Red Sox Win Season Opener! Red Sox vs. Yankees! Pedro Martinez Throws First Pitch

Major League Baseball (MLB) could not have scripted a better way to open up the 2010 baseball season! Tonight’s opening game between the Red Sox and

Yankees was a thriller even before the game started. The Red Sox won the game in come back from behind fashion 9-7. Pedro Martinez threw out the first pitch much to the glee of Red Sox nation and the current Red Sox players. After the first pitch, five year old Joshua Sacco did a brilliant rendition of herb Brooks famous “Miracle on Ice” speech with some tweaks to fit the Red Sox, Yankees games. His speech was also met with applause from both the fans and Red Sox players. For the seventh inning stretch, Steven Tyler sang “God Bless America” and then after the 8th inning, Neil Diamond stopped by to sing “Sweet Caroline” which is sung at every Red Sox game at Fenway.
The game itself was a thriller as the Yankees jumped to an early 5-1 lead in the 4th inning. The lead came off of back-to-back solo home runs from Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson in the first inning and then a single for an RBI from Derek Jeter, an RBI single from Bret Gardner and a steal home from Gardner as well. The Red Sox were able to answer with some runs in the 5th and 6th inning as Marco Scutaro had an RBI single in the 5th and then in the 6th, Kevin Youkilis had an RBI triple while Adrian Beltre had a RBI single. In the 7th, the Yankees answered as Mark Teixeira scored on a groundout by Robinson Cano and Posada singled to center to drive in Alex Rodriguez. Dustin Pedroia and Youkilis brought the Red Sox back in the bottom of the 7th as Pedroia had a two-run home run over the Monster and Youkilis scored on a passed ball. Pedroia provided some insurance in the bottom of the 8th with a RBI single. Jonathan Papelbon closed out the game for the Red Sox with a scoreless 9th inning.
Josh Beckett had a rough game as he only lasted 4.2 innings while giving up 8 hits and 5 earned runs. He never seemed to get any of his off-speed pitches going and had trouble locating with anything besides a fastball. This is only the first game of the season so he has plenty of time to work out any command issues. The bullpen was pretty good for the Red Sox as only Ramon Ramirez gave up any earned runs. Hideki Okajima was credited with the win. CC Sabathia looked like he would cruise to an easy win today, but ended up with 5 earned runs and 6 hits. Chan Ho Park was credited with the loss and gave up 2 earned runs. Joba Chamberlain gave up a run as well.