Well, the Red Sox season finally gets underway for real tonight in Texas. To help get you ready, try out these nuggets, starting with a trip down memory lane looking at some Red Sox pitching performances, good and bad, in season openers. Then I’ve got some “first inning” stuff as well as a few things on the Rangers and their Opening Day starter, CJ Wilson.

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* – My picks for the best Opening Day performances by Red Sox starting pitchers:

Lefty Grove, 1940: Grove fired a complete game, two-hit shutout, as the Red Sox turned back home-standing Washington, 1-0. Grove fanned four and didn’t walk a batter.

Pedro Martinez, 2000: Petey threw seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out 11 enroute to a 2-0 win in Seattle.

Dennis Eckersley, 1982: In Baltimore, Eck tossed a complete game shutout at the Orioles, scattering six singles while striking out six and walking none in a 2-0 win.

Ferguson Jenkins, 1976: Also in Baltimore, Jenkins threw eight innings, allowing only three hits and no walks while striking out seven. The Sox lost, 1-0, when two fourth inning errors led to an unearned run.

Pedro Martinez, 1998: This was basically a carbon copy of his 2000 start above: Seven shutout innings on the road (at Oakland), 11 strikeouts, three singles allowed.

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* – Here are my choices for the biggest “gut punches”. The most disastrous Red Sox Opening Day relief appearances:

Bill Campbell, 1977: The Red Sox opened against Cleveland at Fenway Park in 1977 and took a 4-2 lead into the 9th inning. To the delight of over 34,000 fans, the Sox gave the ball to their first big free agent signing, Bill “Soup” Campbell. In true “Curse of the Bambino” fashion, Campbell allowed a leadoff single before Buddy Bell homered to tie the game. The Red Sox would go on to lose in 11 innings, 5-4.

Alan Embree and Chad Fox, 2003: The opener at Tampa was the first game of Theo’s “closer by committee” experiment and it could not have been more of a disaster. With the Red Sox leading, 4-1, heading into the 9th, Alan Embree came on. Embree allowed a single and a home run, cutting the lead to 4-3. Embree then allowed another single and left without having retired a batter in favor of Chad Fox. Fox got two outs before Carl Crawford (remember him?) launched a three-run walk-off homer. 

Dick Drago, 1980: After the Red Sox’ Carl Yastrzemski and Butch Hobson each homered in the 9th inning at Milwaukee to tie the game, Drago came on and allowed a leadoff single. After a sacrifice, fly out, and intentional walk, Drago unintentionally walked Gorman Thomas to load the bases before Sixto Lezcano launched a walk-off grand slam. One of only two slams that Drago allowed in his 13-year career.

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* – Boston stuggled early in games late last season, especially on the road. From June 28 on, the Sox’ put up a .565 first inning OPS in road games. That ranked third worst in the league in that span as only the Dodgers (.511) and Orioles (.544) were worse.

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* – In home games last season, Texas blasted an AL leading 14 first inning home runs.

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* – Don’t let those first inning homer numbers fool you. Texas didn’t slug their way to the World Series. They finished fifth in the AL with 162 total home runs, 49 fewer than the Red Sox and the Rangers’ fewest since 1995. Their 787 runs scored last season marked the second straight season with fewer than 800 runs. They had scored 800 or more in every season from 1996 through 2008.

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* – The Rangers were a “small ball” team? What? For the second time in the last four seasons, Texas led the AL in sacrifice bunts (54). Boston had the second fewest sacrifices in the AL last season with just 29.

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* – Trivia question: Ichiro leads the major leagues in hits over the last eight seasons with 1,794. Can you guess who ranks second in that span? Answer at the bottom.

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* – Texas’ starter CJ Wilson won 15 games last season, becoming just the fourth lefty in Texas history to win 15 or more games in a season, joining Kenny Rogers (three times), Jon Matlack, and Frank Tanana.

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* – Wilson started last season strong as well, posting a “quality start” in each of his first seven appearances. No other AL pitcher began the year with more than five quality starts in a row. His April ERA (1.75) was fourth lowest in the AL. Can he do it again?

Note this: Wilson allowed more than one HR in a start only once last season. His 0.47 HR allowed per nine innings at home last season was the second lowest ever by a Ranger (min. 100 home innings).

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* – Over the last two seasons, Boston has faced lefty starters that eventually won 15 or more games in that season (like Texas’ CJ Wilson did in 2010) on 23 occasions and went 8-15 in those games. On the road, they won 4-of-11 and averaged a paltry 2.9 runs per game. At home, they averaged a much better 4.8 runs per game but won just 4-of-12.

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* – In 9 of the last 10 seasons, exactly one or two pitchers has won three or more starts against the Red Sox. Last season, CJ Wilson was the one guy. He became the third Ranger, and the first since Ferguson Jenkins in 1974, to win three starts against Boston in a season.

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* – When the Rangers scored in the first inning last season (via RBI), they went 38-10, the best such record in the majors:

.795 – Rangers (38-10)
.784 – Phillies (29-8)
.762 – Braves (32-10)

When Texas failed to score in the first inning, they went just 52-62 (.456).

Note this: Boston was 30-13 (.698) when scoring in the first and 59-60 (.496) when they didn’t.

And this: In home games last season, Texas allowed two or more RBI in the first inning 10 times and went, get this, 8-2 in those games. The rest of the league went 98-182 (.350) at home when allowing two or more RBI in the first inning.

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* – The Orioles did not hit a first inning homer in a road game last season, becoming the only AL team in a non-strike season since at least 1970 to do so. Or not do so. Seattle didn’t hit such a HR in the 1994 strike year. The only NL teams since 1970 that failed to hit such a homer were the Cardinals in 1972 and the Expos in 1974. Baltimore’s last homer in the first inning of a road game came 112 road games ago, on August 3, 2009.

Baltimore opens the 2011 season on the road at Tampa Bay tonight.

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* – Only three players since 1970 have hit 10 or more homers in a single season in the top of the first inning: Albert Pujols hit 11 in 2003; Mark McGwire hit 10 in 1999; and Jacque Jones hit 10 in 2002. Jones hit just 16 such homers in his entire career.

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* – Jim Rice hit 32 career “top of the first” home runs, the most by any Red Sox since 1970. He’s followed by David Ortiz (29) and Dwight Evans (21).

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* – Answer to trivia question: Texas’ Michael Young has the second most hits in the majors over the last eight seasons with 1,602. He ranks ahead of Derek Jeter (1,536), Albert Pujols (1,521), and Miguel Tejada (1,494).

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