Opening Morning

March 25, 2008

Every major league season, every major league team plays 162 regular season games.

But only one of those games can be the first to be played.

In case you A) aren’t in Japan, or B) were too cool to wake up at 3 a.m. Pacific Standard Time for Opening Day — well, Opening Morning for the 2008 edition — I’ve documented the morning’s happenings for you here, free of sleep deprivation:

2:47 a.m.: I woke up for some reason — a cool three minutes before my foghorn of an alarm would have sounded, which was a pleasant start to the day.

3:03 a.m.: Now having a full 16 minutes to think about it, I’ve decided that there’s nowhere worse for a U.S. citizen to watch Opening Day of America’s Pastime than on the West Coast. I mean, 6 a.m. isn’t too terrible if you’re in Boston or something. My brother is in Hawaii right now, where it’s barely midnight. Plus, he’s in Hawaii — nothing bad happens in Hawaii.

But no, if you’re actually an A’s fan, you have to wakeup before 3 a.m. What’s up with that? Where’s my Japanese hospitality I’ve heard so much about? I guess I’ll keep looking.

First Inning:

3:10 a.m.: Joe Blanton tosses out the first pitch of the 2008 season, a fastball low and inside to Dustin Pedrioa for strike one. Despite the Dice-K Mania and the entire continent of Asia seemingly rooting for the Red Sox—and the rest of the planet for that matter—the A’s are the “home” team. Now that’s funny.

3:16 a.m.: Pedroia led off with a single, but Joe Blanton holds the Sox scoreless in the first. Upon the announcement of Daisuke Matsuzaka as Boston’s starter, all 8,659,302,648,597 fans in attendance go bananas.

3:19 a.m.: Mark Ellis homers to left-center to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. No one claps, no one smiles and Ellis becomes Japan’s most wanted criminal.

3:22 a.m.: Daric Barton walks. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Barton posted a 1.13 BB/K clip with Triple-A Sacramento last season. He has a career MiLB BB/K rate of 1.17 in 460 games. In short, get used to the words “Daric Barton” and “walk” being used at the big league level, too.

3:33 a.m.: After hitting Jack Cust, throwing a wild pitch, walking Emil Brown and allowing two runs on a single hit, Dice-K finally gets out of the inning, needing 30 pitches to do so. I know A’s baseball — they’ll all probably just stop swinging now.

Terry Francona said Matsuzaka would throw around 90 pitches, so if he keeps this up, he’ll be saying sayonara much sooner than he would have liked.

Second Inning:

3:42 a.m.: Kurt Suzuki singles up the middle off of Matsuzaka to open the home half of the second. Suzuki is actually Hawaiian, but his grandparents live in Japan — I’m calling it Japan vs. Japan, advantage Suzuki, regardless.

3:53 a.m.: Barton walks…again.

3:58 a.m.: Dice-K gets Cust on a called third strike to end the second, leaving the bases loaded. No A’s cross the plate, but Matsuzaka needs 30 pitches for the second straight inning.

Third Inning:

4:12 a.m.: Seeing as Dice-K has shown such excellent control, Brown decides that swinging at Matsuzaka’s first offering in the bottom of the third would be a good idea. He pops out to first — bad idea.

4:17 a.m.: Matsuzaka is starting to find some rhythm on the mound. He’s still having issues with his breaking ball, but he’s doing a good job of settling down with his changeup. Jack Hannahan walks, but that’s the only blemish — other than the ball that Suzuki killed right at Julio Lugo to end the inning — on Dice-K’s line for the third.

4:18 a.m.: I’m hungry.

Fourth Inning:

4:25 a.m.: Blanton sends the Sox down 1-2-3 in the fourth. Man, Cocoa Puffs are good…if I was famous, I bet they’d be sending me a few boxes for free right now for this free publicity. Oh well.

4:30 a.m.: Dice-K does his best Blanton impersonation in his half of the fourth, forcing Ryan Sweeney to fly out, Travis Buck to go down swinging and Ellis to ground out to second.

In unrelated news, they just showed an overhead view of the Tokyo Dome. It’s now dark outside in Japan, too. For the first time this game, I actually feel like they’re playing on this planet.

Fifth Inning:

4:39 a.m.: Bud Selig is a guest in the booth. I like Bud Selig — I don’t get why people think something is wrong with him. I like having wild card teams, I like interleague play, I like that he said his goal is to continue internationalizing the game throughout the rest of his tenure. I think he’s handling the steroids issue just fine, too. All that’s left is for him to do is send me some Cocoa Puffs.

4:46 a.m.: Matsuzaka sends the A’s down 1-2-3 for the second inning in a row in the fifth. Dice-K is really pitching well — this has to be his last inning, though. He’s somewhat finding his breaker, but his change is looking really, really good — nice late sink on it.

Kind of odd to say it, but other than the five walks…and hit batter…and wild pitch…Matsuzaka has been kind of dominant, surrendering no hits and walking just one in his final three innings. Whenever a pitcher does that far, far removed from their best stuff, that’s impressive.

Sixth Inning:

4:52 a.m.: The Red Sox have decided to be the Red Sox here in the sixth, courtesy of their ridiculous lineup. Pedroia doubles, No. 2 man Kevin Youkilis walks…David Ortiz pops out…then Manny Ramirez delivers a two-run double. Brandon Moss later delivers an RBI double.

5:01 a.m.: Blanton exits, now in line for the loss — that’s too bad. Up until this inning, he’s pitched great — consecutive 1-2-3 showings of his own in the fourth and fifth. The rest of the planet rejoices, however, because Dice-K is now in line for the win.

5:13 a.m.: Mark Ellis is no longer Japan’s most wanted — Kyle Snyder is. Hannahan delivers a two-run shot in the sixth, giving the A’s a 4-3 lead and Dice-K a no-decision.

Seventh Inning:

5:23 a.m.: After an uneventful top half of the inning, it’s time for the seventh inning stretch. I have no idea what they do for the seventh inning stretch in Japan — or in America at 5:23 a.m. for that matter. I think I’ll just sit.

5:32 a.m.: The A's go down 1-2-3 in the bottom half — I should have stretched.

Eighth Inning:

5:36 a.m.: Keith Foulke is back in the bigs to pitch the eighth inning for the A’s. He had a career high 43 saves in his lone season with Oakland, so I don’t mind having him back in the slightest.

5:43 a.m.: Foulke thought Youkilis had a homer — he snapped his head around so fast that it almost snapped off — but Sweeney gets it on the track in center. Ortiz flew out and Ramirez went down looking to end Boston’s half of the eighth.

5:52 a.m.: The A’s do nothing in the eighth, but will take their 4-3 lead into the ninth. Wait, wait — the A’s are winning…in the ninth…Huston Street is, in fact, entering the game…well, it’s still pretty dark outside. Maybe I’m just dreaming.

Ninth Inning:

5:57 a.m.: Moss delivers a solo shot to tie things up at four runs apiece…Street blows it…I’m not dreaming.

6:02 a.m.: Hideki Okajima — who played in the Tokyo Dome for the Yomiuri Giants for 10 years — holds the A’s scoreless in the ninth, sending the game to extras. Good — if I’m waking up at 3 a.m. to watch baseball, I want at least 10 innings anyway.

Tenth Inning:

6:27 a.m.: Street walks Ortiz to face Ramirez — that sounds promising. Manny doubles high off the centerfield wall, scoring Ortiz and Lugo to give Boston a 6-4 advantage. Street gets yanked, Jonathan Papelbon is warming up in a cave somewhere (i.e. the underground bullpen at the Tokyo Dome) and this one is basically over.

6:36 a.m.: The sky is getting a bit lighter outside, but there’s a bit of a shadow being cast over this game’s outcome to say the least. The A's No. 3-5 hitters — Barton, Cust, Brown — are due to hit, though, so at least that's a positive.

6:40 a.m.: Barton walks…yet again. The rookie is now 0-for-2 with three walks and two runs scored — yeah, that sounds about right.

6:43 a.m.: Cust strikes out…yet again…give him the golden sombrero for this one — yeah, that sounds about right, too.

Brown doubles in Barton — Boston, 6-5 — then Brown runs himself and the tying run off the base paths rounding second.

6:46 a.m.: Bobby Crosby singles…thank you, Emil Brown…Hannahan singles, too — yeah, that also sounds about right.

6:50 a.m.: Suzuki grounds out to Youkilis. Dice-K doesn’t get the win, but Okajima does so I guess Japan can still be happy.

The sun is supposed to rise in 12 minutes…I think I’ll skip it and just get to bed.

 

Adam Loberstein is having nightmares about Emil Brown. Wake him up at aloberstein@projectprospect.com.