Play Ball!

As Jack Brickhouse used to say, "The sky is blue, the grass is green, we've got two fine teams here ready to play baseball." That's right, the season opens today, but if you didn't know that, I'm not sure why you're an Update subscriber. The Sox take on the Cleveland Indians on Opening Day at the Cell. It looks like the weather will cooperate, with a temperature of 59 degrees predicted for the 1pm start. Not great weather, but certainly bearable (as opposed to Chicago Bear-able, which it has been for some Opening Days in the past). The real question is how cold -- or hot -- will the Sox be this year?

The position players are largely familiar faces. A.J. behind the plate, fresh off another offseason of WWE wrestiling hijinks, is a known commodity and a much needed sparkplug on a team of mostly quiet players. Cap'n Crunch, Paulie Konerko, one of those quiet guys, is an offensive mainstay and someone we've come to depend on for 35 plus homers and 100 plus RBIs each season. Tad Iguchi, plays a very solid to spectacular second base and has been a valuable number two hitter. This season, with the acquisition of Darin Erstad, though, Gooch will move down to the seven hole in the order, where he's going to be counted on for more power. (Don't expect to see him bunting the slow moving 3-6 hitters along.) Juan Uribe hopefully has his legal woes and his on-base percentage problems behind him. Uribe can be a spectacular shortstop when he's not lugging around the extra weight that he shed this offseason and has good power for a middle infielder. Joe Crede is a star in the field and at the plate and is primed for a good season to increase his contract value. Jermaine Dye in right was an MVP candidate last year and hopefully will pick up where he left off in 2006. There's no reason he shouldn't, like injuries, so we're expecting big things from J.D. The aforementioned Erstad is a former Gold Glover in center and appears to be healthy -- he played in more games than any other Sox player this Spring -- and is taking over Iguchi's spot at the top of the order. He's got to contribute more than Brian Anderson did in '06. Left field is a little more unsettled. Supersub Pablo Ozuna gets the nod against Cleveland Opening Day hurler, C.C. Sabathia, because he hits him better than Pods, but it's good to see Scottie healthy ahead of schedule. Jim Thome, the Comeback Player of the Year in 2006, mans the DH spot. If he has half as good an April as last season, everyone will be happy.

On the mound has been where the concerns lie. We've all agonized over who's not here -- Garcia and McCarthy. We've also been worried about the performance of who is. None of the starters has looked particularly good so far, but we've got four-fifths of a rotation that led us to 90 wins last year. At least Mark Buehrle, who isn't the Opening Day pitcher for the first tim in forever, had a good outing to end the exhibition season. We've got a bunch of flamethrowers in the bullpen (and Bobby Jenks has finally gotten his fastball back up to respectable velocity). Now we get to see how it all works out.

Every team starts the season with a Magic Number of 163. It's time for the Sox to start slicing into that today. The Update is ready and hopes you are too. So without further ado, we bring you the start of the 2007 baseball season. Go Sox!