Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

Final
Kansas City 7, Boston 1

Top of ninth
Peralta
Ramirez- FS, SliderS, 90FB, 81changeS (Strikeout looking)
Pena- 88FB, 84offspeedS, 88FS, 81changeS (Strikeout swinging)
Lowell- 90FS, CurveballB, 91FB, 88F (Double)
Varitek- 89FS, 88FB, 88FS, 83change (Fly out to left)

- If he can keep that change in place, Peralta could be a find for KC.
- Lowell’s double might not have meant much in the day’s game, but it goes along way to get that first hit of the season going forward.
- Varitek didn’t look comfortable at the plate today.

Bottom of 8th
Joel Pineiro
Gload- FB, 84sliderS, 84sliderS, 94FS, 91FB, Slider (Single, ball hits first base bag)
Buck-86sliderS, 92F (Pop up to short)
Pena-FB, 88sliderS, 88sliderS, slider (RBI triple)
(Pineiro out, Romero in)
J.C. Romero
DeJesus- 91F (Ground out to first)
Grud- 88FB, 78curveS, 88FB, 77curveS, 91FB, 81CurveS, 78CurveS (Fly out to center)

- Two triples for Pena today. He doesn’t look like a bad spring training pick-up.
- Some decent sliders from Pineiro, and one that caught way too much of the plate.
- Romero looked solid, and more importantly, consistently around the strike zone.

Top of 8th
Meche
Crisp-ChangeS, CurveB, 84sliderB, 90F (Ground out to first)
Pedroia- 87sliderB, 90FB, 88FS, 92F (Single)
(Meche pulled after 103 pitches, 62 strikes. Final line is: 7 1/3 inning, 6 hits, run, walk, 6 strikeouts. Reliever Joel Peralta in.)
Joel Peralta
Lugo - FB, SliderS, SliderS, 93FB, 89F (Single)
Youkilis - SliderS, 89FB, 78CurveS, 83offspeedB, 92FB, 88FS (Strikeout swinging)
Ortiz- 81changeB, 88FS, 78changeS, 81changeS, FB, 80changeS, 84changeS (Strikeout swinging)

- Meche silenced the contract critics for at least one day.
- Peralta has thrown the best change-ups of the day (much to the dismay of Ortiz).

Bottom of seventh
Okajima
Teahen- CurveS, FB, 82sliderS, 87FS (Strikeout swinging)
Sweeney- FB, 86FB, 82slider (Single)
Gordon- CurveS, 87F (Ground out to first)
(Pitching change, Okajima out, Donnelly in)
Brendan Donnelly
Shealy- FS, SliderB, FS, 92F (Strikeout swinging)

- Not many swings and misses from Royals today until Donnelly came in.
- Okajima looked decent. Although his fastball was just in the upper-80’s it had deception/movement because KC hitters weren’t getting a good read.
- Sox pitchers have pounded Rookie of the Year candidate Alex Gordon with off-speed today.

Top of seventh
Meche
Drew-F, SB, 91FS, CB, 81S (ground out to first)
Lowell- 85FS, 91F (Fly out to left)
Varitek-91FS, 75CS, 92F (Ground out to shortstop)

95 total pitches

- Meche certainly isn’t blowing anybody away with his fastball, but he is still getting outs with it.

Bottom of sixth
Hideki Okajima
Buck- F (Home run)
Pena- CB, 88FS, 87FS, 87FS, 84FB, 87FS (Strikeout swinging)
DeJesus- 76CurveB, 75CurveS, 88F (Fly out to center)
Grud- 76CurveB, 82sliderB, 82FS, 88FS, 88FS, 83sliderS, 81slider (Ground out to third)

17 total pitches

- Besides the first pitch, Okajima looked in control. Unfortunately it is tough to overlook that first pitch.

Top of the sixth
Meche
Youkilis-F (Error third base, thrown out going to second)
Ortiz-FB, CurveS, CurveB (HBP)
Ramirez-83sliderB, 89FB, 89F (6-4-3 double play)

85 total pitches

- After throwing two straight balls to Ramirez, Meche gets a visit from Buck, probably reminding him he has a four-run lead. Sure enough, he grooves an 89 mph fastball which Manny uses to ground into a double play.
- New first base coach Luis Alicea must have a migraine after watching two guys get thrown out trying to stretch singles into doubles today.
- The Hero in the Dark is in – Hideki Okajima. (His first pitch was a home run to Buck … ouch!)

Bottom of 5th
Javier Lopez
Gordon - FS, F (HBP)
Shealy- FS, 78changeS, 79offspeedB, 79offspeed (Double play 6-4-3)
Gload- F (Ground out to first)

7 pitches

- Schilling out after 89 pitches. His final line was: 4IP, 8 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts. It was a long way off from last year’s opener when he threw 117 pitches through 7 innings. He threw probably his best splits to his last batter, but was never really consistent in location on any of his pitches.

Top of 5th
Meche
Coco- CurveS, 78curveB, 81splitB, 90FB, 87FS, 92FS (Strikeout looking)
Pedroia- 88FB, 85sliderS, 73curveS, FB, Slider (Ground out to short)
Lugo- SliderS, CurveB, 89sliderS, FS, 79CurveS (Strikeout looking)

77 total pitches

- Take a look at the pitch selection and you see how Meche is really setting up hitters nicely. Clearly his out-pitch is the big curve, which got Lugo (who has had better days, certainly).

Bottom of 4th
Schilling
Gload- ChangeB, SplitS, 76ChangeB, 85F (Ground out to second)
Buck-89FB, 70curveS, 89F (Double)
Pena-91FS, 89FS, 87FB, 89FB, 88FB (Walk)
DeJesus-82splitB, 82split (Fly out to left)
Grud-89F (2 RBI double)
Teahen-85 split (RBI single)
Sweeney-FB, 81splitS, 89FS, 82split (strikeout)

89 total pitches

- Grudzielanek’s double came on a first-pitch fastball. Besides on change-up, his first at-bat was all fastballs, which resulted in a first-inning single. This after the second baseman’s horrific history against Schilling.
- Schilling threw some of his best splits to Sweeney only after giving up the two run-scoring hits.

Top of 4th
Meche
Ramirez-FB, SliderB, 91F (Ground out to third)
Drew-83splitB, 91FB, 88FS, 92FB, 91F (Single)
Lowell-88F (Grounder to third)
Varitek-92FS, 75curveS, 93FB, 78curveS, 91FS, 83change/split (Strikeout looking)

61 total pitches
- Curveball Meche broke off on second pitch to Varitek was his best pitch of the day.
- Drew has seen five pitches in each of his at-bats, with a walk and single to go for it. Get used to the patience.

Bottom of the third
Schilling
Sweeney-F, F (fly out to center)
Gordon- 71ChangeB, 77splitS, 89FB, 84FS, 91FS, 84splitS, 81split (Strikeout looking)
Shealy- FS, 89FS, 91FB, 92F (Ground out to third)

13 pitches (69 pitches total)
- I’m not positive about first two pitches to Gordon, whether we saw splits or a change was mixed in. As NESN accurately pointed out, Pena triple came on a split. Usually change will stay up in zone more and tend to veer away from lefty hitter.

Top of 3rd
(A little off on velocity this inning)
Meche
Lugo-SplitS, sliderB, SliderS, CurveB, 91F (Strikeout looking)
Youkilis-94FS, 90FB, 90FS, 95FS, 79CurveB, 88Slider (Fly out to right)
Ortiz- 84splitS, 78curve (Ground out)

46 pitches total
- Meche begins to earn his money a bit.

Bottom of the 2nd
Schilling
Buck - 91FS, 91FB, 75Curve87FS, 91FB, 91F (Ground out to short)
Pena-91FB, 87FB, 88FS, 85FS, 84 change(Triple)
DeJesus-88FS, 90FB, 91FS, 90FS, 92F (Strikeout looking)
Grud- 91FB, 89FB, 76 change (single, RBI)
Teahen- 88FS, 71changeB, 76changeS, 84split (Strikout swinging)

23 pitches (56 total)

- After giving up triple and RBI single on change-ups, came back with two more to Teahen. First change to Teahen was worst of the bunch, but then came back with probably his best.

Top of 2nd
Meche
Varitek-91FB, 76CurveS, 91F (fly out to second)
Coco-91FS, 84split (ground out)
Pedroia-90F (single, thrown out)

6 pitches
4 fastballs
1 split
1 curve

- Dustin got too excited, trying to stretch a single to a double. I bet you don’t see many of those mental errors from this season.

Bottom of the 1st
Curt Schilling
Dejesus- 90FB, 89FS, 89FB, 91FS, 91F (Fly out to right)
Grud- 89FB, 91FS, 75ChangeB, 91FB, 91F (Single to left)
Teahen- 89FS, 84SplitS, 91FS, 84Split (single up middle)
Sweeney-89FB, 88Slider (single)
Gordon-91FS, 92FS, 82splitS, 82splitB, 93FS, 85splitS, 85split (stikeout swinging)
Shealy-94FS, 84splitB, 91FS, 93FS, 83splitB, 91FB, 94FS, 85slider (Walk, RBI)
Gload-88FS, 87split (fly out to center)

33 pitches
21 fastballs
1 change
9 splits
1 slider

- When was the last time Curt Schilling issued a walk with the bases loaded? It’s worth looking up.

Top of the 1st
Gil Meche
First nine pitches fastballs
18 fastballs
2 splits
2 changes
5 curves
27 pitches

Lugo- 90FB, 92FB, 92FS, 91FS, 89FB, 91FS (Struck out looking)
Youkilis-89FS, 90FS, 94FB, 90Split (Single to right)
Ortiz-91FS, 82ChangeS, 92FB, 92F (Double to left-center)
Ramirez-76CurveB, 76CurveS, 93F (Fly out to center)
Drew-90FB, 80ChangeB, 91FS, 76CurveB, 93FB (Walk)
Lowell-78CurveS, 93FS, 95FB, 78CurveB, 91Split (Strikeout)

- Topped out at 95, sat in low 90’s
- First non-fastball was hit for single by Youkilis
- You can see how this lineup, with the addition of Drew, will really make pitchers work.

National Anthem
What’s better to kick off a season than hearing a little REO Speedwagon, the artists who performed today’s National Anthem? If you want more REO you can next catch them at the Exchange Park Fairgrounds in Ladson, South Carolina on April 21. I do feel a little cheated since evidently they sang the song for last night’s game in St. Louis. Doesn’t MLB have enough singers to draw from that they don’t have to go to REO Speedwagon twice?

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