After the MLB and Red Sox home opener on Sunday, April 4th, the Sox traveled to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City for three against the Royals and now onto the new Target Field for the Minnesota Twin’s home opener. Pomp and circumstance seem to be following the Sox this season, as they also had to sit through a long presentation of the Cy Young award to Zach Greinke before game one of their series with the Royals.
This afternoon’s pitching match-up should be a dandy as lefty Jon Lester (0-0, 7.20) looks to spoil the opening of Target Field and out-duel Twin’s righty Carl Pavano (1-0, 1.29). So far this season, the Twin’s offense has been hot, with catcher Joe Mauer and first baseman Justin Morneau leading the team with a .381 and .360 average respectively. As a team, the Twin’s have hit 10 home runs, just one behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL lead in that category.
The Twin’s pitching has been solid this year so far as well, currently 4th in the AL with an era of 3.00. Their newly appointed closer, Jon Rauch, is 4 for 4 in save opportunities and has only allowed one earned run in 4 innings. With the devastating loss of closer Joe Nathan this spring, most thought the Twin’s would struggle to find a replacement, but so far haven’t missed a beat, jumping out to a 5-2 record. I’m not yet convinced Rauch can keep up his success long-term, but for now Minnesota fans are mighty happy.
The Red Sox are dealing with the injury of Jacoby Ellsbury who will miss a few days with bruised ribs after running into SS Bill Hall on a shallow fly ball on Sunday. Ellsbury is still sore and will need at least a few days to rest, according to Terry Francona, but don’t fret, Jeremy Hermida is off to a hot start, so this is a perfect opportunity to get him some playing time. Hermida is hitting .375 in 3 games this season with a home run and three RBIs and will likely get starts against right handers Carl Pavano and Kevin Slowey in games one and two.
After a day off on Tuesday, in game two of this afternoon series we will see RHP John Lackey (0-0, 0.00) face-off against RHP Kevin Slowey (1-0, 1.69) at 1:10 pm and then wrap-up the series with game three on Thursday, pitting RHP Tim Wakefield (0-0, 2.57) against LHP Francisco Liriano (0-0, 4.50) at 1:10 pm.
Today’s Lineup – (lineups courtesy of  ESPNBoston.com and MLB.com)
Red Sox (3-3)
1. Marco Scutaro, SS
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Victor Martinez, C
4. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
5. David Ortiz, DH
6. Adrian Beltre, 3B
7. J.D. Drew, RF
8. Mike Cameron, CF
9. Jeremy Hermida, LF
Twins (5-2)
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Orlando Hudson, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Jason Kubel, DH
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. J.J. Hardy, SS
9. Nick Punto, 3B
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