Game 1: The traditional opening day box:
Dave Frick picked up where he left off in Game 7 of the World Series by going 4-4 with 3 RBI and Dan Gregory and Tomas Laboy had big homers to lead the Rays to a 10-3 rout of the Red Sox at Publix Park. Gordie Ager allowed 3 runs on 5 hits in the first inning in a rough start to the year but gave Boston virtually nothing afterwards to get the win.
Game 2: The Rays fell 6-2 to Boston in the second game. It was a 2-1 Boston lead through 6 before relievers Josh Grote (making his Rays debut) and B.J. Turner each allowed 2-run homers to let the Red Sox put it away. Jim Brophy started and pitched well (5 3 2 2 3 5) but afterwards OSA's scouts informed me his velocity has dropped 2 MPH and his stuff was downgraded from 65 to 50 (!) which is not great at all. Dave Frick and Tomas Laboy stayed hot with 3 hits apiece.
Game 3: Ben Moses was not good at all in his first start for the Rays after spending last season in the pen as the Red Sox won in a rout 10-2. Moses was 3.1 8 7 6 1 4, allowing a homer, and Caleb Ramos wasn't much relief, allowing a couple of Moses' men to score as well as 2 of his own. Tony Cordova's 2-run homer (#1) was the Rays' offense.
Game 4: The Rays salvaged the series finale with a 9-1 shellacking of Boston as each game in this series was decisively in favor of the winner. Dave Frick's insane start to the season continued as he was 3-4 with a double and 2 RBI, making him 11 for his first 15, a cool .733 BA. Jose Castillo was 3-3 with a 3-run HR (#1) and Yuji Morioka came off the bench to hit his first MLB dinger. Marc Gibson (1-0) was solid on the mound, going 5.2 3 1 1 3 3.
Team record: 2-2. Next up: An off-day then we play two games at Yankee Stadium. New York opened their season by being swept in a 4-game series at Toronto and the Jays won again on our off-day to start 5-0.