Hardball Heaven

The Sox took care of business in Texas today, cruising to a 7-3 victory over the Rangers. It was the Sox' first opening day win since 2000.

Everything clicked in this one - well, almost everything. Schilling looked great - not dominant, but certainly much improved over last year. Big Papi resumed his dominance with the maple, smashing a longball off the right-field foul pole, and just missing another homer. Varitek had a key double. Newcomers Loretta and Lowell chipped in with some offense. And Jonathan Papelbon (is he a starter? Closer? Set-up man?) pitched a perfect 8th for the bridge to Foulkie, which is where the problems began.

Foulkie came on in the 9th and immediately proceeded to get whiplash from watching the Rangers smash line drives all over the park. Coco had to make a sweet running catch in center field to preserve this one. We may see Foulkie pitching the 8th, and Pap closing soon. Or maybe Craig Hansen will be on the premises by June.

Either way, it's not a day to be negative. We like victories. Wake versus Vicente Padilla tomorrow.