Opening Day 2008 by Jared Carrabis
Sox Begin Their Title Defense In Japan

The scene was surreal. This wasn’t your ordinary pregame ceremony complete with your “Blood donor of the game” and the “Leader of the pack” and the little kid that screams “Play ball!”, no. This was the most festive pregame ceremony in the history of the game. Putting any major historic baseball game to shame. The players of both teams lined their dugouts armed with rolling cameras and amazed eyes as the Japan natives put on a the most unique and interesting pregame show to date. The lineups were all announced over the PA to the crowds delight but to nobody’s surprise, Hideki Okajima took home the second loudest ovation, finishing second to none other than America’s equivalent to American baseball’s Nolan Ryan, Daisuke Matsuzaka.


Dustin Pedroia kick-started the Red Sox title defense by singling back up the middle in the first official at bat by any player in Major League Baseball. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, the next three Sox to dig in were unable to string together any hits as Pedroia was stranded at first to end the top of the first. On to the moment we’ve all been waiting for, Daisuke’s return to the mound in his native Japan. The flashbulbs illuminated the Tokyo Dome as Matsuzaka took the mound hoping to lead his team to victory. Upon his first pitch to Travis Buck, he immediately was given the first out of the inning as Buck grounded weakly to second base. However, it was not pretty from there as Matsuzaka yielded his first home run of the season on his third release of the baseball towards home plate when Mark Ellis teed off to leftfield giving Oakland the 1-0 advantage.


The nerves seemed to get to Daisuke as he then walked Daric Barton, hit Jack Cust with a pitch, threw a wild pitch to advance those two runners and then walked Emil Brown to load the bases with one out. With Daisuke’s pitch count now up over 20 in the first inning, Bobby Crosby grounded softly back to Daisuke as he made a slick fielding play to get the second out of the inning while Daric Barton came in from the back door upping the A’s run total to two over Boston’s none. Daisuke responded by striking out Jack Hannahan to put an end to his nightmare of an inning upon returning to Japan.


By the second inning Daisuke Matsuzaka had raised his walk total to four and his pitch total up over 50. His balls and strikes ratio was split right down the middle as he threw just as many balls as he did strikes. Saying that Daisuke looked “off” would certainly be an understatement. He was missing his spots and missing badly. Nevertheless, Daisuke ended the first inning the same way he did the first, with a big strikeout to leave multiple runners on base. This had all the ingredients for an early exit for Matsuzaka has his pitch count had been raised to an even 60 at the end of two.


The third inning featured some more control issues for Daisuke as he walked his fifth batter of the day. The inning was capped off with Matsuzaka’s seventy-fifth pitch resulting in a liner hit at Julio Lugo in which Lugo turned into quite possibly the first Web Gem of the 2008 season as he elevated to snatch a base hit away from Kurt Suzuki. Matsuzaka would enjoy his first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth as it appeared he was beginning to settle in. Better late than never, after four innings Matsuzaka’s pitch count was up to 83 pitches after throwing almost as many balls as he had thrown strikes (44 strikes/39 balls) Thankfully, not too much damage had been done and he skillfully kept the Oakland offense at just two runs regardless of the high walk total and pitch count. Matsuzaka regained his form full circle in the fifth inning when he retired the first three Oakland hitters out of the shoot for the second consecutive inning striking out Barton and Cust while inducing a groundball out to Emil Brown to end the inning.


Dustin Pedroia seemed motivated to start his season the exact opposite way he started it in 2007 as he broke up a string of seven straight Red Sox retired by Joe Blanton by doubling to deep right field to begin the top of the sixth. A walk to Youkilis would follow not long after bringing David Ortiz to the plate and thus livening up the Tokyo Dome. Ortiz responded with a lengthy at bat that resulted in a pop up in foul ground that was snagged out of the front row of the third baseline box seats by Jack Hannahan.


The Red Sox offense would remain dormant no longer as Manny Ramirez shot a fastball offering straight down the leftfield line and into the corner. Manny collected his first and second RBI’s of the 2008 season and got a head start on his monster season while tying the game at two. With JD Drew being scratched from the lineup at the last minute with tightness in his back, his replacement Brandon Moss lined a ball into right field scoring Manny from second putting the Red Sox on top 3-2. The two out RBI delivered by Moss gave Daisuke a chance to come out of this game with a win.


Kyle Snyder entered the game in the bottom of the sixth in relief of Daisuke Matsuzaka who finished the day after going five innings, giving up two earned runs on two hits, surrendered five walks and one home run while striking out six. The lead didn’t last very long as the first batter of the inning, Bobby Crosby, singled back up the middle and third baseman Jack Hannahan followed by launching a rocket into deep right field putting Oakland back on top 4-3. And just like that, Daisuke’s chance to pick up a win was quickly erased. Snyder would retire the next three Athletics but the Red Sox offense would now have to go back to work in order to win this ballgame.


Javier Lopez would replace Kyle Snyder in the seventh inning with one out and do his job retiring the next two batters he faced. Our old pal Keith Foulke took the ball in the top of the eighth beginning his second stint with the Oakland Athletics. Coming off a spring in which he gave up runs in all of his appearances, Foulke retired the big bats of Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez all in order. Bryan Corey entered the game in the last half of the eighth as Boston looked to keep this a one run game heading into the top half of the ninth. The first out of the inning was yet another highlight reel catch made by Jacoby Ellsbury as he leaped up and made the catch then crashed into the bottom of the wall all while managing to hold onto the ball. Bryan Corey, who had a stellar Spring Training, continued to pitch well and preserved the one run deficit heading into the ninth.


Oakland sent their closer Huston Street to shut the door on the defending World Champions but Brandon Moss had other plans. With one down in the ninth, the last minute replacement for JD Drew hit a screaming line drive up over the wall in right field tying the game at four in dramatic fashion. That one run would be all Boston would get in the ninth, but that would be all they would need for this contest to continue. Hideki Okajima took the mound in the bottom of the ninth in front of his former hometown crowd of the Yomiuri Giants. Believe it or not, the ovation was even louder for Okajima than it was for Daisuke Matsuzaka. The crowd reaction was even more involved as they cheered loudly for his strikes and booed loudly on close pitches called for balls. Flash bulbs filled the Tokyo Dome during every pitch as Okajima helped force the game into extras by halting Oakland in the bottom of the ninth.


Julio Lugo got things going with an infield hit to start the top half of the tenth and Pedroia played a little small ball by bunting Lugo over to second getting the speedy Lugo into scoring position with one out. Youkilis went down on strikes to bring Ortiz to the plate and this situation always drives a manager insane. Do you go after Ortiz? Or do you walk Ortiz and take your chances with Manny? Ask K-Rod how walking Ortiz to get to Manny Ramirez works out. Electing to walk the 0 for 4 Ortiz to get to the cleanup hitter with two RBI already in the game led to a near three run home run off the bat of Ramirez as he jolted a fastball high off the wall in centerfield scoring Lugo and Ortiz as Ramirez cruised into second with a two out, two strike, two RBI double.


Cue “Wild Thing” and then give me some “Shipping Up To Boston”, it’s Papelbon time. The closer with the new contract took the ball for the first time in a meaningful game since he blew a fastball past pinch hitter Seth Smith to seal the deal on the Red Sox second World Championship in four years. The bottom of the tenth wasn’t your clean Papelbon inning that we are all accustomed to seeing as Papelbon walked the first batter he saw. He got the first out of the inning by striking out Jack Cust but then ran into trouble when Emil Brown doubled into the gap in right-center scoring Daric Barton all the way from first.


Luckily for Papelbon and the Sox, Emil Brown made a crucial baserunning error and got hung up between second and third and was eventually tagged out (see how important it is to hit your cutoff man kids?) This base running error would prove costly to Oakland when the next two batters, Crosby and Hannahan would single off of Papelbon putting runners at first and second but would have easily driven in the game tying run had Brown been running more cautiously. A sigh of relief was exhaled simultaneously throughout Red Sox Nation as Kurt Suzuki grounded to Kevin Youkilis and Jonathan Papelbon was there to cover and grab his first save of the season along with the Boston Red Sox first win of 2008. The road to the World Series repeat will be a long one and as it was proven today, it won’t be an easy one. But if this game was any sign of what the rest of the season will be like, we’re in for a good one Sox fans.


Final Score: Red Sox 6, Athletics 5

Published on March 25, 2008

---