Magic words: Pitchers and catchers (& Sox bloggers) report

After a winter of celebrating the title, contemplating the new season and recuperating from the championship run, it's time for the me & the boys to get back to work

It's been a long offseason, but after three months of rest and following the Patriots painful finish to what was shaping up to be an historic season, I think it's safe to say that I am ready for baseball season to start.

I know I haven't been very timely with my posts since the Sox tasted the champagne from winning its second World Series in four years, but after what seemed like perpetual blogging at all hours of the day and night from March to November, I was on the verge of blogger burnout out before my blog's 1st birthday.

So I took a few months off, started a new job, coached my son's Little League team (yup, we play baseball all year 'round down here in FLA, suckers) and generally steered clear of the blogosphere for a while.

But the Pats chase for perfection brought me back to my other blog, and the sour ending to their sweet season dovetailed nicely into the day that baseball lovers yearn for: the start of spring training.

Now I'm back and ready to post my ass off, and what better way to start than with a recap of everything I've missed, Sox-wise, since my last champagne-soaked post on November 14th:

-MLB announced the Sox would open the regular season in Japan with a 2-game series against the A's. This money grab, errr baseball goodwill gesture, means that spring training will be shorter, angering scalpers in Florida who will lose thousands of dollars in revenue charging World Series prices for Grapefruit League seats

-Boston agreed to terms with hotly contested free agent Mike Lowell, keeping the WS MVP from the clutches of the archrival Stankees. Granted they probably overpaid (3 years, 36 million) for a 34-year old whose skills could erode at any time, but with the Stanks reportedly offering more money and years, and with the potential fan backlash letting the team's most beloved player this side of Papi leave, Boston had no choice but to bring him back.

-The hot stove nearly scalded Sox fans as rumors of a deal with Minnesota for ace Johan Santana alternated between simmering and boiling for a couple of weeks. The names mentioned brought groans from the Nation as young studs Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury were floated in various scenarios, but the thought of 2-time Cy-tana alongside (shoulda been Cy) Beckett, Dice K, Wake and whichever young hurler didn't get traded had others frothing at the mouth. In the end the worrying/hoping was all for naught, as Santana signaled the end of his dominance by inking a record deal with the Mets

-Aging reliever Mike Timlin resigned for another season of topsy-turvy relief, but uber goat Eric Gagne refused arbitration and became a free agent. Milwaukee would later ink the stinky pen man, who was linked to HGH use in the infamous Mitchell report, to a one-year, $10 million dollar deal, prompting Senator Mitchell to call for an doping investigation into the Brewers' front office

-Speaking of the Mitchell report, the only recent Sox players named were Gagne & Brendan Donnelly, both when they were with other teams; but much to the Nation's delight, the roster of users was chock full o' Stankees, including Chuck Knoblach, Andy Pettitte, Garry Sheffield, Jason Giambi, and Hub pariah Roidger Clemens.

-Jim Rice fell 16 votes shy of getting into the HOF, proving that Red Sox hating has officially become a national past time

-C Doug Mirabelli resigned for another year. There was no police escort, but he did immediately give half his salary to Tim Wakefield, the man single-handedly responsible for him still being employed

-Shoring up the mediocre middle relief corps, Boston resigned Kyle Snyder and Javier Lopez, then inked Julian Tavarez, failed former closer Dan Kolb and 57-year-old Dan Miceli to deals. Righty David Aardsma also signed. And the Nation prays Hanson, Manny D and Breslow mature very quickly

-Boston also signed veteran 1B Sean "The Mayor" Casey to a 1-year deal to back up Youk and Lowell and replace the departed Eric "Big Hit" Hinske, who made some memorable contributions to the Championship season. The Sox clubhouse guys reportedly threw a fiesta in honor of the arrival of one of the game's best tippers

-In what could be the biggest news of the offseason, Curt Schilling, who agreed to a 1-year, $8 million dollar deal after the season, came up with a shoulder injury right before the start of spring training--you're right, that's not news from a 40+ pitcher with a history of shoulder trouble. What is surprising is that Schill's doctors and the team's doctors disagree over the severity of the injury and the best course of treatment in order to get him back to the rotation as soon as possible.

Schill's doctor believes the tendon is torn and recommends surgery, which would sideline the aging righty for most of the season, while the Sox doc says the tendon is damaged, not torn, and with rest & rehab the vocal vet should be back by mid-season. Big disagreement, big questions, like whether or not Schill deceived the club by signing the deal and then coming up with an injury that could have been diagnosed earlier, and which doctor is right, seeing as each as a different best interest at stake.

Right now Schill is taking cortisone shots and not saying much, but should this thing linger and not go the way the Sox planned, look for the situation to get very ugly by the time the All Star Break rolls around.

Lots of changes, lots of drama, a season opening across the globe, and the difficulty of repeating will be front and center on everyone's mind...

..ah baseball is back in Beantown, and I am ready for it.

Play Ball!

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Sox Drawer: Remy stirs up a fuss on the Internets

During last night's awful loss to Kansas City, Remy & Orsillo engaged in a mini-skit in which Remy read a supposed application to become President of Red Sox Nation from someone who called himself "The Sports Guy."

What else are you gonna do when you're getting blitzed by the Royals?

Anyone who's from Boston, loves sports and has a keyboard in front of them knows who The Sports Guy is--Bill Simmons, a transplanted Bostonian sports writer who used to write for Jimmy Kimmel and who now spends three-four days a week mainly blogging about the NBA draft on ESPN.com.

Like most former nobodies who have gone on to make it big, Simmons is no longer as good, or more importantly, as funny as he used to be. Whether it was the move to the West Coast, or his parochial slant for writing about all things Boston, The Sports Guy, much like The Nation he came from, is a constant object of ridicule & scorn.

So when the two worlds collided last night during the Sox game, the rest of the sports universe took notice. And ridiculed.

The folks at the terrific sports media blog Awful Announcing have posted the entire transcript of what took place, so I'm just gonna link to that here so I don't have to reproduce the whole thing myself (thanks, AA!)

Suffice it to say the awkward, faux-ripping of Simmons by Remy drew numerous and varied responses, most falling in the "Simmons sucks and so does the whole Red Sox Nation" range.

Whatever.

Look, as a member of the Nation I can see where the rest of the country is coming from, i.e. it comes off as a "we are a holier than thou fandom that infiltrates opponents arenas and cause a ruckus basically because we are taking seats from uninterested local fans."

Fine.

But the absolute hatred and misdirected animosity from commenters on the web is getting to be a little ridiculous.

Here are just a few remarks from the commenters on anti-ESPN blog Deadspin.com, who with their inside jokes and retarded avatars & user names come off like a high school clique, minus the Popular Ones:

--"You see, this is why the rest of us think you are all douchebags."

--"I find myself hating Red Sox fans more and more with each passing day. President of 'Red Sox Nation'? Spare me."

--"We should just nuke the Red Sox Nation now. "

Funny stuff.

I personally find all this vitriol highly amusing, and said as much in my comment response on AA.

Just as well because when we win the title again this year we're only going to multiply until we eventually overrun every stadium in the major leagues and aggravate every snarky commenter out there, and then they can their sites with runneth over with animosity for all things Red Sox.

Because in this war of words, this Nation is going to be the last one standing.

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Sox day consists of little good, plenty of bad & ugly

Boston loses another frustrating game, while five players named to All Star team

The game just ended and once again I cannot believe what I just saw (sorry, Jack Buck.)

Boston played shoddy defense, left another eight men on base, and got good-but-not-good-enough starting pitching as they were defeated by an inferior pitcher and team for the umpteenth time this season.

I'm so sick and upset right now that I can't even do my usual recap of the game. I'm going to go pass a couple of hours by playing video games, maybe watch a movie, do some yardwork, anything other than think about the latest installment in a disturbing string of bewildering losses that have plagued this team in the last week.

Oh yeah, the good news: Manny, Papi, Beckett, Papelbon and Lowell all made the squad for the All Star game next week.

But with all these ridiculous losses lately, I don't think anybody really feels like celebrating right now.

More later...

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A special shout out to a great new website

I want to take a moment to thank the folks behind BlogInterviewer.com for asking me to be included on their innovative new site.

What sets this site apart for all the run-of-the-mill blogrolls is that BlogInterviewer lets the reader actually preview various sites by providing a screenshot as well as a mini-interview with its creator, not just a soulless, impersonal link. Very cool.

This is a terrific way for lesser-known blogs like mine to get our name out there among the traffic heavyweights, and I have little doubt it will catch on like wildfire.

And I'm not just saying that because they were kind enough to ask me to be a part of it.

Really, I'm not.

Anyway, please click the link above and peruse the site yourself; if you want to shoot directly to my page (and I know you do), click here.

Thanks again to Mike Thomas and the rest of the gang for choosing my humble little blog, and keep up the great work!

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(bad) Breaking News: Chipper was right-Schill is hurt

Sox announce Curt Schilling will head to the DL two days after Braves batters speculated on his health

My question is, would we be in this situation right now if Chipper Jones, Brian McCann and other Braves hadn't commented on Schill's startling lack of velocity following Monday night's game, surmising that he must be injured?

Or would Curt, the ultimate warrior and proud plow horse of the staff, have just kept plugging along through this bout of what he classified as a "touch of tendinitis" in his shoulder, only to injure himself further by not admitting in to the problem?

After the outing, a 9-4 Boston loss in which Schill allowed 10 hits and six runs in less than five innings and didn't register a strikeout for the first time since 1993, a span of 348 games, Braves third baseman Chipper Jones had this to say about Curt's less-than-impressive heater:

"The fastball that I saw register the highest was 89, and that was with the bases loaded. Schill always had that innate ability to catch another gear when he needs it, and for me to only see 89 miles an hour tells me, you know, he might be hurt. I don't know."

Turns out he did know.

According to the Globe, Curt said the dropoff in velocity he experienced Monday reminded him of the time he had a torn labrum in 1995, and that he didn't have any pain until the following day. He described the horrible felling of waiting for that pain to return overnight as "an eerie similarity that was playing with my head pretty severely," and who the hell can blame him?

Luckily this time the pain didn't follow, and an MRI showed no structural damage to the area, but still Boston will be without one of its top starters for at least two weeks and possibly more, depending on how he responds to treatment.

With the off day tomorrow Tito will shuffle the rotation so that they won't need to fill his slot until Tuesday, and speculation has already begun as to who will get the nod, previous callups Kason Gabbard, Devern Hansack or rigorously rehabbing lefty Jon Lester.

The Sox fared okay when Josh Beckett missed a couple of weeks in May, going 6-3 while he was out, and with Dice-K, Wake and Tavarez all pitching well of late, the loss of Schilling shouldn't affect the team too much. Plus at his age and with the history of trouble, there's no way anyone would want him to continue pitching with even the slightest discomfort in the arm, so the trip to the DL is for the best.

Although top of the rotation starters visiting the disabled list is not something a playoff ball club wants to have occur at any point during the season, it's better to have it happen early in the year, be cautious with the problem like they were with Beckett, and make sure the hoss is healed up for the stretch run.

Get well soon, Schill.

And please, no more keeping secrets, okay?

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Sox drawer: Lugo demotion long time coming

Tito made a move yesterday that was much deserved, but also long overdue.

Great grabs like this is one reason teams have been snowed by Lugo's talents

Julio Lugo, the struggling veteran shortstop with the ginourmous contract (4-years, $36 million) and microscopic batting average (.215), was dropped from the leadoff spot all the way down to #9 in the order in favor of the hotter, younger, and much cheaper bat of rookie Dustin Pedroia.

Let's go over why this was the right decision, and why it should have happened sooner:

1. He's NOT a leadoff hitter. The guy is many things-alternately slick & sloppy in the field, alternately hot & (mostly) cold at the plate- but one thing he is not is a leadoff batter. He's always been more of a slap hitter/RBI guy, and in 8 seasons he has never come close to walking more times than he strikes out (okay, in 2005 he had nine fewer.) Plus his lifetime OBP is an anemic .335; by comparison, Kenny Lofton's is .371, Judas Demon, .344, and even Randy Winn has a career OBP of .344.


2. He's NOT worth the mega bucks. Look, for some reason Theo & the boys have been enamored with him since his days in Houston and then throughout his 2+ seasons here in Tampa Bay. Why? That is the mystery. Sure he has some pop (career high 75 ribbies in 2004, 15 homers in 2003), but so what? He's always been more of a defensive liability than a plus (20+ errors in a season four times, 16 last year in 81 games), has struck out more than 100 times in a season three times, and then there's that whole lousy OBP thing, which is pretty important if you want the guy to hit leadoff


3. He's NOT an upgrade at either position. A couple of guys who have manned the SS position since Nomah departed in mid-2004 have had equal or better stats than Lugo, yet were jettisoned for one bad reason or another:

• Orlando Cabrera (2004) has only had one 20+ error season in 11 years, has had over 70 RBIs three times, including a career-high 96 in 2001 w/ Montreal, and has the exact same career batting average as Lugo (.272); he'll make $3 mill less than Lugo in '07


• Alex Gonzalez (2006) career batting average (.247) & OBP (.293) may be awful, but he is a far better fielder (30 fewer errors in 24 more games from 2003-06), has had two 70+ RBI seasons compared to Lugo's one, and is owed $22 million less than Lugo over the next three years. Plus he was batting 8th & 9th, not first.

And we all know there is no comparison to him and Demon as far as leadoff batting goes, and there's no need to go into the 2006 disaster that was Edgar Rentanerror.

Look, I haven't been a fan of this guy since the former D-Ray regime fell hard for him in 2004, wooing him away from the Astros, and it had nothing to do with his ugly spousal abuse charge that paved the way for his early departure.

In my opinion he's always been a lot of sound & fury signifying nothing. Boston and Tampa Bay were enamored with is wiry, limber body that allows him to get to many tough balls, his occasionally streaky bat that has led him to hit over .280 three times, and his enthusiastic personality & energetic play.

I'm not saying that Pedroia is the answer; he may not be. But now the truth is out- Lugo isn't either. He attempted to man a high profile position on a team with the best record in the game, and he came up empty with a pathetic batting average, paltry on base percentage, and just 21 walks in 242 ABs while committing eight 8 errors in 59 games and knocking in 33 runs.

All that points to a bottom of the lineup player.

But there were $36 million reasons why Tito didn't do it sooner.

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Sox Drawer: Lester off DL, sent to AAA

The good news: Jon Lester has been removed from the disabled list, a huge sign that things are progressing as well as can be expected in his road to recovering from cancer.

The bad news is he was sent to AAA Pawtucket, a place where he had been pitching while on a pair of rehab assignments and not the place many Sox fans had expected him to land after being reactivated.

But evidently this decision was no surprise to the parties involved, and everyone from pitching coach John Farrell to Theo Epstein thought it be best if Lester make a couple more starts at AAA, completely healthy, before making the jump to the big club in the middle of a successful season.

Makes sense, I guess. I know Julian's happy.

Still, the encouraging thing is everything looks good for his return in the next couple of weeks, and the most important thing is that he have no setbacks once he makes the move back to a major league rotation.

Keep up the great work, Jon, and we in the Nation can't wait to cheer you on when you return to that Fenway mound again.

NOTES: Minor league catching prospect George Kottaras got a little slice of national fame last night when his 9th-inning three-run homer against Ottawa that won the game for the PawSox last night made the ESPN Top Plays reel. Way to go, Georgie!

**UPDATE: The Globe just reported that Julio Lugo has been dropped from the leadoff spot in favor of Dustin Pedroia, and Lugo will now occupy the 9th position in the lineup.

YES! THERE IS A GOD! IT"S ABOUT DAMN TIME, TITO! MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED! YES! THANK YOU SWEET BABY JESUS! HOT DAMN!

I'm okay now**

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Sox/ Stanks GM 2: The Aftermath

The war of attrition that was yesterday's contest between the Sox and Yankees was costly for New York, both on and off the field.

On the field the Stanks took another step backward in their quest to cut the AL East deficit to single digits. Boston's improbable 11-6 win assures the Sox can only lose 1 game in the Standings if they should lose tonight's game, which would still put them 12 1/2 up on New York.

Off the field the news was even worse for New York. First baseman Doug The Ball Stealer Mientkiewicz was placed on the DL after suffering numerous injuries in the collision with Mike Lowell at first base during the 7th inning of yesterday's game.

Dougie not only broke his right wrist but also suffered a mild concussion and a cervical sprain, and with Jason Giambi already on the DL for a while, it looks like New York will be very shorthanded on the right side of the infield for a while. Mientkiewicz is expected to miss 6-9 weeks.

Sorry dude, by that's what you get for messing with the historic ball. It's called karma-watch ...Earl.

As if all that wasn't bad enough, The Rocket dropped a bombshell on the New York brass by informing them he is experiencing slight discomfort in his groin and will not be able to make his scheduled start on Monday against the White Sox in what was to be his 2007 debut.

First he pusses out of re-launching his third un-retirement party in Boston, and now he's hurt before he even throws a pitch.

I just have one thing to say, Stankees:

Ha-Ha!

Fuck the Feeble Empire!
Go Sox!

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Beckett goes on the DL for 10 time in career, 1st with Boston

As reported last night after the game, Red Sox ace Josh Beckett will be placed on the disabled list due to a skin tear of the right middle finger of his pitching hand.

All together now, RSN: FUCK!!@!!#$*&^%$#!!!

Of Beckett's nine previous trips to the DL, all with the Marlins, six of those visits were the results of similar injuries to the same digit, and one of those stints, in July of 2004, forced him to miss nearly a month while the injury healed.

This time the problem isn't believed to be as serious as in the past, and the Sox report that Becks should only miss a couple of starts. But with his history, who can be sure this thing won't be a recurring nightmare for the rest of the season?

Devern Hansack will be recalled from the PawSox to pitch tonight vs. the Braves in Beckett's place, and other subs for his services include Kason Gabbard, Kyle Snyder or the immortal Runelvys Hernandez.

Not exactly a group of guys who will strike fear in the heart of the opponenet.

Let's just hope this injury is a minor one, because if Beckett and his 7-0 record have to spend a month on the bench, that 9 1/2 lead over the Stanks could get slim pretty quickly.

On the bright side, there is rain forecast again tonight in the Hub.

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Thank You, ESPN!

If you recall last night after I learned about the cancellation of the game, I was pretty pissed at the fact that I was looking forward to being able to watch the game in HD. I was so upset, in fact, that I went out and not only washed the car but trimmed the palms as well.

For those of us outside the greater New England area who have to catch the Sox games on Extra Innings, we can't enjoy the game in crystal-clear NESN HD because for some reason EI doesn't broadcast in HD (talk about behind the times.)

So I was greatly relieved whe I saw that the money-grubbing megalomaniacal media machine that is the World Wide Leader will broadcast today's first game of the twi-nighter on ESPN HD, presumably to make up for having to broadcast three hours of highlights and chit-chat when last night's game was postponed.

All I can say is thank you, thank you ESPN. This unforeseen act of kindness almost makes up for "50 States in 50 Days" and "Stump the Schwab".

***UPDATE: THE FRIGGIN' GAME IS NOT ON ESPN- THE WEBSITE INFO WAS BOGUS! FORGET EVERYTHING I SAID ABOVE-THE WORLDWIDE LEADER STILL SUCKS!!***

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Sox Drawer: Beware the injury bug!

Drew fought the wall and the wall won

First it was all-everything starter Josh Beckett suffering a tear of the skin on his middle pitching finger, a pesky problem that could eventually land him on the DL and at the very least should cause him to miss his next start on Friday.

Now J.D. Drew could be out of action for a few games after his nasty run-in with the low green wall separating rightfield from the bullpens. Drew smashed, back-first, into the padded partition, and the force of the injury and the location-directly across the middle of his spine-made it look like a chiropractor's special.

No one is going into full-blown panic mode, yet, but the way the 2006 season was derailed by a rash of devastating injuries (Papi, Tek, Manny-well, maybe Manny) the feelings of jubilation for the Sox 8-game division bulge have to be tempered a bit.

Boston is in the midst of one of its toughest stretches of the year, with series against some of the best, or most explosive, teams in the game- Detroit, Atlanta, Texas, Cleveland and two series with the Stanks at the end of the month. In other words, now is not the time to go through a wave of ailments that could affect the chemistry, and rhythm of this team.

Or is it.

I mean what's worse, getting injuries when it's still early in the season and your squad possesses the largest lead of any division leader in baseball, or going through it in a later month like AUG/SEP of '06, when a terrific season was spoiled by those injuries to key players combined with the hammer effect of the Boston Massacre II?

I say if these guys are gonna miss time, do it now. And if the Stanks are breathing down our necks by the time guys like Drew & Beckett return, well they damn well better not hit .248 or allow a slew of gopherballs when they do.

Get healthy soon, boys!

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Sox encounter first bump in the road

Beckett's blister could spell a trip to the DL for the dominating hurler

Call it an avulsion. Call it a blister. Call it a torn flap of skin.

However you choose to classify the injury to Sox 7-game winner Josh Beckett's middle pitching finger, one thing you can certainly label it as is bad news.

According to a piece in today's Globe by Gordon Edes, Beckett will more than likely miss his next scheduled start, Friday against the Braves at Fenway, and the probability is very high that Beckett will be forced to the DL with yet another nagging blister-type injury.

Nine times in Beckett's 6+ year career he has landed on the disabled list, and six of those trips have been the result of skin injuries to his right middle finger. Of those six trips, three happened in a 3-month span in 2002 and two occurred within a 2-month stretch in 2004. Also, out of the six visits, two were extensive: 18 days in '02 on the third trip, and a whopping 24 days out of action in July of '04.

What I'm trying to say is this does not look good for the team's, and league's, best pitcher. The long, storied history of this problem with this digit would seem to suggest that the Sox will be without the anchor of the 2007 staff for a while in order to have him healthy for the second half.

There's no way the Sox management & ownership can afford to have him make three trips to the DL with this thing this season like he did with the Marlins did in '02, so you can bet your last Fenway Frank that they will be extra cautious with their prized pitcher this time around.

Good think Dice-K is stepping up at the right time, 'cause he's gonna need to pick up the slack in Beckett's absence.

What, you thought Tavarez was going to do it?

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CurtBeingCurt is the new MannyBeingManny

Another week, another full-blown Curt Schilling. v. "The Media" mini-controversy.

Actually, this week there's a 2-for-1 in that department.

Schill warmed up for a week full of word warfare when he weighed in on the Stankees' signing of Rocket-for-hire Roger Clemens last Sunday. "We don't need him," was the quote attributed to Curt the next day, and it was replayed ad naseum on all the ESPN networks and sports websites, as if him saying the Sox don't need to add an aging, ego-maniacal, pampered, professional baseball mercenary to this already playoff-caliber club was actual news.

But Schill the Blogger took to his site, 38 Pitches, and excoriated the media wags, one Boston Globe writer in particular (not naming any names, ahem, danshaughnessy) for once again taking a quote, you guessed it, out of context, distorting what Schilling actually meant.

What he meant to say was the Sox don't need to add an aging, ego-maniacal, pampered professional baseball mercenary to their already playoff-caliber club, only in a nicer way.

That piddling brush fire had barely been squelched when the next wave of attacks on my fellow blogger began. It started after Schill was on the "Dale & Holley" show on EEI Tuesday and ripped a certain huge-headed slugger from San Francisco and the chance that Bonds could break Aaron's all-time home run record when the Giants visit Fenway in mid-June. Among the verbal grenades launched by Schill, this classic blast is the one that will be remembered and replayed for years to come:

"I mean, he admitted that he used steroids. I mean, there's no gray area. He admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes and cheating on the game, so I think the reaction around the league, the game, being what it is, in the case of what people think. Hank Aaron not being there. The Commissioner [Bud Selig] trying to figure out where to be. It's sad."

Needless to say that extremely un-PC (but deadly accurate) statement went over like a strip club-ban on Pacman Jones, as reactions poured in throughout the league and in Curt's own clubhouse, and the resulting firestorm forced the normally defensive Tito Francona to admit to everyone that his superstar with the super-sized mouth had gone too far. "I just think he should zip it a little" was the not-so-subtle advice from Schill's manager, and from the look of today's "Public Apology" backtrack job on 38 Pitches, the tactic worked.

All I have to say is all this shit is just icing on the cake. Schilling is a Hall of Fame pitcher who has set records, won awards, struck out a lot of batters, and most importantly, brought a championship to New England, just like he said he would when he signed. That stuff is great.

But a guy like that, with Hall of Fame talent & credentials, who isn't afraid to be different, to stir things up, to speak his mind, to have opinions and express them to the public in the form of a blog, they don't come around very often.

So every once in a while he calls out a slug like Bonds or an overrated, intimidating manager like "the great" Lou Pinella, so what?

It's all part of Curt Being Curt, so let's sit back and enjoy the ride.

Because when he's gone (next year?), we're certainly going to miss this shit!

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The 2007 opening roster is set

The Red Sox today have officially announced their 25-man roster today for Monday's opener in Kansas City, and if you've been following the team you will quickly notice that there are no surprises.

In other words, Papi, Manny, Dice K and Schill all made the team (whew!)

The only omission of note is reliever Craig Hanson, who after allowing 5 earned runs in 2/3 of an inning yesterday saw his spring ERA blossom to a robust 15.43, earned a trip back to Pawtucket to "work on his control", i.e. get his shit straightened out.

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, without further ado, I present to you the roster for your 2007 AL East champion Boston Red Sox:

Pitchers (12)- Schill, Wake, Gopher, Dice-K, Paps, Gascan Tavarez, The Black Donnelly, Hideki Okijima, Joel Pineiro, JC Romero, Kyle Snyder, and Javier Lopez

Infielders (5)- Lugo, Pedroia, Lowell, Cora and Youk

DHs (1)- Big Papi

Catchers (2)- Tek & Belli

Outfielders (5)- ManRam, Coco, JD Drew, Hinske, WMP

Like I said, no big shockers there. But with a roster like that there is no need to mess around.

Other notes: Pitchers Maddog Timlin (strained oblique), Jon Lester (cancer recovery) and Matt Clement (head case) will start the season on the DL...MattppanManny Delcarmen joined Hanson on the PawSox express, presumably for the same reason as his compatriot; 3rd string catcher Kevin Cash and reliever Bryan Corey will also start the season in Pawtucket...backup backup backup catcher Alberto Castillo was traded to Baltimore for outfielder Cory Keylor in a deal that rocked the Grapefruit League to its very foundation.

Here's how the opening day lineup should look, barring any last minutes changes/MBM flareups:

POS./PLAYER/'06 STATS (key stat in red)
1. Lugo - 122 G, .278, 12 HR, 37 RBI, 69 R, 39 BB, 76 K
2. Youk-147 G, .279, 13 HR, 72 RBI, 100 R, 91 BB, 120 K
3. Big Papi-151 G,.287,54 HR,137 RBI,115 R,119 BB,117 K
4. Manny-130 G, .321,35 HR,102 RBI,79 R,100 BB,101 K
5. Drew-146 G, .283, 20 HR, 100 RBI, 84 R, 89 BB, 106 K
6. Lowell-153 G, .284, 20 HR, 80 RBI, 79 R, 47 BB, 61 K
7. Tek-103 G, .238, 12 HR, 55 RBI, 46 R, 46 BB, 87 K
8. Coco-105 G, .264, 8 HR, 36 RBI, 58 R, 31 BB, 67 K
9. Pedroia-31 G, .191, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R, 7 BB, 7 K

That right there is a lineup that should a.) score a ton of runs b.) drive opposing pitchers/ managers batty c.) score a ton of runs. Lugo is going to have to raise his walk total and his OBP (.340) in order for that to happen, and Coco and Pedroia are going to have to find ways to get on base to keep turning the order around, but as long as those things happen this team is poised to (say it with me now) SCORE A TON OF RUNS!

Combine that deep, solid lineup with a deep, solid pitching staff and what you have is the makings of a division champion. Yes, you heard it here first (well, probably not, but I have to stick by it since it's in writing) the Sox will break the Stankee stranglehold on the division crown and take home its first AL East Championship since 1995.

Wonder how long it will be before I eat those words. The over/under is July.

Go Sox!

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Red Sox Nation rejoice: Paps heads back to pen

Maybe it was the lucky green jersey that changed Boston's fortunes in the pen (Globe/AP)

Being a Red Sox fan, it's inherently in our nature to start worrying when the planets align and too many things seem to be going our way.

RSN, start worrying.

As if the apparent coup of signing Dice-K for only $100 mil (maybe Borass wasn't so crazy after all, eh?), adding the pop of Lugo's & Drew's bats to the lineup and having Schill around to anchor the rotation for at least this season wasn't enough to send the Nation back to 2004 perma-grin levels, now we get word that our beloved Jonathan Papelbon has decided he wants to close again.

That's right, despite an entire offseason of hearing everyone from Theo to Tito to Paps himself swear up & down that he not only would join the starting rotation to relive stress on his balky right shoulder, but that he wanted to do so was utter BS.

How do we know this? Because today Paps, last year's AL Rookie of the Year runner-up, admitted "I want to close the rest of my career."

I repeat, start worrying.

This can't be happening. Every single member of RSN, including the few who tried to drink the Kool aid about Paps becoming a starter, has dreamed that we would hear him utter words like that. This guy was an absolute animal as a rookie closer, one of the best ever and a ROY front-runner until his September shutdown, and when we heard him talk about how it would be better for his career to return to the rotation, we believed him, but nobody wanted it to be true.

Of course many of us lamented that despite Boston's killer starting rotation (Schill, Dice, Wake, Paps and Gopher), the bullpen was the Achilles heel for this potential World Series contender. Let's put it this way: it would have been virtually impossible to win a title with Mike Methuselah Timlin, Gas Can Tavarez, Joel Shy Guy Piniero or Can't Hit the Black Donnelly closing games.

Now our prayers have been answered. In this article by Edes in today's Globe, you can read glorious quotes like this from the man himself and then you can start worrying why things are going so cosmically, karmically good for our Sawx right now.

"This is something that I would like to do for the rest of my career and kind of just forget about starting and go out there and chase records and . . . hopefully what [Mariano] Rivera has done for the Yankees, I can do with the Sox."

Let the hand-wringing commence!

Oh, BTW, the fact that the Pats are all of a sudden stockpiling quality free agents like Bush stockpiles haters?

Start worrying, Patriot Nation.

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Welcome to the Blogosphere, Curt!

In an obvious attempt to counter what is sure to be the enormous popularity of this new blog, Red Sox ace Curt Schilling, a man who never met a microphone he didn't like and himself admits "I’ve been called everything from outspoken to blowhard to much, much worse", has decided to take a side job as a blogger.

The big question is, will the pitcher we have all come to know, love and worship over these past 3+ years have anything important to say on his new site, 38 Pitches?

Oh sure we know Curt loves to opine on everything from his political beliefs to how other managers should coach their players, and he will go to great lengths to promote charities such as the ALS Association and breast cancer awareness, but will he be able to provide relevant "inside the ropes" observations about our favorite ball club?

If the first couple of entries are any indication the answer should be "yes." Obviously Schill is never afraid to speak his mind and shoot from the hip when it comes to any issues, and having this blog should provide a terrific forum for him to vent some of the feelings he has throughout the season, whether it be regarding opposing players, teammates and/or anything else in the universe.

"I plan to chat about a myriad of topics as this blog evolves, from baseball, teams, players, and umpires, to the media, my family, and my past in and around the game, all the way to the electronic gaming industry and what I’ve seen, am seeing, and hope to see from 38 Studios in the future."

That's what we in the Nation would expect from you Curt. Look, sports fans complain when athletes answer questions with cliches and "no comments"; this is a chance to listen to the thoughts of one of the greatest pitchers of our generation, one of the greatest Red Sox of all time, who just happens to be a knowledgeable, intelligent, and articulate person, and what better way to express your thoughts to the world in 2007 than with a blog?

Welcome to the club, Curt.

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