Saturday, May 18, 2013
For the second straight season, Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester has been named the opening-day starter, in Detroit on April 5. New manager Bobby Valentine made the announcement Monday morning.
That leads us to two trivia questions:
1. Who was the last Red Sox left-hander to be the opening-day starter in back-to-back years?
2. Who was the Sea Dogs' opening-day starter in 2005, when Lester was on the Portland staff?
Lester, 28, has a career 76-34 record for Boston.
The April 5 game will be a nice match-up between Lester and 2011 American League MVP Justin Verlander.
And now for the trivia answers:
1. Lefty Mel Parnell pitched three straight season openers, from the 1952-54.
2. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the Sea Dogs' season-opener in 2005 and pitched six strong innings in a 4-2 win over Norwich. (Lester pitched the next night).
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Kevin Thomas covers baseball and basketball for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. He wisely moved to Maine in 1994 after working for the St. Petersburg Times. He is married to Nancy and they have nine children.
Follow his thoughts on the Boston Red Sox and Portland Sea Dogs on Clearing the Bases
Follow his thoughts on the Boston Celtics and Maine Red Claws on Holding Court
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