Red Sox Reality Check

The Sox continued their opening series on a sunny Tuesday afternoon with new acquisition Matt Clement facing Connecticut Yankee in King George's court. Pavano looked quite human, but outdueled Clement, who was also the victim of an Edgar Renteria fielding miscue. David Ortiz delivered a long home run over the centerfield fence for his first tater of the season. The offense failed to deliver the key hit until Captain Jason Varitek went yard into the second row of the bleachers against Mariano Rivera with one out in the top of the ninth. Rivera, once a perennial mystery to the Sox, appeared at least mortal trying to tie down the save for Pavano. Rivera bounced back to fan Mark Bellhorn, seeking to eclipse last year's Sox strikeout record (177) as he whiffed for the fifth time this season, before Johnny Damon showed warning track power for the third out. Close up shots of Rivera after the pitch showed expletives not deleted. The FCC will probably on the case momentarily. Bronx Bom...

The 2005 Boston Red Sox marathon has begun, with the Sox stumbling across the starting line. Randy Johnson outclassed David Wells in a battle of forty-one year-old starting pitchers. This probably shocked most Sox diehards, who naturally presumed that the acquisition of Wells would guarantee the continuation of the Sox critical four game win streak over the Bombers. The good news was that Wells didn't waste (waist?) a quality, but non-winning start. As I've written on www.uwritesports.com , one of my favorite aspects of baseball is the near certainty that each game you will encounter something that you rarely see. Sadly, the battle of the Ancient Mariner and yet another Yankee Double Agent fulfilled that criterion. Watching Jason Giambi floundering around first base like a walrus also reminded me of how grateful we are to have such a slick-fielding first baseman (that was a joke). The Yankees' lineup looked generally pretty good, particularly with Jeter setting the table. ...