Red Sox Nation mourn.

Friday April 4, 2008. Opening night at Rogers Centre. Sellout crowd.

Jays v Red Sox.

Jays win 6-3... and Frank's night finally...

Lineups:
Jays: Eckstein, Stairs,Rios, Wells, Thomas, Overbay, Hill, Scutaro, Zaun and pitching Marcum
Boston: Pedroia, Youkilis,Ortiz, Ramirez, Lowell, Lugo, Drew, Ellsbury, Cash and Wakefield pitching.

Perspicacity in earlier blog notes re Frank's night, but not against Wakefield.
The good: Marcum, Thomas, Scutaro defence, bat and steals, Rios and the bullpen again of Tallet, Accardo

Top 1st. Pedroia lines to Eckstein, good catch David. Youkilis grounds to Hill, Ortiz with shift on to right, grounds to SS. Nice first inning by Marcum.
Bottom of 1st. Eckstein hit by Wakefield, thank you. Stairs grounds to right, Eckstein to 2B, running on pitch to save double play, Rios pops up to LF, Wells walks on four pitches, Thomas with history of multiple homer games against Wakefield, he needs an omen after last night. Not this time, strikes out.

Top of 2nd. Ramirez flies to CF, Lowell exactly the same play. I thought Marcum was supposed to be keeping ball down ? Drew strikes out. Marcum in the groove so far.
Bottom of 2nd. Overbay lines to Ramirez in LF, Hill hammers ball to 3B, Lowell a great catch, Scutaro single to LF, Zaun at bat, Scutaro steals, his third of the week ! only had two all last season, and the Jays not many more either, Gibbons definitely more aggressive this season good to see, Zaun strikes out.... ouch, two left already in scoring position.

Top of 3rd. Lugo strikes out, Ellsbury pops up to Zaun, Cash of Jays alumni, a double to CF. Nice anecdote about Mirabelli when released by Boston leaving his knuckleball glove for Cash. Classy. Pedroia grounds to 2B.
Bottom of 3rd. Eckstein strikes out, Stairs grounds out to 2B, Rios grounds to 3B. Bats just can't get that timing right against Wakefield.

Top of 4th. Youkilis flies to CF, Ortiz pops up to Overbay, Ramirez strikes out, on 3 pitches. Great pitching Marcum.
Bottom of 4th. Wells grounds to SS, Thomas gets hold of one but fly ball to CF, Overbay single to RF, Hill grounds to 2B. Both pitchers doing well tonight and flying through innings.

Top of 5th. Lowell grounds to 3B, Scutaro trips but still manages out at 1B, nice play. Rolen is definitely not being missed yet. Drew strikes out, Lugo strikes out. 5K's for Marcum.
Bottom of 5th. Scutaro grounds to SS, Zaun grounds to 1B, Eckstein pops up to 2B.
Who will blink first ? Wakefield 59 pitches, Marcum 53.

Top of 6th. Ellsbury grounds to 2B, Cash strikes out, Pedroia lines scorcher to 3B, Scutaro a highlight reel catch. Marcum out of another.
Bottom of 6th. Stairs HR to RF, finally Wakefield hangs one up there. Rios walks and steals 2B, Wakefield obviously shaken out of groove. Sellout crowd now into the game. Noise people please... Yankee stadium this week crowd were on their feet at every two strike count.
Wells strikes out, much too tentative Vernon, come on. Thomas walks, keeps the line moving at least. Overbay flies to CF, ball drops and Rios scores, 2-0 Jays. Breakthrough. Thomas at 2B, wild pitch bouncing away from Cash, Thomas and Overbay move up, Hill of the new multimillion contract lines to the wall, Ellsbury has it and drops it when he hits the wall, Thomas scores 3-0. Overbay holds at 2B and Hill at 1B thinking catch had been made. Scutaro, this guy has been a great off-season find, kudos to JP, singles to LF, bases loaded. Zaun, ouch, grounds to SS, double play. But Jays lead 3-0, will it be enough ?

Top of 7th. Youkilis strikes out, 7 for Marcum, what a night, Ortiz walks, Ramirez strikes out 8 for Marcum, Lowell a little flare over Hill's head, two on two down for Drew who has already struck out twice tonight. Not this time friends 3 run Home run into RF bullpen, this game is tied and Marcum is very unhappy... Lugo grounds to SS. but damage is done with two outs. Would Marcum like that pitch back....? 3-3.
Bottom of 7th. Aardsma pitching for Wakefield, Eckstein walks on ten pitches, great at bat, how many of these will we see leading off this season? New pitcher Francona has Gibbonitis. Lopez, to Stewart in game for Stairs, lines one hard off Pedroia's glove at 2B, two on. Francona out again !! worse than Gibbonitis. Delcarmen in to pitch to Rios, pops up behind 1B in foul land., Wells pops up over shopulder catch at 1B, Thomas at bat, come on Frank, camera catches his eyes, that is intensity tonight. A bullet double to LF past Ramirez, scores two and slaps his thigh at 2B, he wanted that as did we all. No goat for Frank tonight. Johnny Mac pinch running for Frank. Overbay grounds to 1B but this games is still Marcum's and he deserves it. 5-3.

Top of 8th. Tallet pitching. Marcum's numbers are 7 innings 3 hits , 3 earned runs, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. Not bad for number 4 pitcher against Boston. Crisp for Ellsbury, may have been banged up on that play at the wall, pops up to Eckstein, one down, Varitek in for Cash strikes out, Pedroia flies to Rios. Bullpen continues to shine.
Bottom of 8th. Hill singles through 2B off Pedroia's glove again, is it the turf ? after all that Pacific travel and California grass ? Scutaro again, bunts this time, Hill to 2B, Zaun strikes out. Eckstein singles to CF, Hill scores. 6-3 Jays. JP's newbies are doing more than their share. New pitcher for Boston, Corey. Coats in for Stewart strikes out but Jays have another to help top of 9th with the big Boston bats now up.

Top of 9th. Accardo now pitching to save. Youkilis flies to Rios, Ortiz with shift on to right grounds to right, two down. Manny of course keeps it going with single up the middle, Lowell pops up to Hill. Accardo's second save this week.
Jays win this one 6-3. Marcum deserved it.

MORE good news. Rays hammer Yankees 13-4 ouch bigtime... I told you, watch those Rays they are hungry this year and have a very good young side with loads of speed and bats. Maddon had them fired up this spring and every game counted... This division will be very interesting.