The spring's first taste of the Crimson Hose

Being an out-of-market fan during the sparsely televised Spring Training season means living through reporters, bloggers, and message boards to get my baseball fix until Opening Day. My only opportunity to see the Olde Towne Team strutting their stuff this spring is during this evening's Yankees/Red Sox showdown.

So I hustled home from work, brandishing my Sox hat on the express train to really get in the mood. I ran up the stairs, flipped on the Steinbrenner's propaganda network YES, and was greeted with one of the classic signs of spring...

...a New Jersey Nets pregame show.

I realize that its just spring training, but how can you not figure out a way to get the first Yankees/Red Sox showdown of the season on live television? As it was, I bitched and fumed about how obviously New York is a second-tier baseball town until the 11 o'clock tape delayed start time. Absolutely disgusting. Good thing this city has eight sports teams - the better to accomodate all the pink hat fairweather fans that populate this farce of a sports town.

Anyways, I suppose I should be happy they were kind enough to put this game on at all. I'm sure there's an Islanders retrospective floating around somewhere that's looking for some air time.

You have to love that the Sox have trotted out the first team for this exhibition. I know they're doing this to save all the regulars a travel day tomorrow morning, but I'm sure Tito and the boys would like to fire the first salvo in this year's battle.

Anyways, I'll just list off some thoughts here as I reunite with my most favoritest franchise in all the world...

*They look lost without Trot Nixon. I'll just get that out of the way now.

*Wake getting killed in the way only Wake can - getting dinked and dunked on bleeders and bloops. You can feel a little better about this outing knowing that Timmy has absolutely nothing to gain or prove in spring training and is probably thinking about golf between pitches.

*I'm not sure I buy Youk's goatee. I do, however, love that they're actually going to let him bat #2 and resist the urge to put the quicker and less disciplined Coco Crisp behind Lugo. David Ortiz will be the greatest benefactor of Youk's OBP because the shifts he'll be facing are significantly less dramatic with runners on base.

*Ortiz looks huge, and I like that.

*The YES announcers are absolutely terrible. They literally just compared Manny chasing that triple into the corner to the way Little Jack Horner played right field. As in, "Little Jack Horner, sat in a corner." Can they pipe in Remy, please?

*Crisp looks real good tonight, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say its the high socks. Could be the first signs of a breakout season for him.

*What number do you think Pedroia will take when he officially gets the invite to the big club? I believe he wore #7 in the minors, but I heard the Sox are retiring that number. I think lil' Dusty should pull a Ray Borque and don #77.

*I know. I know someone is wearing #7. Leave me alone.

*In hindsight, I think the Pavano/Armas for Pedro deal was a pretty good one.

*Youk is locked in. Great contact, smart pitch selection, bad facial hair...a throwback to the "Cowboy Up" gang from a more innocent time.

*I really do think Drew is going to end up being a super-Mueller. I really think he could be an All-Star this season...if he can stay healthy until the break.

*These Spring Training hats are miserable, and they look terrible on the Yankees. The Sox make a real smart decision in having the stupid little inserts and the trim be solid red. For what its worth.

*They're interviewing Joe Girardi on the YES broadcast right now. I wonder if he's at the stadium to get the dimensions on Joe Torre's office and maybe drop a few boxes off.

*I love the way Donnelly throws the ball. I think I'm going to pretend for the rest of the season that the front office decided to sign Eric Gagne as a reclamation project after all and gave him #53.

*YES just threw up a graphic titled "Boston Massacre II," detailing the 5-game series last August. They must have lost the graphic detailing the 2004 ALCS.

*I can't remember the last time the Sox had two lefthanded relievers in the pen who weren't just specialists. Should provide a lot more flexibility against these lefty-heavy teams like...the Yankees.

*Dinger for the New Pro. Just keep drinking your milk and taking your vitamins, J.D..

*How many times has Pedroia gotten gunned down on the basepaths this year? He probably should relax a touch.

Alright, I think I'm calling it a night. I got in six quality innings of work, which is pretty good for a spring training outing. Once the regular season starts and the games are on during the correct hours, as they generally are in true baseball markets, I'll be able to go much deeper into games.

But seriously...how great is it to have baseball back?