This morning I felt like a little child again, waking up on Christmas Day. Except it was spring outside, and I awoke to a delightful buzz at 4:45 AM EST. The buzz represented all the excitement, the joys, the butterflies, and the surprises attached to Major League Baseball’s, Opening Day.

Today the Boston Red Sox opened the 2008 season against the Oakland Athletics in Tokyo, Japan. Defending a World Series title will not be an easy feat, but the Red Sox were up for the challenge. It was an extremely entertaining game that went down to the wire. The boys even had me chanting 2 M-Words this morning; Manny and Moss. No, it was not the typical, “Manny!” and “Papi!” Today, it was Moss’s day. This kid was called upon at literally the last minute to fill in for the oft-injured J.D. Drew, and thank God, because it may have been a different story for the Sox today.

I myswell state this right now, cause you may encounter it several times throughout the season; I HATE J.D. DREW!!! With my favourite player being Trot Nixon, it was tough for me to find any love for a guy that literally re-placed him in the lineup. He even stole his number. Although he was brought in because he “supposedly” had a better bat that Nixon, his numbers last season 11 HRs/64 RBIs/84 Runs/4 SBs/.270 AVG, it just didn’t justify adding him to this already potent batting lineup. We could’ve saved 70 million bucks and signed Trot to do the same thing, but probably better, and I don’t even have to mention how much better he would’ve been in the field. Regardless, this is not an I HATE J.D. DREW rant; it’s a Red Sox blog, so I’ll drift back to the topic at hand; the Boston Red Sox.

Red Sox Nation went wild this morning after Papelbon got Kurt Suzuki to ground out and end a very captivating Opening Day.

As for the game highlights:

• Dice-K started very shaky, throwing 60 pitches through 2 innings, but rounded into form retiring the last 7 hitters in a row.
• Moss looked like a seasoned vet at the plate, hitting an RBI double, and a game tying solo HR in the 9th (The first of his big league career). Thata boy!
• Jacoby made a real nice catch late in the game that made me gasp when he smoked the wall (Glad to see he came up alright though).
• Manny was hitting like a machine; notching 4 RBIs today. He really looks determined to have a monster season.

All in all, it was a great game this morning. Even though the boys came out a little tight, they managed to roll to an extra inning victory, in good ole Red Sox form. Great start boys! Hopefully Lester can bring his best stuff tomorrow and give the boys a chance to go 2-0.