And so it begins...the 2012 Major League Baseball season has officially begun. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins to open the season with a 4-1 victory in Miami. I don't think it is exactly how the million dollar Marlins wanted to start the new season in their new stadium with their new high-money lineup! And tomorrow the Red Sox start their season in Detroit against the Tigers.
John Lester takes on reigning MVP/Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander in the Tiger's home opener at 1:00 ET, unfortunately 10:00AM here. The Tigers are boasting a pretty good lineup this year with the addition of Prince Fielder and should be a decent threat for most throughout the year. As some of you may remember the Red Sox are coming off a horrible season that was capped off by a horrendous collapse. And I'm sure we will always blame the beer and chicken wings but they just sucked. Watching Papelbon blow the save in the 9th against the crappy Baltimore Orioles was something I'd like to forget but unfortunately know I'll always sadly remember.
With that disappointing end to the 2011 season constantly on my mind it has been extremely hard to get excited for this upcoming season. What has recently sparked my interest is knowing that nobody expects them to do well. It's the fact that out of 50 ESPN baseball sportswriters only one of them picked the Red Sox to win it all; most not even picking them to make the playoffs! This is exactly what they need. They need the media and the public to doubt that they cannot win, that they don't have the pitching, they don't have the defense, they have a narcissistic coach and blah, blah, blah...
No we do not have a proven closer (thank you Andrew Bailey), or a shortstop, 4-5 pitching rotation questions, and outside of Ellsbury a questionable outfield (at the moment). But we do have an incredible offense and our defense really isn't going to be THAT bad. Ellsbury, Pedroia, Papi, Gonzalez, Youk, Crawford (out till May)/Ross, Salty, Sweeney, Aviles...I can deal with that lineup. And when Crawford comes back he will hopefully be back to the old Crawford of old.
It's a new era in Red Sox history. It's one without a 2-time World Series Champion manager or a GM that made a bold decision in late-July of 2004 to trade the most popular player on the team in order to reverse the curse. There's no captain behind the plate or knuckleballer on the mound. It's a whole new vibe in Boston and one that wreaks of pre-2004 where you weren't sure what was going to happen but you were absolutely certain you'd be extremely disappointed by the time October came around.
I obviously do not wish for this to happen and I expect the Red Sox to be playing in October this year; whether it's from one of the two wild cards or by taking the division I'm sure they'll be there. And once they're in it's on like Donkey Kong! So cross your fingers, start saying your prayers, and have faith in Red Sox Nation that this is our year!!!
Go Sox!
(All pictures used here were courtesy of boston.com) http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/gallery/2012/predictions?pg=10
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