Well it was quite a day in Boston. The Red Sox welcomed the Nationals to Fenway for a three game set to open up play at Fenway for the year. The sun was shining, it was 70 degrees, the sky was blue, and girls were wearing sundresses. On a day where it felt like nothing could go wrong, nothing did.

The story of the day was Markus Lynn Betts. By the end of the 2nd inning, he had compiled a month’s worth of highlights. Here they are in order:

Top 1: Bryce Harper walks to the plate with a man on and one out and turns around a high fastball from Rick Porcello. Mookie does this:

He times his jump perfectly and snags the ball at the top of his leap. Unbelievable athleticism and coordination. I had a minor heart attack watching his ribs come crashing down on the bullpen wall, but he bounced right up and was no worse for the wear.

Bottom 1: Mookie walks. With David Ortiz batting, Mookie swipes second, notices no one is covering 3rd due to the shift, and immediately takes off, just beating Zimmerman (the pitcher) to the bag.

One just wasn’t enough for @mookiebetts. pic.twitter.com/1jMMEKnVIv

— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 13, 2015

Bottom 2: Xander reaches on a throwing error from shortstop Ian Desmond (already his FIFTH of the young season), and Sandy Leon singles up the middle, bringing up Betts, who hits a heat-seeking missile into the top row of the Monster. Watch him bring his hands in and clean this sucker out.

My favorite part of that clip is the fact that he’s running so hard that he almost misses first base.

Mookie would later add an infield single and another RBI, ending the day going 2 for 4, with 2 runs scored, 1 walk and 4 RBIs. Have a day kid.

Other offensive highlights:

• Ortiz hit the ball the other way with authority twice, which is a great sign. His balance was much better than it was in the beginning of the New York series. Papi’s at his best when he’s hitting the ball to all fields. In the first he hit a long single that one-hopped the Monster. In the bottom of the 6th, he hit an absolute BOMB to left-center.
  
• Most of the offense came with the Fenway shadows halfway between home plate and the mound, which usually favors the pitcher.
• Xander was 2nd in the league in hits coming into this game, and added two more to his tally, raising his average to .433.

The Sox played well, but they were definitely helped by the Nats being an absolute disaster in the field. They technically only committed one error, but they let two very, very catchable balls drop in the outfield, and Espinosa couldn’t get the ball out of his glove on a tailor-made double play ball, resulting in only one out (so not an error, but costly). This is one reason why ERA isn’t always the best indicator of a pitcher’s performance, Zimmerman didn’t pitch that poorly, but he didn’t help himself by plunking two guys, and walking another.

Porcello has been exactly as advertised so far. I imagine 2/3 of his appearances he’ll have a line that looks something like this:

Boston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Porcello (W, 1-1)	8.0	4	4	3	1	6	2	3.86

He’s gonna make a few mistakes (like leaving fastballs up to Harper and Zimmerman, and hanging a curve to the #9 hitter Espinosa), but otherwise he’ll be solid and pitch deep into games.

All in all, you couldn’t ask for a better Home Opener. I’m looking forward to a long, exciting summer with this team.

Notes:

-Don and Jerry are already in midseason form. Orsillo had a flower in his lapel and Jerry made fun of him for looking like he was dressed to go to prom. Later they had this exchange:

Don: Jerry do you like cotton candy?
Jerry: No..[Silence]..but I do suggest it to other people who come to the game.

-Tanner Roark may be the Nats’ best defender. They should try him at short.

-It’s Opening Day for Dick Flavin, the Red Sox’ Poet Laureate, too. Don’t judge him based on this one performance. I’m sure he’ll return to form as the summer heats up, and be the front-of-the-rotation poet we’re used to. The one that makes the opposing team’s poet look like a 2nd grader with a rhyming dictionary. Wait other teams don’t have poets…?

–Napoli picked at least 4 really difficult balls at first. Here’s one of them on a low and away throw from Pedey after a diving stop