As, Harden send Sox packing with series split

Oakland 5, Boston 1
WP: Harden (1-0)
LP: Lester (0-1)
SV: None
HRs:Bos: Ramirez (1); Oak: Brown (1)

Paris & LA got nothing on this City of Lights

Superstar: Rich Harden 6IP, 3H, ER, 3BB, HR, 9K
The oft-injured Oakland righty tossed a brilliant game in his first start since last July 7th. Despite falling behind in the count to 8 of Boston's first 11 batters, Harden minimized the deficits by tossing strikes on the next pitch every time, and when he did get in trouble he recorded a big out to escape a jam.

The Biggest Loser: David Ortiz 0-3, BB, K, 3 LOB
This title could've gone to starter Jon Lester, who was anything but solid, but for the second straight game Big Papi had opportunities to drive in key runs and couldn't get the job done; his foul out with 2 on & 2 out in the third was an early momentum killer.

RECAP:
Now that the trip to the Far East is over, the one thing I learned is that it's a lot more rewarding waking up at 5:45 in the morning to watch your team play when they end up with a win.

But when you get up before the crack of dawn for the second straight day and witness another lackluster pitching performance that is not backed up by clutch offensive fireworks, the end result is a long, lumbering day marked by moments of sleepiness interspersed with baseball-related cursing like "why the fuck did I get up that early to watch that friggin turd of a game?!"

Game 2 of the first series of the regular season started much like the first one, with Boston falling behind early thanks to some heroics by Oakland's merry band of nobodies and has-beens, but instead of the better team rallying for a late victory, this time the As held the lead on the strength of a huge pitching performance from onetime phenom Rich Harden.

The pomp and pageantry that marked the opener that was mainly due to the return of Daisuke Matsuzaka was considerably muted this morning in Japan, and with jets waiting on the tarmac to take the teams stateside as soon as the game was over, you got a sense that everybody was already in getaway day mode.

That includes this audience member.

Whereas yesterday I was somewhat bright-eyed despite the ungodly early start, today I may have woken up at quarter til six, but after flopping down on the couch and toning down the surround sound I didn't actually open my eyes until about an hour later.

By that time Oakland had already grabbed an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by someone named Chris Denorfia, and Jon Lester (4IP, 5H, 4ER, 3BB, 4K, HR) was clinging to the hope that he could be like Dice and keep the score close until his offense could bail him out.

No such luck, sushi breath.

After Boston failed to score in the top of the 3rd when Big Papi fouled out to third on a nice play by Jack Hannahan with two men on base, Oakland seized control of the contest in the bottom of the inning thanks to a redeeming hit by last night's goat, Emil Brown.

Brown went from hero to zero in the opener when his one out, 10th inning RBI double off Jonathan Papelbon sliced the Sox lead to 6-5 in the bottom of the extra frame, but he squashed any hopes of a comeback when he was inexplicably nailed off second even though he represented the tying run.

The gaffe hurt even more as the next two batter laced base hits off Paps, virtually ensuring that Brown would indeed have scored to tie the game and making him the butt of Little League-esque jokes from Kyoto to Quincy.

But Brown would get the last laugh today when he came up with two on and one out in the bottom of the third. No sooner did Gary Thorne, a walking, talking gaffe machine himself, declare that this was Brown's opportunity to redeem himself did the former Royals prospect do just that, ripping a 1-0 meatball from Lester deep into the left field stands for an emphatic 3-run homer, a shot that erased the bad memories of the game prior for him and guaranteed a plane ride full of new ones for the boys from Beantown.

Staked to a 4-0 lead Harden wasn't about to fold like a house of cards as his teammate Joe Blanton did the day before. Harden, who never pitched again after that July 7th start last year, culminating what has been 3 injury-riddled seasons as Oakland's future ace, only got better after being handed the big lead. He allowed just three baserunners over the next three innings, one erased on a double play, and the only run he surrendered came on a Manny solo shot in the 6th that merely served as a shutout breaker and got the mercurial rightfielder to within 9 homers of the magical 500 plateau.

The only thing that followed was adding a bit of salt to the wound as former Sox relievers Burger Keith Foulke and Alan Embree slammed the door shut on any comeback hopes with a pair of scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th, and no sooner did Jason Varitek make the final out did the team start heading for the buses for the long return trip back to this country.

A trip that is guaranteed to be even longer thanks to that depressing loss.

NOTES:
-No red bats, no problem: Ramirez finished the trip 3-9 with 2 doubles and 5 RBI but fanned 4 times, 3 today including looking at three straight strikes from Foulke to end the 8th. This after he was forced to buy new bats in Japan because league officials wouldn't allow him to use his special Red Sox red models.

-What have you done for me lately?: Following his 0-3, 3K performance today, Game 1 hero Brandon Moss learned about the harsh realities of life in MLB when he was given the news that he would be heading to Pawtucket, not to LA with the rest of the club, upon his return to the States. Something tells me he won't be there long, and that something is J.D. Drew's brittle body

-Coco's back: Crisp made his debut in CF today after sitting out the opener in favor of phenom Jacoby Ellsbury. He went 1-3 with a double in what was probably the beginning of an early season audition for any teams that may need a center fielder when they break camp