Opening Day Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations while watching the Red Sox / Royals on Opening Day.

I guess nothing says Royals baseball like REO Speedwagon who came out to home plate sans walkers to sing the national anthem. Meanwhile thousands of people in Boston simultaneously say, "Oh my God! Those guys are still alive?"... When I was out in Vegas I checked the odds to win the Masters. I know Tiger has to be the favorite but I was surprised that he was listed at 6/5. Its as if Vegas expects him to win it. I mean if Tiger is 6/5 - shouldn't you be able to get the rest of the field for even money?... When Tony Pena Jr. hit that triple in the second I had a vision of his dad in the Yankee clubhouse jumping up and shouting "That's my boy!" Tony Pena Sr. is the first base coach for New York... I don't care what the NFL says - the real reason the pre-season game between the Patriots and Seahawks was canceled was because the NFL realized that they set themselves up to be a pawn in human rights issues that are bound to become huge news before the Olympics in Beijing. The downside outweighed the pluses that could have come from a game prior to the Olympics... With his fifth K today - Schilling tied Aaron Sele for 38th place on the all-time Red Sox list for strikeouts. This may be the only time Aaron Sele's name is linked with any accomplishment of Schilling's... OK - after 5 innings its 5-1 KC with Schilling only going 4 innings. Curt's career ERA at Kauffman Stadium is now 7.03. That sucks and there's no way to explain it... I really hope that Schilling doesn't bring up his contract situation when he blogs after the game because right now I think most Red Sox fans would admit that the front office was right to wait to see how he does this season (4 innings against the Royals on Opening Day?)... Tony Pena Sr. was probably out of the lockerroom and at dinner by the time his son hit his second triple against the Red Sox... Just saying but the over / under for today's game was 9.5 runs and if you said the final was going to be 7-1 - wouldn't you have bet that the Red Sox were the 7? That's why they play the games...

Red Sox Notes

Yesterday I noted some of the milestones that could come into play during today's game against Kansas City. Those were milestones for all baseball history but this morning I thought I'd mention some of the team specific milestones that could come to pass today.

I mentioned that if Curt Schilling won today that he'd be tied with Eddie Cicotte for 93rd place on the all-time wins list. However, Cicotte also played for Boston and he had 52 wins for the Red Sox. Curt Schilling has just 44.

Schilling also has some interesting strikeout milestones within his reach. Currently Curt Schilling is 39th on the all-time Red Sox list for strikeouts. With just 5 more - he ties Aaron Sele. With 7 more strikeouts - Schilling ties the infamous Mike Torrez. And with 10 more - Schilling ties the truly immortal Babe Ruth for 36th place on the Red Sox all-time list for strikeouts.

Some of the potential batting Red Sox milestones include:

- Manny needs 2 doubles to tie Rick Burleson for 24th place on the all-time Red Sox list. With 3 more two-baggers - Manny will tie Trot Nixon and Reggie Smith for 22nd place in Red Sox history.

- Jason Varitek needs 2 HR to tie Trot Nixon for 17th place on the Red Sox all-time list. (Two HR from Varitek today would be very nice indeed.)

- Manny needs 4 RBI to reach 716 in his Red Sox career and tie Frank Malzone for 12th place on the all-time Red Sox list. With 3 RBI - David Ortiz will tie John Valentin for 24th place on the all-time Red Sox list with 528 since he joined Boston.

- I mentioned yesterday that Manny needs just 4 more total bases to tie the great Joe DiMaggio for 76th place on the all-time total bases list. Manny also needs just 4 total bases to tie Hall of Famer Tris Speaker for 15th place on the all-time Red Sox list for total bases.

- Varitek needs to be hit by just one pitch to tie Manny for 11th place on the Red Sox all-time hit by pitch list.

As far as the competition is concerned - Mike Sweeney needs just 3 HR to tie Amos Otis with 193 for the 2nd most HR in Royals history. Even with those 3 extra HR - Sweeney would just crack the top 10 on the Red Sox all-time list behind Rico Pertocelli's 210 in 9th place and well behind Ted Williams' 521.

The over/under for wins for the Royals is 67.5 wins. The over looks like a good bet since the Royals had 62 wins last year but also 31 blown saves. With a little reduction in blown saves an extra 6 wins should be easy even in the tough AL Central.

I should also mention that last year Schilling went 0-1 in one start in KC. He went just over 7 innings and allowed 5 earned runs but also struck out 7. For his career - Schilling is 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA against the Royals but at Kaufman Stadium he is a Joel Pineiro like 1-2 with a 6.20 ERA. I think the Red Sox win today but with the high odds and small return - best to wait for better value bets later in the season.