Toronto 9, Boston 7 | Lesterrible From The Start Records Weren't Meant to Be Broken, But Sox April Record Is Still Pretty Good
Bard About To Pass Hanrahan in the 'Pen Pecking Order
Will Mike Carp Make Us Forget About John Olerud?
Two More Singles for The Laser Show
Ump Was Chump But Salty Stumped
Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Ortiz
Ells Thinking About Contract?
Gomes Dome Run
‘"It was one of those nights for me from pitch one. I just wasn’t able to repeat the ball down in the zone, and that’s big. Curveballs just kind of rolled in there and I didn’t have a very effective changeup." -- Jon Lester looking and sounding like the 2011-12 Jon Lester
Arm and Hammer: Lackey, Ortiz Lead Sox to Sweep of Hapless Astros
Boston 6, Houston 1 As Expected Since February, Red Sox Have the Best Record in MLB on April 29
Everyone in the Media Had the Sox Tying a Club Record for Wins in April
Best Team Ever?
"It feels good. It's been a long time. It's been a lot of hard work to get back to this point and hopefully we can keep it rolling forward... The elbow's fine. I was relieved probably to know I'm going to get my next start, just to come out of it healthy more than anything." -- John Lackey on getting his first win since Aug. 23, 2011
Move Over Pedro, Roger, and Josh, Another Ace Is Having a Monster April in Boston
Boston 7, Houston 2 | Houston, You Have a Big Papi Problem
Red Hot Sox Have Won 10 of 13
"Last couple of years I've been a slow starter, so it feels good to be out there and have a little bit of confidence early on, and that helps a lot. Guys are playing well behind me. Things are going right." -- Clay Buchholz, starting like the '07 Beckett
And We Officially Have Ourselves a Closer Controversy
Boston 6, Oakland 5 | Sox Are Out There Grinding Looks Like Papelbon, Throws Like Papelbon, Is He The Next Papelbon?
The Embattled Stephen Drew Gets Iglesias Mob Off His Back for One Night
Will David Ortiz Hit .500 All Season Long? No, But He Might Homer Soon
Not Exactly a Walk in the Park for Lester. Wait, Actually It Was
How Low Can Middlebrooks Go?
Red Flag? Victorino's Bad Back
"When you look at him, he looks like he’s pitching with his hair on fire, but he’s out there with a definite plan and he’s able to execute it." -- Red Sox John Farrell
"I work, man. I work. I'm old enough to know what I need to do to stay there. Right now I'm not where I want to be, so I'm not trying to juice some balls. I'm trying to stay with what they give me. You see how they pitch me. I got to be patient." -- An F-bomb-free Big Papi
On the Bright Side, Lack Will Be Back Sooner Than Later
Boston 0, Oakland 13 Aceves Took On Water While Looking for the Bats to Bail Him Out
The Newest and Most Improved Bartolo, Looks Like the Colon Of Old
"It's hard to figure out what you're going to get out of Alfredo on a given day." -- Red Sox manager John Farrell... yeah, but still, file under the Satan Eyes You Know...
Boston 9, Oakland 6 | Napoli's Fourth Is Good For Four
Pedroia Streak Over But So Is Middlebrooks Slump
Bailey Locks Up Closer's Job
Jacoby Strong
"I've been feeling good on the road, too, but I just love hitting here. You've got the wall right there and you can get away with some stuff that you don't necessarily have to hit it so good. Sometimes you can hit a pop fly that would be an out at some other parks and it goes off the wall." -- Mike Napoli
Kansas City 4, Boston 2 | Ortiz Returns, But 7-Game Winning Streak Ends
Dempster Can Do Everything But Get a 'W' and Iglesias Would Have Had It
KC 5, Boston 4 | But Webster Doesn't Get Tangled Up in Debut
Miller Picked a Fine Time to Lose Control
Et Tu, Uehara? Butler Did It
We'll Always Have Saturday
"I know that right now, the way I'm throwing the ball, guys are going to work counts and see pitches. I got to be more aggressive in the strike zone and I'm not doing it." -- Red Sox lefthander Andrew Miller
"Their guy charges the mound being an idiot, and our guy's out for however long. And their guy'll probably be playing in three days. It's a joke." -- Don Mattingly on the Padres-Dodgers brawl
"That's the life of a reliever. One day you're a goat, the next day you're a hero. It's just kind of how it goes."-- Red Sox closer-for-the-moment Joel Hanrahan after a horrendous blown save
"It was special just because it was opening day. I wasn't trying to hit a home run. It just worked out like that but to contribute and get us a lead in a tight game after Buck pitched well is something that I think anyone who stepped in the box in (that) situation was looking to do." -- Daniel Nava postgame
“Three homers, two streakers and about seven paper airplanes on the field. It was a crazy day all around." -- Will Middlebrooks postgame comments on WEEI
Boston 6, Dream Team 4 Rise and Shine: It's Nap Time: The Meatball Goes Deep for Boston's First HR
Farrell Really Shaken Up By Nasty Chants and Signs ... Keep Dreamin' Jays Fans Jackie Bradley Bumbles: So What's the Math on That 2019 Thing Again?
Could Stephen Drew Be Booed By Default on Opening Day?
More Little Big Things from Victorino, 'F-YEAH!' Gomes
When Will Farrell Name Koji Uehara Captain Already?
Ciriaco the Super Sub, Again
"Anytime you get this kind of atmosphere at home or on the road, this is what guys thrive on. To have that kind of atmosphere, we'll take it every night. I think anybody in a gray uniform was going to take it in some form or fashion." -- Red Sox manager John Farrell not the least bit fazed by the fake fan fury in Toronto
"Friend says watching a game in Toronto is like watching baseball with subtitles. So when Jays fans booed Juan Nieves, was it because they don't know the difference between Juan and John, they never forgave Nieves for signing with Brewers over Jays when he graduated from Avon Old Farms in '83 or they don't yet know for whom to cheer?" -- Peter Gammons peels back the onion on Blue Jay Nation
New York 4, Boston 2 | | Yankees Can't Lose 'Em All The Curse of Lyle Overbay Comes Back to Haunt Sox in Series Finale
Victorino the Latest Addition to the Great Hesitations in Red Sox History Reel
Hip, Hip... But No Hooray: Napoli's Slugging .143 On the Young Season
No Patience With Pettitte: Yankee Doodle Andy Throws Just 94 Pitches
Hop, Hop, Hooray: David Ross Guns Down Two at Second
How They Drew It Up: Red-Hot Iglesias To Get Demoted
Bard Can Easily Do What Mortensen Did Last Night
Ryan Dempster Pitches Just Well Enough to Lose
Frozen in Time: Jackie Bradley Jr's 9th Inning
Bright Side: Game Over in 2:38
Fenway Stinks
“He really knows what he’s doing.” -- JBJ on Mariano
The Red Sox Could Use a Man Like Manny Right About Now
Jackie Bradley, Jr. Is The Celebrity Apprentice
Boston 7, Old York 4 | A Tremendous Feat of Clay With Two Outs, Sox Have Yanks Right Where They Want Them
Playing Nava and Batting Him 2d in Game 2? Genius
Will JBJ and His .167 AVE Be Sent Down? Nope
Hey Satan Eyes, You're Messing Up the 'Pen
The Forgotten Youngster: Jose Iglesias, Sr.
Middlebrooks Will Eventually Get a Hit
Is Vernon Wells The Real Steal?
Any More Hanrahan Questions?
Sox 2-0, Can You Trump This?
"The last two years still are fresh on everybody's minds, so definitely feels good to come out and win the first couple of games. Especially here, because it's made such a big deal for us to play here and open up here." -- Red Sox 1-0 starter Clay Buchholz
LA Story
The Good: Adrian 'The Cooler' Gonzalez Batting Just .111
The Bad: Carl 'Crybaby' Crawfraud Has An OPS of 1.267
The Ugly: Same Old Beckett, 0-1 With 4.50 ERA
"Twenty or 30 years from now, I can say ‘When I opened up, we got a win,' That’s pretty good. It’s definitely special to be able to contribute on your first day." -- Jackie Bradley Jr., postgame
CC You Later Yanks!
(AP)
"How you saw it today is how we can win a lot of ballgames... it was kind of all there really." -- Jonny Gomes on the win
Cherington's Offense Will Shine Like the April Sun Today The Boston Defenders Will Catch Every Ball That's Hit in Play CC's Certainly Not Ready for Prime Time; Yanks Are Older Than Dirt
Always an Ace Jon Lester Gets Set to Battle for a Cy Young Award
The Sox Are Already in First Place, With 95 Wins on the Horizon
All Is Perfect in Red Sox Nation Today
By Bob Ekstrom for Boston Dirt Dogs
Opening Day. The jewel of spring. A metaphor of hope that will turn to fool's gold in many baseball towns before the iris blooms. In a sense, it's an occasion well-suited for permanent residence on April Fool's Day, yet this is only the fourth time in MLB history the two have coincided.
This year's convergence of baseball and foolery seems particularly appropriate in Red Sox Nation. Against the backdrop of epic collapses the last two seasons, the baseball gods will find us an abundant source of merriment, entirely predisposed to be taken in by their pranks. They'll exploit our longing for discount beers, get-one-free hot dogs, and a return to the green fields of 2007, and tantalize us with a prognostication that by summer will have proven too good to be true. Today, all we have to do is believe and winter can be spring.
But in the believing comes a claim on our souls. The realist in each of us knows there's no column for faith in won-lost standings. Our team simply swings the bat and tries to hit it where they ain't more than the other guys do. Nevertheless, we'll churn every ounce of rationalism into baking this Sox edition into contenders. That's our end of an implicit contract in which Yawkey Way pledges to forever again abstain from uttering the phrase 'bridge year.' We call it feeding the monster, and where are we in the end? Inevitably, at the front end of another cold winter.
That's when Opening Day is born. It starts as a fleck of light in deepest January, as if shone through the pinhole of thick construction paper, but it steadily grows into a fiery sun unto itself. It makes us ask ourselves, what if this time is different? What if we're not the butt end of an annual joke?
This Sox squad could be the ringing telephone whose earpiece is not covered in shaving cream. Worst-to-first has certainly been done enough to make us want to answer it. Look no further than the 2007 Chicago Cubs or the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. Last year's Red Sox were the previous year's Orioles - 69 wins and dead last. Is it unreasonable to expect this more-talented team to go at least as far as a wild card entrant?
Opening Day is a svelte John Lackey. It's a healthy Will Middlebrooks. Stolen glimpses of the form that brought Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz to no-hitter fame. A warm hello to Jackie Bradley Jr. and a farewell tour for Jacoby Ellsbury, the last rookie to garner this much attention and who is with us today by the grace of some forethought back in 2007 that is being vilified in 2013.
Baseball writer Red Smith once likened Opening Day to crepes suzette for breakfast or a circus that opens with the tigers uncaged. George Vescey says it gives him the sense of beating back the forces of darkness. For Mark Newman, it's a shiny mirror in which to look at ourselves and see how much our lives have changed.
In New England, there is change this spring. Opening Day is the return of a team with on-field focus and off-field passion that has been missing in The Fens for a very long time. They are again the lean, hungry mass whom success has not yet jaded. They are Rocky I, the Josey Wales Clint Eastwood, Whiskey A Go-Go Jim Morrison before his lounge act sound on L.A. Woman.
Today is a knock on the door. Sure, it's April Fool's Day, and there very well may be a flaming bag of dog feces at the step with John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Tom Werner crouching behind a bush somewhere, holding back the giggles. But there may also be a bright spring day waiting on the other side.
After this long winter, I'm willing to take that chance.
Brian Evans' Song 'At Fenway' Will Replace 'Sweet Caroline' as the Eighth Inning Sing-a-Long at Fenway Park Starting on Opening Day
Neil Diamond 'Irate' About Decision to Replace Longtime Fenway Fan Tune Werner, Steinberg Look Forward to 'Hitting a New High Note' With Red Sox Nation
April 1, 2013: With the start of the Red Sox season just hours away, Boston Dirt Dogs has learned that the Neil Diamond cult hit 'Sweet Caroline' will no longer be the song blaring from the speakers during the eighth inning break at Fenway Park this season.
'At Fenway,' a tribute to Fenway Park by Haverhill native Brian Evans, a.k.a. The Crooner, will take the baton at America's Most Beloved Little Bandbox, beginning next Monday during the Red Sox home opener against the Orioles.
“At Fenway,” which was coincidentally released last week on video, was recently included in the library at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. And just like the case was with "Sweet Caroline," "At Fenway" will play before the home half of the eighth inning no matter what the score of the game is.
The Red Sox brass behind this effort, specifically Tom Werner and Dr. Charles Steinberg, are reportedly hoping fans sing this part of the chorus aloud: "Gonna spend the day, over at Fenway. Gonna see them hit that ball ... a mile high. No matter where you sit. You’re in heaven for a little bit. It’s gonna be a great day, At Fenway."
In addition, William Shatner, who stars in the video above, is expected to throw out the first pitch when the Red Sox take on the Orioles in the home opener next Monday at 2 p.m. And while you are digesting this story, don't forget to look back at our Red Sox news on this date in 2012, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, and 2004.
"I think things are looking good for Jackie. Expect him to come north. Barring anything unforeseen, I think there is a good chance he'll be in New York with us... The plane leaves tomorrow, and I'd expect him to be on it." -- Red Sox GM Ben Cherington to Tony Massarotti on 98.5 the Sports Hub's Baseball Reporters show talking about Jackie Bradley Jr.'s chances to make the major league roster for Opening Day on Friday
"Farrell said Thursday he does not see Bradley playing left field, which means if he sticks, the Red Sox would have to be prepared to shift Shane Victorino from right to left, a position he played last season for the Los Angeles Dodgers but had not been ticketed to play for the Sox, especially in Fenway Park." -- ESPNBoston.com
"There are very few sportsmen who can match his global reach, appeal and iconic status...
We’re going to be able to focus on how to create opportunities for LeBron." -- Red Sox chairman Tom Werner
"What FSM does for Roush Fenway, Liverpool and the Red Sox, we will now do for LeBron James... This represents the next step in our evolution, to represent one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet." -- Red Sox COO Sam Kennedy
"In Boston, it was different, but it was a fun different. It doesn't get much better than 7 o'clock to 10 o'clock in Boston, the fans, and everything like that." -- Josh Beckett... "everything like that" is code for having a couple of cold ones from the best field seats at Fenway
Happy St. Patrick's Day!...
Here’s to a long life and a merry one
A quick death and an easy one
A pretty girl and an honest one
A cold beer – and another one!
Source: Curt Schilling the New Favorite to Be Next Pope
BDD has learned through someone unfamiliar with the thinking of the papal conclave that Curt Schilling, a favorite of the baseball and gaming press, is now the frontrunner to become the new pope after three rounds of voting, an indication of disagreements about the direction of the Catholic church following the upheaval unleashed by Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation. ... Stay tuned to BDD, your Black Smoke headquarters, for more late-breaking developments
The Theo Epstein Detective Agency Uncovers the Source of the Negative Coverage of Carl Crawford in Boston
The Crawford Diaries Made Carl Crawful Look Gutless! ... By... Wait For It... Carl Crawford, ESPNBoston.com Shaughnessy: Crawford Was Treated with Kid Gloves Compared to The Kid The Powder Puff Boston Media Lodge Kissed CC's Behind from Start to Finish Here
So Naturally He Blames Them for Being One of the Most Miserable Players in History
Hey Carl, Don't Forget, Tomorrow's Puff, Puff, Pass Tuesday. Sincerely, Snoop Dogg
At the End of the Day, Carl Crawford Was Lee Tinsley with a $142M Contract
And Forget Disabled David Ortiz and the 2013 Bridge Sox, Liverpool Is Up to No. 6!
"Unfortunately, we did not get on the roll we were hoping for after Friday's victory. Ortiz said recently he thought we should panic. I try not to panic at all. But as you're coming to the end of the regular season, you definitely get a little worried. You definitely have to worry a little bit. We have a team like the Rays who wants our spot. At this time of year, they're a real dangerous team because they're young and they're playing with the house's money. It's like if they lose, they'll say they weren't supposed to win. If they win, then they say 'Look what we did.' They get to play real relaxed that way. Either way it goes, it's a win for them, that definitely makes a team dangerous, especially when you have young and talented players like that.
"Why can't we be consistent? I don't know. This time of year it gets hard and guys are banged up. All kind of little things are happening. I wish I had the answer to that. Maybe we'll win seven in a row. Be good to get that rolling when we go to Yankee Stadium...
"I want to end the diary saying something to the fans of Boston. I just want to say I'm sorry for the year I've had. You guys have been really supportive and I appreciate that. Hopefully when we get into these playoffs, I can be the real Carl Crawford that I know I am. We'll see." -- Carl Crawford, The Crawford Diaries, ESPNBoston.com
OK, Fine, There Was Some Other Evidence of Negative Media Coverage Uncovered by the Theo Epstein Detective Agency ...
Carl Crawford must be traded for a bag of balls #redsox. Worst loss in history?
The "Curt’s Pitch
for ALS" program is a joint effort by Curt and Shonda Schilling and The
ALS Association Mass Chapter to strike out Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
"Why can't we be consistent? I don't know. This time of year it gets hard and guys are banged up. All kind of little things are happening. I wish I had the answer to that. Maybe we'll win seven in a row. Be good to get that rolling when we go to Yankee Stadium...
