Week One Recap

The Red Sox are back in Boston getting ready for Tuesday's home opener against Seattle. 3-3 is the Red Sox record after the opening week's road trip, 2-1 vs. Kansas City and 1-2 vs. Texas. My overall impression of the team so far is positive. The bullpen looks more less improved and of course Papelbon is a tremendous weapon. Our hitting has been lackluster, but I am not worried. It is early in the season and the weather has been unusually cool so far for these games.

Now that I have provided a brief summary, lets discuss Papelbon. What an incredible impression he left on me from Sunday night's performance. In all honesty, I was still a little peeved that Papelbon was not in our rotation. I was of the opinion that 180+ innings of Papelbon would be far more valuable than his 90+ innings as the closer. I WAS WRONG. Sure we may have won Sat night if Papelbon pitched but there is no way we would have won Sun night. Plus who knows how many of Papelbon's starts would have been ruined by the bullpen.

Runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out and all the momentum on the Rangers' side. Young struck out on 4 pitches and Teixera popped up on his first pitch. End of inning. 1-2-3 in the 9th. Who else on our staff could have done that? No one... and our spring training closer Pineiro is the one who got us into the 8th inning mess in the first place. So welcome back Papelbon.

This week we have 3 games at home against Seattle and then we host the LA Angels of Anaheim for four games, including Monday for Patriots Day. Hopefully the weather warms up to spark our offense, along with being at Fenway Park.

Trey