Sox maul Mariners in home opener

Sox 14 Seattle 3

WP: Beckett (2-0)
LP: Jeff Weaver (0-1)
HRs: BOS-Drew (1)

Sox box

SUMMARY:
Despite blustery conditions and facing a 2006 postseason hero, the dormant Sox bats awoke from their slumber in the first game played at Fenway Park this season. Boston batters knocked Jeff Weaver out of the game after 2 innings and 7 runs and scored in 6 of the first 7 innings, and Josh Beckett pitched a gem to run his record to 2-0.

Oh, and there was a near-brawl between Brendan Donnelly and Jose Guillen that could hang over the season series like a dark Seattle raincloud.

HERO: Boston lineup

I highlighted the team's offensive deficiencies in my earlier post and hoped that the return to Fenway would help the team get on track; Does 14 runs, 14 hits, 7 walks, 1 homer and 7 doubles constitute "getting on track"?

GOAT: Weaver 2IP, 7H, 7ER, 70 pitches (38 strikes-yikes!)

There is no doubt that this clown was the goat and I'm not just talking abbout his irritatingly passe facial hair. The guy who started last season being released in favor of his younger brother and ended it by walking off the field as a World Series-winning pitcher reverted back to early '06 form today, much to the Sox' delight.

REVIEW:
It was a chilly & overcast day- in other words typical Boston in early April- but the Sox hitters couldn't have been more happy to see gray skies and blustery winds. Why? Because the blanketing cloudcover and perfect kite weather was happening over their beloved old yard, not some cavernous ballpark in the Heartland or cookie-cutter McStadium in the Southwest.

No, these were the friendly skies around Fenway Park, and nobody takes advantage of a home park like the Bosox do.

Just to prove my made-up adage correct the team that came in mired in a week-long slump tuned on the Seattle pitchers like a bunch of Townies on a metrosexual. Boston hitters came in batting just .237 in six games, but after the 14-run, 14-hit offensive outburst that figure jumped to a solid .261, and their runs/game shot up a full run, from 3.1 to 4.1. That's what you call a good-old fashioned ass-kicking my friend, and it didn't take 'em long to start applying the boot.

Julio Lugo got the party started just minutes into the first when he drew a leadoff walk on four pitches. Youk dropped a single into right, Papi followed with a sharp single to right and just like that the bases were loaded with no outs and Grand SlamManny was at the plate. The active slam leader didn't take Weaver out of the park, but he did lace a single to center in front of Ichiro to score Lugo and break the seal on what would turn into a tidal wave of runs.

It didn't help matters for Seattle that it was playing only its fourth game in 8 days due to that nasty weather in Cleveland, and also that Weaver was having a bad case of de-ja vu of last season, when he went 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA for the Angels in the first half and they unloaded him to St. Louis in favor of his younger, better brother Jered. Jeff would go on to win 3 postseason games for the Cards, including a dominating performance (2hits, 9Ks) in the series-clincher against Detroit, but he has always been considered an average, journeyman hurler.

He certainly proved that evaluation to be correct today; not only could he not find the plate in his brief outing- 10 of his first 13 pitches were balls and he went to a 3-ball count on 7 of the first 9 batters- but when he did throw a strike it was usually hammered by a Boston batter. The Sox batted around and scored 4 runs in the 28-minute bottom of the first, when Weaver threw an astounding 47 pitches and Boston batted around for the first time this season.

The second inning was more of the same as Lugo and Youk hit back-to-back doubles and J.D. Drew flailed at a Weaver changeup that ended up sailing over the centerfield wall for a 2-run homer and 7- Boston lead, and just like that the thoughts of calling him "Nancy"was the furthest thing from the ecstatic Nation's minds. Boston would knock Weaver out after 2, but his replacements would fare no better. The Sox tacked on 6 runs in the next 3 innings to blow the game open, and by the time Mikle Timlin made his first appearance of the season in the 9th, most of the starters were already in the clubhouse enjoying the post-game spread.

I liked Black Donnelly before today; after taking on world-class A-hole Jose Guillen, I freakin' love him now!

Before Seattle scored a couple in the 9th off Timlin there was a dustup between former teammates Brendan Donnelly and Jose Guillen. Donnellly came on in the 8th to relieve Beckett and quickly fanned former Angel teammate Guillen. As Guillen walked away the Black Donnelly apparently said something that the notoriously hotheaded Guillen didn't appreciated. He motioned as if to charge the mound and preened for a few minutes as the benches cleared, but cooler heads prevailed and nothing came of it.

Don Orsillo reported that the bad blood dates back to an incident in 2005 when Guillen, then with the Nationals, had Donnelly busted for using an illegal substance on his glove during a game.

Figures that little punk Guillen is a tattletale, too. Ironically Donnelly hit the next batter unintentionally and was ejected, and this incident could follow this team as they must play each other 8 more times this season.

Oh, not to be forgotten amongst all the offensive fireworks was the great performance from Josh Beckett (8IP, 2H, 1R, 0BB, 8Ks.) Sometimes pitching with a big lead can be tougher than in a close game, but other than one rocky patch in the third Beckett was lights-out all day. The hard-throwing righty mixed up his pitches (which everyone & his brother knew he needed to do to be successful), but when he needed the extra "oomph", he went to the gas; 7 of his 8 strikeout victims suffered death by fastball, including contact king Ichiro 3 times.

Combine plenty of hitting with excellent pitching and an honest-to-goodness blood feud and what you end up with is a terrific way to kick of the 2007 home season.

It was a great day at Fenway all around, except for the lousy weather.

NOTES & QUOTES:

-This was only the 6th time in Ichiro's career that he fanned three times in one game and 2nd time the trifecta came against the same pitcher

-The 11-run margin of victory was the Sox largest on home opening day and the 14 runs scored were second highest for a home opener

-The old 9-8-7 triple play: 9 different Sox had hits, 8 scored runs and 7 knocked in at least 1 run

-Youk and Tek both had 3 hits, Tek and Drew both had 3 RBIs and 5 players scored 2 runs each

-Early Starters: Boston's streak of scoring in the 1st inning continued; they have now done so in 6 of their 7 games

-"We pulled out the whupping sticks today. They've been off for a while. It maybe affected their pitchers being able to throw strikes. You can't go through our order and walk guys. You're going to get burned." - Beckett, perfectly summing up the day

Record: 4-3
A.L. East Standing: Tied for 1st

UP NEXT: Tomorrow, 7PM Seattle

THE HOME DEBUT OF DICE-K!