BOSTON -- Hello Mookie Betts, Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Sandy Leon and Rick Porcello. Goodbye Mike Carp, Grady Sizemore, A.J. Pierzynski, Will Middlebrooks and Jake Peavy.
The Red Sox have five new faces in their lineup for this season's Fenway opener, and the players they're replaced are scattered to the winds. Peavy, the starting pitcher in last year's Fenway opener, is in San Francisco. Middlebrooks is down the coast in San Diego. Pierzynski (Atlanta) and Sizemore (Philadelphia) are on the other side of the country. And Carp? He's nowhere (baseball-wise, that is). He had a chance to be right here, though in an opposing uniform; he signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals in the winter and received an invitation to spring training. But he didn't make the team and declined an assignment to the minor leagues, so he's currently a free agent.
The Sox certainly hope that change is for the better. With all those ex-Sox in their lineup, they dropped last year's home opener to the Brewers, 6-2.
Today's lineups:
RED SOX
Mookie Betts CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
David Ortiz DH
Hamley Ramirez LF
Pablo Sandoval 3B
Mike Napoli 1B
Shane Victorino RF
Xander Bogaerts SS
Sandy Leon C
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Rick Porcello P
NATIONALS
Michael Taylor CF
Yunel Escobar 3B
Bryce Harper RF
Jayson Werth LF
Ryan Zimmerman 1B
Clint Robinson DH
Ian Desmond SS
Jose Lobaton C
Danny Espinosa 2B
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Jordan Zimmerman P