, 1 strikeout) and Jose Valverde (1 inning, 2 strikeouts; 21st save) combined for three perfect innings.

Cody Ross (2 hits) gave Boston a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first. Brennan Boesch tied it with an RBI single in the fourth then the Tigers scored five runs in the fifth. Austin Jackson added an RBI single and a run scored on Quintin Berry's ground out before the long balls from Cabrera and Fielder.

The Red Sox showed signs of life with three runs in the sixth. Jarrod Saltalamacchia grounded into a double play but a run scored. Pedro Ciriaco and Will Middlebrooks kept the inning alive with RBI singles.

In the eighth, Delmon Young's (2 hits) homer to right (12th of the season), that wrapped around Pesky's pole proved to be a valuable insurance run.

Adrian Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with a run and walk in the loss. Craig Breslow made his first appearance back with the Red Sox (he played with them briefly in 2006) as he was the first guy out of the bullpen. He went 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two.

The schedule does the Red Sox a huge favor as the terrible Minnesota Twins (44-60, AL Central) come to Fenway this weekend and they will meet four times. I would normally say that they have to take at least three but we all know that the middling Red Sox will probably win twice.

Jon Lester (5-8) faces rookie Samuel Deduno (2-0) tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) to open the series. Felix Doubront (10-5) gets Brian Duensing (2-6) on Friday night (7:10 p.m., NESN). Clay Buchholz (9-3) opposes rookie Cole De Vries (2-2) on Saturday night (7:10 p.m., NESN) and Josh Beckett (5-9) meets Nick Blackburn (4-6) on Sunday afternoon (1:35 p.m., NESN). If Lester and Beckett can't beat the Twins, they might not win another game respectively in 2012.

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Nothing like a baseball "brawl"

If you're not a fan of the Boston Red Sox, Kevin Youkilis is probably the Sox player you hate the most. He talks a lot of shit, complains a ton about balls and strikes (he does have a Rainman like eye at the plate) and on top of it all is one ugly mofo.

It's no surprise then that Youk was in the middle of the action last night as the Red Sox beat the Tigers, 7-5 at Fenway.

In the second inning, Tigers (59-53) starter Rick Porcello hit Youk on the shoulder with a pitch. It was clearly intentional since Detroit star Miguel Cabrera was hit in the first inning by Red Sox rookie Junichi Tazawa (not intentional, it was 0 and 2).

Youk had also been hit the night before and he is always near the top of the league lead for hit by pitches so it was enough to set him off. He charged Porcello, threw his batting helmet at him and then took him down with a tackle before they rolled around on the infield grass.

Baseball fights are usually pretty weak (lots of posturing and talk) and this was no exception. However, it seemed to spark the Red Sox (64-48) who were down 3-0 at the time.

After Youk and Porcello were tossed and order was restored, a few batters later Jason Bay tied it with a three-run homer over the Monster seats.

MIke Lowell, who was subbed in for Youk, hit a solo homer in the third then a two-run bomb in the fifth.

After the disastrous first inning, Tazawa settled down and stuck around for five innings, grabbing his first win in his first start (and second appearance). Only one run was earned, he gave up four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Jacoby Ellsbury scored on a balk in the seventh and the Sox looked they were cruising after enduring the fight delay and a rain delay.

Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. I guess the rationale for him being in there in a non-save situation was that he needed the work.

Boston tries to make it three in a row tonight with ace Josh Beckett going against Armando Galarraga.