The Wreckers

Game 7 - Red Sox

Red Sox 14, Seattle Mariners 3
Record: 4-3

Hard to find anything to complain about in a 14-3 asskicking, so I'll just sit back, smoke this cigar, drink this beer (Sierra Nevada - nothing fancy this evening) and enjoy the afterglow.

Josh Beckett's now pitched 12 innings in 2007 and given up 4 hits and 2 runs. A few more outings like this afternoon's and we'll have to consign the Ebby Calvin moniker to the celluloid dustbin. Matsuzaka lifts an eyebrow and smiles coyly, telling Beckett, "Ah, you are indeed a gladiator. Perhaps I underestimated your karate after that season-opening start." Of course, he was speaking Japanese, so all Beckett understood was "karate". In fact, I'd pay really good money to watch Beckett and Matsuzaka try to communicate with one another.

Jason Varitek had 3 hits and drove in 3 runs, silencing for the next day or so the growing chorus of worry surrounding the captain and his diminshed batsmanship. In terms of the volume of grumbling, it's pretty much Varitek, Coco Crisp, Julian Tavarez, Mike Lowell, and the field for Sox fans over the season's first week. I'm all for the wisdom of the masses in this case.

J.D. Drew chose an auspicious time to hit his first homer in a Sox uniform, launching one to centerfield to give the Sox a 7-0 lead in the 2nd inning. WEEI plans to run an expose tomorrow on Drew, certain that he could've hit a homer in the first inning, but for his utter lack of "gamerness" and "dirtdoggitude".

Matsuzaka takes on the Mariners tomorrow evening as he makes his debut in home whites. I'm trying, really trying, to manage my expectations. He is, after all, human. I think.