Welcome.

When they first zoomed in on Hunter Jones' face as he took the Fenway mound, he looked as if he was going to either a.) step off the mound and vomit, b.) pee his pants, or c.) swallow his tongue. Or some unpleasant combination of the three. Luckily, he did none of those and instead threw a strike to Luke Scott. Two ground outs, a ground out + an error, and a fly out later, Hunter Jones could safely return to the dugout, major-league debut accomplished without an embarrassing sideshow.

In semi-related how-de-do news, Takashi Saito said after yesterday's save:

"I think I carried out my role. I finally feel like I am a Red Sox player."

I think that might just have more to do with cringing through a band concert than anything.

March of the Tin Soldiers.

So the coming out of the stands thing? That was just goofy. It's few hours later and I've forgotten what exactly it was supposed to symbolize. It was probably pretty cool if you happened to be sitting right there, though.

It seemed to be a mostly unpopular decision. Saito couldn't get down those steps fast enough and he did so with a look on his face of "Oh my God. What have I gotten myself into? Who Are You People? STOP TOUCHING ME!" but David Ortiz seemed to lap up the attention. Jonathan Papelbon had no time for anyone but Happy was, well, happy. (I can't imagine what you'd have to do to Justin Masterson to make him unhappy.) JD Drew also seems to think of himself as a gorilla:

"I felt like a caged animal there for a while. We were stuck in a little bitty corridor or barricade, surrounded by screaming and yelling Red Sox fans. I felt like a gorilla at the zoo. It was neat."

I could see JD as a gnu or maybe a water buffalo but definitely not a gorilla; a gorilla is much too aggressive.

A New Guy.

I think that I might like Takashi Saito. During his meeting with the media today he shared this story:

"Papelbon was one of the first guys I met when I came out here the other day, and I ran into him at the supermarket the other day and Penny was there also. Penny was explaining to Papelbon that I was Korean. I was saying, ‘I’m Japanese! I’m Japanese!”

Given that he seems to like Brad Penny:

“When I joined the Dodgers in 2006 [Penny] was there and on the field and off the field there were a lot of great conversations about baseball and about life. We have a great relationship and I’m excited that he’s here too.”

it amused me.

In college, I had a class with a Korean economics professor who made it perfectly clear that calling a Korean person Japanese or Chinese was a big no-no. Calling a Chinese person Korean or Japanese was even worse. But the biggest sin of all was calling a Japanese person Chinese or Korean. They're not huge fans of each other. [Aside: Dr. Kim was great; very funny. He had this theory about Asian and American cultures and the types of rice that they eat. According to Dr. Kim, Asians eat sticky rice: it's shorter grained-like Asians-and the grains stick close together-like Asians. Americans eat fluffy rice: it has taller grains-like Americans-and there is more space between the individual grains -like Americans.]

A Trip to the Dime Store.

Perhaps believing in the more dire second couplet "Find a penny, let it lay, and you will have bad luck all day" of the "Find a penny, pick it up..." poem, the Sox have officially picked up Brad Penny. I don't know. For the same reason I wouldn't have picked up A.J. Burnett or Josh Beckett, I wouldn't have touched him. Of course, I was mostly wrong about Beckett. Hopefully, I'm wrong about Penny too.

In more bargain basement pitcher shopping news, the Sox have also picked up Penny's former and future teammate from the Dodgers, Takashi Saito. Saito was good in 2006 and fabulous in 2007. An elbow ligament injury (some sources say it was sprained, some say it was partially torn) put the kibosh on his 2008 campaign from July 16 to September 13. If he can be healthy, then it's a fabulous pick-up.

Having said that repeatedly over the past week or so is a little nerve-wracking. This practice of filling out the roster with members of the walking wounded is worrisome. Chances are that some of these guys won't pan out. But *fingers crossed* in Theo we trust. Right?