Red Sox Opening day preview: a season on hopes

According to Sports Illustrated, the Boston Red Sox are not even predicted to make the playoffs this year. Yet after a slew of million dollar  big name off season signings and trades, that idea might very well be taken like a grain of salt.  After last season's 63 and 93 collapses at the hands of Bobby Valentine the Sox entered this off season  shrouded in the dejecting dark cloud of their recent history and struggling to maintain the support of what was formerly known as one of the most loyal fan bases in all of pro sports. 

 After finally working to shake up their previously lamenting pitching staff, if all goes to plan, Sox fans will at least be able to watch their "aces" without wanting to put fists through drywall. With Josh Beckett now long gone, the position of number one pitcher has been wide open for much of spring training. Yet after an abysmal 9 and 14 2012 win loss record and a ERA of just over 4.8 through 216 innings it seems that former 2nd rounder John Lester  will snag the opening day start and in turn the teams number one presence on the mound. Nonetheless with Lester aside and after a year on the bench a man Red Sox fans hate to admit they desperately need will be returning to the mound: John Lackey. In his 2 years in Boston (that of course excluding last season winch he missed due to the lingering effects tommy john surgery) Lackey has slapped together 26 wins and a passable 5.4 ERA (4.40 in 2010 and 6.41 in 2011) to cancel out his 23 losses and 233 runs allowed in just 61 games in a Red Sox uniform. Lackey will surely have a spot in the rotation yet along side him will undoubtedly sit a player in Clay Buchholz who at the height of the career was by leaps and bounds a better pitcher than John Lackey could ever hope to be. Sadly after missing the majority of the 2011 season with a stress fracture in his upper back while rebounding midway through last season it will be a major surprise if now 28 year old can duplicate his nearly immaculate rookie season. Finally with Felix Dubront without a doubt the week spot in this year's projected rotation Sox fans will at lest be able to smile at a guy who year in and year out, always has at least a small chance rebounding to become an elite pitcher. Now aged 35, Ryan Dempster, a 14 year veteran fastball pitcher has made the all star game twice yet as he now nears the end of his acclaimed career a now sub 90 mile per hour fast ball may come back to bite Dempster as he reaches the latter part of the season.

Yet while the Sox have blown up their starting rotation and pretty much overhauled their entire hitting lineup  the stories surrounding Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli are nearly nothing compared to perhaps the biggest headline in this the off season of re haul. The trade for Joel Hanrahan. Just after 12 noon on the 26th of December the Red Sox took great steps as they looked to extend their search for a replacement for long time closer Johnethan Papalebon, contacting the Pittsburgh Pirates and giving up 4 players simply to gain the talents of 6 year 2 time all star Hanrahan. As said before, Hanrahan has spent 6 years in the big league and in that time racked up 96 saves and managed  to allow mere 3.72 ERA on the same grass playing surfaces of Fenway Park and the majority of the league's old school ball fields. Yet possibly the most exciting facet of Hanrahan's closing abilities is the ever increasing velocity of his mighty fastball. Since his  debut as a starter back in 2007, Hanrahan has raised the speed of his killer specialty pitch from an average of 91.7 MPH in his rookie year up to a blistering 97.0 last season. Scary.

Finally we arrive at at the wonderful batting part of this Red Sox roster. Believe it or not, dispute loosing a combined 165 games over the past two seasons, the Sox have in fact ranked among the top third in runs scored as their confidence in their plate abilities has been one of the few things they can well have confidence in since their last playoff appearance. Nonetheless as the Boys from Boston wallowed in last seasons heap of miserable losses and controversy even that bright spot began to fall from grace, a fact not assisted by that that less than a month into last season star center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury fell victim to a viscous play that dislocated his shoulder and put him out of action for the majority of the season. This was the hitting core that when Ben Cherington moved into his 2nd off season in the Sox front office was looking to improve, and on December 3rd, he did just that. Just about 3 months after his future team's elimination from playoff contention a man by the name of Mike Napoli was signed by the Red Sox all to replace the right field vacancy left by the lack of a renewed contract with Cody Ross. Like many others on this Sox team, Napoli is no stranger to MLB success and after 360 RBI 146 home run career to date, Napoli has never shown any sign of slowing down. A fact that makes it seem like if the Sox can keep him healthy he will play a key role in bolstering their success in the years to come. 

Though as much as it may seem that this team is a team of men in their low to bid 30's believe it or not when the Boston Red Sox take the field in New York tomorrow afternoon, they will have not one not two not even three but 4 players playing their first opening day ever, the one dominating the headlines the most being a 22 year old left fielder by the name of Jackie Bradly Jr. Born in April of 1990, young Bradly joined the Red Sox ranks in 2011 after being named NCAA player of the year before. For the majority of the 2011 season Bradly was then shuffled across the Red Sox development organisation shuffling between Short A Lowell,  and Class A Greenville Drive. In than span, Bradley racked up a .370 hitting percentage and 35 home runs in just 128 games thus earning him a spot on the Sox Spring Training roster going into this season. Yet while he was in fact playing with the guys he idolized, with guys like Johney Gomes, and Jose Iglasias already cemented into the teams lineup it did not seem like Bradly Jr was going to make the starting lineup. That is until well a time just over 1 day before the Sox opening day meting with New York. 

"We feel like the strength in his mental approach will handle some of the distractions that ultimately will be thrown his way, and he was one of the better players we had in spring training. And the need because of the David [Ortiz] and Stephen [Drew] situations to add another left-handed bat, a number of things came together and he earned that spot in the roster." Ben Cherington said after turning Bradly's world upside down.

Jackie Bradly Jr is no speedster nor a replacement for David Ortiz (we'll get to him later) but he has instincts and and promise to become a great player in years to come. Plus it wont hurt to have a guy for the veterans to mentor. In less than 1 day, the MLB's ball parks will once again be livid with bright lights and built ball players yet one man who has been a part of opening day for what seems like forever will not be participating this year. David Ortiz. like Victorino and Napoli, Ortiz has been a part of the league since long before the Sox last championship in 2007 yet after Ortiz suffered a painful achilles injury midway through last season, he still hasn't returned, a fact that begs the question. Will he ever? 

The wait is over. The Red Sox have added to their bull pen, added to their pitching staff, added to their infield and out field, and with the addition of Jackie Bradly Jr have added to their future as a contending franchise. Two years ago, the red Sox pulled off a very similar overhaul to that that has encompassed this off season. Two years ago, they were picked by many to win the World Sires yet they failed to even make the playoff. This time around nobody even expects them to make the playoffs. Lets just hope that jinx works in reverse.

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Insane Iginla

 According to Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of skill is "the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, aptitude,etc., to do something well" and well, last time I checked Jerome Iginla has a bout load of it.  

Born in the summer of 1977, Iginla blossomed as a young hockey player originally beginning his midget career as a net minder before making the switch to the position (right wing) that would eventually see him explode onto the NHL stage. Yet while at his young age, this up and coming star could never in his wildest dreams expect the professional level prize and prestige: one idea he might have relished was that surrounding his undoubtedly then pending success in the then famed WHL junior hockey league. 

In his 3 years of that semi professional play, Iginala led his team to a memorial cup championship in 1994 before scoring 102 goals in the 183 games played with his  Kamloops Blazers. In fact at one point Iginla even made the ardent comparison between his club's playoff success and that of the mighty Montreal Canadians declaring to the world "When you put on a Blazers jersey, it's like putting on the Canadians . You've got to perform." As his list of bragging rights developed and the fine tuned pieces of his now rapidly maturing game became evident, Iginla finally broke into the NHL system seeing himself drafted 11th overall in the 95' entry draft. 

Yet as one looks to the stat sheet, Iginla's 16 year career devoid of a Stanley Cup victory remains a constant reminder to the difficult truth about this wonderful league. No matter how good one specific player on your team might be, that does not necessarily translate into individual wins and in turn Stanley Cup Championship and in the case of Jerome Iginla and the Calgary Flames that cannot be more true. Sixteen years, over a decade and a half and aside from a Cup Final loss in the spring of 2004 legendary Iginla has never seen his team advance past the 1st round: troubling, truly troubling. 

We have known for a while now that Iginla was ready to leave the Flames and as we studied the leagues roomers and rebuttals one fact and eventual press release made Boston fans jump for joy. Just after 12 noon yesterday, news came out that according to WEEI's DJ Bean "Jarome Iginla had been traded to the Boston Bruins for a 1st round draft pick and an unidentified prospect." Well, that was wrong. For one glorious hour it seemed that Bruins fans would have the man who might very well solve the many problems that have played their team all season. A mega goal scorer, a power play threat and a locker room presence all combined into one illustrious 6 foot tall package. Yet we had one problem the Pittsburgh Penguins noticed the same thing. For just a few great hours we believed that Jarome Iginla was a Bruin yet when that paltry span of time came to an indefinite close a team of flightless birds had swooped in and ripped a great prospect of future success from our team of violent bears. 

"To leave is tough, but I'm also very excited about the opportunity to go to Pittsburgh,"  Iginla said following his recent trade to Pittsburgh but really when you think about it, the promise of playing along side the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malken, and Chris Letang, the excitement might very well out weigh the despondency of leaving the Calgary Flames.

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Khudobin falters

5 foot 11, 203 pounds, and with a respectable 6 and 2 record going into last night, Anton Khudobin's rookie campaign had been close to perfect. As said before, through his first 8 starts, the former 7th round Minnesota draft pick had won 75 percent of his games, snagging 4 penalty minutes, 239 saves and a near elite 2.14 goals against average.

 Despite all this when number 35 in black took the ice last night he just couldn't find the utilitarian magic that had been so vital to his success this year. Yet even after getting pulled early in the 3rd period, when the horn sounded last night, you would be crazy to blame last nights loss all on the 26 year old rookie defending Boston's net. 

"We had a chance to win this game, we had some chances that we missed, an open net first period, hit a couple of posts here and there." Bruins coach Claude Julien said following the conclusion of the game, and really, he had a point. After falling behind on the result of a bad turnover by recent call up Matt Bartowski, just over 5 minutes into the 1st frame, the B's fought back blasting shot after shot at the Toronto net, and locking down defensively therefore looking like the team they were capable of being. 

Fact is when the 1st period closed out and the scoreboard represented a mere 1 goal deficit, things didn't look that bad and really no one was playing considerably bad; that is until Khudobin well did. With just 3 minutes elapsed in the second period, a loose puck giveaway right at the Boston blue line led to a slow wrister that handcuffed Khudobin and sent the puck spinning into the net simultaneously extending the Toronto lead to 2 goals.  Much like the 1st period, the 2nd was no kinder as when the frame concluded, the B's remained down by 2. Yet even though they opened the final frame by allowing a spectacular Frazer McLaren wraparound goal  and thus forcing the first goal tending change of this 2013 Bruins season something finally clicked and as the period wound down the Boys in Black had finally given those watching throughout New England one last bout of hope. 

With 17 minutes and 35 seconds left on the clock, Bruins center Patrice Bergeron won out a puck battle along the boards earning the right to spray the quick pass to left wing Brad Marchand. Surveying the ice before him, Marchand caught the eyes of Dennis Sidenberg before moving the puck off the goal line and extending the pass to his pinching defender. 17:30 on the clock now and with Sidenberg at the dot, he stepped into the targeted snapshot, blasting in his second goal in as many games.

Call it what you will but when Tuukka Rask came in last night, Boston seemed to wake up dominating the Leafs and allowing just 2 shots in Rask's near 17 minutes of ice time. Yet while defense can keep you in games, at that point in time, it was offence that Boston needed, and while it took a while the Bruins did in fact manage to pull within 1 goal. The only problem was it was to little to late. 

With 1:16 to go in the game, and the Boston net empty, once again, the hometown defense turned offence payed off as this time around, a simple saucer pass straight out to the blue line allowed for long time veteran Andrew Ference to tee up and crack Boston's 2nd goal of the night past James Reiner.

 For the first time in over 50 minutes of game action the Bruins were within one yet when the clock hit zero, the outcome of a game expected to be decided before it even began had been flipped in Toronto's favor. For the first time since March 31st 2011, the Boston Bruins had lost to the Maple Leafs, a truth made even more painful by the fact that over the past 2 years, the Bruins have tallied a combined total 28 more points than their previously struggling original six foe.

The Bruins lost last night, and fact is this one is gonna sting for a long time.

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