THE Nation || A Boston Red Sox Franchise

[Krayziekid]

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k61/krayziekid/RedSoxNation.jpg

..The Year 2009 is the year for the Boston Red Sox..

[This is my inaugural season of doing a franchise on 2ksports. I started one last year, but it didn't last. I won't be the most active of posters, but I will update at least once a week]

SEASON LENGTH: 162
DIFFICULTY: Hall Of Fame with Custom Sliders

[I0I HaVoK I0I]

Center ur pic and i hope u have a terrible season lol

[XxPRiM3TiMExX]

Yeah, center your picks, and try to use some different fonts and colors...

SMD....... JK

[Krayziekid]

..In a New Conference held today, just one week before the season begins, Red Sox Manager Terry Francona formally announced what he called his Projected Rotation and Starting Roster. He noted the Rosted was not the batting order, as he is still pondering about that with all the activity goin on in practices and training.

STARTING ROTATION:
18 Daisuke Matsuzaka R/R 6-0 185 09/13/80
31 Jon Lester L/L 6-2 190 01/07/84
19 Josh Beckett R/R 6-5 220 05/15/80
49 Tim Wakefield R/R 6-2 210 08/02/66
24 Takashi Saito L/R 6-2 215 02/14/70

STARTING ROSTER:
C 33 Jason Varitek S/R 6-2 230 04/11/72
1B 20 Kevin Youkilis R/R 6-1 220 03/15/79
2B 15 Dustin Pedroia R/R 5-9 180 08/17/83
SS 12 Jed Lowrie S/R 6-0 180 04/17/84
3B 25 Mike Lowell R/R 6-3 210 02/24/74
LF 44 Jason Bay R/R 6-2 205 09/20/78
CF 46 Jacoby Ellsbury L/L 6-1 185 09/11/83
RF 7 J.D. Drew L/R 6-1 200 11/20/75
DH 34 David Ortiz L/L 6-4 230 11/18/75

[Krayziekid]

Man, I HATE HTML. Dont expect the fancies from me. Real simple baseball here boys.

[Krayziekid]

..More Notes from Francona's Conference:

-Made Note that OF Rocco Baldelli, OF Mark Kotsay, OF Jonathan Van Every, and IF Julio Lugo will all get considerable at bats and playing time early in the season. The OF reserves all have a good chance at the RF Position, depending on J.D. Drew's performance due to his injury. Julio Lugo will most likely split playing time with Lowrie, although after Lowrie's performance last year, this battle could be one sided.

-P John Smoltz, on the relief staff at this point, may be moved into the position of SP, depending on the work of Tim Wakefield early in the season. Francona stated he really believes in Smoltz' abilities and will not have any problems putting the ball in his hands at the beginning of the game, the middle of the game, or the end of the game.

[XxPRiM3TiMExX]

if thats the problem you have, go to your user cp to fix it.

[Krayziekid]

THANKS haha didnt know that

[slantedeyematt]

I hope you do very very bad lol.....I will be following as long as your losing ;) Go yankees

[patssox2004]

Finally a Sox franchise. I'll be following evan if you go 162-0. :)

[Siddon44]

Go sox!!!!!

[pderrick84]

good luck, Ill be watching and also doing my Astros Franchise

[Siddon44]

im going to do a Sox Franchise also i think

[Krayziekid]

Red Sox Drop Season Opener
..Matsuzaka can't hold on to a 2 run lead in the 8th..

In the opening day matchup at Fenway Park, the 2008 ALCS matchup gave the crowd a great show again. But the home team couldn't prevail today, giving up a 2 run lead in the 8th courtesy of a bases loaded triple by Performer Of The Game Evan Longoria. Francona said of Longorias go agead hit, "He hit it to the right spot in the park, right over Jacoby's glove. Its frustrating to lose one like this at home on opening day, but we know we can bounce back and this is in no way a bad sign of how the season will be." One good note francona stated was the veterans played well today, with Varitek going 3-4 with an RBI and Ortiz hitting a bomb in the third, and also having a double while going 3-5 at the dish.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-1) made it through 7 innings pretty much unscathed, but lost most of his control in the at bat to Longoria (62 pitches total, 44 strikes). Saito then came in in relief, allowing 6 hits and 4 runs over 1.1 innings.

The Red Sox (0-1) have two more remaining games at home against Tampa Bay, before heading across to the left coast to play the Angels.

TB: 010 000 043 8 18 0
BO:002 001 001 4 13 2

Pitching:
Tampa Bay:
S. Kazmir (1-0), W 9 IP, 13 Hits, 4 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Boston:
Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-1), L 7+ IP, 11 Hits, 4 ER, 1 K
Takashi Saito (0-0) 1.1 IP, 6 Hits, 4 R, 3 Er, 1 K
Javier Lopez (0-0) .2 IP, 1 H

Batting:
TB:
Upton 1-5
Crawford 4-5
Longoria 2-5 3 RBI
Pena 2-5 2 RBI
Burrell 2-5
Joyce 2-4 1 RBI
Navarro 3-5
Iwamura 2-5 1 RBI
Bartlett 0-4

2B: Pena
3B: Longoria

Boston:
Ellsbury 0-5
Pedroia 2-5
Ortiz 3-5 2 RBI
Youkilis 1-5
Lowell 1-4 1 RBI
Bay 2-4
Drew 0-4
Varitek 3-4 1 RBI
Lowrie 0-3
Kotsay 0-1

2B: Ortiz, Bay 2
3B: Lowell, Pedroia
HR: Ortiz

[Krayziekid]

Mike Lowell Hits For Cycle; Lester Tames Rays Just Enough
..Ellsbury struggles, Red Sox Win by 6..
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff8/lukerules20/lowell.jpg

Mike Lowell is proving he earned his spot back over this offseason after missing a good bit of last season last night at Fenway Park. Lowell went 4-5 with 4 RBI, hitting for the cycle. He finished the feat off with his second triple of the season. Saying after the game, "I feel good after tonights game. Going 1-4 on opening night with those bloop hits, I felt I needed to step up tonight when we needed it. And I feel I did that." Every other player in the starting lineup except for the struggling Ellsbury (0-10 this season) and Lowrie (0-5 this season) had at least 1 hit, with Pedroia also having 4 hits.

Jon Lester did what he had to do on the mound at the right moments. Although he gave up 15 hits, he scattered them around, and managed to only allow 5 ER with 4 K's. He was dominant when he had to be, getting out of two bases loaded 1 out jams. Francona said, "I had the bullpen working in the 7th, just in case, but he proved that last year was not a fluke. He's ready to lead this team again into the last weeks of the season."

For the Rays, Carl Crawford continued with the hot stick, 2-4 in the game with 2 RBIs.

TB: 020 010 002 5 15 0
BO:002 002 34x 11 19 0

WP:
Jon Lester (1-0) CG, 15 H, 5 Er, 4 K

LP:
Shields (0-1) 6.2 IP, 13 H, 7 ER, 1 K

HR: Varitek, Drew, Lowell