Monday 3/5

Lester Pitches 1-2-3 Inning In First Appearance

(AP)

Lester, who had been slated to throw just one inning, retired each of the three batters he faced on ground balls. Three of Lester’s pitches hit 89 miles per hour and one hit 90 on the radar guns of the 18 or so scouts that were on hand to watch him and Twins starter Sidney Ponson. He threw two curves in the dirt at 69 and 72 mph.-Article

"Dice Man" Does His Thing

Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed one hit over two scoreless innings Friday against Boston College in his Red Sox debut. The hit -- a double -- came on his very first pitch of the outing. Matsuzaka retired the remaining six batters he faced, striking out three of them. He was working at 90-92 mph and favored his slider as his second pitch, though he did mix in some changeups. Of his 25 pitches, 19 were strikes- Rotoworld

(AP)

Wednesday 2/28

Sox Kick Off Grapefruit League With 4-4 Tie

The Big Schill Shines

19 Pitches, 15 Strikes

(AP)

Everyone (less Manny) rolls into town to start spring training workouts.

Tuesday 2/20

Let's play ball.

I thought I would comment in this column (this is my 150th for Bornintoit.com) about two former Red Sox pitchers and one about to pitch for the Sox for the first time, all of whom made news this week.

The Daisuke Matsuzaka Travelling Circus came to town in Ft. Myers on Monday, and it will make the 2007 regular season one of the more memorable ones in Red Sox history. Dice-K arrived with a whole contingent of Japanese media chronicling his every movement. Get used to this Sox fans, as this will be a staple of this season, especially on days when he pitches. His first game should be covered like a presidential election, and his matchup with the Yankees should be just as enormous. (I can just picture all the flashbulbs going off on the first pitch he throws to Hideki Matsui.)
It will be interesting to see how the Dice Man adjusts to life in the Major Leagues. The Sox have been very accomodating to him, as they made a smart move by putting his locker in the clubhouse between Jason Varitek and Hideki Okajima, the other Japanese pitching import, who be a lefty out of the pen. (Dice-K has always called Tek one of his idols.) Sox management has gone as far as do things like print business cards in English and Japanese (but that maybe more to get in the good graces of the Far East baseball market as opposed to anything else).

Matsuzaka in past years has handled the pressure of playing in Japan very well, but he is now no longer the big fish in a small pond. He handled all the press on his arrival in Tampa very well, something of which he is used to. We'll see if he keeps that big smile on his face throughout the course of the grueling Major League season.

On Friday, Keith Foulke, one of the heroes of the 2004 Red Sox postseason, and "One of the 25," walked into Cleveland Indians camp at Winter Haven and told team officials that he elected to retire, and that he was forgoing a $5 million, one-year deal to be the Indians closer. It has been rumored that Foulke was once again having problems with his right elbow that has given him such trouble over the last two seasons. So at age 34, Foulke decided to shut it down permanently.

He had a superb season in 2004, his first as Red Sox closer when they signed him as a free agent. He gave the club a dependable stopper, but his 2004 postseason will live forever with all Red Sox fans. His workload from Game 4 of the ALCS to the final out in the World Series was simply enormous (10 days, 183 pitches). It is one of the more incredible pitching feats in ANY postseason:

Game 4 (Oct.17)- 50 pitches
Game 5 (Oct.18)- 22 pitches
Game 6 (Oct.19)- 28 pitches

Game 1 (Oct.23)- 36 pitches
Game 2 (Oct.24)- 19 pitches
Game 3 (Oct.26)- 14 pitches
Game 4 (Oct.27)- 14 pitches

Of all those pitches he threw (next to the final one he threw to Edgar Renteria), the final pitch of Game 6 of the ALCS is the one I remember most. The Sox were up, 4-2, with 2 outs and 2 on and Tony Clark at the plate with a 3-2 count in the bottom of the ninth. This moment was downright scary (and it still is even as I write it!). This had one of those "unlikely Yankees to kill the Red Sox" moments written all over it. Foulke was pitching on fumes, and had walked two hitters in the inning. Foulke snuck a fastball by Clark, even though it wasn't "fast" by most standards. And I'll never forget the pure joy (and relief as well) that erupted in the Riviera Cafe (where I was watching the game) when Foulke got that last out.

Many believed that Foulke should have been the MVP of the World Series, as he saved three of the four games.(Manny Ramirez was voted MVP by the writers.) He was probably the co-MVP of the postseason, along with David Ortiz.

2004 and 2005 were both years to forget for Foulke, as injuries took their toll on him, and his perceived sour attitude led many fans to turn on him. (Remember his infamous "Johnny From Burger King" remark?) He wanted to take another shot at closing and figured going to Cleveland on a one-year deal would be the best thing for him.

But his elbow problems reemerged, so Foulke has decided to walk away from the game. I can only wish Keith all the best in his retirement, and thank him for a lifetime of memories in those ten amazing days of October 2004.

Well, at least Keith Foulke knew when to walk away from the game.



The pathetic "dog and pony show" that is The Roger Clemens Retirement Tour took another turn when The Carpetbagger now says that he is now "80% certain" that he is leaning towards retiring and not coming back for the 2007 season.

I know I'm not alone in this assessment, but I wish this idiot would finally call it career and be done with it. Enough of this "maybe I will, maybe I won't" nonsense. Clemens has lied and alienated fans at all four of his Major League stops, and I'm beginning to think he won't retire until he no longer has a pulse.

Most of you know Clemens' "rap sheet" from Boston, Toronto, New York, and Houston, so I won't list it all here now. He maybe a first ballot Hall of Famer, but also a first-class liar and con artist, and if he told me the sun were coming up tomorrow, I'd get up at 4 AM just to see if it were true. (Remember after he won his 300th game in New York in 2003 he announced, "I'm 99.9% sure I'll retire after the season?" And now he's only "80% certain?" I don't like those odds.)

This jackass isn't one of my favorite baseball people (how can you tell?), but enough already. I REALLY hope he doesn't wind up back in Boston. He had his chance years ago to make amends to the fans of Boston, but obviously money means more to him than his legacy (see also: "Johnny Damon"), so that ship has sailed already.

If he was going to pitch again, he would be smart to stay in the National League, as it's much more a pitchers league, and the AL East is loaded with tough lineups. Clemens right now is no more than a six-inning pitcher who will be 45 in August. Even he comes back in June, who knows how much he'll have left.

Clemens has accomplished everything he possibly could in his baseball career, so why would he come back yet again? Only one reason: another huge payday. It was criminal the way he jerked the Astros around last year, but they fell for his BS and had to live with it.

I wish Clemens would end all these shenanigans and just call it a career already. Just do us all a favor and go away and enjoy your money. Or maybe he just likes to enjoy antagonizing both Boston and New York fans with all this spectulation?
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Check out my web site at: quinnmedia.blogspot.com

John Kerry To The FCC:

Here comes Pitchers and Catchers.

The Red Sox have made more than their share of the sporting news the last few weeks, so I thought I'd comment on a few of the moves (or "non-moves") they've made recently.

The long national nightmare over the status of J.D. Drew finally came to an end, after seven long weeks. It was all over the wording of his contract, as the Red Sox were a bit worried about the surgically-repaired shoulder that Drew had fixed in 2005. The Sox can void the final two years of the deal if Drew spends a certain number of days on the DL in 2009. The deal is similar to the ones the Detroit Tigers gave to both Ivan Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez. The Red Sox can also void Drew's contract if it also happens in the fourth year of the contract. The first two years of the deal are a standard guaranteed deal.

I've always been in favor of picking up Drew (and I've always been in the minority on that). The only reason I had any reservations about it was if they were going to sign him while trading Manny Ramirez. Since Manny is staying (for the forseeable future, however long that will be), the combo of Drew, Ramirez and David Ortiz can be one of the best 3-4-5 lineups in the game. Of course, Drew comes with a lot of baggage from his days in St.Louis, Atlanta and Los Angeles. But I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He is a very good outfielder with decent speed. But J.D. better get off to good start in 2007 or things could get ugly for him at Fenway for him in one quick hurry.

Curt Schilling announced last week in an interview on WEEI radio with Gerry Callahan that he has decided to come back for another season in 2008, thus scuttling his original plans for retirement after this season. Schilling said that his wife and children talked him into one more season (and it ends any speculation about him running for the Senate in Massachusetts in 2008 against John Kerry).

Callahan asked him about who he'd play for after 2007, and he said he hoped it would be the Red Sox. Schilling is a free agent after this year, but said that he would not go to the Yankees if the Sox couldn't sign him. Here is what he said to Callahan about the subject:

"Where I'm going to play beyond 2007, I hope it's Boston, but I will go out and find a home to pitch,” he said. “I hope it's here but there's also that possibility [of pitching for another team]."

Would he consider pitching for the Yankees in 2008?

"It wouldn't be in New York,” Schilling told host Gerry Callahan. “No. I could not make that move."

Of course it brings back memories of a certain former Red Sox star (I don't have to mention names here) who flat out said in May 2005 that he wouldn't be going to New York either. Once again, Schilling has earned the benefit of the doubt from me, but in the game of baseball, you never say never.

Schilling also said that if the Red Sox didn't sign him to an extension by Opening Day, he would not sign during the season and would definitely become a free agent. Does this remind you of another superstar pitcher that Red Sox had just a few short years ago who eventually left as a free agent?

I'm trying to figure out why Schilling went public with this when he did. Wouldn't it have been better for Schilling to have done all of this very privately and not let out that he was going to play another year? Of course, asking Curt Schilling to be quiet is like asking Rosie O'Donnell to be quiet. It just ain't gonna happen.

The other big news from Red Sox camp the last week was that a trade for Colorado first baseman Todd Helton had fallen apart and was not going to happen. I was definitely NOT in favor of trading for Helton. He is still a good hitter, and draws a ton of walks and is still a good first baseman.

But his power numbers have dropped dramatically the past two years. He hit just 20 homers in 2005, and 15 in 2006, all the while battling back troubles. (And historically, power hitters who leave Coors Field see the numbers go down in their next stop.) Helton is also 33 years old, and has five years left on his current contract, and is owed a whopping $90.1 million. It was the Rockies who initiated talks with the Sox about Helton, as they have two quality, young players in their farm system they want to bring up while getting rid of a gigantic contract that was eating up their payroll.

Colorado was willing to eat about $35 million of that $90 million, but their trade demands were too much for the Sox' liking. The Red Sox were supposedly going to deal Mike Lowell, Julian Tavarez, and possibly two other young pitchers (names mentioned included Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, Daniel Bard and Clay Buchholz) for Helton. Ultimately, it was too much for the Red Sox to give up. Remember, the Sox weren't the ones dying to make a deal for Helton. (And I love some of these Yankee bloggers I read in the days after the trade went down. They were acting like the Yankees had dodged a bullet that the trade didn't happen, and that the Sox had "blown" this trade. Typical.)

However, as spring training commences, the rumors about a Helton deal are sure to surface again, as the Rockies will once again try their hand at moving their popular first baseman. But you know that if it ultimately is done, it will be for a price far less than the ones rumored last week. But I honestly don't think it will come to pass.

As I write this, it is about 20 degrees outside, as the winter finally showed up here in the Northeast. I hate the cold, as it just depresses me terribly. But I always try to keep a nice warm and fuzzy thought in my head at this time of year.

"How many days until Truck Day?"