Betts’ debut a huge success on and off the field

Mookie Betts made his major league debut last night and provided something Sox fans haven’t had for much of the season: excitement.

He had a fairly good performance for a first game. He grounded into a double play in his first at-bat but followed that up with a single in the fourth. He then walked in the sixth and came around to score on a Dustin Pedroia sac fly.

Then there was a diving effort in right field that he probably should have just kept in front of him, as it allowed Ichiro to get to third with a triple. This is a guy though who’s barely ever played the outfield. He’ll learn.

But none of that really matters. He could’ve struck out three times and the excitement still would have been there.

Fans have been hearing about Betts for months. Now that he’s actually playing in Boston, there’s a serious case of Mookie-madness.

Twitter was abuzz every time he came to the plate. Not only were fans tweeting about him, but media members were too. The kid is only one game into what will hopefully be a long career and he’s already being showered with praise from everyone who tracks the team.

When was the last time you had heard anyone mention anything positive about the Red Sox?

It was a real enjoyable change of pace. For a night, we didn’t have to listen to all of the negativity that’s been surrounding the team: who should be traded, who should be benched, why do we have four number nine hitters in the lineup?

Instead, the focus was on Mookie and the impact that he can have on the team and on the fans’ collective belief in the team. Because, believe it or not, last night’s win put the Sox only 6.0 games back in the division.

And Mookie-madness might just be the boost they need to climb back to the top.