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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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POWERFUL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM April 2, 2007 ... The Royals, seizing the opening left them by an out-of-sorts Curt Schilling and cashing in on their own widely lampooned investment in pitcher Gil Meche, knocked Schilling out of the game after four innings and coasted to their most one-sided Opening Day win since 1979 by an 7 to 1 score. The Sox now have lost six of their last seven openers, their only win coming in Texas last year. While the Sox managed just six hits against Gil Meche, David Ortiz's first-inning RBI double accounting for their only run, the Royals had a dozen hits, including two triples by a kid who used to run around Fenway Park while his dad played baseball for the Sox. Shortstop Tony Pena Jr., so new to the Royals that he still didn't have a name plate over his locker, tripled and scored the go-ahead run in the second, then tripled home the Royals' final run in the eighth. Pena, who was out of options with Atlanta, was acquired just over a week ago by new general manager Dayton Moore, who was interviewed for the Sox job by Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner during that faux window in 2005 when Theo Epstein vacated his office, then risked apparent career suicide by making his first act as Royals GM the signing of Meche. All winter, Meche was maligned as the poster boy for a free agent market run amok. The Royals paid him $1 million for each of the 55 career wins he'd recorded for the Mariners. This was the same franchise that in the past had refused to spend an extra nickel to keep Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran, and Jermaine Dye, among others. Now it was spending millions on Meche? Ortiz has been a Meche tormentor over the years, hitting four home runs in just 15 at-bats, but yesterday offered nothing but praise. The Sox did not have more than one hit in an inning against Meche after the first, when Kevin Youkilis singled and came around on Ortiz's gap double. They got two runners on in the eighth, but reliever Joel Peralta struck out Youkilis and Ortiz to end that threat. The day was a mixed bag for Sox newcomers. Julio Lugo whiffed three times, Hideki Okajima gave up a home run to John Buck on his first pitch in the big leagues, J.D. Drew had a single and a walk, and Dustin Pedroia had two hits but was erased by yards trying to stretch his second-inning single into a double. Meche, who freely admitted the afternoon shadows worked in his favor, walked just one batter and yielded just six hits before leaving after Pedroia's single in the eighth. This, after walking more hitters (84), than all but two pitchers in the American League last season. |
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