Josh Beckett Will Start Opening Day

Josh Beckett is still the ace of the staff and has been named the opening day starter despite Lester challenging him for the top spot. Much better news than we had last season where Beckett missed the trip to Japan for the opener.

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Masterson Sent to Pen, Rotation Mostly In Place

Justin Masterson will be a reliever this season and most of the rotation is set. Beckett, Lester, Dice-K and Wake have all made the rotation with Penny and Buchholz competing for the 5th spot. It is Penny's job to lose according to Extra Bases:

The Red Sox are waiting on naming the fifth starter, who, because of a day off April 7, will not be needed until April 12. They need to see how Brad Penny, who is starting today against the Twins, comes through in his final two starts of the spring. Penny previously battled fatigue in his right shoulder, but he was stellar in his first start, in which he pitched three innings.

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Today's Lineup vs. the Twins

1. Rocco Baldelli, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Jason Bay, LF
7. Jed Lowrie, SS
8. George Kottaras, C
9. Nick Green, RF

Brad Penny, SP

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Are Girardi's Day's Numbered?

The opening odds on Joe Girardi being the first manager fired this season are 5/1....sounds like easy money with Dumbass Hank calling the shots.

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Lugo's Recovery Going Well

My guess of a post All-Star break return for Julio Lugo is looking way off the mark. Those of you who had the under could be in the money. Lugo returned to camp today and said:

Hopefully, in three weeks I'll be ready," Lugo said. "Probably three or four weeks, I'll be fine."

I see this as good news for the Red Sox and bad news for the majority of Sox fans....I'm still stickin' with him.

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Today's Red Sox Lineup vs. St. Louis

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Jason Bay, LF
8. Jason Varitek, C
9. Nick Green, SS

Josh Beckett, SP

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Ticketmaster Understands Yankee Fans

When Yankee fans want to buy tickets through ticketmaster they need to type in a security check. The system tries to use words a typical Yankee fan will understand. See below:

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$7.00 Beer...Hooray!!

It's a tough economy and the fine folks at Fenway are freezing concession prices. So go spend your hard earned AIG bonuses on a frosty cup of suds at America's most beloved ballpark.

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Tim Wakefield Sucks at Mini Golf

Tim Wakefield and his new catcher George Kottaras had a mini golf competition in Florida with the rookie coming out on top:

Tim hit first on No. 18, and his shot just missed the desired center cup at the top of the three-tier hole. So his ball came out on the second-tier green, while George hit the center hole and his ball stopped two feet from the final cup, and a sure victory.

Meanwhile Tim had some trouble making it into the hole on the second tier-green (in his defense, the cup was raised so the shot was nearly impossible). It took Tim five shots to make it into the hole and down to the bottom green. Unless George was going to five-putt from two feet, the win was his. He sunk the putt, and took the friendly competition.

The golf outing will be shown on NESN on April 1.

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Has Buchholz Won a Spot in the Rotation?

I was one of those screaming for Buchholz to be sent down last season; constantly arguing that he was not ready. Well, I am now a believer that he is ready and should be in the rotation. Yesterday he went 6 innings with no earned runs and only gave up three hits. His ERA this spring is .046

"I've had a good spring," Buchholz said. "I know they have their eye on someone else, but even if I'm at Pawtucket, I'm still pitching and I'm a phone call away."

You know that Beckett, Lester, and Dice-K are in the rotation with Wake likely to be the number 4 guy. Penny has the experience and Smoltz will be good once he returns but they have to go with the guy who is hot right now or there is still the option of a 6 man rotation. It is nice to have problems like this one.

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Smoltz Does Well in Session

John Smoltz was happy with his performance in a bullpen session today:

"By his own terms, he backed off the intensity. Just trying to follow the glove around a little bit. But I think he was real excited, felt real good about it," Francona said of Smoltz.

The team may now push up his return date to May 15 vs the previous date of June 1. Right now the Red Sox have an abundance of pitching but come mid May there should be an injured pitcher that needs to be replaced.

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Red Sox Lineup vs. the Reds

Youk and Drew are back in there in this big start for Buchholz...can he keep it going and win a spot in the rotation?

1. Jason Bay, LF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. J.D. Drew, RF
4. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Jason Varitek, C
7. Chip Ambres, CF
8. Argenis Diaz, SS
9. Clay Buchholz, SP

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Red Sox Lineup vs. the Yankees

1. Jacoby Ellsbury CF
2. Jed Lowrie SS
3. David Ortiz DH
4. Chris Carter LF
5. Rocco Baldelli RF
6. George Kottaras C
7. Brad Wilkerson 1B
8. Nick Green 2B
9. Angel Chavez 3B

SP Tim Wakefield SP

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Hall of Fame Questions

With Curt Schilling's retirement announcement comes questions on his Hall of Fame chances. The here are a few of the opinions from around the web:

The Bulletin - Philadelphia:

Based on his regular-season numbers, Schilling falls short of Cooperstown status. His 216 wins rank 80th on the all-time list. To put that in perspective, some of the names around him are Kenny Rogers (219), Charlie Hough (216) and Kevin Brown (211). Not exactly plaque-worthy, are they?......But Schilling’s career was about more than just statistics. It was about impact, how one pitcher influenced three different franchises in a major way....
He won’t be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but he’ll find his way into Cooperstown eventually. Because in baseball, more than any other sport, mediocre seasons here and there are forgotten over time.

True greatness, on the other hand, lives on forever

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Washington Post:

But he was great theater any time he took the mound, and for a stretch of nearly a decade (roughly 1997-2006), he was one of the top half-dozen pitchers in the game. Take all that, and add the October heroics, and Schilling starts to look pretty Hall-worthy.

ESPN - Rob Neyer:

Two years I was lukewarm about Schilling's Hall of Fame candidacy. I wasn't against it, exactly. But neither was I for it. But during those two years, Schilling helped pitch the Red Sox to another championship and I got just a little bit smarter. Today I can't imagine a Hall of Fame without him.

Schilling brought hope to Boston the moment he started filming his Dunkin' Donuts commercials by wearing his "Why not us?" t-shirt. He was the keystone to the 2004 and 2007 seasons, without him the Red Sox Nation might still be talking about a curse. No matter what you think about his politics, he is the guy you wanted to have on the mound against the Yankees; he was no Pedro when it came to silencing opposing fans. He deserves a spot in the Hall and needs to be wearing a Sox cap when he goes.

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CSI: NY - NY v. BOS

I recently caught a CSI: NY rerun that was originally broadcast May 11, 2005. This episode would be of most interest to Red Sox and Yankee fans, as a Boston baseball fan clad in a red shirt was found murdered in his car after a ball game in NY. With only 1 exception, there were no references to the ’Red Sox’ or the ‘Yankees’, just Boston and New York, no ‘Major League Baseball’ or ‘MLB’, just pro baseball in general. It did not appear that the stadium scenes were filmed at Yankee Stadium. The exception was during an interview, the CSI mentioned that a foul ball off the bat of A-Rod would be a hot commodity.

The detectives and CSI’s conduct their investigation starting with the ticket stub in his wallet and the ‘regulation baseball’ in his possession. It turns out that the ticket was a freebie given to him by a local radio shock jock who then gave another ticket to the NY baseball fan (an ex-con, no less, but that’s not surprising) who was arguing with the Boston baseball fan on air. At the game, the NY fan was heckling the Boston fan and spitting Cracker Jacks at the back of his head, sometimes missing his mark. A scuffle finally ensued, after which the NY fan was ejected (that part did surprise me- they always throw out the Sox fan first.) A foul ball lands in the mitt of the Boston fan. Television replays show the heckler behind him, and then later, the Boston fan catching the foul ball. He then brazenly gives the male fan next to him a big ol’ smooch on the lips, which was replayed on the jumbo screen, much to the dismay of Mr. Macho who was on the receiving end of the smooch (and an aspiring major leaguer himself.)

After the game, the Boston fan was found dead, cause of death determined to be a ruptured spleen due to blunt force trauma, in this case, from a 94 mph fastball. A few hours later on the other side of town, a woman runs into the street seemingly from out of nowhere and gets hit by a truck. Her hair was found on the ball that was in the Boston fan’s post mortem possession. The CSI’s do their forensic DNA voodoo and determine that Mr. Macho (who was still quite PO’d) grabbed the ball from the Boston fan in the parking lot after the game and threw it at him with his 94 mph fastball, thus rupturing his spleen. Later back home with his GF who was sitting next to him at the game, which was how her hair ended up on the ball, he is still visibly upset over the raspberry back at the game. He explodes at his GF, scaring the snot out of her, and chasing her into the street.

I’m guessing that there must be a Sox writer on the staff of CSI: NY. And, I suppose, this story could also have taken place in Oakland after a Patriots-Raiders game.

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Penny Makes a Statement...and So Do Sox Bats

Brad Penny showed why he needs to be considered for a spot in the rotation by his performance in his first GFL game. He went three no-hit innings giving up just a walk with 3 K's in today's game.

After he left the game the Red Sox bats came alive with Lowell-Bay-Carter-Ochoa all hitting homers back to back.

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Schilling is Done

Curt Schilling announced his retirement today. On twitter he posted that he was out here on the West Coast attending a meeting with his gaming company showing he has fully embraced his new career.

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Dice-K Leads Japan over Team USA

With Youk, Pedroia, Big Papi, and Bay all back in Fort Myers the only member of the Red Sox left to watch in the World Baseball was Matsuzaka. Dice-K is going for his second WBC MVP and has a shot after another victory last night. He struggled early giving up a leadoff homer to Brian Roberts but then settled down going 4 2/3 innings and giving up 2 earned runs on 5 hits. Team USA was eliminated in the 9-4 loss. Team Japan faces Korea in the final game tonight.

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A-Rod* Scandal of the Week- Hookers

The American public is getting scandal fatigue and not from AIG but from A-Rod*. We have seen cheating on his wife with Madonna, steroids, parking lot incidents, fainting in the delivery room, and now we have a new one:

A former Manhattan madam who supplied Eliot Spitzer with hookers also counted Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez as a customer - and found him so charming she dated him herself for free, former employees of the call-girl agency tell the Daily News.

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Batting Stance Guy in Fort Myers - Video

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Today's Red Sox Lineup vs. Philadelphia

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Mike Lowell, 3B
5. Jason Bay, LF
6. Rocco Baldelli, RF
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Jed Lowrie, SS
9. Paul McAnulty, 1B

Josh Beckett, SP

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