NOT A GREAT START

The Opening Day excitement ended rather abruptly. Two days later the Red Sox are faced with losing two in a row and dropping it’s opening series of the season to Tampa Bay. Obviously it’s not time to panic. The schedule still has 159 games to be played. However, the list of good and bad isn’t slanted to the former.

WHAT WE LIKED:

* Josh Beckett got 2009 off to a great start with seven lights out innings in the opener.
* Jason Varitek has hit two homers.
* The “Youk-ah” and Jason Bay look like they’ll remain vital cogs in the Sox offense.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE:

* Dice-K gave up three bombs in today’s 4-3 loss and never looked in control. Doesn’t that sound familiar?
* Big Papi still doesn’t have his stroke back.
* Jacoby Ellsbury still looks overmatched at the plate at times and far removed from his sensational 2007 finish.
* Hideki Okajima just isn’t getting many swings and misses. It seems like the league is catching on to his motion and being more patient with him.
* Javy Lopez? Well, let’s just say he looks like Javy Lopez. And that ain’t good.

So what did I say? Oh yeah, 159 more games to go. Look, the bottom line with this team is that they know each other and have won together. You don’t earn a playoff spot in the opening series of the year. Heck, you don’t even have to be playing lights out through the first three months of the season. It’s a process that will look good sometime and terrible at other points of the season. But then again, we are Red Sox fans and our team is only as good or bad as the next game turns out.