Well, the Red Sox lost last night and in the process ruined my "162-0: The Perfect Season" angle. Whatever, here are some random thoughts I had while watching the game:... During his first at bat, I noticed Trot Nixon sporting the double ear-flaps helmet. It caught my attention because I was pretty sure that Nixon hadn't sported a double-flapper since little league. Jerry Remy mentioned it later in the game, but offered no explanation for the switch. I can only assume its to honor Mark Bellhorn's career in Boston. All that's left is for Trot to grow a mullet and not wash his hair for the rest of the season.
... I wonder how long catcher Josh Bard will last with the Red Sox. This could be one of those Blaine Neal situations. Bard is the new Doug Mirabelli except that he had a lot of trouble handling Wakefield last night. By the time I quit watching it was 10-1 and Bard had three passed balls. It's hard to fault the guy for not being able to catch a knuckleball, but since he's replacing Mirabelli, well, that's his new job. Interestingly, the Red Sox had John Flaherty in camp to catch Wakefield, and after one outing Flaherty promptly retired. So even if Bard struggles for the next two months, the question then becomes, who do you put back there every time Wakefield takes the mound? My money's on Youkilis. Not because he'd necessarily be good at it, but it seems the Red Sox take some perverse pleasure in moving him all over the infield. Personally, I'd like to see Hee-Seop Choi back there. Or David Wells. Either one will do.
... Speaking of Wakefield ... Yeah, he gave up four runs in the first, settled down for a couple of innings, and then it was on like Donkey Kong -- Rangers style. Remy said that Boston sandwiched Wakefield between Schilling and Beckett to mix things up (that is, have a knuckleballer start between two hard-throwers) and that he disagreed with this from a strategery standpoint, but if the idea was to reward Wakefield with the number two job, then fine. Personally, I don't think it matters where you throw Wakefield in the rotation. You know what you're getting: a 65-mph knuckleball that's unhittable when it's working, and batting practice when it's not. (And I guess I should also mention the 73-mph fastball that he seems to fall in love with whenever the count is 3-0. I don't have the stats, but I'd wager that when Wake's behind in the count 3-0 and he throws a fastball, batters are hitting over .800 against him. Call it an educated guess.)
The bottom line is that Wakefield will be fine. He'll pitch his 200 innings, have an ERA around 5.00 and win around 11 games. Plus, he's Kryptonite against the Yankees, so it's worth keeping him around just for that.
... I didn't see opening day, but I'm well aware of Keith Foulke's ninth inning struggles. I did watch last night's game and the bullpen did nothing to make me think it wasn't 2005 again. Lenny DiNardo and Dave Riske combined for three innings pitched and gave up three runs. It's the second game of the season, and the Rangers are a good hitting team so it's not the end of the world, but I'm still noting it here for the record.
... Coco Crisp has already made me forget about Johnny Damon, and I'm the guy who loved Damon while he was in Boston.
... Above I guestimated that Trot Nixon was paying homage to Mark Bellhorn by donning the double ear-flaps, and I can only assume that Manny is doing the same for Bronson Arroyo with that new wig deal he's got going on. The bright side however is that Manny has something like 10 strikeouts in 10 at-bats. Again, like Wakefield, you know what you're getting with Ramirez: He starts off slow, mopes, takes days off without telling Francona, gets red hot and hits 20 homers in a weekend series, makes the All Star team but shows up in the wrong city, demands to be traded, hits another 20 homers another weekend series, pees inside the Green Monster between innings while demanding to be traded, takes off a few more days, comes back and acts as if the whole ordeal was a dream.
... Oh yeah, one thought on the Rangers: Kevin Mench looks like Samwise Gamgees' fat older brother. That is all.
Yep, it's good to have baseball again.
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