Monday, April 04, 2005

Hopes and fears

Well, that was no fun. After an off-season spent basking in the glow of victory, last night's lifeless, listless, lackluster debacle was a reminder that we are indeed mortal.

Let's move forward.

It must be tough to play ball for more than a month in sultry Florida sun, then to suddenly find yourself pitching in 40-degree evening chill. I'm hoping that explains David Wells's utter ineffectiveness last night. Or maybe it was the weirdness of pitching in his old stomping grounds while wearing enemy colors. (Did he really think he wouldn't get booed?) Anyway, for a guy who's ostensibly supposed to be replacing Pedro Martinez, I pray he can do better next time out than 10 hits and four runs in four and a third innings -- never mind those two hit batsmen (well, one guy, Giambi, twice) and that run-scoring balk. People used to joke that Ramiro Mendoza pitched so badly for us because he was an embedded Yankee. I dread the prospect that we'll be saying the same thing about Wells by mid-summer. Randy Johnson, meanwhile, was serviceable. His control seemed a little off, and he gave up five hits, including Millar's almost-home-run (damn you, Matsui!), but he got the job done. And one game into the season, he's got a tidy 1.50 ERA, while Wells has earned himself an ungainly 8.31. Ouch.

Herewith, some other hopes and fears, as we look ahead to Tuesday's and Wednesday's games. (By the way: if this rivalry is so epochal that we needed to play the Yankees first thing in the season, why are the next two games at 1 p.m.? Some of us would really like to watch them but have, uh, jobs to go to.)

* Ortiz looked good, picking up right where he left off last year and lining a roper to deep right in his first at-bat. And I will never tire of seeing his hippopotamus frame bounding down the base paths, trying to leg out a single into a double. (Even though I cringe every time I see his great girth flopping heavily onto second base.) Let's hope his shoulder stays healthy and his hitting continues apace. Let's also hope that last night is the last time Manny goes 0 for 4 for a good long while.

* I really pray all this new celebrity (covers of Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, and TV Guide), not to mention all the dirt that's been dished about his personal life lately in his book and in the Herald's "Inside Track," isn't affecting Johnny Damon's play. He looked awful last night, going 0 for 4 at the plate and committing a hideous error in center field. Today, he was on Regis this morning -- the same Regis who was sitting with super-duper Yankees fans Billy Crystal, Donald Trump, Bill O'Reilly, and Henry Kissinger in the luxury box last night -- and will be signing Idiot in Manhattan this afternoon. He should be practicing instead. At least, if worse comes to worse, he can probably count on some divine intervention. Asked by the Herald about the death of Pope John Paul II, Johnny Jesus replied: "It's an unfortunate thing. The pope was very awesome." Word is that the pontiff felt the same way about Johnny, and is gonna put a good word in with the Big Guy.

* Our right fielders, Jay Payton and Trot Nixon, looked good last night, too. Payton drove home a run in his first at-bat in a Red Sox uniform, and Trot, pinch-hitting in the ninth, drove in the other one on a sac-fly. I'm cautiously optimistic that they'll make for a very productive platoon this season. Meanwhile, Jason Varitek, infamous for hitting poorly in Yankee Stadium (a/k/a Stade Fasciste), went 3 for 4, which was great to see. That "C" on his jersey looks nifty, too.

* I liked it when Edgar Renteria grounded out in Game 4 of the World Series last year. Last night, when he grounded into a double play in the third, grounded out to short in the fifth, and grounded out to third in the eighth? Not so much. For some reason, I've got this queasy feeling that he won't hit too well this year. I really, really hope I'm wrong.

* We got a look at everyone in our bullpen save Keith Foulke last night, and Matt Mantei looked especially bad: three walks, a hit, and three runs (two earned) in just two thirds of an inning. He looked nervous...hopefully he got those opening day jitters out of his system.

The Red Sox have now lost five season openers in a row. Of course, season openers aren't predictive of anything. (Last year didn't turn out so bad, if I recall.) It's only one game. Take heart from Bob Lobel and Jim Corsi's comments during last night's post-game show on UPN38. "Nobody got hurt," said Corsi, seeking a silver lining and only barely finding one. "They're off tomorrow," Lobel said, "And then they get to start 161 [new] games."

Let's win the next one, then the one after that. The Globe is reporting that Curt Schilling will indeed make his debut against the Yanks at Fenway next week, and that Wade Miller is champing at the bit, and could be with the team by early May. That's great news. If David Wells continues to pitch like he did last night, he'd better not be our number-one starter for long.

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