The opening day of the major league baseball season saw the CC Sabathia and the Yankees scratch out a win over the Tigers. I was in the right field bleachers, trying to stay warm and dry on a very un-spring like day at Yankee Stadium. There was nothing spring like about my behavior either, and I would like to apologize to the person who was nice enough to bring me to the game.
Opening day also saw a walk off homerun by Ramon Hernandez of the Reds, an extra innings affair in San Diego and a great pitcher’s duel between Clayton Kershaw and Tim Lincecum in LA. The battle between two of baseball’s great young arms paled in comparison to the battle between two Dodgers fans and some San Francisco Giants fans, one of whom ended up in critical condition. The behavior isn’t uncommon at sporting events but I find it startling to hear the attack happened in the parking lot at an LA sporting event.
Who knew people in LA cared enough about anything other than money and being tan to attack a stranger over it? I certainly didn’t.
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Today we get a full slate of games. 11 in all. But there is one that I am looking forward to more than all the rest.
It is the 4:00 matchup between the Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox. I am a lifelong Red Sox fan and have been looking forward to opening day ever since the Jets ended the Patriots season back in January.
There’s a lot to look forward to in 2011.
Ok, so none of our players had a book published about them, that is comprised of newspaper clippings about them. Derek Jeter: From the Pages of The New York Times is a collection of headlines and stories about the Yankee captain written by some of the best baseball writers of our generation. Whether you love, or mortally despise so much that it makes it nearly impossible to be objective, the Yankees, this is a fascinating look back at the recent history of baseball as it revolved around Derek Jeter.
One of the major things we Red Sox have to be excited about is the players that will be taking the diamond at 4 p.m. today and we don’t need coffee table books to distract us from a terminal lack of pitching. So you enjoy the book Yankee fans. It will give you something to do in October when your team is watching the playoffs on TV.
This Red Sox team, with the addition of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, has the talent to be one of the best Sox teams I have ever seen. They have added quality arms to the bullpen, and have two young pitchers at the top of their rotation in Jon Lester and Clay Bucholtz, who could both be among the best in baseball. John Lackey and Josh Beckett aren’t too shabby either.
Talent doesn’t win you World Series rings though and it remains to be seen whether this Sox team can live up to the immense expectations. But as the new season gets under way, it’s going to be a whole lot of fun to watch them try.
With the bad taste the NFL lockout has left, I am ready for some baseball.
—–Corey Maloney
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