Looking back (March 25) | Boston Red Sox 6, Oakland Athletics 5 (10 Inn.)
The baseball season opener between the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics proved to be everything that the Japanese faithful could have asked for on Tuesday. In an exciting 10-inning thriller that saw native sons Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima see plenty of action, the Red Sox came away with a come-from-behind 6-5 victory before 44,628 fans at the Tokyo Dome.
Both starters looked like they were suffering from jetlag. The Athletics' Joe Blanton allowed seven hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings, while Matsuzaka allowed only two runs but walked five, hit a batter and lasted only five innings. Of the 94 pitches that Matsuzaka threw, only 51 were for strikes.
That left it up to the Boston hitters to pick up the slack. The team got the hits they needed, but not necessarily from the likeliest of sources. Trailing by one run in the top of the ninth, 23-year-old outfielder Brandon Moss, filling in for the injured J.D. Drew, hit a game-tying solo home run.
After Okajima held the A's scoreless in the bottom frame, Manny Ramirez proved he was in midseason form, driving a two-out, two-run double down the right field line to put Boston ahead 6-4.
Oakland threatened off of Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon in the bottom of the 10th, but a critical baserunning blunder by A's outfielder Emil Brown thwarted the comeback bid and helped the defending world champs secure the season-opening victory.
A shutdown effort from pitcher Dan Haren helped the A's salvage the series split yesterday morning.
Looking Ahead (March 29) | Women's Lacrosse vs Trinity
The women's lacrosse team will play their second NESCAC game of the year on Saturday, facing off against rival Trinity at home.
Trinity, ranked No. 8 to Tufts' No. 14, is coming off one of the best years in their history, in which the Bantams tied a program record with 12 wins last year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Div. III Tournament. The team promises to stay strong this year as they return All-American quad-captains Michelle Smith at goalkeeper and C.J. Yanofsky at attack. The team also has added a new weapon in freshman midfielder Rachel Romanowsky, who has 15 goals in only four games.
The match between these two teams has been competitive every year since the start of the decade. Between 2000 and 2006, the teams went 3-3 against each other with an average margin of victory of just over two goals and no contest being decided by more than four.
Last year, however, despite the Bantams' success, Tufts routed their opponent by a mark of 16-7. The Jumbos received four second-half goals in a dominating performance from then-senior Lauren Murphy.
The Jumbos will be looking to rebound from a tough 14-7 loss at Conn. College yesterday afternoon that dropped the team to 1-2 in NESCAC play. Meanwhile Trinity, the preseason No. 6 team in the nation, has lost its last two. If the Jumbos can pull out the victory, it will be their fifth straight triumph against the Bantams.
