The Second Day of Ball

Obviously today I watched the Boston-Texas game on ESPN. It had some positives and negatives. The beat went on for Lester, who continued his trend of slow starts. In April he's 3-5 with a 4.58 ERA for his career, and he was 1-2 with a 4.71 ERA last year during the opening month. Lester was obviously not himself today, getting zero Ks, and making a lot of mistake pitches. However, he was efficient going 5.1 innings on only 88 pitches.The first inning home run to Kinsler was a meatball down the middle of the plate that should have never happened. With a couple more starts hopefully that arm of his will get warmed up. 

Meanwhile the Texas defense made a big mistake in the first, and the Sox batters chipped away at C.J. Wilson all day. But, an ugly day by Crawford (0-4 with 3 Ks) held the Sox back mid game. In the top of the 8th Ortiz took a blast deep to center and tied the game up 5-5. In the next half inning the Rangers bats struck again. Bard got killed on the right side of the plate, leaving balls up and out of the zone, allowing the Rangers to take a 9-5 lead. Feliz mowed down the bottom of the order in the 9th and the Rangers won on opening day in Arlington. However, don't fret Sox fans; Boston lost 7-2 and 7-1 in their '04 and '07 first games of the season.

Around the Horn so Far Today:Matt Holliday: Holliday had a great game last night, but was checked out after the game with some pain in his abdomen. It was released today that he has to have an appendectomy and could be out for 3-6 weeks.


Sox Offensive Developments: Ellsbury continued his hot spring, and for the first time looked like an actual leadoff man. He was 2-4 with a walk, a stolen base and 2 runs scored. A-Gon didn't bring the power, but he flourished in the five spot going 2-4 with 3 RBIs.

Bad Day to be a Wild Thing: Fausto Carmona had a day to forget going only 3.0 innings giving up 11 runs on 10 hits. Ubaldo Jimenez was able to go 5.0 IP, but not without giving up 5 ER while recording only 1 K.

Philadelphia Walkoff: Down most of the game the Phillies recovered a fantastic starting performance by Roy Halladay and walked off, on a John Mayberry Jr. single, in the 9th. I'm still a skeptic, because not only was Brandon Lyon pitching, but Michael Bourn was about 2 feet away from making that catch.

News Around the League: Randy Winn announced his retirement today and Jermaine Dye finally announced his yesterday. Also, Rays GM Andrew Friedman continues to dazzle with his team friendly contract prowess; Tampa announced yesterday they've signed starter Wade Davis to a four year extension with three team option years.


Hopefully I'll be back with more tonight after the Mariners-As game that I'll be watching on FSN.