Red Sox 5, Pirates 1

Pirates

1. Sean Rodriguez 2B

2. Jordy Mercer SS

3. Andrew McCutchen CF

4. Jung Ho Kang 3B

5. Pedro Alvarez 1B

6. Starling Marte LF

7. Andrew Lambo 1B

8. Elias Diaz C

9. A.J. Burnett RHP

Also scheduled to pitch: Bobby LaFromboise, Nick Kingham, Mark Melancon, Arquimedes Caminero, Deolis Guerra

Red Sox

1. Shane Victorino RF

2. Dustin Pedroia 2B

3. David Ortiz DH

4. Hanley Ramirez LF

5. Pablo Sandoval 3B

6. Mike Napoli 1B

7. Xander Bogaerts SS

8. Jackie Bradley, Jr. CF

9. Blake Swihart C

Clay Buchholz RHP

I thought it was interesting to hear Bob Walk yesterday talk about the starting pitching position battle between Locke and Morton. He said it would be interesting to see if one or the other pitched more innings. He said if Locke got three innings the same as Morton, you could read a lot into that.
Was he suggesting that the Pirates would use a 6 man rotation early?
Or
Was he suggesting that Morton may start on the DL?

Two of my 3 fav teams,using real players too. On my backyard deck first time in15. Happy early spring.

This does not sound like a opening day starter for the sox.

On pirAtes side, AJ seems on his game.

AJ leaves in top of third, met his pitch count. Ortiz hits 3 run hr to ruin aj's line.

Back to back sox blasts, panda goes yard off Beckman.

Right now, I don`t have a warm fuzzy feeling about the Bucs. Most of the guys are back, plus some new faces and old faces, A.J. But I don`t think how badly we`ll miss Martin will not hit a lot of people until May. We are already thin at the thinnest free agent position in baseball. The Bucs are relying heavily upon Polanco, who stunk in his limited playing time last season. Burnett will serve as much as a tutor to the young guys in the staff perhaps less than he will on the mound. A few things Pedro will have to do to succeed at First Base: learn how to throw accurately on 1st to 2nd dp`s, good throws on cuts, cover bunts down the 1st base line, and for crying out loud, learn how to SEE and hit a SLIDER. The key word this season might be injuries. They are thin all around, and if a key guy goes down, we could be in trouble. I`m glad the Bucs got Kang, but what does it tell you when not even the mighty Yankees didn`t out-bid the Bucs for him. I hope he lives up to his billing, but it sucks for Mercer, who showed some real signs of breaking through last season. Counting the days until first pitch.