The good news is Schilling usually doesn't have to throw nearly that many pitches to get through innings, so it seems like this is a big-time fluke for him. The lineup didn't look as lively as I've seen it before. That Youk bobble was unfortunate. So on, so forth. It seems like a lot of things just simply went KC's way. (Two triples from a no-hit SS? HR and two-bagger from a no-hit catcher?) I wouldn't be too worried just yet.

[FYI: I'll be at Wednesday's game and possibly Thursday's (Dice-K/Greinke just sounds too good to miss, doesn't it?) and if I remember the camera I'll have (crappy) pictures up.]

#1
Pics would be great for those of us who follow from overseas. Your rundown doesn't make it seem to bad. But only 2xbh and 10 strikeouts isn't pretty. Also, Schill gave up 8 hits and the pen surrendered 4 more along with 2 runs. Were the Royals hitting the ball hard? I know Tek has been streaky, but his bat looked pedestrian at spring training, I reckon he'll be lucky to hit a buck ninety-five.

Were the Royals hitting the ball hard?

It seemed like there were several of very hard hits from KC, but usually on the ground. A lot of hard-hit grounders that found their way to the outfield. Pena had two great shots for his triples, and Buck of course got a hold of his HR.

BTW: Red Sox fans and Royals fan would probably be interested in Schilling's blog post about this game. While reading it, I thought to myself, 'This is the coolest thing I've ever seen on a blog.' I really hope he keeps it up throughout the season.

That was an interesting stream of consciousness recap of the game. I particularly noticed how he switched from active to passive voice when discussing different at bats.

I've got to take my hat off to him for writing about a game in which he was pounded. Writing when things are great is one thing, but being there when they're not is something else entirely.

that's a damn fine blog entry. i have to say that schilling's blog is really interesting for the most part and he's done a really good job with it, both in making it a good read for fans and presenting himself well.

Ignore the fact that I'm a Yankees fan for a second:

Schilling's blog will be far better this year if he is washed up. It would be fascinating to see the process through which a pitcher comes to accept that, although perhaps that would take longer than one season.

I'm liking his blog, but my god some of the comments are downright embarassing.

That was an awesome entry today, very honest.

I've got to take my hat off to him for writing about a game in which he was pounded. Writing when things are great is one thing, but being there when they're not is something else entirely.

He used to do those recaps on SoSH. He did it for every game and had no problem beating himself up when he sucked.

That's a great post, agreed.

My memory of 2005 was that Schilling actually had a reasonable level of fastball command, but could not throw his breaking or offspeed stuff to save his life. And once the hitters figured that out, even a pretty good fastball stops being that difficult to hit. From his recap, it sounds like Schilling threw a lot of hanging splits and some bad sliders, which is scary, but also that he wasn't even commanding the fastball. On some level, maybe that means it's more likely a fluke - just everything was wrong. I dunno.

--Crisp really looked hopeless at the plate.

I didn't see the game, but when Crisp came back last year I was very much unimpressed. Most batters in MLB will step toward the pitcher when they swing; a few will step toward first, and a few looking to pull the ball to left will step toward third. Crisp's feet didn't move. Consequently, he had a lot of weak swings producing weak infield grounders.

I don't know how he was in Cleveland, but he wasn't swinging with any level of authority last year. Was that what you saw, Darren? Did anyone else see it?

I agree with Larry. The David Cone book, A Pitcher's Story, is far more interesting because that's the year he lost it.

Did anyone see Okajima?

He gave up a blast on the first pitch of his MLB career to a guy with a lifetime .400 SLG. He made Pena look silly on a strikeout, but DeJesus hit it pretty deep, only to get caught by Crisp.

Overall, I can't think of a game going any better for KC. They played well and got lucky and maybe Boston is just a team that doesn't get out of the chute well. I certainly don't think its indicative of either team's talent, but for one day, for this Royals fan, it sure was fun.

And I agree about Schilling's blog. Should be fun to read.

i saw some of okajima's at bats, including his first pitch in the majors. that sucked.

all in all, okajima is one of those pitchers that needs to hit his spots to make you miss (but isn't that all pitchers? =P). he's got some good movement on his breaking balls (as advertised) but he's not very overpowering (fastball topped out at 87 or 88).

the first thing that jumped out at me was that he has a really deceptive delivery. he makes it looks like he's going to launch the ball at 90-100 mph. i wouldn't say it's a violent delivery, but it looks like an overpowering one. definitely not a "finesse/fluid" delivery like other japanese pitchers (nomo, irabu, matsuzaka, etc).

Schilling's blog will be far better this year if he is washed up. It would be fascinating to see the process through which a pitcher comes to accept that, although perhaps that would take longer than one season.

I'd rather see us get the best of both worlds. This year, he's excellent and we get to read about a guy on the top of his game leading his team to a World Series. Then next year, if he signs elsewhere, we can read about what it's like for a pitcher to lose it.

I think that sounds fair.

Remember not to read too much into the first couple of days. I remember some STs talking about how Damon might be in sharp decline after an 0-9 start to 2004.


That said, Happy Baseball 2007, Sox Therapudians.

larry and tverik are hilarious.

It's just one game folks. The bad part is there is a day off today to stew on yesterday. Although I admit, Schilling looked terrible. We'll see what happens next start.

So I take it you'll find the season more interesting if Mussina puts up a 5.50 ERA?

The season? No. A story about Mussina's season or, to get back to point, Mussina's own story of his sesson? Of course.

Hey, the good news is Schilling's DIPS stands at 2.60!

Actually, Feinstein is doing a book on Mussina and Glavine this year.

I think that book would be much better either of them had some conflict beyond the starting nine in the opposing dugout.

I have to agree that the Schilling Blog post is great and an interesting read. Hat's off indeed for the openness and honesty about such a lack-luster performance. I'll have to agree wholeheartedly also with his assessment of "no command". He seemingly couldn't stay out of the middle of the plate. That is a sure fire way to make even a subpar major league team look like batting leaders.

Anyhow, my real first concern from the opening day game was the awful performance of lead-off man Julio Lugo. With Youk and Papi both getting two hits in their first 3 at bats, the team should have been able to do more damage than one run scored except "good hit - no field" Lugo struck out three straight times to start the season . . . against Gil Meche!!!!

I hope Lugo picks it up (along with Coco), and I hope the baserunning (Pedroia and Youkilis esp.) improves. But I have some concerns. Knowing how everyone always points to the defense up the middle as critical to any championship team, Lugo is far from the defensive elite, and with 5 SS and 6 2B since the start of 2004, the Red Sox sure don't show any signs of stability up the middle. I'd also still much rather see Crisp and Lugo in the 7 and 8 slots in the line-up with Pedroia #9, Drew #1 and Youk #2. That seems much more likely to put guys on base in fron of Papi and Manny on a consistent basis. . . . So, Please Tito!

I am enjoying Schilling's blog in general, but I am not sure he should get special props for posting after a loss. The guy is clearly a talk-write junkie--he will talk/write at any time, about anything, and I'd say posting was therapeutic for him.

I'm liking his blog, but my god some of the comments are downright embarassing.

Yeah. I didn't think Shaughnessy's column on that was funny, but it wasn't really off the mark. A lot of the response posts are sort of an object lesson on American celebrity culture.

Schilling's blog will be far better this year if he is washed up. It would be fascinating to see the process through which a pitcher comes to accept that, although perhaps that would take longer than one season.

I think, in general, that analysis of defeat and failure tends to produce better sportswriting than does the celebration of success. Rehashing "how we won" is usually only interesting to fans of the team in question. Case in point, since Mahnken posted this, I wanted to say that I think a lot of the best on-line stuff I have read about the Yankees was immediately after the 2004 ALCS, and since. Reading about why Schilling thinks he pitched poorly was interesting. I will be interested to see if I also find it interesting to read about games where he does really well and explains that from his perspective.

Also...Dayton Moore 1, Rob Neyer 0. I thought we'd have a Rob/Rany link up after I read the Boston/KC box score. I am sure neyer hopes he is dead wrong about Meche, and Moore has it right.