First Day of ST

Well, baseball is back! Yesterday was a split squad game at the Fort, game 1 Josh Beckett pitched at home against Boston College. Successful 7-1 win, with Beckett going a scoreless 2 innings, Buchholz going a scoreless 1 inning, and Tazawa making a nice debut. Kudos to SS Navarro for the HR. At the other side of town, Tim Wakefield took on the Minnesota Twins for the first game of the Mayor's Cup in Fort Myers. Wakefield had a bit of a shaky start, though not bad overall. Bard was relatively decent in his first attempt at catching the knuckleball. The MVP had some nice hits, and Jed-I had a RBI Triple. Though MIN eventually got the better of Boston and Billy Traber, Ramon Ramirez looked lights out in his first start with the club and Justin Masterson proved once again effective out of the bullpen. Other news....Manny Ramirez may sign today *gasp* with the Dodgers. Theo is still hopefully pursuing the catcher of the future from Texas...we'll see. Monster Tickets went on sale last Saturday and I bought some GM SRO Tickets for a TB Rays Game when I finally got through on the phone. RF Roof Lottery ends this weekend, so enter to try and get some nice tables on the Bud Roof Deck this season. 38 Days until Home Opener!!!!!

Recap, going forward

Well, it's been a while, but per Dave's request here goes:
Offseason

-you may remember Junichi Tazawa; in Portland probably, may have an interesting turnout
-sent Coco to KC for a nice righty reliever, Ramirez; Ellsbury's the CF, at least Coco got us something good in return
-some Julio Lugo rumors that didn't go anywhere; if he has a good ST, he may be used as trade bait, with Jed-I taking the reins
-MARK Friggin Teixeira! Nuff said
-Kevin Cash to the MFY
-Youkilis Extension
-Pedroia Extension
-Resign Kotsay
-John Smoltz
-Brad Penny
-Rocco Baldelli
-Takashi Saito
-Josh Bard
-Resigned Jason Varitek
-Brad Wilkerson
-start of ST


Looking forward:
It seemed the overall plan was to sign Mark Teixeira and go from there. Obviously this failed, so the plan switched to signing low risk, high reward players. This may be more successful in the long term in actuality. The Yankees have made a habit of signing superstars who have little to prove and this ends up biting them in the ass. Also, the egos cause a lot of problems. All of the players the Sox signed this year, and some of the injured players (Lowell, Ortiz) all have to prove their worth. This can be one of the greatest motivators in any profession, and allow the Sox to field an epic team. Also, they are a well-knit team with little Clubhouse problems, which helps them focus on what's most important, BASEBALL! Looking at ST, Beckett's ripped, Ortiz is in better shape and ready to crush some bombs, and other players feel a good charisma. Of course JD gave us his usual back scare, but it seems like he is OK. Overall, I'm very optimistic for the Red Sox 2009, and much more so than at this same time last year. My point is, get your tickets while they're still available! More to come as camp unfolds with commentary on the World Baseball Classic....