Article:Baseball Notebook: Opening Day Edition

= Baseball Notebook =

Baseball Notebook: Opening Day Edition

Red Sox 6 Athletics 5

Red Sox defeated the A's 6-5 but the Athletics missed a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the tenth inning when Emil Brown was caught in a rundown between second and third. The next two hitters singled but their hits were wasted as the A's couldn't tie the game due to the baserunning lapse by Brown.

When there is talk about the best season openers this one will be one that will be mentioned. After Mark Ellis homered off of Matsuzaka in the first inning Matsuzaka became completely discombobulated and walked five batters and hit a batter in his five innings on the mound while striking out six. Bobby Crosby drove in the second run of the inning when he grounded out to the pitcher and Daric Barton scored on the play. At the end of the first inning A's were leading 2-0.

In the top of the sixth the Red Sox took the lead scoring three runs for a 3-2 lead. Manny Ramirez hit a two run double scoring Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis and Brandon Moss hit a single to drive in Ramirez.

Jack Hannahan hit a two run home run in the bottom of the sixth to score Bobby Crosby to give the Athletics a 4-3 lead.

In the top of the ninth Brandon Moss hit his first major league home run tying the game at 4-4 off of Huston Street who blew the save opportunity. Street ended the game with a 16.20 ERA. The Red Sox stretched their lead to 6-4 in the top of the tenth as Manny Ramirez hit his second two run double of the game scoring Julio Lugo and David Ortiz.

In the bottom of the tenth inning the Athletics pulled with a run of the Red Sox making the score 6-5 when Emil Brown doubled in Daric Barton. Brown pulled a base running blunder when he tried to advance to third on the throw and was caught in a rundown. The next two hitters Bobby Crosby and Jack Hannahan singled but because of the baserunning gaffe by Brown no runs scored and Kurt Suzuki grounded to first to end the game with the Red Sox winning by a 6-5 score. Jonathan Paplebon took the save even though he gave up three hits and a walk in the tenth inning and ended the game with a 9.00 ERA. Hideki Okajima received the win after pitching a scoreless ninth inning.

This game had almost anything a baseball fan would want. There were three home runs in the game, there was Joe Blanton pitching five shutout innings, Manny Ramirez hitting two run doubles twice, a blown save and loss by Huston Street, Brandon Moss filling in for J.D. Drew and hitting a home run and Jack Hannahan filling for Eric Chavez and hitting a home run.

Then there was the exciting tenth inning when the Red Sox took the lead then almost blew that lead in the bottom of the tenth and would have if not for a baserunning lapse by Emil Brown robbing the Athletics of the chance of tying and possibly winning the game.

Daric Barton may not have had a hit in the game but scored twice after two of his three walks. Jack Cust struck out four times and left runners on base four times. David Ortiz left five runners stranded in the game.

The Athletics may not have won the game but they showed they will battle with the best when they came from behind against the World Champion Red Sox to take the lead in the 6th inning. Joe Blanton pitched one inning too many after hurling five shutout innings.

Manny Ramirez took an early lead in runs batted in with four and Brandon Moss and Jack Hannahan are in second with two each.

Spring Training Notebook

Wladimir Balentien was sent down by the Mariners despite compiling great numbers this spring. His main problem was that Mike Morse also trying for an outfield spot had even better numbers. Since Ichiro Suzuki, Brad Wilkerson and Raul Ibanez have the three outfield spots locked up there is no reason to keep a 23 year old like Balentien on the roster and sit on the bench while Morse is 26 and has a .302 lifetime average in the majors. They may even decide to go with a platoon since Morse bats righthanded and Wilkerson bats lefthanded. Morse can also play shortstop, first base and third base in addition to the outfield making him even more valuable.

At Bats Morse 52 Balentien 47

Runs Morse 10 Balentien 5

Hits Morse 27 Balentien 15

Home Runs Balentien 3 which leads the Mariners Morse 2

RBI's Morse 15 Balentien 9

Total Bases Morse 41 Balentien 29

OBP Morse .576 Balentien .360

Slugging Morse .788 Balentien .638

Batting Average Morse .519 Balentien .319

Spring Batting Leaders

Speaking of Morse he is tied for the lead in hits with Hunter Pence with 27 each this spring....The leader in home runs continues to be Ivan Rodriguez with 7 and in second is Andre Ethier with 6....Matt Kemp leads in runs batted in with 18 while Robinson Cano is second with 17. Pence leads in total bases with 50 with Rafael Furcal next with 47....Corey Hart leads in strikeouts with 22 with another Brewer Richie Weeks second with 21....Eugenio Velez leads in stolen bases with 13 in 24 games. Morse leads in OBP with a .576 mark....Grady Sizemore leads in slugging with a .857 percentage with Alex Rodriguez next at .853....Morse leads in batting average by a wide margin with a .519 average and next is Alex Rodriguez at .471....Hunter Pence leads in extra base hits with 13 to 12 by Albert Pujols.

Spring Pitching Leaders

Jered Weaver leads in wins with 5....J.D. Durbin leads in losses with 4....Two veterans lead in hits allowed this spring with Matt Morris giving up 39 and Woody Williams giving up 32....J.D. Durbin, Barry Zito and Woody Williams lead in earned runs allowed with 21 each.... Durbin has allowed 8 home runs with Erik Bedard allowing 7 roundtrippers....Homer Bailey has allowed the most walks this spring with 16 in 19 innings. Next is Adam Loewen with 15 in 12 innings....John Maine has struck out 28 batters to lead in that category with Javier Vazquez next with 21.