Call me a traditionalist.

Tonight, your Boston Red Sox will play baseball together for the first time since they were swept at Fenway Park during the fourth weekend in August last summer, and all should be right with the world. However, there are a couple of items that I've noticed in the papers the past couple of days that are really grinding my gears.

One of the peripheral stories on the baseball front over the past couple of days has been what appeared to have been a bit of a snafu at the Topps baseball card company. Now, I realize that baseball cards have really fallen by the wayside over the years, but it wasn't too long ago that they were a brisk trade - I still remember collecting cards, and my mother has to dust the big old binders in my closet in Lynnfield to show for it. Members of my generation can still remember opening a pack of cards and going straight for that unwrapped, stale "gum" that came with each set of 12, collecting 15 Luis Riveras for each Ken Griffey Junior or Bo Jackson. Go even further back in the history of the game and the cards were even more fundamental. I think there is still a place for baseball cards in the modern fandom, but the card companies have to be willing to bear down and do battle with the Magic and Pokemon cards favored by the Dungeons and Dragons kids.

Anyways, this week the new set of cards came out. Here is Derek Jeter's card.

Now say what you will about Jeter, but in terms of marketing the league he is a pivotal figure. You would think the most prominent face on the most prominent team in the league would merit plenty of attention, right? Well, if you'll notice, the fine people at Topps have Photoshopped Mickey Mantle into the Yankees dugout and George Bush into the crowd. A funny little in-house prank that slipped by the final checkpoint, you would think? Not quite. A spokesman from Topps said, "We saw it in the final proof, and we could have axed it...[but] we thought it was hillarious." That's a great way to do business. We'll see how hillarious it is when your department is closed down next fall to expand the Yu-Gi-Oh! Blue series.

On the other end of the spectrum of tradition, local New York idiot and Times sports "writer" Murray Chass wrote a particularly insightful passage in his column on Tuesday regarding the new wave of statistical analysis in baseball. And I quote:

"I recieve a daily e-mail message from Baseball Prospectus, an electronic publication filled with articles and information about statistics that only stats mongers can love.

"To me, VORP epitomized the new-age nonsense. For the longest time I had no idea what VORP meant and didn't care enough to go to any great lengths to find out. I asked some colleagues whose work I respect, and they didn't know what it meant either.

"Finally, not long ago, I came across VORP spelled out. It stands for value over replacement player. How thrilling. How absurd. Value over replacement player. Don't ask me what it means. I don't know.

"I suppose that if stats mongers want to sit at their computers and play with these things all day long, that's their [sic] prerogative. But their attempt to introduce these new-age statistics into the game threatens to undermine most fans' enjoyment of baseball and the human factor therein.

"People play baseball. Numbers don't."

Just to lay out a quick point of fact, if you google VORP, the second item that comes up is a page titled "Introduction to VORP: Value Over Replacement Player." I understand Murray may not have had time to do such a time-consuming activity, but you would think he would be able to squeeze it into his schedule, seeing as how it is his job to talk about sports.

Can you imagine something like this happening in any other line of work? Imagine if there was a problem that doctors around the world were trying to wrap their minds around, and suddenly in one corner of the industry there was an innovation, a breakthrough. If you cared about the business at all, wouldn't you at least check it out and do the most basic level of research? Sure, VORP is a totally geeky statistic, but it is a fascinating new angle to look at statisics. How could that conceivably undermine anyone's enjoyment of the game? Are geeks going to black out simple numbers for the less developed fans like Murray, replacing his antiquated "batting averages" and "win-loss records" with things like OPS and win shares? Heaven forfend!

This is the kind of surly rant one would come to expect if you brought up the advanced sabermetric statistics to your grandfather, who was a blue-collar fan of the Sox since the days of Pinky Higgins. But writing about sports is Murray Chass' profession. It is his job to know about things like this.

But that's fine. Let Murray remain in the late 1930s in terms of his statistical tools, and he can keep telling his loyal readership that Derek Jeter is an excellent fielder (it can be statistically disproven) or that Johnny Damon is so valuable because of his base-stealing ability (its his plate discipline).

Finally, the last item for the evening is the rumblings surrounding the Baseball Hall of Fame's Veteran's Commitee shutting out all its applicants for another year. Jane Forbes Clark, the chari of the Hall of Fame, said yesterday that these results "may decide...[the process] needs a little bit of a change."

I would argue: Why? Remember, before the Veteran's Commitee gets to even vote on a player, they must have been declined by the Baseball Writers' Association for fifteen years. These are not outstanding players - simply by virtue of surviving on the writer's ballot for fifteen years, they are probably the definition of mediocre or fringe Hall of Famers. And I thought the Hall of Fame was reserved for the Best, not the Yeah, Probably Good Enough, I Guess.

The Veterans Comittee is an oversight commitee. They did a great job several years ago in inducting a bunch of Negro League players who had been ignored by the BBWAA. That is what the committee is for, not for allowing a Ron Santo or a Tony Oliva to sneak into Cooperstown through the back door.

Keep the Hall of Fame elite. There are too many people in there already.

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Hold Your Fire On Drew

Warning: This one is going to seriously piss off Junior in NY.

Like many Sox fans over the past few months, I admit to being poisoned by the ravenous Boston media in regards to JD Drew. I can honestly say that I have only peripheral knowledge of the Sox new right fielder having decided to focus on the Major League the past few years. However, like most knee-jerk Sox fans, I have come to loathe JD, because of the passionless way he plays - when he is healthy enough to be in the line up that is.

What? Hey wait a minute. Until the Boston press began talking about Drew like he was Osama Bin Laden's nephew, I probably wouldn't have known him if I bumped into him in a Dunkin Donuts. Yet, a few days after the rumored signing, I was spitting mad, informing Junior that the Sox had packed it in for 2007 and that they were assembling a clubhouse with a chemistry that would ultimately land them on the federal Toxic Superfund list.

Can we take a breath here for a minute? Can we at least get him an at bat or two before we turn him into a cross between Mike Lansing and Dante Bichette (Two charter members of the All Suck Attitude Team)?

Like no other sport, baseball is a game of numbers. Yes, team chemistry is important, but the sport is at its heart, one of individualism. And the way a player performs - individually - is documented, catalogued and published for all to examine. There is no way to sugar coat your perfomance. No need to break down the film after a game to determine what you actually did like an invisible offensive lineman in football.

So here is where the "pissing off of Junior" comes in.

After actually looking at "the numbers", replacing Trot Nixon with JD Drew was a no brainer of monster proportion and represents a huge upgrade. (Pause to duck from flying objects appearing from Queens).

The big knock on Drew is that he doesn't play hurt. Even the most vocal Drew Detractors say that JD will be a significant upgrade "if he stays healthy." Well over the past three years, Drew has had 1264 at bats. Dirt Dog Nixon? 938. That 35% more AB's for the "fragile" Drew. Hits? 370 to 261 in favor of JD who hit 15 points higher than Trot over the period (.293 to .278). Power. No contest. Drew hit 144% more homers than Nixon in the three year period (66-27). And Drew is 2 years younger than Trot. Add in that Drew has more range and a much stronger arm and it is obvious that the Sox have moved up several notches both offensively and defensively in right field.

Sure, Drew's uniform won't be as dirty and his helmet won't be covered in pine tar and he will never be loved as a scrappy, tobacco chewing, run through walls, dirt dog. But this isn't football. All we want Drew to do is get on base, protect Manny and make the plays in the outfield. Clearly he will do that much more effectively than Nixon.

For those of you who remember back a few years, Drew will bring back memories of Wade Boggs. Wade was a sweet swinging lefthander and an on base machine before on base percentage was sexy. He was also known as a selfish player who could calculate his batting average on the way to first base after a hit. He was also criticized for taking too many pitches and refusing to enlarge his strike zone to try to get a hit in a key situation. He was just as happy to take a walk. He was also raked over the coals by refusing to swing for the fences because he knew it would hurt his batting average. (He was usually in single digits in homers other than 1987 when he crushed 24 just to show he could do it if he wanted to).

"Selfish" Boggs only went on to win 5 batting titles, got his World Series Championship with the Yankmees in 1996 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004.

The real issue most people have with Drew is the salary. 15 million a year for Drew? Outrageous. And it is. But as I have said before, who cares? It's not our money. If Theo had signed him for $5 million a year would everyone feel better? How about $10 million? The fact is that Drew is a solid player and a borderline star. The fact that John Henry is throwing too many Benjamins at him is not his fault nor our concern. All we should care about are W's and Drew can help the Sox get more of them than if Trot were in the lineup.

We'll all miss Trot. And I'm not saying that Drew is going to the Hall of Fame, but I believe by the end of the season, we will be more than satisfied that replacing him with Drew was the obvious move.

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Setting the Bar

There has been much speculation regarding what kind of numbers we can expect from Daisuke Matsuzaka in his first season in the American League. Some are expecting Pedro from the '99 All-Star game or coming out of the bullpen in Cleveland, and others expect the young righty to be Boston's Hideki Irabu. I think its safe to say his actual production will fall somewhere between these two extremes.

I personally have set the benchmark for a successful season from the 26-year old at Josh Beckett's 2006 line. The Texan suffered a difficult transition out of the National League at the same age and put up the following line:

16-11 in 33 starts
5.01 ERA
158 Ks
74 BBs
204.2 innings pitched
153 hits allowed
120 runs allowed (114 earned)
10 hit batsmen
1.295 WHIP

Although Beckett was incredibly frustrating to watch at times, these numbers are not terrible for a younger pitcher in the American League East. I think Matsuzaka will put up a much more steady season (devoid of the highs and lows to which Beckett is subject) which will start out hot and slowly trend downwards as the hitters across the league learn of his style.

(Incidentally, I keep forgetting that a.) last year was Beckett's first in Boston and b.) he's only 27. I think this guy is going to have a very solid bounce-back season this year and be the new Schilling by the time he's 30.)

As for a ceiling for Matsuzaka, how do these numbers look:

19-7 in 33 starts
2.89 ERA
251 Ks
67 BBs
233.2 innings pitched
188 hits allowed
82 runs allowed (75 earned)
8 hit batsmen
1.091 WHIP

That was another foreign 26 year old's line in his first season in Boston. He ended up finishing the season as an all-star, the runner-up for the Cy Young and even got a handful of MVP votes. And I don't think Daisuke could be any better than that.

So I want another Pedro Martinez. Can you blame me?

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Six Man Rotation? Why Not?

It was almost a throwaway line from Curt Schilling during a lengthy interview on Sunday.

"We have a chance to have the best rotation in baseball," Schilling said. "We need to be healthy. That's every club. It's just a matter of getting out of Florida with the same five guys you started with. I think we have almost a six-man rotation, depending on how Jonny [Lester] comes along."

Six man rotation? Great idea. Why not?

Look, the job of a coach or manager is to maximize a team's strengths while minimizing its weaknesses. The Sox starting pitching is clearly its strength. The bullpen, despite its cast of thousands, is suspect at best, especially in the endgame. As Lester continues to show everyone he is ready to go and needs no special handling, management is beginning to realize he will not be bedridden until July. The young lefty is going to force their hand.

What are they going to do with him? Send him down to Pawtucket? Put him in long relief? There aren't many choices. The logical one, as predicted by yours truly last week, is to put Pap back in the closer's role where he belongs and slot Lester as the number five starter. But if they persist on this idiotic charade that Timlin or Tavarez or Calvin Schiraldi or Heathcliff Slocumb is going to burst out of a burning tomatoe plant in the bullpen and sieze the closer's job, then Schilling's idea has some merit.

First of all, let's understand that the five man rotation didn't come down from Sinai on stone tablets. Until the early seventies, all teams used a four man rotation. Period. The Dodgers were the first to go with five men because they had some health concerns with their their staff (sound familiar?) and they wanted to lessen the workload for them. Well if a five man rotation is easier on pitchers than a four man rotation, wouldn't a six man rotation be better than a five-man rotation? For years the Sox tried to give Pedro five days rest between starts as often as they could and he was only the best pitcher in baseball for about four years when they did it.

So let's look at the Sox starting rotation. You have two guys in their fourties, one coming off a serious injury last year (Wakefield) and the other (Schilling) only a year removed from a debilitating ankle injury. Do you think an extra day's rest between starts would keep them healthy all year? Another (Paplebon) is coming off a scary moment late last season when his arm basically came out of its socket and now managment is so concerned they won't let him close. So if they are that worried about his shoulder condition, how about giving him five days of rest between starts instead of four. As for Lester, they have stated they want "to bring him along slowly." How much slower could you bring him along than having him pitch once every six days? Then you have Matsusaka who has only ever known a six man rotation, so keeping him on that schedule should help him acclimate to the majors more than a masseuse or 10 trips back to Japan. That leaves Beckett, who would benefit from fewer starts by saving the strain on his neck as he would have to jerk around and follow fewer gopher throughout the season.

They could start with the six man rotation and if someone goes down, they would revert to a five if they have to. So what's wrong with being an innovator? Most teams wouldn't consider a six man rotation because they barely have enough pitchers for a five man rotation. Who would the Yankees tab as their sixth starter? Bernie Williams, perhaps? But thanks to the Sox' $160 million payroll, they have an embarassment of riches in their starters. They should exploit that reservoir of talent. Instead of having them each pitch six or seven innings every fifth day, let them throw seven or eight innings every sixth day. Talk about shortening the game. Then Tito could bring in new closer Dennis Eckersley and call it a day.

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Arod's Contract with the Reporters

"Let's make a contract; you don't ask about Derek anymore, and I promise I'll stop lying to you."
-Alex Rodriguez negotiating with reporters, February 19.

I'm sure Cap'n Jetes is thrilled with his teammate's newfound honesty, which will surely make for a pleasant spring training down at Legend's Field. Combined with the MIA musician and part-time designated hitter Bernie Wiliams, the celebratory season-opening DUI arrest of the heir to the Steinbrennerian throne Steve Swindal, Mike Mussina questioning Carl Pavano's manhood, and the frowny-faces being made by Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, who are both in the last year of their contracts, the pinstriped circus tent in Florida makes a tardy Manny Ramirez and an as-yet-unlabeled mix of young and old relievers in the Sox pen seem like hardly a problem at all.

This social dysfunction in Yankee camp is quite a departure from the corporate clubhouse we have come to expect from our rivals to the south. Sure, we've never exactly seen great character guys in the Bronx clubhouse, but traditionally they simply coexist and win a bunch of baseball games. In dumping two of their more pronounced clubhouse cancers (Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson), one would think they'd be a step up this season...and yet it appears anarchy is beginning to take hold.

My greatest fear is this unrest may not be the worst thing for the ballclub. The corporate paycheck-collectors haven't won anything in the post-season in six years, and many pundits point a finger at the lack of collective fire that has buoyed teams like the 2004 Boston Red Sox. The unrest and friction we are seeing now could be slowly molded into a prime unifying and motivating factor as this unquestionably talented team moves forward.

Fortunately, I think Joe Torre hasn't been up for a task of this magnitude in about a decade. I think the problems in the Yanks clubhouse will continue to boil over until Brian Cashman is forced to step in and take the reigns, perhaps swinging a big deal to shake up the clubhouse and improve the chemistry in a fell swoop that will right the ballclub and set them up for another season of October baseball.

On the other hand, maybe Cashman could just make a new contract with ARod to shut the hell up and cobble together some timely at-bats; the third baseman sure seems to be in a negotiating mood.

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Foulke Hero

The news out of Cleveland last Friday that Keith Foulke has retired due to injuries and will not be reporting to the Indians was greeted by Sox Nation with general apathy and more than a few healthy shots of "Good Riddance."

That's unfortunate.

Yes, in his last two years in Boston, Foulke managed to make himself more hated than a Republican at a Hillary Clinton rally. But we shouldn't lose sight of one thing: The Sox would be approaching 90 years without a World Championship if not for the cantankerous closer.

His 2004 regular season was impressive enough with 61 games finished, 32 saves, 83 innings pitched and a 2.17 ERA but the real payoff came in the posteaseaon. In 14 innings against the Angels, Yankmees and Cardinals, Foulke allowed only one run, a sparkling 0.64 ERA. He appeared in 11 of the 14 postseason games including all four World Series contests.

With his assortment of soft stuff and pinpoint location - so anti-Paplebon's fire and lightning- you always came away from one of his saves asking yourself how he did it. However there was no questioning his results. And as long as he continued to get people out, no one cared that his personality was as warm and fuzzy as a porcupine's.

Then came 2005 and 2006 and the injuries. His fall from grace began when he said he enjoyed being the closer on the first and fiftheenth of the month (paydays) and that he would do interviews with anyone if they game him a free truck (a reference to his compensation for his weekly gig on WEEI). He slid further down the slippery slope with his now-infamous remark after being booed lustily that he didn't care what "Johnny from Burger King" thought. But in hindsight, I think the thing that ulitmately killed his relationship with the fan base was his admission that he really didn't like baseball and wouldn't watch it if he wasn't playing. In a time and place where people live for the next baseball game and the Red Sox have become 24/7/365, that was the unforgivable sin. Not like baseball? Heresy.

No, Foulke will never evoke fond words when his name comes up in future conversations regarding the Sox. Ironically, though, he will be forever linked to our ultimate joyous memory whenever we again watch the replay of number 29 fielding that grounder in St. Louis, underhanding to Mientkiewicz and turning to catch a leaping Tek.

I think we would all be well served to remember him that way.

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When Mike Mussina calls you out...

Nutless Yankee hurler Mike Mussina grabbed some headlines this week when he called out Carl Pavano for not "showing enough guts" in his effort to retake the hill for the pinstripes, saying Pavano has a long way to go before he regains the confidence of his teammates.

On the one hand, I suppose its about time Pavano got called out; he has put up a 4.77 ERA and a 4-6 record over 100 innings the past two seasons while collecting a tidy $17 million dollars. On the other hand, Mussina is notorious for not wanting to grab front-page headlines or shoulder the burden of being a number one starter. Guess he's hoping Pavano will regain his old form and become the staff ace, as otherwise it looks like Mussina will be the top dog of a suddenly vulnerable staff featuring Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, and Kei Igawa. Signing Clemens would drop the Yankees staff into a neat order, with Clemens penciled in at #1 and the rest of the pitchers falling into place after that; how telling is it that Clemens would probably be a #3 in Boston?

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Manny's My Man

Folksinger Joni Mitchell (forgive the aging Gammons music reference) once sang "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone." When it comes to Manny Ramirez, I have finally come around to the fact that I don't want him to leave, and thankfully he didn't have to go for me to realize what we have.

Yes, Junior in NY referenced in his last post that I will at some point want to get rid of Manny. However, the boy and I haven't actually discussed this issue recently and I haven't had the chance to tell him that I have seen the light when it comes to the human hitting machine. Yea I was ticked off when Manny basically gave up on his team last season because he lost interest, but isn't that what most of us did after the Yankees came in and cleaned our clock in August? But as the trade winds swirled in December and it really looked like Theo was going to give Manny up for 75 cents on the dollar, I came to realize what a mistake it would be for him to go. The Sox lineup without Manny was truly frightful, and just the thought of it shook me to my senses.

Sure he is a pain in the rosin bag. Yes he can be counted on to go off the deep end and cause a scene at some point in the season. And I still think he will be late reporting, but hey, it's Tito's stomach lining that he will be destroying, not mine. Besides, you know he will put up the best numbers of any righthanded hitter in the game again this year, and enable Big Papi to continue ripping it up. Manny isn't the first pampered superstar to require special handling and he won't be the last. At least his production warrants his favorite son treatment. Plus you know with all the drama, he'll still play more games than JD Drew.

So I'm on board. I've drunk the Kool Aid. No Manny rants from me any more. Manny can do no wrong. Play when you want as long as when you do play, you continue to put the fear of God in opposing pitchers.

I know what we've got and you didn't have to go for me to realize it. Manny, just be Manny.

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Pitchers and catchers report

It has been almost six months since the devestating "Boston Massacre" ended the Sox hopes for 2006, and today the hurting can finally come to an end. Pitchers and catchers are reporting to Fort Myers for six weeks of soft toss, meaningless exhibition games, and golf. Meanwhile, those of us buried under snow in the Northeast will have six weeks of sporadic media coverage to hope and dream and predict what the upcoming season holds.

As the predictions for spring training have already been submitted from Boston, I'll play soothsayer and make ten spring training predictions of my own, for the sake of healthy competition. Please note this column would have been up yesterday, but certain other contributors to this website have grown complacent at their beat writing gigs and decided to take an extra day. We'll work through it though...if I show rust in the next ten picks, blame the extra day of rest.

1. Jon Lester will NOT break camp with the big club. This man has been in chemotherapy for months and months, and the fact that he has even made it to Florida is a minor miracle. In addition, the front office has shown great restraint in putting too many pitches on these young arms, and Lester will be the most carefully handled commodity on the roster. Barring a rash of devestating injuries to the bullpen, Lester will head to Portland or Pawtucket to regain the arm strength required of a starter, and we will see him coming out of the bullpen as a swingman/sixth starter after the All-Star break.

2. Joel Pineiro will head north as the de facto closer. I think Theo is taking another shot at the Bullpen by Commitee this season. The difference between the 2003 and 2007 BBC models, however, is that this year's pen has the versatility and talent to pull off such an arrangement, and we have a manager who will read the reports coming from upstairs and enact them accordingly. Pineiro will have the closer title, but all arms will be on deck in late inning situations.

3. Coco Crisp will have a miserable spring and will be the subject of trade rumors. Crisp played miserably last season, and although he had a terrible series of injuries befall him, we mustn't forget that he really isn't all that good. He is only 27, but he will push himself too hard this spring and knock him off his game. Crisp's very moveable contract, combined with excellent camps turned in by Dr. Wily Mo Pena and Jacoby Ellsbury (who won't get the ticket to Kansas City but will raise some eyebrows), will make Crisp an expendable commodity.

4. Tom in Boston will make at least one passing reference on this website that the Sox would be better off trading Manny for bucket of baseballs.

5. Curt Schilling will become the gaijin darling of the Japanese media. You wanna talk about Daisuke? He'll talk about that. You wanna talk about the American League? He'll talk about that. You wanna talk about his extension? You know he'll talk about that.

6. They may not be the talk of camp, but Brendan Donnelly and Hideki Okajima will solidly establish themselves as the set-up tandem of this bullpen. Last year with the Angels, Donnelly put up a 3.94 ERA over 64 innings. The lefty Okajima earned a 2.14 ERA and struck out 63 over 55 innings with my favorite Nippon Pro Baseball franchise, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters; Donnelly will be 35 this year and Okajima 31. I picture these two guys becoming the equivalent of Mike Timlin and Alan Embree for the 2003 Sox, who anchored the 7th and 8th innings that year for 139 innings of 4.24 ERA baseball. (Remember, "Timlin in the eighth, Williamson in the ninth?" Grady didn't.)

7. Screw the Twins. Santana will look good on the Mets in two years.

8. Beckett and Papelbon will become inseperable this spring, much like when Fulton Reed and Dean Portman led the Mighty Ducks to victory at the Junior Goodwill Games. Daisuke Matsuzaka will play the role of Kenny Wu.

9. Red Sox Nation will demand George Kotteras get a plane ticket to Kansas City instead of Dougie Mirabelli, but Greek-Canadian backstop will end up on the bus to Portland with Jon Lester.

10. Beckett will get hammered all spring, and the media will be all over him. He'll go over all the old cliches and say he's working on his control or a new pitch or something of that order. These claims, however will be true, and his poor March ERA will be forgotten by Patriot's Day.

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Footnotes in Sox History

We are clearly at the epicenter of the most dynamic Red Sox interest explosion in history. And as if the current hysteria wasn’t at a high enough level, we have Matsuzaka Mania about to strike and take things to new, unimagined heights. In the past five years, everything the Sox do is documented, discussed and dissected on radio, TV and online. All information is available 24/7.

But as is usually the case in this era of information overload and instant gratification, all the information is of recent vintage. Over the years, many traditions and tidbits regarding Boston baseball have slowly faded away and are no longer common knowledge to the noveau-Sox fans. I felt it was my duty to rectify that by cataloguing some interesting facts of Sox days gone by that might be of interest to today’s citizens of Sox Nation.

For anyone over the age of 45, much of this list will resurrect youthful memories following the Sox. For those of you younger that that, well, think of this as arcane trivia you can spring on an unsuspecting friend to win a beer in a bar bet. Either way, enjoy.

Seven Footnotes in Red Sox History

1. Scottsdale, Arizona. This one is particularly apropos as we begin another spring training. Anyone under age 25 only knows Fort Myers as the spring home of the Sox. If you are 40 or under, you will remember that prior to the move to their present home in 1993, the Sox played their spring training games at Chain-O-Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Florida. But you’d have to be pushing the half century mark to remember that in the early sixties, the Sox spent the months of February and March playing in the Cactus League in Scottsdale Arizona. From 1955 to 1966, Teddy Ballgame, Yaz and then Tony C. spent their springs in the Arizona desert. For extra bonus points, you can throw out that the Sox most exotic spring training locale was Medford, Massachusetts, where the home town team trained from 1943-45 during World War II.

2. Patriot’s Day Doubleheader. Everyone knows that the Sox annually have the earliest starting time in all of baseball with their 11 am game on Patriot’s Day. (This year the time has been moved up even further, to 10 am in conjunction with an earlier Boston Marathon start.) But have you ever wondered why the early start? For many years, the Sox played a double header on Patriot’s Day, which occurred on April 19 regardless of which day of the week that happened to be. (This was before the convenient Monday holiday was invented.) The first game would start at 11 am in order for it to end in time for the fans to get to Kenmore Square to watch the lead Marathoners gasp through. After watching the race for a bit, the fans would go back into the park for “the nightcap” another ancient term for the second game of a doubleheader. Obviously this tradition could never be resurrected since no one plays doubleheaders anymore. Even if they did, with the way hitters work the pitchers now, fans hanging in for the four hour first game would get to Kenmore in time to watch Johnny from Burger King passing through.

3. Bat Day. It’s hard to imagine for those of you who have spent hours in the seventh ring of hell known as the Red Sox Virtual Waiting room trying to get obstructed view tickets to an April night game against Kansas City, but in the sixties, the Sox actually had empty seats at Fenway. Lots of them, actually. In order to put fannies in those seats, the team used to run quaint little events called “promotions”. If you have satellite radio or have heard broadcasts from other teams, you may have heard of these. The team actually offers something of value to fans to get people to buy tickets. I heard one for Tampa Bay where they offered free Devil Ray duffle bags to the first 10,000 fans into the park. Well the Sox actually had to do these in the sixties and the best one as far as us kids were concerned was Bat Day. Every kid that was able to get a ticket to the game was given a Louisville Slugger bat autographed (well stamped actually) by a Red Sox player (I still remember my Jose Tartabull model. The little right fielder was a .261 lifetime so having his bat perfectly matched the futility of my “career”.). These were not the silly little mini bats you see today, but full sized versions that we would actually take home and use in our pickup games. In fact this was the only way most of us would ever get a bat. It was usually a Saturday afternoon game (remember those) and kids would look to fathers, uncles, Little League coaches or whoever to get to those games and get their bats. The best scene happened somewhere in the middle of the game when Sherm Feller would announce Bat Day and tell everyone to raise their bats. A forest of wooden bats would spring up and cover the whole park. It was an awesome sight. And no one whacked each other with the bats either. Today, the government would mandate that helmets be handed out with each bat.

4. Curt Gowdy, Ken Coleman & Ned Martin. My boys have often been subjected to me cursing like a maniac at the car radio during a Sox game. Whether it’s Joe and Jerry going for long stretches of time before giving a score or Joe announcing a routine flyball like it’s about to bounce off the Prudential tower these two are among the worst broadcasters ever. Thank God Trup - who I am sure is a decent family man and nice guy but just a terrible announcer – has finally been let go. I finally realized my problem is that I was spoiled growing up by having the Sox games described to me by three of the best ever to speak into a microphone – Curt Gowdy, Ken Coleman and Ned Martin. Gowdy started his career in Boston and in the mid sixties left for NBC where he became one of the top network announcer doing baseball, football, basketball , the Olympics and anything else they handed him. Coleman took over for him and had the honor of taking us through the magical Impossible Dream summer of 1967. Ned Martin started as Gowdy’s color man and went on to do play by play both on the radio and TV through the early nineties. They were the best. Interesting side note. In the sixties, WHDH owned the radio and TV rights to the Sox, so they used the the same three man team of announcers to do both. First it was Gowdy, Martin and Mel Parnell, a former Sox pitcher who trained at the Grady Little School of Speaking Like You Have A Mouth Full of Marbles. Then it was Coleman, Martin and Parnell. Gowdy would do the first three innings on TV while Martin did the radio. In the fourth inning, Curt would go to “the radio side” and Martin would come and do the TV. Talk about cost containment.

5. Gansett Beer. Speaking of broadcasts, one of the main sponsors of the Sox in the sixties was Narragansett Lager Beer, brewed locally in Rhode Island. Their tag line was “Hi, neighbor, Have a Gansett." Their most memorable commercials were a series of clever cartoons extolling the virtues of Gansett in a comical way. One featured the famous Parakeet Bar, another featured a dog who helped his owner win a bet - and a Gansett - by being able to talk. Another featured a cowboy who came into a bar and tried to buy a beer for himself and his horse. I actually found this one on YouTube. Click and take a look back at what television advertising was like forty years ago. I think they were ahead of their time.

6. The Jimmy Fund Game. Before interleague play, the only time you got to see a National League team was on NBC's Game of the Week or in the World Series. You could see some of the National League players in the Allstar Game. For Sox fans, there was one other time. That was the annual Jimmy Fund exhibition game between the Red Sox and the Milwaukee and then Atlanta Braves. The Braves actually started the Jimmy Fund but when they left Boston in the late fifties, the Red Sox took it over as their official charity. Once a year, usually in June, during an off day for both team, the Braves would come to Fenway to play the Sox with the proceeds going to the Jimmy Fund. It was only an exhibition, but both teams played to win. The big Braves' sluggers of the time – Hank Aaron, Eddie Matthews, Joe Adcock and Rico Carty fairly drooled when they got a glimpse of the short left field wall. They really enjoyed batting practice and spent the whole game trying to jerk the ball into the net over the left field wall (by the way...the net will be the younger generation’s footnote in a few years).

7. The Plain Road Grays. Up until the mid-seventies, the Red Sox road uniforms were as colorful as prison garb. Flannel gray, with dark, navy blue block letters proclaiming “Boston” on the front and a plain dark block number on the back. The only red on the entire uniform was the red stripe at the top of the old stirrup hose the Sox used to wear. Most players pulled up their socks so high, that the color was invisible, so the only hint of red was in the “B” on the cap. In the mid seventies, the Sox switched to fashionable double knits and added the same typeface for “Boston” as they used for “Red Sox” on their home unis. They added the red around the type and trim and the belted area of the pants. No buttons, these babies were pull over v neck jobs. Take a look at some old pictures of the 75 World Series to get an idea of what these looked like. In the early eighties, they actually switched back to the plain road grays for a while (see a weeping Wade Boggs in the dugout following Game Six in the 1986 World Series.) In the early nineties they adopted the road uniforms they wear today complete with names on the back. I bet they’re a lot less itchy than the old ones.

Okay. Enough nostalgia. I don’t know why, but useless trivia like that intrigues me so I had to get it out of my system. Now back to the future. Pitchers and Catchers and 4000 media members from Japan report today and Spring Training is officially under way. Spring is here.

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Exit Sandman?

One of my favorite things about living in the city is walking past the newsstand in the morning before I've turned on a television or checked my email and learning of the latest world news from a blaring and usually tasteless headline slapped across either of the New York daily rags. Today was no exception, as I quickly perked up upon seeing Yankees closer Mariano Rivera pumping his fist on the back of the Daily News next to the headline:

"CLOSING TIME: Mo ready to bolt if Yanks don't show him respect"

I'll have to admit I got a kick out of seeing the old r-word bandied about on the headlines again. I wonder if these pitchers from Central America all go to the same translator for their press conferences, and for some reason "dinero" and "respeto" have had their definitions switched.

One of the things that is always highlighted when talking about the Yankees' ridiculous string of AL East championships is the unbelievable security Joe Torre has when the pinstripes take a lead into the late innings. Imagine if that security is gone going into the 2008 season? Obviously the Yanks would pony up for a top flight closer...but that closer could never be on Rivera's plane.

On the other hand, the Yankees have no desire to see the alleged-37-year-old pitch anywhere but in the Bronx. They put an irrationally high premium on seeing their top stars retire in the same uniform they've spent their entire career; we need to look no further than Bernie Williams to see that they will give up a roster spot and a stipend to guys based exclusively on past performance and willfully ignore the fact that by the end of last season they were carrying approximately 15 outfielders and 3 designated hitters on the major league roster. Williams is also holding out this spring, and the Yanks will probably sign him back up. Why? They'll say tradition, but I don't buy it. If I were a fan of that club, I would want to emphasize the part of tradition where they won championships and not so much the part where their backup center fielder hasn't been able to tie his own shoelaces since Mets trade chip Lastings Milledge was a sophomore in high school.

But, as Rivera points out, this entire issue will come down to "respect." And we all know the Yankees will always be the most "respectful" team in the league when it comes down to crunch time.

Because no one else would use their extra "respect" to lure a Central American first-ballot Hall-of-Famer to their club. No one else would be willing to take a loss in trading their incumbent blue-chip closer with 2 years and $21.5 million remaining on his contract to have "Enter Sandman" as the musical interlude into the bottom of the ninth inning as they play their final season in Shea Stadium. No one else would look at an allegedly-38-year-old free agent closer and place more emphasis on the face that will be splashed across the back pages of some major metropolitan newspapers than on the arm that will have almost 1,000 innings on it by that point. Right?

I can see the headlines already.

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What Might Have Been

Revisionist history can be tricky. Especially when it comes to sports teams where one move made or another not made can have a dramatic effect on the fortunes of a franchise. That doesn’t mean we can’t do it and that it isn’t a lot of fun. It can also spark some interesting debates. Okay, you talked me into it. Let’s do it.

Theo (and his temporary replacements during the gorilla phase) and the trio have taken some buffeting in the past few years over the way they heartlessly broke up “The 25” who finally brought home a Red Sox World Championship. What other choice did they have? Well, let’s consider what would have happened had the Sox brass taken another tack. We’ll call it the “let’s milk the stars we have for all they’re worth until we run the franchise into the ground” strategy which the Celtics employed to such rave results in the late 80’s and early 90’s. What would have been the result for the Sox had that special ‘04 club been kept intact?

Let's find out. The following is a hypothetical preview of the 2007 season had the Sox maintained such a “stay the course” strategy. For your consideration…what might have been.

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AGING, EXPENSIVE SOX SHOULD CONTEND IN ‘07

Featuring one of the oldest (31.6 years average) and second richest ($154 million) 25 man rosters in the majors, the 2007 Red Sox figure to be a top contender to capture their second World Series championship in the last four years.

Should the everyday lineup and the AARP starting rotation hold up over a grueling six month grind, there is no question that the Sox will be in the mix at the end of the season. That’s a big if, however, considering there will only be one Sox starter under 30 (28 year old third baseman Kevin Youkilis) and the starting rotation will feature two forty year olds and will average almost 35 years old. But those are worries for another day. Let’s take a look at the line up and see what we can expect from this veteran club in 07.

First base: Todd Helton (33, $12.6 mil with Colorado eating $4 million of the contract). This is a major upgrade which should pay dividends. Yes it was tough to part with Julian Tavarez, Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen to get him last month, but help was desperately needed here. The platoon of Kevin Millar and Youkilis the past two years has proven to be a bust and Millar’s constant whining about sharing time with Youk finally took its toll on the clubhouse. It was time to let Millar move on and even if Helton slips a little, the Sox are in much better shape here than the past two years.

Second base: Hanley Ramirez (23, $350K) One of the few places in the roster that features both youth and economy. Last season's decision to bring Ramirez up and hand him the second base job rather than having him rot in the minors was a master stroke. Hanley’s .292 average and sparkling defensive play were only a couple of reasons the youngster ran away with the AL Rookie of the Year award. With a year of experience under his belt, the exciting youngster will only get better this season.

Shortstop: Orlando Cabrera (32, $8.5 millon) Theo’s decision to lock up O-Cab for four years after '04 continues to look inspired. Instead of trying to lure in one of the more sexy free agent choices, the Sox knew what they had in the sparkplug Cabrera and decided he was the answer. Cabrera thrives in the Fenway hothouse and continues to provide solid defense and timely hitting. The chemistry with Ramirez will only get better in year two which gives the Sox a solid double play combination.

Third Base: Youkilis (28, 400K). With "The Pro" Bill Mueller finally breaking down last year and retiring following four great years in Boston, Youk will finally have a position to call his own. Youk is an onbase machine and showed during Mueller’s long absences last year that he can play solid defense at the hot corner.

Left Field: Manny Ramirez (34, $18 million). As long as Manny continues to be Manny, things will be fine. Yes there will be outbursts and drama, but at the end of the year, Manny will put up the best numbers of any righthanded hitter in the majors.

Center Field: Johnny Damon (33, $13 million). One can only shudder to think how history would have been changed if Theo hadn’t swooped in at the end of the ’05 season with a preemptive 52 million offer strike that took Damon off the free agent board and locked him up through ’09. The Yanks were drooling to get their hands on him but instead of ripping out the heart and soul of the Sox and plugging a gaping hole in their line up, the Bombers have struggled with an aging Bernie Williams, injury prone Torri Hunter and not ready for prime time Melky Cabrera. Meanwhile “In Johnny we Trust” as the Cavemen continues to grow his hair, run through walls, get on base regularly and inspire, cajole or embarrass Manny to play over 150 games every year.

Right Field: J. D. Drew (31, $14 million). Tough one here as the Sox finally said good bye to Trot Nixon and obscenely overpaid to replace him. Of course it’s not our money, so if Drew stays healthy, he will definitely put up better numbers than Trot. And no one can argue that Damon, OC, Ortiz, Ramirez, Drew is not a frightening prospect for opposing pitchers.

Catcher: Jason Varitek (35, $10 million). Yes, Theo overspent to keep the captain, but overall money well spent considering the options either in free agency or within the organization. Kelly Shoppach will be a solid number two and should be able to take over should Tek go down.

DH: David Ortiz (32, $7.75 million). Only the best. Theo’s most imspired pick up and the key to this lineup. Still in his prime and should put up eyepopping numbers again.

Reserves: Theo should get jail time for the heist of Alex Cora (31, $2 million) for Ramon Vasquez. Dave Roberts (34, $6 million) is the best fourth outfielder in baseball even though he is a bit pricy. Dustin Pedroia (22, $350K) in the infield and David Murphy (25, $350K) in the outfield provide much needed youth and payroll relief.

Starting pitching:
Curt Shilling (40, $13 million). The Big Schill had a nice bounceback year in ’06 and should continue to maintain his status as ace this year. He has lost a little off his velocity but he still has outstanding command and the guts to get big hitters out.

Daisuke Matsusaka (26, $8.6 million) The loss of Pedro until August could have been a devastating blow, but the Sox just threw more money at the problem to land the Dice man. The move infuses the rotation with some youth and talent and paves the way for D-Mat to take over as the Ace when Schill and Pedro move on.

Derek Lowe (33, $9 million). D-Lowe struggled with his alcohol problem in '05, but that seems to be behind him now as he settles in for another solid year of 12-15 wins and clutch performances in the post season. The four year $32 million looked like too big a deal two years ago, but with the Gil Meche’s of the world pulling down $11 million, D-Lowe has turned out to be a bargain.

Tim Wakefield (40, $4 million). Talk about bargains. Wake will again eat up 200 innings and get 10-15 wins and would be worth it at double the price.

Bronson Arroyo (30, $3.7 million). Another valuable asset that Theo has to be glad he held on to. With the age of the staff, it is crucial to have a reliable, durable innings eater like Arroyo to plug into the rotation when they need him. Once Pedro comes back, Bronson can move back to the bullpen for the stretch run or be available to plug in should any of the other old timers break down.

Pedro Martinez (35, $15.1 million). After a great '05 Petey broke down last year as most felt he would, but early reports are he should be back by midseason. If he can bring anything back to the table, he will be a better upgrade than any help that might be available at the trading deadline.

Bullpen:

Jonathan Papelbon (27, $450,000). The best closer in the league will be back and is the key to the Sox relief corps. With the solid middle relief last season, Pap only had to come in for one inning at a time which allowed him to hold up well over the season. Look for another lights out year in ’07.

Mike Timlin (41, $2.8 million). A little long in the tooth, but still a steady influence to help bridge the gap from the starters to Pap.

Jon Lester (23, $400K). With Arroyo in the starting rotation, Lester will be asked to come in and fill this role. Even though he is coming off the cancer scare last year, Lester benefited greatly from starting all year at Pawtucket before his illness. He is now ready and will plug a big hole in the late innings. Plus he will be able to step into the rotation should the need arise. Once Pedro is back, Arroyo jumps back here to make the late game relief as good as any in the majors.

Mike Myers (37, $1.2 millioin) Economical, effective left hander. Myers is crucial in helping to hose down top heavy lefty lineups like the Yanks. He proved that last season in that crucial five game series in August where he appeared in four of five games as the Sox swept the Yanks out of town.

Hideki Okajima (30, $1.2 million). You can never have enough lefties with the Yankees as your main rival. Imagine facing the Bombers in a crucial series without effective left handed pitching? It would be ugly. Okajima provides veteran experience and will help Matsusaka with the transition to baseball in the US.

So there you have it. Old? Yes. Overpaid? Maybe. But the results speak for themselves. If they can keep the injuries to a minimum there is no reason the Sox can’t win their third straight AL East title and cruise into the post season for the fifth straight year.

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An interesting sidenote that I didn't realize until I completed the article. The real Sox roster in '07 will come in at just about the same salary as my mythical one. The question: Which $160 million team would you rather have going into this season?

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Being a Red Sox fan is hard enough.

The history of heartache that dogged this franchise for the 86 years between World Championships has caused mental scarring in many members of the senior members of Red Sox Nation.

As Exhibit A in this category of irreparably damaged fanatics, I would like to present to the public the man who taught me the game: my father. In his world, the sky is always falling on the Olde Towne Team, and unfortunately he has been right every season but one. This lack of faith is so ingrained in his person that I can't tell whether it has been passed on to me by nature or nurture; either way, I have also been afflicted.

Growing up in New England, you find yourself surrounded by thousands of otherwise rational people who maintain this irrational love for the local nine. Red Sox logos are everywhere. You see so many team hats and T-shirts in daily life that an outsider would have to assume they constitute some kind of dress code. We are all Patriots fans as well...but I will never forget hearing the sports talk radio conversations in Boston being dominated by hot stove talk as the Pats prepared to take on the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. Baseball comes first, and baseball means the Sox.

This total immersion, however, fosters what amounts to a really unhealthy relationship between true fans and the ballclub. When the Sox lose, the region slows down; if someone asks you what is bothering you, "f'ing Sox" is a perfectly understandable answer. We've all heard that misery loves company, but who knew there was enough company to fill six states?

In this cocoon of Sox self-loathing, we at least can lean on each other for support. If fans of rival franchises try to pile on, we will always be able to outnumber them; we may not really believe that Mo Vaughn was a better hitter than Don Mattingly, but if you get enough people yelling in the right direction you'll at least get the other fan to shut up and/or go away.

Imagine, if you will, that one morning you wake up to find this comfy security blanket has been ripped off in the night. And also that your landlord turned off the heat. And took your clothes. And its February.

That's what it was like to move to New York City.

The bold crimson B's have been replaced on every hat by the pentagram-esque interlaced "NY." Self-depreciation has been replaced in the fan base by self-aggrandizement. No one knows who the Standells are, and Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens aren't the heroes you grew up imitating in your backyard but instead mercenaries who came down 95 to pick up their rings.

And everybody hates the Red Sox. And the asshole wearing the Sox hat in Times Square.

It isn't easy being Sox fan in New York, but keeping in touch with those still safe in their security blankets makes life easier. For now, the Big Apple and the Hub are united in their eagerness to begin a new season.

Pitchers and catchers report in five days.

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New York? New York?

He could have gone anywhere else and it would have been fine. New York. Why New York?

Okay so I guess if you have chosen to work in the world of theater, you must be in New York. That part is understandable. But along with Broadway, comes the Yankees. The New York Yankees. Damn Yankees. The MF Yankees.

He's holding up well though. After a year, he still bleeds Red Sox red (hail Curt Schilling) and he is holding up beneath the constant barrage of Yankeeness. I try to help with regular updates from back home. He provides interesting insight of the rivalry from behind enemy lines. Together, we work through it.

Which is what these missives will be all about. Just a father and son, inbred in Red Sox tradition, both good (recent) and bad (past) trading thought on the home town team - the Sox. or Sawx as we say back here. I raised Kevin to be a Red Sox fan and a Yankee hater. I'm proud to say it looks like I did a good job.

I was never heavy handed about it (okay I probably was), but thank God he turned out right. Which is why I don't worry that he spends every waking hour immersed in Yankee propaganda.
His roots are solid. He will survive.

Just a word about the title of the blog. Yes I coached Kevin throughout his youth baseball career but I was never THAT bad. Although I must admit forcing him to catch Jason Pokrant and Evan Protosawicki when he was only 11 in his first year in the Little League majors was probably over the top. I do regret that episode. But overall I think we bonded quite well as father and son, coach and catcher.

But enough of us. This is about the Sox. The excitement is about to begin. THE EQUIPMENT TRUCK LEFT TODAY FOR FORT MYERS! Spring training is right around the corner.

So let's start with some predicitons. The following will happen in the next six weeks.

1. Jon Lester will break camp and head north with the big club as the fifth starter.
2. Jonathan Papelbon will start the season as the the closer
3. J. D. Drew will miss at least several days of workouts due to a minor injury.
4. Manny will be late arriving to camp.
5. Schilling will be signed to an extension.
6. Devern Hansack will be the talk of camp
7. The Twins will win the Mayor's Trophy
8. Manny will volunteer to take a long bus ride to play in an exhibition game he could have skipped.
9. David Murphy will be mentioned in more than one trade rumor
10. Daisuke will get hammered in an early exhibition game and a Boston writer will question the signing (my guess would be Silverman or Shaugnessey).

Keep score at home and see how I do.

But enough for now. Let the games begin.

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