Empyreal Environs

Game 2: April 4, 2007
Red Sox	7	W: Josh Beckett (1-0)	1-1, 1 game winning streak
Royals	1	L: Odalis Perez (0-1)	1-1, 1 game losing streak
Highlights: Kevin Youkilis hit the first Red Sox first home run of the 2007 season in the seventh inning. Mike Lowell committed three errors, half of his total errors in 2006. Orsillo and Remy enjoy Austin Powers references five years after everyone else is already over it.

J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell hit back-to-back doubles in the visitors’ half of the first inning and it was all the runs Josh Beckett needed to secure his first win of the season.

Earlier that inning Odalis Perez walked David Ortiz with two outs. Manny Ramirez followed by lining a shot just over Royals shortstop Tony Pena, Jr.’s glove. Drew’s sharply-rapped grounded danced down the first base line to plate Ortiz and Lowell’s did the same to drive in two more runs.

The doubles were like mirror images of each other, just as the final score of this game was a reversal of the season opener’s score.

The oddest reflection was Mike Lowell’s defensive shakiness at third. The one weakness cited of Alex Gordon, his Kansas City counterpart, is the rookie’s lack of fielding polish. Lowell seemed the greenhorn in the third with his sequential errors on erratically bounding grounders to the hot corner. These are the Royals, however, and they failed to capitalize on the extra outs. Lowell also threw galley-west to Kevin Youkilis in the ninth, allowing the Royals an additional baserunner with two outs.

These are the Royals, however.

Drew had a chance to do the “outstanding defensive play in the bottom of x inning and home run in the top of the y” thing, with x=3 and y=4. But when batter=Drew, x+y=K.

I have a dreadful confession to make that may repulse all those who visit this site thinking that its author is terribly highbrow with impeccable credentials. (And to those who cling steadfastly to this notion, have I really been fooling you for so long?)

I did not witness each nuance and every pitch of last night’s game. I cannot claim illness or emergency.

It was because I was switching back and forth to “American Idol.”

It’s not just a guilty pleasure. It’s a “convicted of a major felony and serving 25 to life” pleasure to be sure.

For some reason I’ve been completely taken by Melinda Doolittle. She’s like the David Ortiz of this season, the first season I’ve watched in complete earnest. Just as when Papi is at the plate, every time Melinda takes the stage I know in my bones something remarkable is likely to happen. And even if it isn’t a spectacular shot into the bleachers, it will still be an entertaining experience.

Hopefully as entertaining as the rubber game of this series will be.