Wednesday, March 26, 2008

A Tokyo Split

TOKYO -- Days before his start against the Red Sox on Wednesday, Oakland pitcher Rich Harden bought an ancient samurai sword. The purchase was purely for recreational purposes -- Harden is a collector -- though given the way the Sox have treated him in the past, any inclination to arm himself was defensible.

Harden didn't need any accessories today. His strong right shoulder, finally healthy after two years of assorted miseries, was sufficient to bend the Sox to his will in a 5-1 Oakland win that sent both teams back across the Pond with a split of this two-game exercise to create some global warming for Major League Baseball.

Emil Brown, whose base-running gaffe in the 10th inning snuffed out any hope of an Oakland comeback in the opener, hit a three-run home run in the third off Sox starter Jon Lester, who also was touched for a run in the second.

Lester was lifted after four innings. The Athletics added a fifth run in the eighth on a two-out double by Kurt Suzuki and a single by Jeff Fiorentino, the young Athletics' center fielder who had been made to dress in a pink kimono before departing the Tokyo Dome over the weekend. - Boston Globe

Damn, how many of you predicted the Sox would go 162-0 in '08?

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