Due
| Game 9: April 9, 2008 | |||
 Tigers |
7 | W: Jeremy Bonderman (1-1) H: Bobby Seay (1) H: Francis Beltran (1) |
1-7, 1 game winning streak |
| Red Sox | 2 | L: Jon Lester (1-1) | 4-5, 1 game losing streak |
| Highlights: It had to happen sometime, but unfortunately it happened to the Red Sox. The Tigers garnered their first victory of the season, allowing the 1988 Orioles to continue to hold the record for the worst start to a major league season with 21 straight losses. | |||
To add to the indignity, Mike Lowell was placed on the 15-day disabled list for a sprained left thumb, an injury that occurred on the first play of the game. Lowell tumbled after a grounder off the bat of Ivan Rodriguez but still managed to throw out the runner and stay on the field until the end of the top of the second.
The Red Sox brain trust was further depleted when Alex Cora, while practicing to take over at the hot corner, felt a twinge in his elbow. Jed Lowrie was called up to fill the vacancy.
Rather than stew about Edgar Renteria’s post-Boston resurgence or the two homers that Marcus Thames and and Carlos Guillen managed to launch off Jon Lester and Javier Lopez respectively, I took a browse through Bill Nowlin’s Day by Day with the Red Sox.
According to Nowlin, 18 years ago on April 9, 1990 Bill Buckner was given a standing ovation by the Opening Day crowd upon his return to the team after stints in California with the Angels and Kansas City with the Royals. It was the media who long persecuted him, as he readily stated in his press conference after the 2008 Opening Day festivities.
The first game was played at Fenway Park in 1912, an exhibition game between Harvard and the Red Sox. The game was played during flurries and was called in seven innings because of darkness. The world champions-to-be won 2-0.
These are better memories than Wednesday night’s games, though seeing Sean Casey have success against his former team was heartening, especially given the recent spate of injuries.
