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Agreed with anon, at 11:07. When Kansas City becomes successful (whether as a suprise this season or not) the fans will be there for them.


Look at what the Tigers did for the fans and Detroit at-large last season. And there's probably not as big a mountain to climb in KC.

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I must agree with those who said you can't determine that much of anything from the game.


But consider a few other things:



When was the last time the Royals played in front of 41,000 fans at home (and nearly all of the fans were Royals fans)? I'm sure the Royals were a bit juiced up about the atmosphere. I'm old enough to remember when KC fans were among the best in baseball. They're dying for a winner there.



Schill allowed five runs with two outs. When you can't finish the job with two outs, you're clearly doing lots of things wrong.



Meche gets point for being on. He was great, got ahead of the hitters and didn't waste pitches. I don't think he gave the Sox batters a chance to take too many pitches.



Sox batters have to work a little harder at the plate. They didn't foul off enough pitches to work the count.



To be honest, I'm not sure I want to see them get off to a red-hot start. When they have in recent years, the collape has been painful.

//Why did we bring Theo back?????????//


Is that you, Larry? ;-)



So.... what was Theo supposed to do? Sign Eric Gagne? Trade half the farm system (Buchholz, Bowden, Lester) for... Chad Cordero? Pass.



Tavarez is as competent as any fifth starter in the AL. If he falters, you've got some good arms (Gabbard, Hansack) just a short drive away. Anyway, Lester will be back by the All-Star break.

How can we be confident in Tavarez? He didn't pitch well all season until he got Triple-A lineups out in Sept. He is going to get beat up in big games. Why did we bring Theo back?????????

What's that old expression? A team is never as bad as it looks losing a blowout, and never as good as it looks winning one?


That said, the Royals have improved, but they've got a ways to go before they can seriously contend. Due credit to Meche for a good game.

BTW:


Last time Schill walked in a run: 8/7/05 vs MIN, although he was on in relief of Manny Delcarmen who loaded them up.



Last time Schill walked a batter after loading up the bases himself: 7/23/2000, pitching for AZ against PIT. (Part of a 110-pitch complete game 4-1 win.)



Per www.thebaseballcube.com. I love the internet.

What we really needed was a game today, so there wouldn't be a whole baseball-free 24 hour window for the Nation to fret over one loss. There are 161 left. Let's save some of that angst for August, K?

robert,


I think it's funny that one game can show that "the bullpen is so much better already this year," yet it indicates nothing about the negative aspects that were displayed yesterday. Also, it's not like the pen was untouchable. Over 5 innings, RPs gave up 2 runs on 4 hits. The one thing I loved to see: 0 BB.



In my eyes, game 1 doesn't mean much. It is what it is. Schilling sucked. Lugo struck out the first three ABs of his Red Sox career (but that's not all that concerning given his career numbers against Meche). Tek looked uncomfortable. And the Sox lost the game.



Three of these are facts and the other is more of an observation which I think most people would agree with.



So what do the facts say at this point?



1) Schilling is human.



(But he has been for years. We all knew he was human in 2005. He was better in 06, but not untouchable. Can he still be an ace in 07? Yes. Did he look like ace material yesterday? No.)



2) The Sox are not going to win 162 games this year.



What don't the facts say?



1) Schilling has slipped into mediocrity and the Sox 07 hopes are going to crash and burn because of it.

2) Lugo is going to be another disaster at SS.

3) Lugo isn't going to be another disaster at SS.

4) The Sox pen is tremendously better than in recent years.

5) The Sox pen is even worse than in recent years.



Nothing is really conclusive after game 1, including all positive and negative aspects of the day. The sample is too small to mean anything.

Curt's fastball was sitting at about 90 yesterday. I feel like I am used to seeing him at 93. Am I right?

It's one game - one game! No need to panic. One game does not define whether the Sox are bad or the Royals are good. Give me a break!


Jeff

http://www.soxandpinstripes.com

I hadn't watched much of Spring Training, but it sure looks like 'Tek was bailing out on Monday. He steps toward first on every pitch and opens up widely. Anyone else notice this or am I just inventing things?

No need for Rob to answer that one, the rotation has been set for a while. Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, Tavarez and apparently the Sox won't be skipping starters with the off days. So, we should see Beckett tomorrow, Matsuzaka Thursday, Wakefield Friday & Tavarez Saturday. That puts Schilling back in line to pitch Sunday night on ESPN.

Question for you, Rob - what's the rotation situation right now? When will we see Tavarez slotted in?


--AFM

I've always kind of been a "Grudzielanek Booster" and, especially considering his recent surgery, he's made some serious adjustments. He had said in the postgame that he felt he had been too impatient with Schilling in the past. Adding that to Schil's general spottiness, it was easy for Grudzie to sit back and wait for it. If Beckett attacks like we know he can and if Matsuzaka attacks like we think he does, then Grudzielanek might not get another hit this series.


Meche did a fantastic job of setting up his pitches, but what most impressed me was the speed with which he settled down. That it appeared Manny particularly but also Papi and Lugo were kind of not concentrating on "this game, right now" just made it seem more pronounced. Once he got into his rhythm, that was that. The Sox were in general (again, Lugo in particular) way too anxious about everything, if two of Meche's ks had become BBs, then we might be talking about a profoundly different outcome. Papi and Tek swung at some bad pitches.



The bullpen is so much better already this year. I can very easily ignore Okajima's first pitch for the time being, just no more first pitch fastballs for him, k?



The Sox are not nearly that bad. I loved Drew's patience and I think I can expect to see increased patience from Lugo, Papi, Manny, and Coco. I hope to see increased patience from Tek. Pedroia and Youk both looked good but, again, over-anxiousness got the better of them.



The Royals looked good. Grudzielanek, Pena, Sweeney all looked improved and in the case of pena, he might well flourish given the opportunity for a full season. Their worst-in-the-bigs pen even looked better, although it's difficult to imagine a situation where it could get worse. So, the Sox are not nearly as bad and the Royals, yes them, might actually be something like that good.

Just one game. Blah blah blah.


Opening day 2003. Loss. "Oh no! Our bullpen sucks! Doom! Gloom!"



Opening day 2004. Loss. "Oh no! Pedro got rocked! He's cooked! We're DOOOOOOMed."



Opening day 2005. Loss. "Oh no! The Yankees have our number! DOOM!"



It means nothing. Yet.