Bronson with Tim Wakefield in Cincinnati last year. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.

I link to it on the sidebar but I should mention it more in the blog.  “It” is Dan Hoard’s blog “Heard it from Hoard“.  Dan is one of the PawSox radio broadcasters and he blogs on a solidly regular basis.  If you’re looking for information on the newest members of the PawSox or if you’re just looking for random bits of baseball trivia, Dan’s blog is the place to go.

The reason I bring it up now is because I was told via email that Jonathan Van Every has decided to part ways with the Red Sox but I couldn’t find any news of this anywhere…until I went to Dan’s blog:

Van Every’s season ended in mid-June due to knee surgery. Boston took him off of the 40-man roster on July 8th to make room for Jed Lowrie, and released Jonathan 10 days later when the waiver period ran out.

The Red Sox wanted to bring him back next season, but we’re hearing that Van Every has agreed to a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

I can’t blame Van Every for wanting to take a sure thing rather than hold out and wait to see what the Sox would do next year – but I’ll miss him being with the team.  He was a lot of fun to watch in Pawtucket and seemed to really make the best of his time while he was in Boston.  I wish him  a lot of luck and I hope he’s healthy next season.

In non-MiLB news, word is that the Reds have Bronson Arroyo on the trading block.  I don’t think for a minute that the Sox would be interested nor that the Sox need a Bronson Arroyo but I’ll totally admit to a bit of a charge at the idea.

Dan also mentions that Saturday night is Jon Lester bobblehead night.  Fitting since he’ll be pitching in Boston.  If you can make your way down there I highly suggest trying to get in a game at McCoy at some point this year.  Given the expected crowds, though, Jon Lester bobblehead night might not be the best night to try that!

Pedro during his last appearance at Fenway. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.

I don’t like to complain about things I bring on myself.  For example, I choose to live in New England, so I try not to whine about the weather.  In the same respect, I choose to be a baseball fan so I shouldn’t complain about the All Star break – but I will.

If I choose to focus on a positive it’s that I get the part of my life back that isn’t baseball-related for a few days.  I end up going to sleep at a normal hour, I socialize with people whose main topic of conversation isn’t baseball and I even get some fresh air and sunshine!  But the downside is, I really find myself wanting baseball.  Hell, at one point during the All Star Game, the other night, I actually flipped over to the “Extra Innings” stations to see what games were on.  (Brief brain fart on my part!)

Based on comments, emails and various tweets I’ve read these past couple of days, many of you are pining for real baseball as well.    MLB has scheduled eight games for today.  (The earliest starting at 7:05pm.)  None of those games include any team out of the American League East.  Six out of the eight games are National League games so if you didn’t get your fill of watch the NL on Tuesday, if you have Extra Innings or MLB.tv…tonight is your lucky night!  (The PawSox ARE playing at home tonight and you can follow that game here.  Or you can take the trip to Pawtucket and see Kris Johnson pitch – tonight is Free PawSox Cap Night.)  The International League won the Triple-A All Star Game last night and the PawSox’ own Fernando Cabrera got the save!  Jose Vaquedano didn’t fare as well but at least they both got into the game!  Congratulations, fellas!  (Updated to add that the PawSox have reminded me that tonight’s game can be seen on NESN. See?  You don’t even have to leave the house!)

I did get one bit of baseball in yesterday – I watched Pedro Martinez’ press conference on the MLB Network.  I’ll say this about Pedey, he hasn’t lost a step.  I have no idea how he’ll pitch, but he was ready at the start (well, once he got there) to banter with the reporters.  I miss Pedro being on the Red Sox.  I guess I’ll always miss him.  But I’m extremely happy that he left when he did.  I like there to be good memories of a great pitcher and a personable guy.  Back in the day I was fortunate enough to see many Pedro-pitched games live (the last one being his return to Fenway as a Met) and those are the memories I’ll hold dear.  He was dominating and just amazing on the mound and he made you want to pay more attention to the dugout than the game when he WASN’T pitching.  I wish nothing but good luck for him with the Phillies – I really hope this works out well for him (I just fear it will be a colossal mess.  As soon as they signed him, they put him on the 15-day Dl).

Friend of the blog, Dan Lamothe (at that link, he’s the last of the 3 of us!) was kind enough to invite me to be one of a handful of bloggers to help fill in for him while he’s on his honeymoon…so today there’s also a blog entry of mine over at Red Sox Monster.  Thanks, Dan!  Congratulations and have a wonderful time!

One more night, folks, and we get to see Clay Buchholz do his thing in Toronto.  Sure it’s a Friday night, but you all know I’ll be watching so why pretend otherwise?  We had no live blog this week because of the ASG so we’ll do a rare “Friday Night Live Blog” to celebrate Clay getting the call again!  Hope you can  join me!

Travis Denker knocked in the winning run for the PawSox in the 14th inning last night. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net in April 2009 and used with permission.

Red Sox win handily in Baltimore.  PawSox have to claw out a win in Pawtucket in fourteen freaking innings.  Both games were so different but ended the same way…with me happy.  And, some days, it’s all about me…if I’m happy, everyone is happy (at least, everyone around me!).  The only sour note of the night came out of Buffalo where my man Kyle Snyder had a rough night, giving up two hits and two earned runs – including a home run, in just over an inning pitched.  The Bisons drop another (this one in extra innings) and it bums me out to see Kyle (and the team) struggle.

Triple-A rookie Tobi Stoner threw six shutout innings in his first home start and the Bisons built a 5-0 lead through seven. Then came the most epic bullpen meltdown in Coca-Cola Field’s 22 seasons — four relievers combined to get torched for 12 runs and 15 hits in the final three frames.

With closer Elmer Dessens gone to the New York Mets, there was no relief for the crowd of about 1,200 (5,358 tickets were sold). Kyle Snyder and Jon Switzer gave up three runs in the eighth. Eddie Kunz gave up four runs in the ninth as Charlotte pulled even at 7-7 and Tim McNab yielded five after a 16-minute rain delay in the 10th.

Ouch.  Guess it wasn’t a good night for pitching around the International League North.

Michael Bowden also struggled in Pawtucket.  He couldn’t make it through five innings and in those four plus innings he gave up eight hits and four earned runs (including two home runs).  Let’s just chalk it up to having a bad night.  Old friend Javier Lopez also pitched an inning and gave up one hit, struck out one and didn’t give up any runs.   Good with bad, right?

I’ll be heading to Pawtucket Tuesday night to see Enrique Gonzalez pitch against the Syracuse Chiefs.  It’s been a while since I’ve hit McCoy and I’m really looking forward to it.  I won’t be taking a camera – it’s strictly a fun night out with friends – but I’m hoping to bring back news of a great game and another win!

On Wednesday the baseball gods have blessed us with an afternoon game!  The final game in this Sox/Orioles series is at 1:35pm – and I’ll be live blogging it – Josh Beckett v Brad Bergesen.  I’m looking forward to it as it’s been a while since I got to live blog an afternoon game.  But before we get there we have to deal with the next game:  John Smoltz going up against Rich Hill at 7:05 Tuesday night.  I won’t be around for the game but intend to get the most out of my technology to keep up with what’s going on.

Congrats go out to Jonathan Papelbon.  Who might make me uneasy most every time he takes the mound but you still can’t deny he’s a damn fine pitcher.  Monday night he got his 132nd save (which ties him for the Red Sox save record with Bob Stanley).  As much as he makes me reach for the Tums, I really do hope he gets his 500th save with the Red Sox.

And I leave you with this random bit of information.  Maybe you already knew it…it’s news to me.  Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan?  The cousin AND Godson of one Lou Pinella.  Small world, huh?  I guess now we know where Dave gets his hot-headedness from.

Tonight John Smoltz is going to show us that the first inning of his last outing was an aberration*.

Right?

(* I wanted to make sure I spelled aberration correctly, so I looked it up.  Next to the spelling was this sentence:  “In 1918, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, but the success turned out to be an aberration, and the Red Sox have not won a World Series since.”  I think it’s time that Ask.com updated their entries!)

Tim Wakefield in Detroit earlier this month. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.

It’s been a long weekend and my brain is fried.  I admit it.  So I’m letting other folks do most of the heavy lifting today.  Lazy Sunday, indeed.

Alex Speier says everything you need to know about Tim Wakefield here:

With the shutout performance, Wakefield became one of just three pitchers in the American League this year to reach double digits in victories. But that accomplishment was less impressive than one that attests to his place in Red Sox franchise history.

Wakefield’s 382nd start since signing with Boston in 1995 tied him with Roger Clemens for the most starts ever by a Red Sox pitcher.

So Wake’s next start (scheduled for Friday, July 3, at Fenway – a game I will most likely not be at but as of 10:00am today the Red Sox had tickets on sale for) will be the one that marks the most starts ever by a Sox pitcher.   Only fitting that someone with Wake’s character and popularity would leave Clemens in the dust.  It’s quite a milestone and Wake should be proud.  I know I am.

But wait!  Alex has more good news for us:

He now has 174 wins, third most in franchise history. He is 18 wins shy of Cy Young and Clemens for the most victories in Sox history. That mark must now be considered attainable by the end of 2010, particularly given how rapidly Wakefield is accumulating victories this year.

He also goes on to remind us that, if Wake can keep up the winning, he has a good shot at hitting 20 wins this year – something he’s never achieved. I know the dreams they are pipe dreams but Wake in the ASG and in the running for Cy Young the year he turns 43 would definitely be something to behold.

Shout out to “Tru” for this tidbit about Wake from the Providence Journal:

Wakefield had been bothered by back and shoulder injuries the last few years, and after Saturday’s game he admitted exactly what he’s been dealing with.

“It’s a torn labrum in my shoulder,” he said. “If I had [surgery during the offseason] I would have been out for a full year. So it doesn’t make any sense, especially [for] somebody my age. Even the doctors say it’s not worth doing it because if I’m out a year, I don’t know if I could come back.”

When he finally decides to permanently stop throwing his knuckleball and call it a career, he might have the procedure done then.

Are you kidding me with this? I didn’t think I could respect/adore Wake any more than I do…I was wrong! (Thanks for the trip from Tru in the comments!)

Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t believe it either, Clay. Photo taken by Kelly O’Connor/sittingstill.net in May 2009 and used with permission.

“You are such a farm hand homer.” – comment left on my blog a few days ago (meant to be an insult).

I am.  Hell, I’m a homer in general – big leagues and minors, I don’t discriminate (and I certainly don’t hide it).  But I DO favor the minor league players, that’s true.  And tonight I’m going to go all homer on you about Clay Buchholz (well, really about PawSox fans).

As a follow up to NECN’s Mike Giardi’s interview with Clay (the one where he talked about how he was itching to get back to the bigs) Giardi wrote this on Friday.

It has brought to my attention that the Pawtucket faithful booed Clay Buchholz Wednesday night. Can someone explain that to me?

I’d be happy to, Mike.

See, the booing didn’t happen.

How do I know this?  Well, Giardi wasn’t forthcoming in this piece with who “brought” it to his attention but I thought I’d ask someone who would most certainly have first-hand knowledge of the game.  See, I was live blogging the BoSox game that night so I couldn’t listen to the PawSox game.   I decided to go to the blog of one of the PawSox broadcasters, Dan Hoard, and see if he mentioned the booing.

If anyone would have heard the booing, I think it would be one of the guys in the broadcast booth.  Hoard is a wonderful broadcaster.  He’s extremely knowledgeable about baseball and he knows how to entertain the fans listening.  I started listening on a nightly basis when Kyle Snyder was sent down last year and try to catch as many games as I can because Hoard and his partner Steve Hyder really make you feel like you’re at the game – and share a lot of cool information about the players that you probably won’t hear anywhere else.  Dan’s also not afraid to criticize the players or the organization when need be – so I trust his opinion and his judgment.

I left a comment on Dan’s blog on Friday, asking if what Giardi posted was true.  I don’t think Dan will mind if I post part of his response to me here.

The suggestion that Buchholz got booed at McCoy is absolutely ludicrous.

For starters, I guarantee that the majority of our fan base was completely unaware of what he said to NECN (which I didn’t think was bad anyway).

Additionally, when Clay was announced into the game in the 5th inning he received a thunderous ovation.

It’s true that the fans booed when he gave up a HR in the 6th inning. . .they were booing the fact that the other team just hit a home run. Minor league crowds tend to include a lot of young kids and that’s what they do when an opponent goes deep.

I go to enough minor league games to know that last line is very true. But it’s the line about the “thunderous ovation” that’s money.  I have no doubt that Dan would have told me if there was booing.  Giardi mentions the home run at the end of his piece (not the beginning.  He starts this off by implying people were booing because of what he said and then he throws in the “Guy gives up a home run – and gets booed?!?” line at the end.  It’s entirely possible that Giardi has never been to a minor league game and doesn’t know about the fans booing when the other team scores.  But I promise you, Clay Buchholz has been around the minors long enough to know the boos after the homer weren’t for him.  Even though Giardi didn’t.  “I’m pretty sure Clay Buchholz feels the same way”, Giardi wrote, after saying the boos didn’t make sense to him.  No, Mike, I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.

As a point of reference, Dan Hoard has been calling PawSox games for 4 years.  His partner Steve Hyder has been doing them for 6 years.  Dan said neither one of them can remember the PawSox fans EVER booing one of their own players.  It also seemed really important to Dan that people know Giardi was wrong and the good fans of Pawtucket DIDN’T boo Clay Buchholz.

I’m happy to get the message out.

Javier Lopez seemed to get a kick out of Steve. My photo didn’t come out great because we were on the other side of the park when he signed. Oh well!

Thanks to Tim Wakefield and his quick game, yesterday wasn’t as long and tiring as I expected it to be.  Still, it was a long day but any day I get to see two baseball games in person and I watch my team with both games, I really can’t find much to complain about.

Clay Buchholz had his most interesting outing of the season.  He pitched in and out of trouble for the 4 1/3 innings he was in there, ultimately giving up three runs on seven hits (including a home run that  didn’t leave the park and wasn’t initially called a home run, but hit the top of the home run mark on the center field wall.  Clay wasn’t too happy about that and left the game shortly thereafter).  PawSox fan favorite Iggy Suarez (KellyO offered that Julio Lugo should change his name to Iggy because fans love a guy named Iggy) and Angel Chavez both hit home runs and even newly-mustachioed Billy Traber pitched a clean inning and got the win.

But the true highlights of our day at McCoy happened off the field.  Kyle Snyder was there with the Buffalo Bisons.  We, unfortunately, didn’t get to see him pitch, but found a moment to give him a shout-out and wish him luck.  Kyle looked relaxed and happy.  He seems quite comfortable with his teammates and even sat in the bullpen for the entire game (my  understanding is he’s now the number 5 starter for the Bisons).  It pleases me greatly to see Kyle doing so well, even if his team isn’t right now.

Also, another (not-so) old friend was at McCoy yesterday – Javier Lopez.

I interrupt my own entry to offer some background for those who don’t have it.  My friend Kelly O’Connor has a travel mascot – a stuffed ferret.  She brings “Steve T Ferret” with her to games home and on the road (he initially started hanging with us when Kelly brought him to a gathering of a bunch of us – some whom had never met.  “We’ll be at the table with the ferret on it!”).  He’s become a part of one of my gang of friends (yes, we know he’s stuffed.  We still have fun with him and he even has his own Facebook page) and is a large part of the lore surrounding that group.  Kelly got Kyle to pose with Steve in Baltimore in 2007, then we brought a poster-sized version of the picture to the 2007 World Series parade and Javi noticed it and pointed it out to Kyle.  Kelly then got him to sign the picture of he and Steve and in 2008 Kelly made a Snyder jersey for Steve – which she got Kyle to sign.

This year, Kelly made Steve a Javier Lopez jersey and yesterday was Kelly’s shot at getting Javi to sign it.  Which he did.  From all accounts (and what we could see across the park) Javi took it with the humor and appreciation that was behind it.  I know he isn’t popular with a lot of folks around these parts right now, but he really seems to be a stand-up guy and I wish nothing but the best for him.

Once the PawSox game was over, it was on to Boston.  Neither KellyO nor I drive so we had to Amtrak it back from whence we came and got to Fenway just in time for the gates to open and let us in.  Tim Wakefield, once again, proved he is currently the best pitcher in the starting rotation and Jonathan Papelbon looked like someone I hadn’t seen in a while.  Comes into a 2-1 game and doesn’t put anyone on base?  I love this Jonathan Papelbon and would like to see more of him please.

There was one thing that happened during the game that made me wish I was watching from home.  When Bailey and Pedroia both failed to catch a pop-up, I noticed Wake point at Bailey.  As I was sitting on the third base line, I only saw this from behind and was trying to figure out what the context was.  Was he reprimanding Bailey for not taking control and calling the ball?  Was he telling him it was okay?  Did they mention it on NESN when it happened?  Am I going to have to start bringing a tv to Fenway?

Two great wins to top off a beautiful day.  It was a nice way to spend a Tuesday.

Penny on the mound tonight.  Me on the couch live blogging.  I think that’s best for everyone.

I spent more time cheering than taking pictures yesterday – but here’s one I got of Clay.

Never have I been so happy to miss a BoSox game as I was on Sunday.  So I’m not even going to talk about it (except to say that it’s nice to not have to “blame” Brad Penny.  I hope he continues to pitch well for many reasons including the fact that it seems like he’s on tap to pitch the next time I go to Fenway!).

Spent Sunday in Pawtucket at the PawSox/Braves game and watched Clay Buchholz pitch 5.1 innings, striking out six and giving up only two hits.  He also walked two and in those innings gave up no runs.  The PawSox went on to help Clay get his first win, beating the Gwinnett Braves 1-0.  More importantly, though, was Clay’s demeanor through the entire game.  We saw a much calmer, more mature Buchholz.  It was obvious from the first time he took the mound.  Joe McDonald has a great write-up of how Clay’s mindset as a pitcher has changed (and matured).  He (with help from a Paul McAnulty error) got himself into a little trouble in the fifth inning, loading the bases with two outs thanks to an error, a single and a walk.  Last year’s Clay Buchholz would have let a run or three end up scoring; this year’s Clay Buchholz settled down and got Gwinnett’s Greg Blanco to ground out.

So Sunday, for me, was far from a disappointment.  Sadly, the same can’t be said for Mark Kotsay.  I didn’t realize he’d be playing.  For whatever reasons, I thought he’d be in the lineup early this week, not the weekend.  But, no, he was the lead-off man for Pawtucket on Sunday.   Unfortunately, after his second at-bat of the game, he pulled up lame while running to first base.

Here’s where I digress for a minute.  It was obvious to me that Kotsay did something to himself while running to first. He barely made it to the bag, bent over in pain and hobbled off the field.  YET there were idiots behind me booing him and yelling at him to “run it out”, thinking he was just dogging it to first.  If you aren’t going to pay attention to the game (and the reasons some of the players are in AAA and not in Boston, oh like because they’re REHABBING AN INJURY) you shouldn’t be allowed to yell stupid things at the park.

So Kotsay has a “mild calf strain”.  I hope this is true.  I hope it’s nothing more serious than that.  You hate to see someone rehabbing an injury get RE-injured.

Did you know that today is “Star Wars Day”?  I didn’t either until Twitter told me so.  Makes sense now that yesterday was Star Wars Day at Pawtucket.  Seeing Darth Vader throw out the ceremonial first pitch was interesting given that he was signing autographs, clapping for the youngster they had also throw out a pitch and posing for pictures with Jeff Corsaletti. Ooh, the Dark Lord of the Sith is scaaary!

Next up for the Sox is two games against the Yankees.  Lester and Beckett against Hughes and Chamberlain.   I think the Sox have a good shot at winning both of these games.  I like our hitters chances against them.  So it bothers me that I’m a little concerned that even if our hitters come to play, Lester and Beckett are going to make me want to smack them both.

I’m pleased that I decided to live blog on Wednesdays and will miss having to live blog a Yankees/Red Sox game coming off a 3 games to one losing series.  I don’t think I’m up to that kind of pressure.

No headaches for me, fellas.  Be nice.

Marcus McBeth, before the game, looking for someone to give a ball. This and some other photos of mine from yesterday are here at Flickr.

If the only thing to keep Saturday from being absolute sports heaven in New England had to be the Celtics losing, I’m okay with that.

Spent a beautiful (yet grey) day at McCoy Stadium and got to see the PawSox win – which is always nice.  Had the opportunity to watch (among others) Michael Bowden, Charlie Zink and Clay Buchholz long toss before the game.  Clay looked so relaxed and happy.  It’s easier to believe the stories about his hamstring injury being minor after seeing him moving around in person.  Most interesting sight of the day had to be watching Bowden and Zink toss to each other.  Zink, the knuckleballer, really was just lobbing the ball to Bowden, occasionally warning him that he was going to throw the knuckler.  But Bowden seemed to be taking this business quite seriously.  He didn’t just “toss” the ball to Zink.  Every throw was an actual pitch.  He set himself as if standing on the mound, and he let loose with some hard pitches.  At one point, Charlie finally called “uncle” and told him he wasn’t going to catch his pitches anymore.  (All in good fun.  Everyone, even Bowden, seemed to be in quite the good mood Saturday at McCoy.)

As an added attraction to the day, it happened to be Paws’ 10th birthday.  Every New England mascot who is anyone was there to celebrate – including Wally (Lefty and Righty were, noticeably, absent!).  Although we also wondered where the Alligator family (from Lowell) was.  They were missed.  (And I need to know how Paws knows Spiderman.  He seemed wildly out of place with all the mascots so I’m guessing he’s just a good pal of Paws’.)

The whole team looked really good.  Although we only got to see two Dusty Brown at-bats before umpire David Uyl tossed him from the game (at both his at-bats, Dusty took issue with Uyl’s called strikes).  Dusty didn’t go quietly.  We joked that for the rest of the game he was stalking the parking lot looking for Uyl’s car.  Getting to see Daniel Bard make his Pawtucket debut was pretty amazing.  He hit 99 at least once (and I snapped a shot to prove it).  He did give up a home run but he also struck out two in the ninth.  Odd highlight of the day:  Some dope in a Teixeira t-shirt sitting in front of us for the last couple of innings.  That he purposely wore a Yankees shirt to a PawSox/IronPigs game is bad enough (New York had no horse in this race) but when he started wildly cheering because Bard gave up that home run…well that was when I wanted to push him over the side and on to the field.

Instead,  I grabbed the iPhone to see how the Yanks were doing.  I didn’t realize they were the Saturday Fox game so the game had just started.  As I checked the score, Teixeira was up at bat.  I was hoping for a strike out so I could tell the t-shirt dude that his player just struck out, but no such luck.  Teixeira hit a two-run home run.  I shut down the phone and kept my mouth shut.

I told Kelly about this as we were leaving to get a cab and decided to check the score again.  By that time, Wang had already given up 6 runs.  So Kelly and I indulged in some major schadenfreude all the way from Pawtucket until we got to Boston by “watching” the game via iPhone.

It doesn’t matter what place the Red Sox are in right now.  It’s immaterial that Papi is still struggling (although last night was encouraging!).  Watching the Yankees lose 22-4 in the new Yankee Stadium made me  happy.  Wildly, excruciatingly, happy.  I know it’s immature and I don’t care.  So there you have it.

PawSox win; Red Sox win; Bruins beat the Canadiens; Indians annihilate the Yankees (at their brand-spanking-new stadium and on national television!).  This equals a fabulous day in New England, baby!

My ticket! (Well, part of it anyway.)

I’m watching the 2009 Caribbean World Series on the MLB Network this week.  If you aren’t watching it, you’re missing some really exciting baseball (And Jose Offerman!  He looks exactly the same as he did when he played in Boston.  Maybe even better.  After this incident, Jose actually has a job in baseball? He’s the manager of the Dominican Republic team.  Go figure.  Well, I guess if Roger Clemens got to keep his job after chucking a bat at Mike Piazza, Offerman deserves another chance).  As much as I’m enjoying it, all it’s really doing is making me long for the beginning of the MLB season.

Currently, I only have one ticket to a game this season.  There are at least three other games I’ll probably be going to but right now there’s only the one ticket.  And even then, I know I’ll be picking up many more tickets this year, it’s just odd that I have so few tickets going into the season.  The current economic mess has hit close to home so I need to be a little more selective for the time being.  No matter, I’m sure I’ll be getting to plenty of games this season.  I sense, though, that more of those games will be at minor league parks instead of Fenway.  I’m looking forward to the trips to Portland, Pawtucket and Lowell!

So this struck me as really interesting!  If you’re anywhere within 30 miles of Pawtucket, PawSox mascots Paws and/or Sox will deliver a dozen roses, a PawSox cap and two tickets good for any regular season PawSox home game this year to your valentine on Valentine’s Day.  I don’t have a valentine this year, but if I did I’d print this up and anonymously mail it to him.  I’m not usually big on this type of thing (I think if I ever got a singing telegram or a stripper sent to me, I’d die from the embarrassment) but this sounds really cute and the gifts involved are much better than a box of chocolates.  According to the PawSox site, the Valentine’s packages are limited…so hit up PawSox.com and order yours today!

Honestly, if anyone does this you have to let me know.  I’d love to hear the story!

As a follow up to other entries of mine:  Bob Costas (who left HBO to go to the MLB Network – this pleases me greatly) interviewed Joe Torre and it’ll be shown on the MLBN Thursday at 8pm EST.  If the brief clips they’ve been showing give an accurate depiction, it should be interesting and maybe even a little enlightening.  Of course, it seems a good chunk of it is Joe saying he didn’t betray any trusts and he doesn’t see what the big deal is.  I’m waiting on a copy of this book in the mail so I suppose I can’t keep criticizing Joe until I actually read it…which I promise you I will.

With my new work schedule, I’m home on Fridays.  This works to my advantage this week as Friday is Truck Day and, for the second year in a row, I’ll be there.  I love Truck Day.  It’s probably silly to truly celebrate it, but hell, it’s tangible proof that we really will get a baseball season and all this hot stove activity wasn’t in vain.  If last year is any indication, there will be Wally, there will be more members of the media than there will be fans, and there will be trucks.

Really, right now, what more can we ask for?

Photo of Daniel Bard taken today by me at McCoy Stadium

After a ride on Amtrak that included the smell of burning rubber and then an announcement from the conductor using the words “We had to cut out the brake cylinder, but we still have 99% brake power!” we made our way to Pawtucket.

McCoy Stadium was a lot of fun.  Although it was a little different than last year in that they omitted the Q&A sessions in order to ensure that everyone had a chance to meet the players and get autographs.  This was a little disappointing.   It’s nice to see the interactions between the players and just get a small sense of who they are.  We did get to see Daniel Bard and Kris Johnson have a cute back and forth regarding this picture that KellyO took of Kris last week at Jillian’s during the New Stars for Young Stars event.  Kris just loved it and then signed it and added an “X” to mark the strike he bowled.  Unfortunately, Lars Anderson needed to bolt before the event was over so an awful lot of people, including us, didn’t get the chance to meet him.  That wasn’t so terrible, though.  Along with Johnson and Bard, we met Mark Wagner and Zach Daeges, and all four seemed really into meeting the fans.  Even after all the time they were there signing (we were in line to see Anderson, Johnson and Bard for a good hour and a half), once we got up to them, they were in wonderful moods and very gracious.

Being true to my word, I took the opportunity to ask Ron Johnson about Kyle Snyder.  Hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?   I get up to RJ and thank him for being there, congratulate him on last season and they pop out with, “So, RJ, what do you hear about Kyle Snyder?”.  He paused for a moment, seemingly taken by surprise at the question and then he looked a little confused and said, “Well, I know we haven’t re-signed him.  But I really don’t know what’s going on with him.  I need to give him a call.”  I told him that he certainly did have to give Kyle a call and he laughed and said, “You know, he’s really a good guy.  A really good guy.”.  Which was nice to hear.  I mean, I have no doubts he’s a good guy, but it’s always nice to hear it.  So I got the ball rolling…let’s see what RJ can do!