My estimable colleague at the Providence Phoenix, Ian Donnis, took his own trip down to Fort Myers last week, and despite having to witness three straight losses, it sounds like he had a blast. He saw Schilling pitch his first spring outing, shaky though it was, and chatted with El Tiante, Ramon Vazquez, and the redoubtable Johnny Pesky (who, at 85, still chews tobacco!)

While it was certainly a treat to bask in the warm Florida sun, relaxing for a bit as the players tune up in for the season, Donnis is restless now -- and he holds the same sentiment we all do: "Let the games begin."

3/31/2005 10:12:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Much more encouraging news for Curt Schilling. After his AAA outing at City of Palms Park yesterday -- despite free admission, he pitched in front of just a few dozen fans -- it sounds, knock wood, like everything is finally clicking. For Schill himself to say he's shooting to start the second game of the Sox' first homestand, on April 13, speaks volumes.

We'll need him. Badly. As Tony Massarotti points out in today's Herald, some post-championship pollyannaism seems to have befallen Red Sox Nation this spring, and nobody really seems all that concerned that the Yankees' rotation -- on paper, at least -- is a good deal more imposing than our own. We lost Pedro and Lowe. They got Pavano and Big Unit. "Johnson has won five Cy Young Awards and Martinez has won three," Mazz writes, "and there is not another starting pitcher on either staff that has won the Cy even once, including Schilling." He continues:

The Yankees' staff got better and younger, and the Red Sox' staff got . . . what? David Wells will be 42 in May. Wade Miller is rehabilitating from a shoulder injury. Matt Clement ended up here, in large part, because the Red Sox missed out on Brad Radke, Tim Hudson, Martinez and even Carl Pavano. Clement's best season is nothing close to what even Derek Lowe has done.

Moreover, Massarotti notes, "for all of Schilling's glorious achievements, he still has not carried a team without Johnson or Martinez at his side."

No one's saying he can't do it. But he's gonna have his work cut out for him, and the quicker he gets himself settled into this rotation, the better.

3/30/2005 10:08:00 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

From Baseball Prospectus, Will Carroll's team health report for the 2005 Red Sox.

A sobering fact: "The Red Sox start the season with one of the oldest pitching staffs in history."

Still, the prognosis for the team is, on the whole, a good one. Keep those fingers crossed, and let "cautiously optimistic" be the operative words.

3/29/2005 2:28:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Or, "They couldn't stop him... Now he's back!"

After a brief off-season dalliance with our vanquished World Series opponents, the St. Louis Cardinals, lefty reliever Mike Myers looks to be heading back to Boston. That's great news. Not only was he a late addition to last year's championship squad (so it's nice for sentimental reasons), but he's a valuable addition to the bullpen as a LOOGY (lefty one out guy). When he's not giving up walks -- as he did, cringingly, to Hideki Matsui in Game 4 of the ALCS -- his sweeping submarine delivery makes late-game lefthanded hitters look foolish. Just ask the Angels' Garrett Anderson about Game 2 of the ALDS.

Welcome back, Mike.

Now lets see if this move signals an impending end to the BH Kim era....

3/29/2005 12:12:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

The PowerPoint presentation created by the fifth- and sixth-graders at the Merriam School in Acton -- the ones who suggested last week that the Sox and Yanks shake hands prior to the home opener at Fenway -- is now online. (Thanks to Empyreal Environs, where I found it. To judge from a quick read, EE looks very cool: wide-ranging, well-written, and funny. And what other blog offers a weekly feature where Sox utility man Dave McCarty can discourse on saint's days, synesthesia, and the mysteries of the cosmos?)

The slide show was sent to both the Red Sox and the Yankees, and according to this article in the Globe, George Steinbrenner is a big proponent of the idea. Funny how after 86 years of merciless taunts ("1918!" "26 Rings!") the Yankees are suddenly asking us to be magnanimous and gracious. Ha!

Of course, this whole thing was spearheaded by an Evil Empire partisan.

''Kids were intimidated; they were afraid to wear their Yankees hats," said Ed Kaufman, a fifth-grade teacher and Yankees fan who helped to organize the campaign. ''Things were just crossing the line from respectful and fun." ....

Kaufman said the students' campaign sought to deal with the hard time some children have in distinguishing between healthy rivalry and antisocial behavior, such as bench-clearing brawls between the Sox and the Yankees in recent years.

It's a cute project, but I'll be surprised if the two teams actually line up in fraternal bonhomie on April 11. (Or, if they do, I hope the Sox are already wearing their World Series rings, and press 'em in real good when they clasp hands.) Still, it's well-intentioned. Kids look up to athletes. Violence is bad. Sportsmanship is good. (Although, if that's really the case, why is shaking hands pre-game technically a violation of Major League Baseball's rule 3.09?)

There's a reason Jason Varitek won't autograph the iconic photo of his catcher's mitt rearranging Alex Rodriguez's pretty face.

But here's my question: Since when are there so many Yankee fans in Acton?

Etc.
In today's Herald, Michael Gee and George Kimball (both Phoenix alums, by the way) debate the state of baseball's popularity.

Says Gee: "Baseball is just like Broadway. Both look like dying businesses until you try to buy a ticket.... You got two extra for the home opener at Fenway?"

Says Kimball: "Baseball has already conceded in its television battle with the NFL, and NASCAR is closing the gap. That might not be true in New England, where baseball remains king, but the truth of the matter is that hard-core baseball towns have dwindled to a handful in this country."

He's right. Boston is and always will be a baseball town. And thank God for that. Living in Sox-crazy New England, where even the dynastic Patriots take a back seat to the Olde Towne Team, it's easy to forget that, however robust it is relatively speaking, baseball has long since ceded its place as the "National Pastime." All thing being equal, I'd rather be right here.

3/28/2005 1:32:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Over at Sons of Sam Horn, member "Rough Carrigan" has posted his extraordinarily enlightening interview with statistician Bill James, the sabermetrics guru and author. I can't recommend it enough. Some of the numbers crunching might be a little wonky for the casual fan, but James has an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and a dry sense of humor, and Carrigan's pointed and wide-ranging questions bring out the best of both.

John Henry's decision to hire James as a consultant to the Red Sox in 2003 had its controversies at first. But there's no denying that having brains like these behind the scenes to match the brawn on the field gives us a leg up on the competition. And I think we can all agree that subsequent events have borne out its wisdom. Exhibit A: The white gold, ruby-set rings that will be handed out on April 11. (James doesn't seem the type for flashy bling, but presumably he'll be getting one.)

3/26/2005 11:01:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Well, at least he got that out of the way. Our own ace, the one and only Curtis Montague Schilling, finally made his spring training debut today, and he was just a little shaky, giving up three runs (on five hits) to the Minnesota Twins in three and two-thirds innings. Those included two back-to-back home runs. (The Twins won, 5-1.) Luckily, word is that he's experiencing no immediate ill effects on his surgically fixed-up right ankle. This afternoon could conceivably have been his only proper spring training start before he takes the mound for a regular season start -- hopefully -- in mid/late April. Fingers crossed...

Meanwhile, you've gotta love a guy like Jon Papelbon. After teammate Jay Payton was hit by a pitch from the Orioles' Daniel Cabrera, retribution in the next half-inning was obviously in order. So, Papelbon, a 24-year-old farmhand who'll most likely be spending his summer on the rocky coast of Maine (with the AA Portland Sea Dogs), took it upon himself. He hurled a brushback pitch behind none other than supersized Sammy Sosa himself, sending the slugger spinning. I like you, kid! Ya got spunk!

3/25/2005 4:22:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Construction workers milled about below, shoveling ice and snow from between seats, one of them posing for a photo in the Red Sox dugout. A digital likeness of the 2004 World Series trophy gleamed, spinning on the center field Jumbotron. And, almost as if on cue, a falcon swooped down from atop the .406 Club windows and circled the tarp-draped infield, with Back Bay skyscrapers rising tall in the background.

Fenway Park. There you have it.

As expected, Red Sox ownership -- principal owner John Henry, president/CEO Larry Lucchino, and chairman Tom Werner -- gathered today, along with VP for planning and development Janet Marie Smith, to make an announcement. In Lucchino's words, "the Red Sox will remain at Fenway Park for the long term, the Red Sox will be playing games at Fenway Park for years to come -- we hope for generations to come -- and we have no plans to be anywhere else than right here." With that pledge comes the promise that, just seven short years from now, in 2012, the team will be celebrating, "in grand fashion," Fenway's 100th anniversary -- making it the first professional baseball field in history to observe its centennial.

It's also a commitment to property owners in the "Fenway neighborhoods," as Lucchino calls the Fenway, Kenmore, and Longwood areas. "Since we arrived here, we've been asked: will the commitment be made to stay in Fenway? Or are we seriously going to consider other alternatives?" Anyone who's been paying attention to the incremental addition of improvements and innovations over the past three years pretty much knew the answer to that. In 2003, it was the Green Monster seats. In 2004, it was the right-field roof deck. Among the changes fans will notice 18 days from now on opening day 2005: a smaller roof deck behind the first-base grandstand that will allow for more standing room, a third-base concourse and food court at Gate E, and a restaurant/sports bar, Game On! (operated by the Lyons Group), on the corner of Lansdowne Street and Brookline Avenue.

Several changes will also be welcomed by Red Sox players (who, by the looks of Jeff Horrigan's article in today's Boston Herald, seem genuinely pleased to be staying at Fenway for a while). There's a new batting cage, set up in an area excavated underneath the first-base box seats behind the dugout. (It comes complete with a fully-functioning bathroom where there used to be just a urinal; John Henry himself showed it off proudly to one reporter today.) The clubhouse has been mercifully expanded, too, with a new weight room, hydrotherapy pool, interview room, and lounge. And, of course, Fenway's new field, with better sod and much-improved drainage, will be appreciated by players and fans alike.

But for those expecting all these additions and expansions to eventually culminate with Fenway becoming a 60,000-seat behemoth, Henry says that by the time new seats are added next season, topping out capacity at just under 39,000, "we'll be pretty much there. We love the intimacy, and don't want to put in an upper deck." To do otherwise, says Lucchino, to try to "shoehorn in 10,000 more seats" would "change the essential nature of the park."

Lucchino is also emphatic in his assertion that this is a "no strings attached" announcement, with no concomitant expectation of city and state funding. "You will not find a government dollar in Fenway Park," he says. Of course, some government help with improvements outside the park -- streets, sidewalks, public transit -- would be "desirable," and Lucchino says the team, having committed to hanging around, "will join the chorus of neighbors and property owners" in seeing what can be done about things like cleaning up the Muddy River and building a larger, full-fledged station at the Yawkey commuter-rail stop.

When I sat down with the Red Sox owners recently, they emphasized that since the three of them began their stewardship in 2002, they had eyes on making sure Fenway was the team's longtime home. (Indeed, Lucchino reminded the press today, they were the "first and only" suitors committed to saving Fenway.) They're also inclined to think that their neighbors will welcome their continued presence, and their redoubled commitment to improving the area.

"We came in here inclined to remain at Fenway Park, because for us it was always a very special place, but with always an open mind about what our alternatives were," says Werner. "I think we've found, in our own conversations with the neighbors, where I think that people used to think of the ballpark as kind of run down, and that there might be an argument to go elsewhere, I think that in the last few years, we've certainly found that the sentiment is for continuing down this path."

It was only after having some time to gauge the popularity and efficacy of the improvements they made to the park -- and, of course, their potential for generating revenue -- that making a final decision made sense, says Lucchino. "That was a major consideration when deciding whether we should be staying in Fenway, whether we'd have the revenue to compete with the Yankees, or other large-market teams. Our experience the last couple years has taught us that with the right kind of improvements and the right kind of team, we can generate the revenue we need to be competitive. We wouldn't make this commitment if we thought it would impair, in any way, our competitiveness."

At the same time, "it's a trade-off. You can't have this historic, magical, intimate icon of a ballpark, and have 65,000 seats," Lucchino says. "But by the end of the day, you realize you've expanded Fenway from 33,000-plus that it was when we when we got here, to somewhere around 38,000 or 39,000. And that's a substantial increase, day in and day out."

Did winning the World Series have anything to do with this decision? Says Henry: "No. Not at all." Maybe the simplest explanation is one he offered today: "I don't know how you could replicate the magic that happens in this park."

3/23/2005 5:33:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

This should surprise precisely no one, but the Boston Globe is reporting that the Red Sox will announce tomorrow that they're planning to stick around Fenway Park for the foreseeable future. From the sounds of it, they'll be touting it as much as a gift to the neighborhood as a move that suits their own self-interest. Say Steve Bailey and Sasha Talcott:

The announcement marks the beginning of an effort to revitalize the neighborhood that is later expected to include a push for public financing for improved streets and sidewalks, a new MBTA train station at Yawkey Way, and one or more garages, say Red Sox executives. The team also wants to have a say in development decisions around the park that could affect the Fenway experience, the executives said yesterday.

The team's plans to remain in Fenway Park are not contingent on securing city and state aid for improvements, the executives said. But the Red Sox ownership, which has made considerable changes inside the park since buying the team three years ago, will be looking for the city and state to finance major improvements in the neighborhood.

On Boston.com, Eric Wilbur takes a dissenting view.

Boston will be denied the terrific prospect of a new ballpark on the waterfront, a dream that would have surely revitalized a potential jewel on the Boston city landscape. Then again, what is vision in a city that can't even build a tunnel?

Fear not folks, your children and grandchildren will get to experience Fenway Park's cramped quarters. They too will sit in seats that face center field and feel the wrath when a conga line of fans walks in front of your second-level, front-row perch, interrupting your view.

I'll readily admit to letting emotion and sentimentality color my vision from time to time, especially when it comes to Fenway. And I'll also admit that I apparently don't fit Wilbur's criteria for being allowed to have an opinion on the matter. ("If you have not visited the likes of Camden Yards, SBC Park, or Jacobs Field, you are hereby disqualified from touting the benefits of keeping Fenway over a new ballpark.")

But I'm taking a side anyway. You can tout the benefits of a new park all you want. (And, let's face it, at some future date we will be getting one.) But I think I know Boston sports fans well enough -- especially Red Sox fans -- to suspect that not too long after we've settled down into our new spacious seats, in our new grandiose stadium, many folks would be wishing -- even if they wouldn't admit it -- that they were back in the Fens. What's that they say about the outfield grass always being greener?

What we've got is something special. Fenway Park is living history. And, warts and all, it's still a beaut. Of course, its problems are legion, and they've been listed ad nauseum. Ticket prices are too high. Sightlines are obstructed. Right field seats face away from the batter's box. And, most important, there just aren't enough seats to meet demand. But the Red Sox brass have decided they can remain competitive as a large-market team in baseball's smallest park. And anyone who won't admit that the current owners' improvements have been much-needed and extremely well done is lying to themselves. Now, presumably, there will be more coming every year, with corollary amelioration of the surrounding neighborhood. Even Wilbur -- citing the new Hotel Commonwealth and the Landmark Center, as two examples, though he could also have mentioned many other less grandiose signs -- admits that "abandoning the Fenway would create a hole in an area of the city just starting to see a rebirth."

All in all, at least in this fan's starry eyes, this is a good thing. Now if only I could somehow get in there on April 11....

3/22/2005 5:51:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Looks like it's dump on Byung Hyun Kim day in the Boston newspapers. The Globe's Gordon Edes reports that "time is running out" for the enigmatic submariner to prove he has what it takes to be a significant part of the Red Sox squad. With his fastball barely topping out at 84 miles per hour and his slider not sliding, he's far from the fireballer Theo Epstein traded for in 2003, and he has been for some time. We owe him $6 million this season. We'd obviously like to move him, but would have to eat all or most of that contract. Edes quotes one scout saying, "I wouldn't give the Red Sox $500,000 for him."

I'm as disappointed as anyone at the complete emotional and physical meltdown that seems to have befallen Kim since the fall of 2003, but I also think it's a credit to Epstein that signing him is one of the only significant and costly mistakes of his tenure so far.

Meanwhile, in the Herald, Jeff Horrigan talks to backup catcher Doug Mirabelli, who lets loose on Kim, pinning the South Korean's ostracization on his own unwillingness or inability to communicate, to make the effort to be a team player.

"I don't get a sense of anything from him,'' Mirabelli said. "You don't get a sense for what he's feeling. I have no idea. He stays in his own world.''

"I don't know if he gets the concept of a teammate or if he grasps that,'' he said. "I don't know if it's a knock against him that he doesn't grasp that, but people have tried to help him out. You've got to give him some leeway for language but at some point (you realize) he does speak more than he lets on. So at that point, you start to think he's making that choice.''

I can't imagine how hard it must be to be a foreign-born kid with less than fluent English, with his skills rapidly and inexplicably diminishing, to be subject to the sort of scrutiny that's the rule here in the Boston Red Sox pressure cooker. Or just to be shy and reserved on a boisterous, tight-knit team of self-proclaimed "idiots." But I wouldn't guess Mirabelli's public venting will make it any easier.

Etc.
Elsewhere in the Herald, the "Inside Track" gals report on a ridiculous new Web site calling for a boycott of the Farrelly Brothers' Fever Pitch. Why? Because Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore somehow marred the euphoria felt by all of Red Sox Nation by their mere presence on the field in St. Louis after the final out was made in Game Four of the World Series.

How that diminished any celebratory mood is beyond me. In fact, I would think that a true Red Sox fan would be too caught up in the drama of it all, too drunk with unbridled joy, to really notice or care what Hollywood celebrities happened to be sharing "our moment."

Sure, there are thousands upon thousands of Red Sox diehards who would have given their eye teeth to be standing where Fallon and Barrymore were. And, sure, New York native Fallon is allegedly a Yankees fan (although we've heard rumors that his involvement with the movie has caused him to switch his real-life allegiance).

But they're actors. They were just doing their job. It's a movie, for cryin' out loud.

The season is starting soon. Can't we be happy about that?

Anyway, the online petition put up by the site's creator, Rich Brady, features a whopping 67 signatures so far, several of which -- "El Guapo," "Jose Canseco" -- are fakes, so I don't think the filmmakers have too much to worry about. Unless it sucks, of course.

3/21/2005 5:22:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

This is third-hand news since I'm not near a radio, but according to Sons of Sam Horn, WEEI is reporting that former Sox reliever Dick Radatz has died, just shy of his 68th birthday (April 2, the day before opening day).

15-6, 25 saves, and a 1.97 ERA in 1963.
Not too shabby.

Fenway's other "Monster" ... RIP.

3/16/2005 10:11:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

The New York Times (reg. req.) has a rather disheartening story today about the town of Winter Haven, Florida -- the Red Sox' spring training headquarters from 1969 until 1992 -- and its growing impatience with hosting the Cleveland Indians' camp every year.

"It took $1.2 million to run Chain of Lakes Park last year, but revenues totaled only $520,000, according to the city," Abby Goodnough reports. "The difference came out of Winter Haven's general fund, a subsidy for baseball that Mayor Mike Easterling said could not continue." Instead of underwriting an out-of-town team's training facility for six weeks a year, the town would much rather put the 60 acres on which Chain of Lakes Park sits to better use.

Where the Indians hone pitches, shag flies and steal bases every March, Winter Haven wants boutiques and restaurants, big-box chain stores and a recreation complex.

Looks like we did well to get out of there when we did. Judging from the Red Sox paraphernalia plastered all over the bars, and the street-side signs welcoming the team and its fans, Fort Myers loves the Red Sox and is glad to have them in town.

And City of Palms Park, as I've mentioned, is terrific: spacious and clean, with nifty touches like the sloping grassy hill in right field where fans can watch the game, and the tiki hut atop it selling peanuts and margaritas. Of course, tickets and concessions are more expensive there than in most other spring training parks. But as Fenway faithful, we should be used to that.

Goodnough writes:

Florida, the main home of spring training since the 1920's, still has 18 teams practicing in 13 counties, including several, like the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers, that have enjoyed major improvements to their ballparks in recent years.

Florida's spring training circuit, the Grapefruit League, had a healthy jump in attendance last spring and expects the same this year, even as ticket prices climb. Some economists say that the state profits tremendously from spring training, and in cities that are host to wildly popular teams like the Red Sox (Fort Myers) and Yankees (Tampa), it is unflinchingly embraced.

The Indians have no such luck. So they've decided to take their leave of Winter Haven, and are unsure where they'll be training next spring. Maybe in Arizona, which is making a big push to attract teams away from the Sunshine State.

I certainly can't blame less prosperous locales for being less than enthusiastic about footing the bill for less popular teams. I suppose it's just that the romantic side of me is a little crushed every time I hear talk about turning a ballpark -- any ballpark -- into "big-box chain stores."

3/16/2005 3:04:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

So the Red Sox have lost their last four games. And, almost halfway through spring training, they're proud possessors of a .364 winning percentage. Worse, the Providence Journal's Sean McAdam points out (reg. req.), our World Series champs are in grave danger of once again ceding the coveted Fort Myers Mayor's Cup to the Minnesota Twins. The Horror!

Big deal. These games are meaningless tune-ups, nothing more. At least now one fifth of the 25-man roster -- Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, Doug Mirabelli, Jason Varitek, and Tim Wakefield -- will look fabulous when they lose.

Notwithstanding Bill Mueller's decision to skip his Queer Eye for the Straight Guy makeover once he discovered it would involve back waxing, the whole thing is really no big deal. Just a lark.

But count Sox Blog as a just bit concerned that the Red Sox might be getting a little too caught up in all these post-victory distractions. Hopefully they're not taking their eyes of the ball (so to speak) with the season getting underway in the Bronx less than three weeks from now.

It's not just the Fab Five's visit to City of Palms Park (which was so important that Tek was shuttled in from the Orioles game in Fort Lauderdale via helicopter, landing on the outfield grass). It's not just the Farrelly Brothers' Fever Pitch, which today's "Inside Track" reports will be premiering at AMC Fenway on April 6, complete with floodlights, screaming fans, and -- presuming they can get back from their matinee at Yankee Stadium in time -- the team itself. Johnny Damon's got a book coming out just in time for opening weekend. (He's under contract to keep his beard and long hair until it's published; no word yet on any in-season promotional obligations.) Bronson Arroyo will be releasing his debut CD in July. And, on a more serious note, Curt Schilling has said he'll be traveling to Washington the day after tomorrow to testify before the House Committee on Government Reform about steroids.

In today's Globe, Nick Cafardo writes about the Queer Eye visit, pointing out that it's a "vivid example of how far the [Red Sox] organization has come in terms of inclusion and tolerance since ... just two decades ago" when it was reported that the team "had patronized an Elks Lodge in Winter Haven, Fla., that excluded blacks."

But he also cites concerns about whether the team "may be too caught up in their celebrity ... stretching themselves to thin." He talks to Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, who doesn't think so.

"It's confined to the offseason and spring training, so everybody is keeping it in perspective. And everyone will be focused when the time comes to be focused....

"There's been a tremendous focus on the club this offseason, but Tito [Francona] and Theo [Epstein] and all of us recognize the clock is ticking down on this period for celebration for 2004 and ends in large part by Opening Day. So we have a few weeks to have some fun with it all."

I don't mean to sound like a killjoy. I think all this stuff is as fun as anyone. And we have, after all, been waiting 86 years to goof off like this. Why shouldn't we enjoy it while we can? I just hope Lucchino's right, and that when it's time to play ball, we play ball.

In the mean time, let's go out there and win that Mayor's Cup!

3/15/2005 12:12:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

David Laurila over at Royal Rooters has a terrific interview today with Eric Christensen (aka "Lanternjaw"), the founder of Sons of Sam Horn.

In it, Christensen talks about the site's modest beginnings as an off-shoot of the Dickie Thon Fan Club, its exponential growth over the past couple years, and its dogged insistence on remaining the best and most well-informed collection of baseball fans in all of cyberspace.

An unfortunate but necessary part of that is the need to limit and screen membership, so as to keep the site's "signal to noise ratio" strong. Many of the 10,000+ fans stuck in applicant pool purgatory have groused that SoSH has "elitist" pretensions, but Christensen credibly explains the rationale for limited membership:

An analogy I like to use is this: If you put 10 M.I.T. rocket scientists in a room, you'll get great discourse on the matter at hand. But what happens if you bring in 10,000? That would simply be too many voices, and it would overwhelm the quality of discussion. There are a lot of great Red Sox fans out there, with a lot to say, but it would detract too much from what we are to let in all of them. We're not elitist, per se, but we have an obligation to maintain the standards that have made the site a success. We allow new members in at a rate
that won't disrupt the flow of discussion.

Even if one isn't a member and can't post, SoSH's Red Sox Forum should be one of the first stops for any Sox fan's daily reading. And Royal Rooters, too. Their series of interviews -- with everyone from Sox legend Rico Petrocelli to the Globe's Bob Hohler to pitching prospect Jon Papelbon's mom to Curt Schilling himself -- offer valuable insights on a team about which there's always something new to say.

3/12/2005 6:02:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Schilling says he will be on the stand in D.C. on March 17, but probably won't be on the mound in New York on April 3.

Personally, I'd rather have the second one. But maybe that's just me.

3/11/2005 5:19:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

One of the first questions I had about next week's Congressional steroids hearings -- which, unsurprisingly, are being fought tooth and nail by Major League Baseball -- was how exactly the list of players called to testify was put together.

Why some guys and not others? (Barry Bonds, I'm looking in your general direction.)

In today's Herald, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Southie) confirms what I'm sure most of us already suspected. Seems that US lawmakers are part of the reason Jose Canseco's Juiced is number two on the New York Times Best Sellers List.

''They were all in Canseco's book,'' Lynch said of the subpoenaed players.

No word yet on whether Congressmen will also be rounding up retired players implicated in Jim Bouton's Ball Four in order to learn more about greenies and ''beaver hunting.''

3/10/2005 12:13:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

"I'm curious. . .what the ramifications will be if any of them decide to RSVP their regrets," I wondered last Friday after Reps. Tom Davis and Henry Waxman "invited" several players to Washington to chat a bit about steroids.

Well, they're gettin' subpoenaed!

The hearings are on March 17. Will Curt wear a green game jersey to Capitol Hill?

3/9/2005 7:38:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

FORT MYERS -- I don't think today's matinee was broadcast on either NESN or WEEI, so here's a quick recap. We certainly fielded our "A" team for our third game so far (out of six) against our cross-town rivals, the Minnesota Twins. The lineup -- Damon, Nixon, Ramirez, Ortiz, Renteria, Millar, Varitek, Youkilis, and Vazquez -- is not too far removed from the starting nine we'll be using on a regular basis this season, and most of the guys played for at least six innings. While starter Matt Clement looked shaky at first (he gave up a homer to Luis Rivas just three pitches in), he settled down to finish out three innings, followed by a scoreless frame each from Mike Timlin and Matt Mantei (in his first outing so far). Alan Embree gave up a three-run blast to Juan Castro in the 6th, but Mark Malaska, Scott Cassidy, and Jason Kershner combined to stifle the Twins for the rest of the game. Offensively, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez both homered (in the 5th and sixth, respectively; Manny's, a two-run shot, was his first of the spring). But it was a four-run eighth that put us on top, when the tragically-named Boof Bonser was victimized by a fielding error, issued two walks, gave up a single to Hanley Ramirez, hit Shawn Wooten with a pitch, walked another batter, and gave up a sac fly.

Random notes: I was struck by how many elderly fans there were at City of Palms Park last night, and this afternoon they were out in droves. I overheard one gentleman talking about paying a buck to see Ted Williams take batting practice at Fenway, and another remembering tearing up after Game 7 of the 1946 World Series. . .Seth Myers threw out the first pitch; at first I figured it was the marginally funny Saturday Night Live cast member and vociferous Sox fan, but quickly realized it was actually a dawdling toddler with a wicked slider. . .Outside the players' parking lot after the game, Varitek sat in the driver's seat of his gargantuan white SUV, spending nearly half an hour patiently signing autograph after autograph after autograph for a long line of fans. Just after he pulled away, Hanley Ramirez, chaufferring pitching prospects Luis Mendoza, Manny Delcarmen and Anibal Sanchez in his black SUV, did the same with a smile that seemed to suggest an appetite for stardom. . .The day dawned gloomy and humid, and a moderate rain fell for most of the morning. By game time, however, it was just a little overcast. By around the fifth inning the sun was strong and warm, illuminating the field an electric green. Early tomorrow morning, I fly back into a snow storm. April 11 cannot come soon enough.

3/8/2005 6:45:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

FORT MYERS -- One of the big questions down here is what exactly the Red Sox plan to do with 21-year-old prospect Hanley Ramirez, who's been wowing everyone in his first major league spring training. (For example, with the triple play he turned on Sunday against the Phillies.) We've been hearing gushing predictions about the kid for the past couple of years. The shortstop is a future superstar, they say. A five-tool player with peerless athleticism and a healthy dose of swagger. Although he spent last season playing single A ball in Lowell and AA for the Portland Sea Dogs, talk was that he could be prowling between second and third at Fenway as early as 2006. But that all seemed to change when the Sox decided, instead of signing a stop-gap shortstop for a year or two, to ink Edgar Renteria to a four-year deal. Suddenly Hanley's future was cloudy. What do they have in mind for this guy?

I was talking yesterday to Stewart O'Nan, coauthor (with Stephen King) of Faithful. Like many, he's of the mind that the Red Sox might be eyeing Hanley as a replacement for soon-to-be free agent Johnny Damon in center field next season. Erin and Jessamy from Still We Believe were saying last night they fear the opposite: that he'll eventually end up being used as high-profile trade bait. To my mind, both scenarios are disappointing. Sure, he's young enough and athletic enough to make the switch to center (or some other position), but he came up and made his name as a shortstop. And no matter who he might be able to bring to the team as part of a trade, it would be a pretty disappointing use for a huge talent whose praises have been sung so breathlessly for so long.

This article by the Maine Sunday Telegram's Kevin Thomas suggests that the Sox front office are in no hurry to make a decision either way, and are content to see how he develops, probably first in Portland and later in Pawtucket this summer. Hanley looks to have matured over the past couple years, and more time in the minors would only serve to increase his poise for the big leagues. (The gracious and personable way he dealt with autograph seeking hordes at City of Palms Park yesterday -- after patrolling the outfield during batting practice -- was good to see.)

It'll be an interesting story to watch play out.

3/8/2005 9:09:00 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

FORT MYERS -- So, they beat us. For the first time since October 15, 2004. And hopefully for the last time until sometime, say, mid-summer. Good for them. Was glad to see Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui deign to make the trip down from Tampa. Was not so keen on seeing them both play until the last out of the ninth inning. And was certainly displeased to see them both go yard. It must have been especially gratifying for Giambi, who was booed lustily -- and deservedly, if you subscribe to the opinion that his two, allegedly steroid-aided, homers in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS kept us from the World Series -- each time he stepped to the plate. I don't hold anything against either of those guys. I do wonder why Joe Torre felt compelled to play them for an entire game, long past the point when we were fielding AAA dudes and non-roster invitees. No matter. We lost. It's only spring training, after all, and I suppose five in a row might have been too much to ask. Trot hit one out too (off a lefty!) which was very good to see, and Ortiz had another blast I thought was gonna do the same. But, alas, it was not enough. (Abe Alvarez, I still love ya man, even if I can't quite yet explain why. Maybe it really is just the way you wear your hat. All the same, I want to see you keep pitching.)

All in all it was a fun game, but I really pity anyone who paid more than $50 for a ticket. I was surprised at how. . .normal it all seemed. After last year's post-A-Rod, post-Game 7 circus, I was expecting a similar atmosphere. I was expecting electricity. I was expecting drama out of all proportion to what should be expected. I was expecting media galore and howling bloodlust and general over-the-topness. Those expectations were not met. Sure, it was fun. I ran into the folks I'd met last night, the ones who'd been camping out for 36 hours for tickets, and they seemed like they were having a fine time. But I wondered if they wondered whether it was worth it all. Of course, there was no dearth of ribbing and jibing and taunting between the 7000+ Sox fans and an impressive assemblage of NYY diehards. There were many funny signs and vigorous "Balco" chants from fans young and old. And many people got way too drunk. But, at the end of the night, it was -- surprise! -- a spring training game. One we happened to lose. The jumbo dogs were $4.75 and the beers a buck more. Same old, same old.

I had much more fun post-game, when I ran into Erin and Jessamy, the hot-ticket bottle-blondes from Still We Believe: The Boston Red Sox Movie, in the parking lot. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we headed for a bar. There, I met four guys from Fort Myers. Two are fierce Sox loyalists, two are prideful Yankee partisans. All four have the clothing to prove it. Yet there they were, arguing good-naturedly about the game we'd just watched, the season ahead, the prospects for both teams. There was no bad blood, no raising of voices. No put-downs. (Well, OK, we talked shit about Randy Johnson. They made fun of my Ortiz t-shirt.) But they liked each other, they loved the game, and they respected the rivalry.

Stop me before I get misty-eyed.

Incidentally, Still We Believe seems only to have been a stepping stone to stardom for Erin and Jessamy (whose Eastie accents truly are sublime to behold). Look for them both in the Farrelly Brothers' Fever Pitch, with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, in theaters on April 8.

3/8/2005 12:46:00 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

* We're allowed one more backward glance before the next chapter opens. To remember, in real time, how it all went down last October, check out this unwieldy but engrossing piece of work. Some enterprising Webophile has seamlessly blended the seven ALCS game threads from Sons of Sam Horn and NYYFans, the Red Sox and Yankees message boards. Seeing the postings side by side, as their arrogance slowly peters out while our confidence concurrently grows, is hugely satisfying.
Some highlights (Sox fans in red, Yanks in blue):

Game Three (Pasted at home, 19-8)
bluefenderstrat: I give up. Have your way with me, Yankees.
IU Sox Fan5: i wish i was dead
Soxfan in Fla: I don't think I'm going to let my daughter be a Sox fan. I'm not sure I could live with myself if I put her through this. . .I think I will start practicing with Barbie dolls now so she never discovers that the Red Sox exist.
Saquin: OK, I know I'm getting ahead of myself here and probably worrying needlessly but... this Yankee team is so friggin' hot right now. I wonder, if this series is wrapped up tomorrow or Monday, if we'll lose some of that "hotness" having to wait until Saturday for the World Series.

Game Four (Still alive)
gharper: Here we go! Now would be a good time to steal a base Mr. Roberts.
OilCanShotTupac: SAFE
Dooley Womack: i have a bad feeling about this game
Bdanahy14: SWEET JESUS THIS SHINDIG IS NOT OVER
Moose35: 3 outs from the World Series....and they fuck it up like usual

Game Five (14-innings, five hours, 49 minutes)
Bluefenderstrat: I was only 33 years old when this game started. Now I'm 80 something and have senile dementia.
Ed Ruane: I was here when this game started, when the pitching matchup was Guidry vs. Torres.
iluvremy: Let's go Ortiz. End it here.
IU Sox Fan5: SEE YOU IN THE
BRONX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Xhibit: Well, we all saw it coming. Only a matter of time. FUCK. We'll take these guys at the Stadium, book it. WE ARE NOT LOSING THIS SERIES, NO FUCKING WAY.
ossie schreckengost: there will be a ballgame tomorrow. . . honest to god, there was not a single moment when i thought we'd lose this game. this team is doing strange things to me...
Old Fart Tree: PANTS = OFF!

Game Six (The Slap)
kevlog: SONOFABITCH KNOCKED IT OUT
YankeeFan1: Come on, umps. Make the wrong call. I'm not proud.
Jimy Hendrix: THEY MADE THE RIGHT CALL!
matt27: fucking umps
Dave Jstice: Yup, this is the class of New York right here. Throwing baseballs, real classy New York, real classy.
AlexRodNYY: The rules are the rules. i don't fault arod. I fault the rules, the rules are just wussy.

Game Seven (We win)
NYYFAN: What a terrible way to lose...
Montyque: I'll speak bluntly... I have not been too thrilled with the performance of the Yankees over these past four games.
yeahimweird: Congrats, Sox. I don't like you, but dammit, you guys played your butts off and deserved this.
Boatswain: Wow. I have no other words. Wow. Wow. Fucking wow!
Rice4HOF: My son is sitting next to me, crying... like he did in Game 7 last year, but for a different reason!
Boxos: This is a team. This is our team.

* A reason to breath a sigh of relief, from today's Fort Myers News-Press:

Fans of both teams take every meeting seriously. Cape Coral resident Chris Rodriguez, 36, is a transplant from The Bronx.

"I'm a diehard Yankee fan," said Rodriguez, who wore a Yankee T-shirt to a spring training
game last week and believes Yankee fans are tougher than their counterparts. "I think I could take on 10 guys."

Rodriguez was smiling and clearly not serious about fighting 10 Red Sox fans.

* Sure, it's a meaningless game. And it's early, still. But when it comes to meaningless standings, I'd still rather be tied for second, like we are, than tied for last, like they are.

3/7/2005 8:38:00 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

FORT MYERS -- It's a strange feeling, waking up at 4:15 a.m. in the pitch-dark, sub-freezing stillness of a Somerville Sunday morning, then, mere hours later, sitting in resplendent, 73-degree sunshine, talking triples and triple plays while strange birds sing sweetly and dulcet Gulf Coast winds blow fragrant and warm. . . .

Sorry. Got a little too lyrical there. What I meant to say is that spring training is a swell place to be. And although I've only been in this sprawling, sun-washed plexus of strip malls and four-lane blacktop (and more strip malls) for less than 12 hours now, it's not hard to see why thronging red-and-navy-clad thousands have descended upon this city from Duxbury and Danbury and Bangor and Burlington and Providence and Concord. The Red Sox are playing baseball again, and we're winning. In less than a month, the Champions of the World will have moved north from these balmy climes to the misty chill of Fenway's April evenings. In the mean time, there's a team we plan to beat. Again.

Monday evening, it resumes. The Clash of the Titans, part the umpteenth, will unfold as the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees meet each other for the first time since the last time. Since October 20, the night when decades of despair were exorcised, the night when, in the words of The Washington Post's Thomas Boswell, our baseball team finally succeeded in "demythologizing the Yankees, and all their pretentious baggage of tradition and mystique . . . [driving] a permanent stake through the notion that the Yankees have some eternal mastery of the Red Sox, based in magic, money or moxie."

Never mind that Boston's starter will be Abe Alvarez, the blind-in-one-eye 22-year-old stringbean who spent all but one game last summer pitching in the minors (but whose five innings and five earned runs at Fenway nonetheless earned him a World Series ring). Or the fact that Yankees skipper Joe Torre has made it clear in advance that Alex "Slappy" Rodriguez and Derek "Looks Like the Rock had Sex with a Muppet" Jeter will most certainly not be showing up to have their pretty faces showered with scorn by the beer-breathed Boston crowd. (Hideki Matsui, Bernie Williams, and controversy-plagued Jason Giambi are rumored to be making the trip; minor league prospect Chien-Ming Wang will start for the Yanks.) Never mind that at all. Tickets are selling on eBay for more than a hundred bucks, and whispering scalpers have been rumored to be seeking two or three times that amount. (I was about as lucky as latecomers come, snagging a $10 standing-room pass for only quadruple face value.) The media are gearing up and the hype is piling upon hype. Will we see a bench-clearing donnybrook between both teams' AAA rosters? Probably not. But don't count it out either.

I spent the early part of this evening with Mike Farrell, a 64-year-old Vermont diehard who for the past eight years has been posting daily updates, for the entirety of spring training, to his own site and to the redoubtable Sons of Sam Horn message board. He's always been one to pay more attention to promising prospects during February and March than to the superstars who draw the most attention from fans. During today's 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies (a game I arrived in Fort Myers too late to see), he was chuffed to have his faith rewarded, witnessing 21-year-old shortstop phenom Hanley Ramirez turning an exceedingly rare triple play, making a leaping snag, tapping second, then tossing to first to end the inning. It was the first one Farrell had seen in more than 15 years.

As for Monday's game, he's looking forward to it, of course. But he takes it all with a grain of salt. This is spring training after all. Others are more excited. Later on, I ambled back to the empty City of Palms Park, where a quintet of twentysomethings from Maine and Connecticut had been camped out since 10 p.m. Saturday night to be the first in line on Monday morning to purchase overflow tickets to the Sox-Yanks scrimmage. They confessed that perhaps they'd been a bit overzealous. The fact that, almost 24 hours since they'd been there, they were still the only ones in line seemed to bear that out. Still, they were having a blast. They'd recently purchased provisions from a nearby Wal-Mart (air mattresses, hair gel), they had a Frisbee to toss, and a roller rink across the street was letting them pee there when they needed too. Also, some dude was due to deliver them pizza later in the evening (expecting them to score him tickets in return). That they'd survived an encounter with an "unidentified marsupial" the night before had only added to the adventure. In fact, when an enterprising independent ticket salesman approached them, offering a pair for only several hundred dollars more than their face value, these fans politely declined, preferring instead to let their camaraderie carry them through the night, waiting till pink-fingered dawn crept over the horizon and those sliding ticket windows opened wide.

3/7/2005 12:06:00 AM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

The New York Times (reg. required) offers an informative chat with David Wells today. After admitting that being a Red Sox is "not as bad as I thought," announcing that he'll retire in 2006, and confessing that his curve needs some work ahead of a potential spring training start next Saturday, he addresses his history of fisticuffs and offers his thoughts on the early closing times of Boston's bars.

He's probably right about hotheaded fans provoking filthy-rich athletes into altercations with the hopes of seeing them later in court. But I hardly think he has anything to worry about when he's carousing around the Hub this summer. After all, he may be a brawler and a boozer, but he's our brawling boozer.

Wells pitched for the Yankees in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003. Boston hasn't been such a hospitable place for visitors, he said. Pitcher Tim Hudson, then with Oakland, was involved in a confrontation in a Boston bar on Oct. 3, 2003, while he signed autographs. Hudson said there wasn't a fight.

"You saw what happened with Tim Hudson,'' Wells said. "He went out there and he got provoked and that's what I think people are doing now with athletes is trying to provoke them to do that, trying to ruin their career.

"They just home in on the people who are vampires, like me.''

His nocturnal excursions could be curtailed in Boston because of its earlier bar closings.

"That's good,'' he said. If "I can just keep myself inside I'll be all right.''

In case you haven't heard it, the Smoking Gun has a priceless MP3 of Boomer's profanity-laden call to 911 after his unfortunate altercation with "squatty-bodied" wannabe pugilist Rocco Graziosa on an Upper East Side sidewalk in 2002 (in which he lost two teeth).

"Operator: Hello, sir, sir, stop cursing."

3/5/2005 5:43:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Hmm. Representatives Tom Davis (R-VA) and Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) have "invited" seven current and former major leaguers to testify before Congress, perhaps under oath, about steroid use. I'm curious how it was decided who the lucky invitees would be ... and what the ramifications will be if any of them decide to RSVP their regrets. Many on the guest list (Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi) have long had their names, in one way or another, linked with suspicion of steroid use. Others, like Frank Thomas and our own Curt Schilling, have not -- but have been more vocal about the issue than most of their fellow players. (Schilling, without naming names, has acknowledged that some of his teammates were using, but has expressed distrust about the fairness of tests administered by MLB ownership; Thomas was one of the first players to publicly call for testing, three years ago.) Schilling says he'll check in with the players union before deciding whether or not to show up on Capitol Hill. If he does -- and especially if he's sworn in -- it will be interesting to see if a man not usually known for his taciturnity will be as talkative as usual.

3/4/2005 1:01:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

Boston Radio Watch reports that, after two and a half years without them, WEEI AM 850 will be resuming streaming webcasts of its audio feed. Presumably, coverage of Red Sox games will be blacked out (you can hear Joe Castiglione and Jerry Trupiano online by subscribing to MLB.com's Gameday Audio). But this is a welcome development for fans around the country who miss Angry Bill's telephonic rants and the sage insights offered by "Curt in the Car."

3/3/2005 4:53:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |  

It was a mere 127 days ago that we, the loyal denizens of Red Sox nation, were hugging, high-fiving, spilling beer, and shouting in glorious exaltation.

The deed had been done.

The memories are fond, and they'll be cherished forever. But they're in the past.

The future starts now. In the Boston Red Sox' first game of spring training, newly acquired righty Matt Clement goes up against the Minnesota Twins' Kyle Lohse at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Florida.

7:05 p.m.

Tonight, we watch baseball.

3/3/2005 2:52:00 PM by Mike Miliard | Comments [0] |