BECK IN ACTION!

There’s nothing like an Opening Day win. Even when it’s delayed by a day. No matter the fact that Boston’s opening of the 2009 regular season was pushed back a day because of some ridiculously rainy weather the good times started early and continued throughout the day with a 5-3 victory for the home team over the defending American League Champion Tampa Bay.

Josh Beckett was the key to victory. The Red Sox starter delivered seven innings of masterful pitching. He allowed one run on two hits and struck out 10 Rays. Beckett had all of his pitches working and struck out Gabe Gross to end his day’s work on a 93 mph fastball. After a subpar 12-10 season in 08 with an era over 4.00 Beckett’s performance gives cause to believe that a bounce back is in order for the Red Sox staff ace.

WE LIKED:

* Dustin Pedroia’s leadoff homer got the Fens rockin!! The 2008 American League MVP is back to his old tricks in a hurry.

* The Sox had nine hits. Including a homer by Jason Varitek, who is hoping for a bounce back season, and that was a nice start.
* Papelbon came in and slammed the door shut with a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save. Paps was pumped and struck out two Rays.

* Justin Masterson gave up the hit that allowed two Rays to score and pull within two runs. Those runs were not charged to the second year set up man. However, he settled nicely to strike out Carlos Pena and get Pat Burrell to fly out to right to end the threat.

WE QUESTION:

* Hideki Okajima cannot, AND I mean cannot come into a game following a stellar pitching performance from the starter and hit the first batter he sees and then walk the second. That’s not a performance that will cause concern. But it better be a lesson learned. You don’t throw a life line to a team that’s down.

It was just 1 of 162 games to be played, but it was great to see some meaningful baseball played. There’s 161 still to be played. The Sox will look great at times and bad at others. This team will be trying to identify the personality of their team over the next few months and hope they can finish with a strong kick. Tuesday afternoon was great and we can’t wait for what’s ahead despite the fact that we have no idea of how it will all turn out.