A rainout pushed opening day back to Tuesday, but it couldn’t stop the Red Sox as they beat the Rays 5-3.

Josh Beckett pitched seven innings of 2-hit baseball, allowing just one run. He also set down ten Rays by Way-of-the-K. Despite two walks in the 8th that turned into runs by Okajima, Justin Masterson and Jonathan Papelbon shut down the Rays for the rest of the ballgame.

Dustin Pedroia got the offense off on the right foot in the 1st by pulling a knee-high pitch into the Monster seats in left. The Red Sox would get the bases loaded later in the inning but they failed to score. Tampa Bay would tie it in the 3rd but the Sox would strike for three runs in the bottom of that inning and led the rest of the way. Jason Varitek also added a solo shot in the 6th to make it 5-1.

Despite having regular season baseball to watch on Monday, it just wasn’t the

Sen. Kennedy, a lifelong Sox fan threw out the first pitch to Jim Rice.

 same without the Red Sox. Management had a great day planned for the game. Sen. Ted Kennedy threw out the first pitch to Hall of Famer Jim Rice, Johnny Pesky declared “play ball”, and the Red Sox entered the field from the stands. NESN even had a new theme and opening for the 2009 season. The players’ entrance was a little cheesy, but Kennedy’s pitch was very inspirational, despite Rice catching the it from only a few feet away.

The Sox and Rays go at it again tonight at 7:10. A pair of lefties, Jon Lester and Scott Kazmir take the mound for their respective ballclubs. Lester is 4-0 lifetime against Tampa but he was 0-2 in the playoffs last year. Kazmir is 6-7 against the Red Sox and 4-4 at Fenway Park. Former Ray and Rhode Island native Rocco Baldelli is expected to be in the starting lineup, most likely replacing JD Drew,  to get a right handed hitter in against the southpaw Kamir.

It looks like Red Sox Nation has to wait one more day. The pouring rain (and a thunder clap I just heard) has washed out the Sox-Rays season opener. I always thought the Red Sox owners were geniuses but not psychics. They had an off-day scheduled for tomorrow in case rain did indeed fall, and the game is now slated for 4:05 on that day. Now I’m stuck watching (and being tortured by) the Indians and Rangers playing in a warm, sunny afternoon game that all baseball fans know and love.

The decision to postpone the game came just after 10 a.m. despite clear skies at the time. The Red Sox took advantage of the sun to take some BP and infield drills after the announcement was made public. Beckett and Shields will throw tomorrow.

The Sox and Rays aren’t the only ones to lose their Opening Day games, as the White Sox and Royals are also postponed due to what I’m hearing as snow.

Our fans look forward to this unofficial Red Sox Nation holiday each year, and we want to make sure that they are able to enjoy the full experience including both the special pregame ceremonies and a full nine innings of play,” Owner Larry Lucchino said. “We reserved an alternate rain date for tomorrow for just such adverse circumstances as present themselves today.”

What foresight by the Sox.

The regular season begins tomorrow, but only for the  Braves and Phillies. The rest of us have to wait to Monday, but with showers in the forecast, the Red Sox and Rays may need to wait longer. In an ALCS rematch, James Shields and Josh Beckett are scheduled to pitch at 2:05 on Monday.

In Boston, the offseason hasn’t been nearly as long as in, say, New York. This year, despite a football-less January, the Celtics continue to push for a repeat, and the Bruins have been simply dominant and both of those teams may be playing in June. Even our new lacrosse team, the Boston Blazers, has had a great year, and they could clinch the playoffs with a win tonight against Buffalo. Baseball has seemed to be an afterthought since December. Once the season starts that is all going to change, and NESN is going to lump the Bruins on their plus channel with the Red Sox on the regular network, as it always does in April.

Rain or no rain, I’m just glad the Red Sox are getting back into action. They got their first game at a big league park yesterday, opening up Citi Field with the Mets, despite a rain delay in the 6th. Yet, I wonder why they opened up Citi Field instead of the new Yankee Stadium, like they did with the old one in 1923. I guess Major Leauge Baseball would rather the first Red Sox game at the Stadium to be a regular season game and really, who can blame them?

One of my friends told me today that they don’t think David Ortiz is very happy with the Red Sox. I don’t think he is, but some of his comments do seem a little less upbeat than in previous years, not just with the Red Sox failing to improve the lineup, but with Major League Baseball and the steroid issues too.

Ortiz is very important to the Red Sox’ lineup. If he isn’t happy the team will suffer, though not to the same extent it did with Manny last year. Ortiz only hits, unlike Ramirez who hits and plays left. Manny is also a more dangerous hitter than Ortiz because he has no weaknesses in his swing, unlike Papi who isn’t strong to the opposite field. Ortiz will only hurt the club’s lineup because he is less of a clubhouse headache. Manny quit on the Sox in 2008  and caused trouble internally, while Ortiz just doesn’t have that kind of mindset.

Ortiz’ performance will suffer if he is unhappy, so the Red Sox may want to deal with this now, even if there is nothing going on with him. Better be safe than sorry.

I realize this isn’t a very important post, but it’s a slow news day so far in Red Sox Nation.

*Cough cough* no. Joba is good, but he isn’t All-Star good. Yet. And the Yankees rotation isn’t very dominating. CC Sabathia was grossly overpaid and pitched well in the inferior NL. He will be lit up by every AL East team other than Baltimore, not to mention other teams in the AL. And does anybody remember how the Red Sox lit him up in 2007? I sure do.

Heh heh heh...

Wang is also good but he isn’t as good as the media has portrayed him as.Wang is also very hittable. Burnett had one good year—2008, a contract year. He was also well overpaid and he has never pitched under pressure. Chamberlain has great stuff but he has never pitched out of the rotation in the big leagues. 5+ innings is much different from the 1-2 innings he pitched before. And he will get thrown out many times if he continues to act the way he likes to—throwing two straight pitches at a batter’s head, like with Kevin Youkilis. And Pettite is old. He will be average at best this year.

But the Red Sox rotation is a different story. This rotation has the perfect balance of youth and veterans. Josh Beckett is both young and a veteran and he should have won the Cy Young in 2007. Daisuke Matsuzaka has been incredible in his two years in the Majors and he can only get better in his third year. Jon Lester is only the best lefty in baseball, and therefore must be better than Sabathia. Brad Penny should put together a solid year or better and John Smoltz is proven to be a terrific pitcher and a big game pitcher. Tim Wakefield is statistically the best pitcher on the Red Sox and the only problem he could have would be his catcher, who thinks he’s up to the challenge of the knuckleball. And Wake even said he has been comfortable throwing to him during Spring games.

Basically, no matter who’s out there for the Yankees WE are poised for a sweep every series. The Yankees have the offense, but the Red Sox have the pitching, defense, and consistency that never seems to come out of the Bronx anymore. All the Red Sox have to do is win the Spring game tonight and they will prove my point that the Red Sox CAN sweep the Yankees multiple times this year.

I know this is old news, but Josh Bard was cut by the Red Sox. This sets George Kottaras up with the job of catching Tim Wakefield. Bard was seen as the replacement to Kevin Cash—who signed with the Yankees—as the Sox’ backup backstop, though Terry Francona said there would be a competition. Kottaras now is the winner of the competition and is going to embark on his rookie season.

Kottaras, who was traded to the Red Sox to complete the waiver deal that sent David Wells to San Diego in 2006, is out of minor league options and would have to clear waivers if he were to be sent down. Additionally, Kottaras must either be on the Major League roster or traded by the end of Spring Training, which may be one of the primary reasons he was given the edge to Bard, who is now with the Nationals.

Kottaras isn’t the first young catcher to try his hand at Wakefield, but unlike Bard he hasn’t been completely thrown into this role. In 2006 former Yankees backup John Flaherty was signed to be Wake’s personal catcher, but he chickened out near the beginning of Spring Training (typical Yankee, cowering out when things get tough). After this veteran Ken Huckaby was going to take his place but lost his battle to Bard after injuring his knee. Then Doug Mirabelli was brought in to backup Wakefield once again.

If Kottaras doesn’t work out, the Red Sox do have options that would work, though based on their philosophy I doubt they will make any of the following moves:

Bring back Mirabelli: Doug was cut in 2008 because his offense wasn’t very good, but in all honesty, neither was Bard’s or Cash’s. This time though, the Sox wouldn’t need to trade for him, he could just be signed as he is still a free agent.

Bring back Huckaby: Ken Huckaby never put up good offensive numbers so he was never in a stable job. But he is great defensively and he has a cannon arm. He is a free agent and could be signed cheap. The Sox could also keep Kottaras around if they wanted offense, and Huckaby could also catch in the postseason if Francona needed to put Wakefield in as a reliever and Kottaras was already out of the game, something he didn’t do in 2008 because Cash was already out of the game, and Paul Byrd wound up losing the game to the Rays.

Call up Dusty Brown: Dusty got a small taste of Big League life as a September call-up and also the emergency catcher in the postseason. He may not be completely ready, but he is an alternative.

Bring in Javy Lopez: No, I take that back. Lopez was just terrible in his short stint with the Sox in ‘06, offensively and defensively. He would be a complete burden on the Sox.

Put Wakefield in the ‘pen: He’s done it before, and it would free up the 5th rotation spot for when John Smoltz starts his season in May, and it would minimize the chances of wild pitches that plagued the Sox when they had Bard. This is not very likely since Francona doesn’t want Varitek catching Wakefield, but there is no harm in this type of move and it would regulate Varitek’s playing schedule.

One of the greatest pitchers of the most infamous eras in baseball, Curt Schilling has called it a career. Schilling, 42, announced his retirement on his blog, 38pitches.weei.com.

Schilling, probably one of my favorite Red Sox of all-time, last pitched in Game 2 of the 2007 World Series, a win in the 4 game sweep of the Colorado Rockies. Schilling then re-signed with the Sox, but was diagnosed with a shoulder injury which ended his season before it began. Schilling then said he was still

"This party has officially ended," wrote Schilling. "After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world's best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official.

 considering pitching again, but only with the Red Sox, Rays, or Cubs. He wasn’t shown much interest and he decided to call it a career.

Schilling is perhaps most remembered for the bloody sock episode during the 2004 postseason. Schil is also remembered for being one of the most dominant postseason pitchers in the game, posting an 11-2 record and has been on 3 World Champion teams and has won the World Series MVP once, along with co-MVP Randy Johnson on the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks. In the regular season Schilling has won 216 games in his career.

Schilling used to call in to WEEI one Thursday every month and now he is appearing in studio for The Big Show, still once a month on a Thursday. He will also continue his charity work in Boston.

25 years ago today, the New England Sports Network broadcasted for the first time. A lot has changed since 1984. We’ve seen two World Series, three NBA Championships, three Super Bowls, and well, the Bruins have tried right?

The network will try to celebrate with a Spring Training game between the Sox and Marlins, though that match-up is in a rain delay, so I’m stuck watching the thrilling BU/BC hockey game from last night (25 years of Hockey East too). In case you’re wondering, BU scored three goals in 44 seconds and won 3-2.

NESN has been home to some great games through the years such as the 1988 and 1990 Stanley Cup Finals, the Hockey East and Beanpot Tournaments, two 20 strikeout performances by Roger Clemens, a one-hitter by Pedro Martinez, and even a 2003 ALCS Game 7 where Grady Little pulled Pedro and the Sox beat the Yankees.

NESN has also had some great original programming over the years such as Charlie Moore Outdoors (I don’t watch it, but it is a good show), The Buzz, SportsDesk, Red Sox Report, Ultimate Red Sox Show, and the Instigators. Former shows include Rubber Biscuit, Globe 10.0, and What If?.

The network has been a staple on New England television for years, and it will be for years to come. Higher ratings in New England than Comcast SportsNet New England and ESPN combined show just the kind of network it is, and I don’t see why Lou Merloni would pick CSN over NESN with that kind of ratings. Who knows what the network will be like in 25 more years, but I’m sure it will still be among the best in the world.

A World Baseball Classic that I tried—and failed—to really get into this time, is finally nearing its end. The Final Four of that tournament is set to begin with Korea and Venezuela on Saturday then USA and Japan on Sunday.

I never really get into sports tournaments, and this one was no exception. It’s better than 2006’s version, but neither have seemed to have any significance, and I don’t know who’s bright idea it was to make the tournament conflict with March Madness. Admittedly, I never get into March Madness either, but I still would watch it over a mediocre baseball tournament.

The semifinal game between Korea and Venezuela will spark some interest, but I know I won’t be anywhere near ESPN since I’ll be watching the Hockey East championship game between UMass Lowell and BC/BU. Still, I’m sure I’ll find myself checking the score during intermissions, but I won’t look much further than the score and inning. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing outside of New England with as much significance as Hockey East, so there should be a good handful of viewers.

Love it or hate it, and trust me I hate it, the WBC is a great idea to spread baseball internationally and without it we may not have our great Japanesse import Daisuke Matsuzaka.

As I watched Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball’s “Expert” Predictions today, I was thinking to myself: Who hired this “expert”?

Brad Evans claims that Daisuke Matsuzaka is not going to follow up on his

Worth Every Penny...

spectacular 2008 season, citing Daisuke’s high BA against and his walks. He claims that Matsuzaka got “lucky” last year. Last time I checked, the ability to pitch out of jams was skill, not luck.

It’s true that Matsuzaka doesn’t have superb stats, but he still is a very clutch pitcher. It seems like he pitches better out of the stretch than the windup, so he may want to speed his slow windup up a little to get more results with the bases empty.

Don’t forget that Matsuzaka was only in his second year last year and he is still adjusting to the Major Leagues. He was inconsistent in his rookie year, but he improved last year, and at his pace he should be completely dominant this year. So to any fantasy owners who want to follow Brad Evans’ advice: well, it’s your loss.

In other news, congrats to Martin Brodeur for winning his 552 NHL game and breaking Patrick Roy’s record of 551 wins on St. Patrick’s Marty’s Day.