Too Little, Too Late For Red Sox On 2011 Opener (0-1)

Well, today was the day we were all waiting for, and while a 9-5 loss was not what we wanted, at least they're playing baseball. Up until the bottom of the 8th inning, this was a pretty close game. In the first inning, after Jacoby Ellsbury reached second on an error, Kevin Youkilis whacked a double to right field and Adrian Gonzalez hit a single to put the Sox up 2-0. Starter Jon Lester allowed runs in the 1st and 2nd to tie the game at 2-2 before the third inning. In the third inning, Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia had hits to put runners at 1st and 3rd before a Kevin Youkilis walk to load the bases for Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez proceeded to knock a 2-run single up the middle to make it 4-2 Red Sox. It remained like this until a 3-run homer off the bat of Mike Napoli in the 4th inning to make it 5-4 Rangers. It stayed at 5-4 until the 8th inning, when David Ortiz (right) nailed a homer over the center field wall to tie the game at 5-5. However, the bottom of the ninth did not pan out so well, as Daniel Bard allowed 4 runs in 2/3 of an inning on doubles by Daniel Murphy, Elvis Andrus, and Josh Hamilton.

Jon Lester (left) was not sharp in his first outing of the season, allowing 5 runs through 5 1/3 innings, putting his ERA at 8.44 although he did not earn the loss. That honor went to Daniel Bard, whose ERA soared to 54.00 after allowed 4 runs through 2/3 of an inning. Jacoby Ellsbury had a very good day leading off for the Sox, reaching base 4 of 5 times, and scoring twice in a 2-4 day. Adrian Gonzalez also did very well, going 2-4 with 3 RBIs in today's contest. The other two RBIs went to David Ortiz with his home run, and Dustin Pedroia, who went 1-4 today. Tomorrow, the Red Sox will send John Lackey up against Colby Lewis at 8:05 EST. Now, for the newest addition to Sox.Rox, bright spots and dull spots...

Bright Spots:

Adrian Gonzalez- 2-4, 3 RBIs

Jacoby Ellsbury- 2-4, 2 runs and a double

Kevin Youkilis- 1-3, an RBI double and a run

David Ortiz- game-tying homer in the 8th inning

Matt Albers- Pitched a scoreless inning in Red Sox debut

Dull Spots:

Carl Crawford- 0-4 with 3 strikeouts

Jarrod Saltalamacchia- 0-4 with 2 strikeouts

Marco Scutaro- 0-4

Jon Lester- knocked around for 3 home runs and 5 earned runs in 5.1 innings

Daniel Bard- Gave up a tie game with flying colors, allowing 4 runs in the 8th inning.

I hope the Sox can do better tomorrow!