When you're a kid and Alan Trammell takes the Red Sox new closer Lee Smith into the Fenway Park bullpen to ruin the home team's Opening Day -- as was the case in 1988 -- it seems like an elimination game, even with 161 more staring at you in the face.
Or, conversely, if somebody like Dwight Evans hits the first pitch of the season out of the park -- as was also the case two years earlier -- an undefeated season actually appears plausible.
But then you get older, and semi-wiser.
Yet here we were Friday, still fending off the usual over-reactions that come with a game like the Red Sox presented to kick off the 2021 season. It was one that just happened to result in a 3-0 defeat to a team considered perhaps the lowest on the power-ranking totem pole, the Orioles.
Deep breaths, right Kiké Hernandez?
So it would seem the best way to pick through the day that eliminated the Red Sox' chance of going undefeated is by simply offering top-of-mind thoughts. Good. Bad. Weird. Whatever.
- The most noticeable difference before actually entering the park? The smell of sausages on the streets around Fenway Park. This was one of those things that you truly didn't realize was such a presence at a baseball game until it had been gone for so long.
- In 2018 Alex Cora went on WEEI and said that he believed Rafael Devers could be an "elite" defender. Three years later, that seems further away than ever. There were no errors assigned to Devers, but between his short-arm throws to first base and a key decision not to field a Pedro Severino grounder to lead off what would be a two-run sixth inning, it wasn't a good day. Devers was inconsistent defensively in Fort Myers, and Friday definitely wasn't a step in the right direction. This would seem to be one more important items on Cora's to-do list going forward.
- In case you didn't know, it was frigid at Fenway. First-pitch temperature was 37 degrees, and it only got chillier as the game progressed. So, that might have been a big reason the balls weren't carrying ... at all. But it will be interesting to keep an eye on these new deadened baseballs and the difference they make. Certainly, the combination of the two did Bobby Dalbec (or the announcers) any favorite on his fly out to left field.
- Hernandez was right in his postgame assessment: If he cleanly fields Anthony Santander's grounder in the sixth it results in an inning-ending double play.
“No doubt about it," he said when asked if the play should have resulted in a twin-killing. "The ball, I’m not sure how hard it was, but I’m petty sure it was hit over 100 mph (actually, 107.9 mph) and it was hit right at me. So, if I catch that ball, it’s a double play and no runs would have scored that inning.”
And considering Hernandez also got picked off first base in the first inning after his leadoff single, it wasn't a great debut for the second baseman. But this would fall under things not to fret about.
Anybody who watched Hernandez play throughout spring training can understand why Cora surmised the former Dodger might be the best defensive second baseman in baseball. That element of this equation should be the least of the manager's concerns.
- The Orioles' starter John Means is one of the good ones. Anyone who witnessed his seven innings of one-ht ball this time around can see that.
- As for Nathan Eovaldi ... it was a positive day. Not overly pitch efficient, but positive. They can live with this five-inning, four-hit, one-run Nathan Eovaldi.
- For the most part, J.D. Martinez's swing looked better than it had all of 2020 and most of the recent spring training. He was able to punctuate his day with a double.
- Hunter Renfroe, on the other hand, looked nothing like the guy from the Grapefruit League, striking out in all three of his at-bats. Remember, this is the guy who is supposed to tear up lefties. But there can't be too much of a benefit of the doubt considering the outfielder is coming off a 2019 in which he hit just .216, with his average landing at .156 in 42 games last year.
- Anybody who has seen Hirokazu Sawamura's progression from his first two spring training outings until Friday knows this guy has come a long way. The thing that was noticeable even when he couldn't find a plate in early March was his stuff, which includes a 96-97 mph fastball, above-average slider and really hard split-fingered fastball. Now he is finding the plate, as was evident in his inning against the Orioles.
- The 4,452 fans made a difference. There sure seems a lot more room for more socially-distanced fans. That will come soon enough. In the meantime, lovers of a good crowd mic are the big winners.