Who's ready for Matsuzaka-mania? You'd think that Cy Young had risen from the grave and started pitching again for all the hoopla around the Japanese import. The Sox better hope that he turns out a whole lot better than the last major Japanese pitching prospect in the majors...Hideki Irabu. Dice-K should be a stud, and against the AAAA lineup that the Royals will throw out there, he should be good enough for 7 innings and a couple runs allowed with 6 or 7 K's. Hopefully, he'll turn out to be worth all the fuss.
After seeing the highlights of last night's game, I don't see any signs that Josh Beckett has made the necessary adjustments to his game this year. He was waaaaaaaaaaay too excited out there, and looked like he was resorting to his old habit of just trying to blow everything by all the hitters. That works against lesser teams, but in Fenway against the slugging teams of the AL East, I don't see any way his ERA doesn't end up well over 4 again.
Theo should definitely start looking at the Todd Helton trade again...Craig Hansen or Manny Delcarmen are expendable now that Papelbon is closing again, so it's a worthwhile chance to take. Mike Lowell's bat looks very slow so far this spring, and I don't see him turning it on this season.
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Well, Lowell's got two doubles already. As long as he doesn't continue to emulate old purple lips in the field I think he'll be alright. It's so early it's hard to tell.
Beckett's control clearly was an issue... 94 pitches through 5 innings, 46 of them strikes. Perhaps it can be attributed somewhat to the cold weather. Certainly better than the blogmeister's first outing though.
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