One Day Late, Red Sox Topple Tampa

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.

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