It's about time: J.D. Drew hits his first walk-off hit for the Red Sox (in the 14th inning)

It's only fitting that a game that goes 14 innings (the longest Boston Red Sox game of the season), complete with a four-run lead blown in the ninth and having two players ejected, that J.D. Drew delivered the first walk-off hit of his Red Sox career.

Things were going well for Boston (32-26) as they went into the bottom of the ninth up 7-3 yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park on the Oakland A's (27-32).

Then closer Jonathan Papelbon started giving up hits in a non-save situation like he always does and before you knew it, he was tossed along with catcher Jason Varitek for arguing balls and strikes.

Oakland tied it up at 7 in the ninth and both teams scored a run in the 11th before Drew (2 hits, 2 RBIs) drove in Carl Crawford (4 hits, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) in the 14th for the winning run.

Alfredo Aceves (3-1) was the unsung hero and turned out to be the winner as he went the last four innings for the Red Sox. He allowed one earned run on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

It's hard to remember since this game went five hours and 17 minutes but this started out as a tasty pitching matchup between A's stud Trevor Cahill and Red Sox ace Josh Beckett. As usual, that's not how the game unfolded.

Cahill went seven innings but he allowed five earned runs on eight hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

Beckett went six innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

Things got off to a good start for Boston as Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo homer (his 11th of the season) in the first. Drew added an RBI single, driving in Crawford in the fifth, for a 2-0 lead.

Josh Willingham tied it up in the sixth with a two-run single in the sixth. The Red Sox responded with three runs. Dustin Pedroia had an RBI single, Kevin Youkilis had an RBI double and Crawford had an RBI single in the frame.

Cliff Pennington drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh but Crawford's two-run double in the eighth made it 7-3 good guys.

You knew something was up in the ninth when Pedroia let a routine grounder go through his legs, scoring a run. Pennington had an RBI double and Conor Jackson tied it with an RBI single as Papelbon melted down literally and figuratively (the first ejection of his career).

Ryan Sweeney put Oakland ahead with a sacrifice fly in the 11th but Jacoby Ellsbury (4 hits, 2 steals) tied it with an RBI double which knocked in Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Boston goes for the sweep today but I wouldn't bet on them since John Lackey returns from the DL and his rehab stint in the minors. He faces Oakland lefty Brett Anderson, who is good and typically gives the Red Sox trouble.

Teach me how to dougie Dice-K

What do I always say about Dice-K? He is the single most unpredictable player in MLB and probably professional sports. Therefore after I bashed him and Ben Sheets going into last night's series opener in Oakland, they responded by turning in a classic pitcher's duel.

It figures that one of the most exciting games of the season was a 10:05 p.m. EST start so who knows how much of Red Sox nation actually saw it, especially considering how low their television ratings are this season.

The Red Sox (53-40) started off the pivotal 10-game West Coast trip with a 2-1 win at the Oakland Coliseum. Dice-K (7-3) went 6.2 innings and allowed one earned run on two hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Most surprisingly, Dice-K worked quickly and efficiently and was only on 89 pitches when he got yanked in the seventh.

Ben Sheets (4-9) nearly matched him going 6.2 innings and giving up two earned runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Daniel Bard went 1.1 scoreless innings and Jonathan Papelbon got a 1-2-3 ninth for his 21st save of the season. Dice-K's fine work allowed Terry Francona to skip over all the bum relievers that have been omnipresent this season.

Rajai Davis gave Oakland (46-47) a 1-0 lead in the third with a solo home run.

David Ortiz tied it up in the fourth when his sacrifice fly knocked in former A's outfielder Eric Patterson, who had tripled. Adrian Beltre (3 hits) produced the winning run with a solo shot two batters later.

In his last start before Josh Beckett returns to the rotation, Tim Wakefield goes tonight against Dallas Braden, he of the perfect game on May 9. Braden has been on the DL and also has struggled since then, he hasn't won a game since then.

Don't think, just throw Dice-K

Can we all agree that Daisuke Matsuzaka is the most unpredictable player in baseball, this side of Milton Bradley (who is a lunatic)?

After nearly no-hitting the Phillies two weeks ago, he walked eight against the Royals in his next start.

Last night began with another roller coaster first inning for Matsuzaka as he gave up three runs to the A's. However, he settled down enough to lead the Red Sox to a 6-4 win over Oakland at Fenway.

Ryan Sweeney had an RBI double and Kurt Suzuki blasted a two-run homer into the Monster seats before Dice-K decided to start pitching. From there, he went almost seven innings (6.2), giving up just those three earned runs on ten hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. He improved to 4.2 with an ERA of 5.49.

For the second straight night, Boston (31-23) rallied against Oakland (28-26). It also marked their fourth win in a row.

Kevin Youkilis drew the Sox closer with a two-run single in the bottom of the first off A's starter Ben Sheets (2-4).

David Ortiz continued to tear it up, cranking a two-run shot down the right field line and around Pesky's Pole to put Boston up 4-3 in the fifth.

Sheets was out after six innings, giving up four earned runs on seven hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Dustin Pedroia added an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI double which scored Marco Scutaro (3 hits, 2 runs, RBI).

Scutaro did his part with an RBI single in the eighth which scored Bill Hall.

After four outs (14 of 16 pitches for strikes) by Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon gave up a solo homer to Kevin Kouzmanoff in the ninth but he recovered get his 13th save of the season.

The Sox look for the sweep this afternoon as Tim Wakefield takes the mound against young lefty Brett Anderson, who is sneaky good.

Another Day, Another Gem from an Unlikely Source

The Oakland Athletics possess what has to be one of the worst lineups in baseball. It's going to be a struggle for them to score runs and win games all year. Still, you can't help but be encouraged if you're a Red Sox fan by the events of yesterday's game.

The Red Sox (3-1) beat the A's, 5-0, behind 6.2 scoreless innings by Jon Lester (3 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts).

For the second day in a row, Boston got a great outing from someone not named Josh Beckett. Just like Dice-K, Lester has struggled early in his MLB career with high pitch counts and bad innings. Yet it only took him 94 pitches to get 20 outs yesterday.

Rich Harden (5 innings, 4 hits, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts) pitched well for the A's (1-3) but Boston got to Oakland's less than impressive bullpen for all five runs.
David Ortiz got his first two hits of the season, including a two-run homer to right off former Sox reliever Alan Embree.

After not delivering early in the game with the bases loaded, Boston cashed in during a two-run eighth. Dustin Pedroia (2 hits) had an RBI single followed by Kevin Youkilis's (2 hits) RBI single, both off another former Sox scrub, Lenny DiNardo.

Jason Varitek (2 hits) added a solo home run off Huston Street in the ninth, payback for his double that should have been a homer the night before. In all, the Red Sox pounded out 13 hits including two from Alex Cora and Coco Crisp.

Relievers Bryan Corey (1.1 innings, 2 strikeouts) and Manny Delcarmen combined to pitch a scoreless eighth and ninth.

Boston flew to Toronto last night and will play a three-game set with the Blue Jays starting tomorrow night.

Now that's more like it Dice-K

As a sports fan, it's easy to write players and teams off. If you watch the games all the time, you get a feel for who has it and who doesn't. With that said, last night's 2-1 Red Sox win over the Oakland A's was very promising as Dice-K pitched a gem.

It was a far cry from his start last week in Japan-when he was understandably nervous and therefore pitched badly-as Dice-K went 6.2 innings, giving up two hits, one run and striking out nine. In probably the best sign of all, he didn't issue any walks and his pitch count was a tidy 96 pitches when he left. It was one of his best performances in his short career with the Red Sox.

With Beckett out until the weekend while Lester and Buchholz are in the rotation, the Red Sox (2-1) need Dice-K to pitch like the guy they paid all the money for last year. He's showed flashes of brilliance but all too often last year, his pitch count would go up way too early or he would have one disastrous inning.

The A's (1-2) got on the board first in the second when Jack Cust hit a solo home run.

Boston scored in the fifth when leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury singled to right, scoring Kevin Youkilis who somehow avoided catcher Mac Suzuki's tag at home.

The Sox looked poised for a big inning in the sixth when Youkilis tripled (3 hits, 2 runs) then scored on Jason Varitek's (2 hits) RBI double that should have been a home run. It hit above the yellow line on a platform in right then bounced back onto the field. The umpires talked about it but ruled incorrectly. It was a tough call but definitely showed that baseball could use replays at certain times, although that would slow down the game even more.

Hideki Okajima pitched a scoreless inning then Jonathan Papelbon got four outs for his second save. Papelbon didn't allow a hit and struck out three.

A's starter Joe Blanton pitched well for the most part, going six innings, allowing seven hits, two runs (both earned) with one walk and three strikeouts.

Good signs for the Sox included Ellsbury delivering with a runner in scoring position, Youkilis looked locked in and Varitek actually had a couple good at bats. David Ortiz doesn't have a hit yet but that won't last much longer.

The short two-game series wraps up this afternoon with a rematch of Lester vs. Rich Harden.

Harden excels before inevitable DL trip

The second Red Sox-A's game in Japan wasn't much of a contest as Rich Harden completely outpitched Jon Lester in a 5-1 A's win.

The injury-prone Harden pitched six innings, giving up only three hits, one run, three walks and striking out nine. When healthy, he is one of the top pitchers in baseball but that has been a big if as he's missed most of the last two seasons with injuries.

Lester (as he is prone to do) got into too many jams, walked too many guys and eventually left too early. Hopefully, he can curb this problem early in his promising MLB career but this is almost all we've seen since he debuted two summers ago. Lester went four innings, giving up five hits, four runs, three walks and four strikeouts.

The big hit of the game was provided by Emil Brown (surprise!), who cranked a three-run homer of Lester in the third. Manny had a solo homer in the sixth off Harden but that was about the only highlight for the Sox from the game.

Former Red Sox Keith Foulke and Alan Embree combined to pitch the final two scoreless innings for the A's, kicking a little more dirt on the Sox's grave. Oh well, the odds of both of those guys lasting through the year without getting injured are slim at best.

So now, the teams come back to the United States and have another exhibition series with other teams before meeting in Oakland next Tuesday for another Opening Day, kind of. The memories from the last two days will last Red Sox fans a lifetime, or maybe until next week. Who knows.

A Manny For All Lands

It figures that Manny Ramirez seemed to be least effected by the change in scenery for the Red Sox season-opener in Japan. We've known for a long time that Manny is not from this planet.

Down 2-0 to the A's in the first then 4-3 going into the ninth, the Sox were bailed out by rookie Brandon Moss, who hit a tying home-run off closer Huston Street. Moss was a last minute addition to the lineup after J.D. Drew hurt his back in warmups (too easy).

That laid the groundwork for a crazy 10th. First, Manny added his second two-run double of the game (but thinking it was gone, he stood and admired it at home plate). Papelbon came on for the save but was shaky as the A's kept getting on. He lucked out when Emil Brown doubled but tried to advance to third. He was promptly gunned down.

Oakland's next batter got a hit (meaning Brown would have tied the game) but Papelbon eventually got Kaz Suzuki to ground out to end it.

Not surprisingly after the game, Manny was named MVP-which in Japan is accompanied by a check for a million yen (10,000 dollars). A man could get used to that.

Dice-K was brutal through two innings, needing 60 pitches to get the weak A's lineup out. He somewhat settled down, going five innings, giving up two runs, two hits, five walks and six strikeouts. He gave up a solo homer to Mark Ellis.

We'll give him a pass since it was opening day and the pressure he faced coming back to Japan was insane.

Dustin Pedroia-hitting leadoff-had two hits and Moss had two hits and two RBIs. The home run was the first of his major league career. Jacoby Ellsbury made a sweet catch in center in the eighth.

Oakland third baseman Jack Hannahan hit a two-run bomb off Kyle Snyder in the sixth, giving the lead back to the A's.

Hideki Okajima got the win after pitching a scoreless ninth before his old home fans.

The win was a nice, albeit strange way to start the 2008 season.

Are you ready for some baseball? Me neither.

With March Madness heading into the Sweet 16 and the NBA regular season ending soon, who has had time to notice baseball?

The fact that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series last fall and start this season with two games in Japan vs. the A's (tomorrow morning at 6 a.m.) makes it feel like the off-season flew by.

Don't get me wrong, I love baseball. It's just that it doesn't feel like baseball time on March 25. I think baseball really arrives when the weather in the barren Northeast cracks 60 degrees regularly and every other sport has wound down.

Nothing says summer like watching a baseball game on TV with your favorite beverage. Or even better, attending said game in shorts and a t-shirt (what a concept). Although, the first month of the baseball season is truly the only time you care about your fantasy team until you quickly realize they're hopeless.
I'm not going to do a straight team preview-mostly because I'm sick and my mind is too clouded to think of anything half-original.

I will say that I think baseball is the hardest professional sport (currently) to repeat as champions. Sure, the NFL-the model of parity-can make that claim too but no season is as chock full of unexpected injuries, slumps and breakout seasons as baseball. We can agree a 162-game regular season is crazy, right?

With all that said, the Sox enter this season with probably the best chance in my lifetime to repeat. They brought back nearly every influential piece of last season's team while addressing minor needs (getting rid of Mirabelli and picking up Sean Casey).

It seems to have the perfect blend of youth (Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Bucholz), superstars (David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Josh Beckett) and veterans (Mike Lowell, Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek).

Sure expectations are at a nearly unreachable level (World Series or bust!) but how many times do you go into a season this loaded with so few questions. The Boston Red Sox enter the 2008 season as the team to beat in MLB. It's all come full circle.

With cold medicine hopefully in full effect, I probably won't make the 6:07 a.m. first pitch tomorrow morning with Dice-K on the mound but when the Sox come back to the States on April 1st (for the A's home-opener), give me a call.