Red Sox Prove 2013 is a 'Whole New Ballgame,' Beat Yankees 8-2 in Season Opener

The Red Sox are 1-0 on the 2013 season, beating the New York Yankees 8-2 in Yankee Stadium on Opening Day.

The Red Sox drew eight walks and smacked 13 hits, while Jon Lester and the Sox bullpen held the ailing Yankees to two runs on six hits. Lester went five innings, striking out seven while giving up both runs along with five hits. 

The relief corps combined for four innings of one-hit baseball, with Koji Uehara, Andrew Miller, Andrew Bailey, Junichi Tazawa and Joel Hanrahan taking the hill.  Uehara needed just five pitches to get three outs in the sixth, and Bailey, Tazawa, Miller and Hanrahan hit 95, 96, 97 and 98 miles per hour on the radar gun respectively to shut down the Bronx Bombers.

The Sox hit .333 with runners in scoring position on the day, with stellar performances by Jacoby Ellsbury, Shane Victorino and Jose Iglesias.  Ellsbury went 3-for-6 with a triple and two RBI and Victorino added a couple knocks with three of his ribbies coming while there were two outs in the inning.  All three of Iglesias' hits stayed in the infield, but they'll look like line drives in the box score.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia managed to work three walks against Yankees' pitching, and crossed the plate twice as a result.  The much anticipated debut of Jackie Bradley Jr. saw the 22-year-old follow Saltalamacchia's lead, drawing three walks and knocking home a run as he grounded out to Robinson Cano.  Bradley made his first Major League start in left field Monday, a position he has never played until roughly a week ago in Spring Training, and made a circus grab tracking down a Cano blast just shy of the left field wall.

The Yankees didn't have too many bright spots in their first game of the new campaign, with one of the few coming when Francisco Cervelli slapped a two-run single off Lester in the fourth inning.  C.C. Sabathia gave up four runs on eight hits, but managed to strike out five.

The two teams will play again Wednesday night, and my confidence in this club is growing every day.  The offense looks like they're having fun and the pitching staff has taken on a whole new mentality.  Despite Monday's Yankees not being the team they will be at midseason due to injuries, it always feels good to beat them.  The Red Sox lost their final eight games of 2012, and are off to what looks like a hot start in 2013, crushing a Yankees pitching staff and excelling in all areas of the game.

Go Sox.