World Champion Red Sox starting '08 in style

Time for another bold prediction (since I'm doing so well at predictions lately):  The Red Sox currently lead the AL East division by 3 games.  I predict they will not relinquish the lead for a single day for the rest of the season.

How good are the Red Sox looking right now?  They currently lead the league in batting average, slugging, and on base average.  They have the league leaders in batting (Pedroia at .364), runs scored (Ellsbury at 19), RBI's (Ramirez at 20) and HR's (Ramirez at 6).  The pitching looks solid, with depth in the rotation and the bullpen, and the current leader in Wins (Matsuzaka at 4-0) and Saves (Papelbon at 8-for-8).  And they're 4th in the league in fielding, with Youkilis continuing to extend his all-time best streak of errorless games at first (currently at 203 games).

Things are good, and with the Yankees looking entirely mediocre this season, hopefully I won't have to bring out the ChokeWatch this year.  Magic Number is now 139.

Meanwhile, it was a great start to the season out in Tokyo, and I have a few videos I never posted from my trip to see the Sox.

First of all, I have to admit Hank Steinbrenner may have had a point about Yankee Universe.  Sadly, there were definitely more Yankee caps and shirts on Japanese than Red Sox.  And based on empirical data observing commercials, books in bookstores, shirt sales, etc., I would say the most popular Japanese MLB players are:

1) Hideki Matsui, Yankees

2) Ichiro, Mariners

3) Daisuke Matsuzaka, Red Sox

Nonetheless, Matsuzaka is definitely a star.  From the day he arrived in Japan, he was in the papers and on TV every single day.  And one day, walking in a park in Nagoya, an old man saw my Red Sox shirt and yelled to me "Red Sox -- Daisuke Matsuzaka!"  At the Red Sox games in Tokyo Dome, the majority of the Japanese fans were wearing Red Sox shirts and hats, and most of them Matsuzaka shirts.  (Of course, the souvenir stands were only selling Matsuzaka and Okajima shirts -- no Ortiz, no Ramirez.)

However, having said that, Hideki Okajima was once a Tokyo Giant, playing home games in the Tokyo Dome, and when he came into the games, he definitely got the biggest crowd reaction.  At the exhibition game between the Red Sox and Tokyo Giants, with a crowd almost 100% Giants fans, the reaction to Okajima was unbelievable.  The flashbulbs that went off with every pitch reminded me of the game where Barry Bonds broke the homerun record.

And then, when Okajima came into the 1st regular season game against the A's (he earned the win and got the "fighting spirit prize" in the hero interview after the game), I finally got to hear the Okajima theme song.  I think it's called Oki-dokey, or something like that.  Truly amazing -- spelling O-K-A-J-I-M-A and saying Oki-Doki over and over again.  Listen closely during this clip to hear it:

To repeat something I think everyone knows by now -- Red Sox Nation travels well.  Just like in Tampa Bay or Baltimore, where Red Sox fans outnumber home team fans, the Red Sox fans were out in force at the games in Tokyo.  I sat in the top level of the seats for the first game, and it might as well have been Fenway Paaak.  Especially when they played Sweet Caroline in the middle of the 8th:

What a great way to start the season, and apparently the jet lag didn't hurt the team too much, I guess.