March 24, 2008
Game of the Day
And so it begins.
The Red Sox travel to Tokyo to play the Oakland Athletics at their temporary home stadium, the Tokyo Dome as the two teams kick off the MLB season six days early. Daisuke Matsuzaka returns to his home country; the $100 million dollar man comes back champion of the world.
Dice-K started strong, compiling a 10-6 record with a 3.84 ERA before the All-Star break, but a 5-6, 5.19 ERA after. One thing to look for this year is if both Matsuzaka and Okajima keep their stamina up through the entire season.
Joe Blanton takes the mound for the Athletics. With the departure of Dan Haren and the injury history of Rich Harden, Joe emerged as the A's ace. His strength is avoiding the free pass. His low home run rate, however, is more a function of his home park. He's allowed a .377 slugging percentage at home versus a .433 on the road. The Red Sox as a team, however, have just two home runs in 123 at bats against Joe.
I'll be up early live blogging the game.
Enjoy!
Posted by David Pinto at
10:21 PM
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See ya in the AM. Maybe not until the 3rd inning though.