Yanks and Sox stumble in openers

Baseball season has finally started, and although many expected the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees to roll through the regular seasons, the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Day Devil Rays showed that it may not be so easy for the favorites.

New York fell to the D-Rays 8-3 in its March 30 opener. The game was played in Tokyo, and despite the vast network of international scouts that the Daily's "Inside the AL" employs, no one was available to check out the game, which started at 5 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

So no one's quite sure what happened. Apparently, pitcher Mike Mussina was pretty awful, and first baseman Jason Giambi hit a home run. Victor Zambrano pitched fine for the Devil Rays who were also helped by strong performances from first baseman Tino Martinez and catcher Toby Hall.

In the meantime, Devil Ray fans (if they exist) should not get overly excited about their team. There is no doubt the D-Rays will be better than they were last year, but they're still going to be bad. They are in a stacked division and they have no pitching, and not much hitting either. But no one cares about the Devil Rays, so we'll move on.

The Red Sox performed as poorly as their hated rival in their opener against Baltimore, losing 7-2. Boston ace Pedro Martinez started off very slowly, but he eventually shook off the rust, pitching six innings and giving up two earned runs. If Martinez can stay healthy, Red Sox fans should not be worried about their ace, despite his poor spring training.

But the bullpen -- surprise, surprise -- is actually looking a bit shaky to start off the season. Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein signed free agent Keith Foulke to close and retained talented setup men Scott Williamson, Mike Timlin, and Alan Embree.

Foulke, however, has the Red Sox concerned after a downright horrendous spring in which he reportedly lost as much as five to eight miles per hour off his fastball, which wasn't blazing to start. Timlin also had a bad spring, and although he normally possesses exceptional control, walked two batters in a row in the opener (Timlin walked just nine batters all of last season).

It was also the first game of the post-Grady Little era for Red Sox fans, and most of them no doubt felt it was a liberating experience. Unfortunately, new manager Terry Francona did little to excite Red Sox nation. There were no Grady-esque mind-blowing mistakes, but the team looked out of it. They made foolish blunders in a few important situations, such as when Pedro looked to throw to second in a double play scenario, and instead hesitated and then threw wide at first base for an error.

To be fair, Boston badly misses injured shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, outfielder Trot Nixon, and pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim. But their pitching staff should be able to carry the burden and keep the team in contention until the Red Sox are back at full strength.

Oriole fans who dream of somehow sneaking into the playoffs (not going to happen) must have been encouraged by their team's performance on Sunday.

Sidney Ponson looks like he will build on his solid performance last year, as he went five and two thirds innings while allowing just one run. Despite their fairly strong showing in the opener, the bullpen is going to be a weakness for Baltimore, and so is their lack of depth in the starting rotation.

But O's fans had to enjoy seeing catcher Javy Lopez swing the bat like he did all last season for the Atlanta Braves. If Lopez can somehow match his production from last year, then he would be an incredible bargain, though that seems unlikely. The other new additions also did their part, as shortstop Miguel Tejada and first baseman Rafael Palmeiro both had two hits.

The most important thing to remember about opening day is that it doesn't matter. It's a long season. The Red Sox had a devastating opening day loss last year but it had no effect on the rest of their season. Derek Jeter dislocated his shoulder on opening day last year for New York, but he came back to help lead them to the playoffs.

So in conclusion, you could probably just forget everything you just read, except the part about the Devil Rays being bad. You should remember that just so you don't go around praising the D-Rays, because people will laugh at you.

Got that? Opening day doesn't matter, and the Devil Rays are bad. Play ball!