Finally. Opening Day is here.
… or at least, it should be, barring the barrage of rain that threatens the very sanctity of this day; indeed the rain may come so fast and furious that our exalted Opening Day may be delayed until Tuesday.
On this day, every team has cause to feel optimistic — even those that know they have no chance of making the playoffs. This is where the silver lining of every team comes into play. It’s the cleanest day of baseball games across the entire season: no problems, no issues, just finally getting out in front of a crowd, playing meaningful baseball in the march for October.
The Red Sox get underway against the Tampa Bay Rays, with Josh Beckett dueling with James Shields, two of the better teams in all of baseball.
Over at The Hardball Times, my Red Sox preview ran today. The preview format over there is to ask and answer five questions about the team. The following is each question and an excerpt of my answer. Click here to read the rest of the 3,300+ word preview.
CAN THE CLUB STAY HEALTHY?
The odds on Beckett staying healthy are rare, but he has made
significant strides since (a) getting out of the humid weather of
Florida which contributed to blister troubles and (b) having a medical
staff termed one of the best in the league on his side. Even if Beckett
lands on the 15-day DL at some point this season, adds are it will be
for something relatively minor to serve as a breather for him.
CAN JOSH BECKETT AND JON LESTER BE ACES 1A AND 1B?
While most of the Sox’s pitching questions are mitigated by depth, it’s
imperative that Beckett and Lester continue to be the front-men for the
rotation. Matsuzaka is best utilized as a three due to his wildness,
Wakefield is a solid No. 4 and nothing more, and the jury is out on the
rest. Beckett should be a lock to dominate, while Lester should
continue to trend well albeit with the specter of a 45 percent increase
in innings hanging over him.
LUGO OR LOWRIE?
Lowrie is the future for the Sox and unless Lugo can get off to a hot
start, the pressure will be too great to keep running Lugo out there
like he was in 2007 and 2008. Considering a lot of teams will be
looking to dump salary at the deadline and Lugo’s contract will
(surprisingly) be one of the more palatable ones (that just goes to
show how bad the pacts to Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr. are) that
the Sox may be able to dump Lugo off on a desperate team looking to
move one of their own hefty contracts that the Sox have a need for.
HOW CAN THE OFFENSE BE SUSTAINED?
Most of the big-market teams, not just the Red Sox, have angled
themselves to have the financial flexibility to bring in another player
while those that are looking to clear their red ink are hoping to get
off to a fast start and get fannies in the seats.The offense will not be among the best of the best, but they’ll
certainly be good enough to rank in the top 10 in the league, if not
top five.
DID THE YANKEES’ OFFSEASON VAULT THEM PAST THE RED SOX?
No. Unequivocally no. …
If the Red Sox don’t make the postseason, it will only be because
injuries decimated this team and saw their luck go horribly, horribly
wrong. As is, they’re one of the best teams positioned for success:
Deep pitching, flexibility to bring in answers to questions yet to be
asked, enough depth to sustain the inevitable cluster of injuries.
Here at Fire Brand, we’re ready to ramp things up. Every Monday and Thursday, I’ll be checking in with a feature article. Later in the day will bring trivia questions, so get your No. 2 pencils ready!
Joe will contribute a feature article and QuickPost on Wednesdays and Saturdays while Tim Daloisio will bust out his articles on Tuesdays and Fridays. You’ll also be seeing weekly or twice-weekly poll questions from him. (And don’t forget the best Red Sox podcast on the ‘net, Fireside Chats!)
Pat Hickey will post a minor league feature on Sundays and minor league roundups on Tuesdays and Fridays. Mike Scandura will also check in Sundays with a first-person view of the PawSox.
And of course, Game Threads make their triumphant return.
After a long, long offseason beating the Mark Teixeira issue to death, seeing Coco Crisp shipped out and the fans agitating for movement to then receive Brad Penny, Takashi Saito and John Smoltz, it’s been an ardous process to get to this day.
Let’s enjoy it.