The Boston Red Sox came out of Spring Training looking like the team to beat in the American League. The questions surrounding Adrian Gonzalez’s surgically repaired shoulder seemed to have been answered with a strong training camp. Three players that struggled to stay on the field in 2011, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury, all looked fully recovered and ready to play and the rotation seemed poised to rank among the best in the game.

 

The team began the season with a tough series on the road, facing the reigning American League Champion Texas Rangers. Jon Lester got the opening day nod for Boston, facing  Ranger’s ace C.J. Wilson. It was an inauspicious start for the Red Sox as Lester struggled, giving up home runs to Mike Napoli, Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz. The offense was up to the challenge, though and the two teams remained tied until the eighth inning. In what would prove to be a distressing harbinger, Daniel Bard failed to hold Texas scoreless and gave up three runs and the game.

 

The opening day loss was unsettling because Lester and Bard both underperformed, but it was, after all, just one game. A few things had gone right as well; Adrian Gonazlez got his first hit as a Red Sock in his first at bat helping to score Ellsbury and Youkilis followed him with another hit that helped score a run. The Rangers were another contender for the top team in the East and dropping the first game to them was no big deal, right?