Red Sox beat Rays on Opening Day

April 8, 10:44 AMTampa Bay Rays ExaminerRob Quinn

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Beckett was the man on Opening Day AP/Charles Krupa

Opening Day did not go the way Rays’ fans hoped. Don’t overreact. The Rays are only a game and a half out of first place. There are still 161 games left. Plenty of time to catch up.

Okay, now that I’ve talked you down off your ledge, here are my 10 quick-hitting thoughts from the Rays’ first game as American League Champions.

1. The Kevin Kennedy-DeWayne Staats broadcasting team made its debut yesterday.

Kennedy provided many great insights – pointing out the fact that the home plate umpire's position between the catcher’s shoulder and the batter allows him to see the inside pitch well, but blocks him from a good view of the outside pitch, leading to pitchers getting the benefit of a few extra inches on the outside of the plate. I thought he was also on point when suggesting Shields needed to do a better job setting up his changeup with some high, inside fastballs. The only criticism I have is the fact that Staats and Kennedy repeatedly stated Kevin Youkilis "never had a hit off James Shields coming into the game." Youk was 0 for 17 in the regular season off Shields, but he did have three hits off James in the ALCS, including a home run in Game Six. I feel they should have brought this up.

2. James Shields obviously did not have his best day.

He walked three in only 5.1 innings, though only one of the three came around to score (Pedroia in the third). The Boston lineup battled him hard all day, forcing him to throw pitch number 100 in the sixth inning – which wound up being his last, as Varitek hit a good old Pesky Pole cheapie for a homer down the right field line. The Sox roughed Shields up a little bit, but I really thought they hit some good pitches. Shields should be fine next time out.

3. Does Josh Beckett have the best fastball in the game?

He’s right up there. He controlled the game with it and the Rays had no answer. He was just plain dominant in this game and it seemed like every time he needed to make a big pitch, he just planted a fastball at 95 or 96 exactly where he wanted it.

4. The two biggest pitches of the game were both strikeouts of Carlos Pena.

Beckett threw a devastating comeback fastball over the inside corner to get Pena looking with runners on second and third and one out in the sixth. The Rays really needed to capitalize when they put runners on second and third with nobody out, but Beckett stepped his game up and got Longo to pop out, struck out Pena, and got Burrell to ground out to get out of the inning with no damage. The other pitch that won the game for Boston was thrown by Justin Masterson. Pena was at the plate as the potential tying run with one out in the eighth inning and Masterson struck him out looking with a beautiful 94 mph fastball right on the outside corner. So much for that rally.

5. The Rays' defense was outstanding.

Ok, on to some positive notes here. Dioner Navarro made a good play on a pop up straight up the elevator shaft to help the Rays extricate themselves from a bases loaded situation in the first. The play may have seemed routine to most fans, but I probably saw that ball dropped about eight times by various teams in the spring games I went to. Not as easy as it looked. That was just the beginning though, as Carlos Pena showed off his Gold Glove in the third inning by robbing Drew of a double on a shot down the line. Crawford made another great heads-up play in the fifth by throwing Youkilis out at third on a liner by Bay that fell in front of him for what looked like a single. Longoria made a nice double play immediately after to get the Rays out of a jam that started out with two on and nobody out. The Rays showed in this game why they are quite possibly the best defensive team in baseball.

6. Two newcomers to the Rays’ pen passed their first tests with flying colors.

Lance Cormier and Joe Nelson combined to throw 2.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing only one baserunner on a walk by Cormier. They allowed the Rays to get back into the game and have a chance to tie it up in the eighth, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

7. The Rays continued their dominance on the basepaths.

This is a theme which started in 2008 and was a point of emphasis in Spring Training. The Rays stole three bases in the game, leading to all three of the runs scored. Gabe Gross stole second base in the third inning and later scored on a sac fly by Crawford. Then in the eighth, Bartlett and Iwamura pulled off the double steal on Masterson’s first pitch – a great call by manager Joe Maddon. They would both score as Longoria hit the very next pitch for a two-run single to right center.

8. Dustin Pedroia owns James Shields.

He’s now 6 for 12 in the regular season against him with a home run. Obviously, Shields and Dioner Navarro haven’t seen the MLB ’09: The Show commercial pointing out Pedroia’s inability to hit the high inside pitch. Pedroia’s homer came off a low fastball. Maybe they should have gone up and in on that one.

9. Papelbon looked like he could in fact be the best closer in the game.

Navarro and Gross both worked him to a full count, but he was able to come up with big pitches to strike both of them out and end the game.

10. The big hit of the game – Jason Bay’s third-inning single.

Carlos Pena had just made a great play to save a run for the Rays and Shields jumped ahead in the count on Bay. "Big Game James" was one strike away from getting out of the inning with the score 2-1. Shields threw a pretty good fastball right on the outside corner, but somehow Bay was able to flick it down the right field line for an RBI single. Lowell would double home another run immediately after and the inning ended with the score 4-1 instead of 2-1. Biggest moment of the game in my mind.

Well, that’s my take on the game. One of my favorite things about baseball is the fact that you almost always have a chance to redeem a loss the very next day. Kazmir will try to put the Rays in the win column tonight against Jon Lester. The game starts at 7:10 on Sun Sports in Florida and NESN in New England.

The Opening Day box score is right here.

Have your own insights on the Opening Day loss for the Rays? I’d love to hear them in a comment.

Have a great story article for me? Want to help me out in my Gabe Gross for MVP campaign? E-mail me at raysexaminer@live.com

Tune in to Speaking of Sports 2.0 Sunday nights from 7-9 p.m. The show will be taking a one-week hiatus due to Easter, but join us when we return on Sunday April 19. Tampa Bay Sports Examiner Ted Fleming, Althea Pashman and I are the three co-hosts and the show airs on Sarasota’s WSRQ 1220 AM and you can listen live right here.