Finally, after a very long winter, Opening Day is upon us and another year of Red Sox baseball starts up. Throughout the season, I will be previewing each series for the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox will spend the first three games of their season squaring up against the Phillies in the city of brotherly love.
Probable Pitchers
Game 1, April 6: Clay Buchholz (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Cole Hamels (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 2, April 8: Rick Porcello (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs Aaron Harang (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 3, April 9: Justin Masterson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs David Buchanen (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Red Sox Probable Lineup
Mookie Betts, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, 1B
Hanley Ramirez, LF
Pablo Sandoval, 3B
Shane Victorino, RF
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Ryan Hanigan, C
Probable Pitcher
Who’s Hot
Going into the season, Red Sox center fielder Mookie Betts, tore up the spring. Hitting a slash line of .429/.469/.689 with 24 hits, Betts was phenomenal in the spring. Now that is exhibition play but if Betts can play up to those standards he should take advantage of the Phillies pitching.
Another player to watch will be starter Rick Porcello. He will be making his Red Sox debut on Wednesday in game two of the series. Porcello could arguably be the Red Sox best pitcher this season, with a rotation full of question marks.
Who’s Not
Red Sox DH/1B David Ortiz had a miserable spring training going 8-for-32 with one home run. Ortiz is usually known for terrible spring’s so this shouldn’t be impactful on Ortiz’s season.
Predictions
As long as the Red Sox pitching holds, up they should have no problems winning this series or even sweeping the Phillies. The Phillies are in a rebuilding year but still have good veteran players to compete.
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