Posts Tagged Red Sox

Draft Results!

So I was picked by Monty’s Maverick’s with coach Bob Montgomery and manager Victor Rodriquez.

I am on the same team as Joe, and we play at the PDC for the first game tomorrow, and then for our afternoon game we get to go play on “The Big Field” at City of Palms Park.

We also play the Thursday morning game at the City of Palms Park, but on field #2 instead.

We have what appears to be a nice young team, and hopefully we can do well. The plan is to win it all so we can get our fancy rings given to us before a game at Fenway.

GO MONTY’S MAVERICKS!!

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Day One – Evaluations and Drills

Today started early, we were up at 5:30 and down in the lobby waiting for the shuttles at 6, and got on the first shuttle at 6:30. It was pouring out though!

We got over to the Player Development Complex(PDC) and went in through the back player’s entrance into our locker room. Everything was laid out perfect, all in rows like you imagine a pristine locker room looking when all setup.

Took a few pictures, then started to get changed. We were in Away jersey’s today so they could tell who was who based on the names, since away jerseys have the name, but home don’t. Just like aways say Boston, and home say Red Sox.

We then got some breakfast, eggs, bacon, oatmeal, cantaloupe, honey dew, and some granola with some orange juice.

After breakfast we had our player meeting to give us the lowdown on how things go, as well as telling us how the “fines” work. Everyone will get fined at some point. All fines are $1 except for major fines. They do this cuz it is fun and the money goes to charity, but they also use it to mock the MLB system of fines. A bunch of guys had their fines announced from the early bird game, most of them for having their back pockets hanging out while out on the field or at bat.

Well then we got divided up and sent out to one of 5 stations; BullPen, Infield, Outfield, Hitting, and Base Running.

I started out with the BullPen with Bill Lee and Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, then infield with Lou “The Framingham Kid” Merloni and John Valentin, then over to outfield with Butch Hobson(Who seriously looks like he could still play) and then over to hitting with Bob Montgomery and Al Bumbry, and then into base running with Rich Gedman.

Overall it went pretty well, and I got a nice compliment along with advice while over hitting in the cages when the batting coach said “You got some hella good hand/eye co-ordination, you just need to use your back foot more so you can get more power. Pretend you have a roach under your foot, and let him out when you are halfway through your swing”

Then we had lunch, broccoli and salmon, with some salad and peanut butter & jam sandwiches. While at lunch we also had the chance to get things signed by Frank Viola, I got a couple cards signed, along with my Fantasy Camp Souvenir Bat, and the Mini Helmet I got from Joe. They also had the Hooters Girls there who were giving us 25% off coupons. I didn’t get my photo taken with anyone though, even though the option was there.

Also during lunch, I bumped into Kevin Youkilis by my locker while he was talking to John Valentin and Bill Lee, both he and Lee were trying to convince the other whether VT(Where Bill lives) or NH(where Youk has family on Lake Winnipesaukee). Youk was there to work out, gotta give him credit, they don’t report for another 2 weeks and he is in the area early and already working out. I thought he was taller, but he is about my height, but he looks in real good shape. I think he is gonna be a real force this year!

Then after lunch we went out for a group stretch, and then there was a short Q&A with Frank Viola who shared a couple interesting stories about his playing days, including the College game he pitched with Ron Darling who pitched an 11 inning no-hitter before losing the game 1-0.

Then we got to play, I ended up over on field 5 with Truel and Boyd, I sat out the first inning, and then played first base in inning 2, then for some freakish reason I ended up as the catcher for innings 3, 4, and 5 to give Urbanski some rest and he went to first. We had a pitcher(Yorkal I think) who was throwing HARD and I remembered at about the third inning to take my index finger outside the glove to make it a little easier on me. My ankles and thighs(front and back) got a total workout from that!! Then inning 6 I went to third base and Urbanski went back to catching for the last inning.

I had 2 at bats in the game, our team was pretty terrible, but it was only evaluation game. I struck out both times at the plate, the pitching was pretty poor and tough to pick up, first time was looking(which will probably be a fine tomorrow) and the second time was swinging. Live pitching really is a lot different than anything else.

I will probably get another fine because I just stood and watched as the pitched came into foul ground 10-15 feet from me to try to catch a foul ball, and I just stood there and watched. I totally should have gone after it and caught it. BAD NED, but I won’t(I hope) be playing catcher any more, it was number 10 on my list of preferred positions. I hope to end up an outfielder, with some 1B thrown in.

Then we went into the clubhouse after the games, I got some ice for my hand, and then a couple granola bars and a few cokes. They had beer there for people as well, but well, you know me and beer so that was rules out for me. I also managed to get a few autographs at the end of the day too.

Total Autographs:

Mini-Helmet:
Bill Lee
Lou Merloni
John Valentin
Butch Hobson
UL Washington
Kevin Youkilis
Bob Montgomery
Frank Viola

Bat:
UL Washington
Frank Viola

Cards:
Frank Viola
UL Washington

B&W Glossy:
Lou Merloni

UL is like 3 lockers down from me, and then Bill Lee is down the other end of my locker row. You always know when he is around, he’s a combination of King and Jester while he holds court.

Time to head downstairs for the reception, and then to find out the draft results from today, they hold the draft in private and it started about 15 minutes ago at 6:00.

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Opening Night

Wow, camp hasn’t even started yet but this is just a plain old awesome time!!

Slept in this morning before checking out of my hotel to come over to the Crowne Plaza. Got here and found out we could check in early, so I checked in with Joe and then we went up and started to unpack our stuff.

Joe has a ton of stuff compared to me, bats, gloves – everything and he gave me an extra mini-helmet that he bought, and a silver sharpie so I can have the guys sign it, on top of some of my cards I brought with me!

We had a Super Bowl viewing party and welcoming dinner down in the ballroom. It was great, all the campers and most of the coaches were there. Joe Castiglione announced all the coaches who stood up and were acknowledged, and then we got some last minute info and then just went on to enjoy the game.

On top of all that, they had the 2007 World Series Trophy and the 2007 & 2004 World Series rings over in one corner so we could pose for photos. Not just pose, but I got to put the ring on and GOT TO HOLD THE WORLD SERIES TROPHY!

I met and talked to Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd who is hysterical to listen to and is totally here to have some fun this week. I also met and spoke to Bill “The Spaceman” Lee who is certainly and interesting fellow. He lives in in Vermont(certainly looks the part doesn’t he? WikiLink) now and is in the process of starting a small company that will make bats. He has a few bats here with him, if I end up on his team then I can use one.

Then we watched the Super Bowl. They did a “squares” pool for everyone(link if you don’t know), $10 a square and then 1st quarter was $150, halftime was $200, 3rd Quarter was $150 and end of the game is $500.

I had the Square for Cardinals 7, and Steelers 0.

2 minutes left in the 2nd quarter and I was excited, if the scored remained this, then I would win $200. Awesome.. but the Cardinals were driving… they were within field goal range and I was cheering for a fumble or an interception so they wouldn’t change the score and I would win… I got my wish… ALMOST…

With 18 seconds left, Warner throws a pass to the endzone and is PICKED OFF!!

YES!!

BUT WAIT!!

The Steelers start to run the ball back… 20 yard line… 30 yard line.. 40 yard line.. SOMEONE TACKLE HIM!! 50 yard line… 40 yard line… 30 yard line… time has now expired… SOMEONE TACKLE HIM!!! 20 yard line… 10 yard line… TACKLED BUT TOO LATE!!! TOUCHDOWN STEELERS!!

AAARRGH!!!

So close yet so far…

Well, the story ends well… I ended up winning the 3rd quarter with the 20-7 score, since the 0 and the 7 were in the right spots, so $150 was mine, REDEMPTION!!!

Time for bed now… long week starts tomorrow!!!

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Let’s get Ready to RUMMMMMMMMBLE!!!!

So here we are, the first day of camp, well maybe not camp but today is the first day most of the people will be arriving for camp.

I left Boston yesterday because I was paranoid about possible weather complications and I wanted to do some sight seeing while I was here.

I left Boston at 7:10 on a Delta Airline’s flight to Atlanta. I had decided to spoil myself with first class seats on my flight since I was paying for it with the mileage I earned at my last job flying all over the place, and it was only an extra 10K miles to do the upgraded service. I was a little bit disappointed since the itinerary said “Brunch” for my flight and it consisted of Sun Chips, peanuts, granola bars, and those butter cookie things. It was nice in the seats though, very comfortable.

I did run into another problem as well with the MD mixes I made to listen to on the way down, apparently I compressed the songs wrong, so they would play on my NetMD(which is dying) but they won’t play on the other not NetMD that I got from FreeCycle. DOH, lesson learned… Joe had an old MD player he offered me since he has gone Ipod, so I am hoping it is a NetMD so I can use it on the way home… and I hope he remembered to bring it with him.

I then had a layover in Atlanta and was going to grab a fruit smoothie and danish or something for a snack, but I couldn’t find a Starbuck’s to use the $80 in gift cards I have, so I settled on just watching CNN instead of paying for a way over priced danish with my own money.

So I arrived in Fort Myers around 1PM and the weather was great, got off the plane and headed to Avis where I got a rental car. I was fortunate and got one for the rate that I got when I worked for my old company, apparently their discount code was still part of my profile with Avis, so I saved $30 on a severely over priced Florida Rental Car. I could have saved $40 had I gone with someone like Enterprise, but less hassle with Avis, plus I got an auto upgrade from compact to Intermediate. So yeah, I am here in FL cruising around in an Impala, but it doesn’t have 20 inch blades…

I spent the day sort of driving around with no real plans. I found the Manatee Park and spent a couple hours there, supposedly they had an area with alligators too, but I couldn’t find them… at least not a real one…

I then went and checked out the Caloosahatchee Creeks Wildlife Preserve. It was nice, with a walkway through out most of it. Almost no one was there so I sorta had it all to myself. The only real wildlife I was able to get a picture of were some big buzzards or some other type of bird who was circling, huge wingspan and graceful. I was hoping for some snakes or something, but no luck outside of a raccoon.

I also played hide and seek with the raccoon who was really good at hiding so I wasn’t able to get a shot of him. I was walking on the wooden walkway, and he was on the left, but he ran under it when I was about 5 feet from him. He then poked his head out the left side and I tried to get a shot but he went back under it. I was patient and waited about 15 minutes to try to get a shot, being real quiet and just standing there, but I heard nothing and saw nothing. I finally gave up and lay down on the walkway and over the side, looked underneath and saw nothing!! He had completely vanished with no sound.

Then I left and drive around and ended up at a “Scenic View” at the beach on North Cleveland Avenue in Cape Coral. It was a nice little spot with a small pier, beach and nice view of the water. There was a guy there who was casting a net to catch fish, he actually caught a couple while I was there.

I then left there and headed south to Saninbel Island. I hear people talk about it all the time so I wanted to see it for myself, plus it was about 5PM and in looking at the map I thought I would have a good shot at a nice sunset out on the island. So I paid my $6 toll to get onto the bridge, and stopped a couple times before I got to the island. Once was for a few pelican pictures, and the other was to take some picture of some guys who were kite surfing. I drove around for a bit and just kind of saw what there was. It has a nice feel to it, especially with the cute little names of places, but it definitely had the “tourist feel” to it.

While driving I had to pull over to the side of the road because there were fire engines coming the other way, normally this wouldn’t be anything of note, but this was the first time I have ever seen a fire engine pulling a boat before!!

I then made my way down to Captiva where I stumbled onto Bowman’s Beach. This beach was charming, and really nice. It was especially nice since the majority of beach on that side of the island is taken up by private communities. I got out there and it was so peaceful, and the sun had awhile to go, so I setup and sat back to watch the sunset. I also decided to try to take a picture of me “holding the sun”, I figure it would be almost impossible since I was alone. Fortunately on the plane ride down I finally read how to use my camera and now know how to setup the timer function. It took me 3 tries to get the shot, I was shocked, but also kinda impressed with myself for getting it in 3 shots while by myself with no remote, even if I am out of focus a little bit and very dark because the sun caused issues, but I got my sunset shots and was on my way back.

Also at this point I am really wishing I had a zoom lens, I totally should have rented one for this trip. Mine gets close, but I spoiled myself when I rented the 100-400mm lens earlier this year on my trip to Toronto, the 28-135mm just wasn’t working for some of the shots I wanted to get, especially of the herons who were in the shallows doing their dinner hunting. Also with the sun shots, I think I need to get some UV filters, it will cut down on glare.

So it was getting late and I was hungry. I was going to eat somewhere on Sanibel, but the couple places I checked out had a 30% premium on dinner from what I would normally expect to pay, so the frugality in me won out and I left the island to find someting to eat. I headed back, ran into a little traffic but decided to go find my hotel, I found the hotel, checked in and then went to dinner. I actually don’t remember where I went to dinner, I just remember laughing that Stephan King was the General Manager and there was a stuffed Armadillo behind the bar. I had a caeser salad and a mediocre small prime rib that was supposed to have a baked potato with it, but they ran out so I got mashed, which had to be redone because they were cold in the center. Fortunately, the 3 margaritas I also had while not eating much all day long made me completely not care, also fortunately I was across the street from the hotel and walked here instead of driving.

I then went back to my hotel room, watched some TV and tried to get the pictures off my photo card… but apparently the 3 margaritas I had affected me that I couldn’t get my card reader to work right… I got it all taken care of the next day though… time to go pack up and check out now and then head out to wander around some more and then go check in at the Crowne Plaza where all the real fun starts to happen as the week at Fantasy Camp really begins!!!

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Disappointing News Today

Some disappointing news today from the Fantasy Camp Front. Carl Yastrzemski won’t be joining campers at all during camp due to health concerns.

I am sure every camper is disappointed in missing the chance to meet the legend, but we all extend out a heartfelt wish that his health improves.

10 days and counting!!

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Preparation continues

So we had quite the snowstorm up here today, the snow was light and fluffy, so the shoveling was easy, but it made working out tough.

I got a little ingenuity came through, I took some old couch cushions and put them against the back wall in my garage on top of my work table, and then threw against it. I was going to throw against the wall itself, but with my luck I would end up cracking the foundation of my house, and that’s the last thing I want to happen.

I threw twice today for about 15 minutes each time.

Arm feels good

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We got the final info!

Well, today the final information packet arrived via Fed-Ex.

I now have my roommate’s name, and it is my buddy Joe who I am going to camp with, so it will be nice to not have to share a room with a complete stranger.

Got the full schedule with all the coaches and managers as well. I will admit I do have a couple teams I hope to be on, my 3 top choices are all in the Yastrzemski Division.

Valentin’s Vikings; Manager – John Valentin; Coach – Luis Tiant
Lee’s Lefties; Manager – Bill Lee; Coaches – Felix Maldonando/Mike Stanley
Treuel’s Trolls; Manager – Ralph Treuel; Coach – Oil Can Boyd

Why those you ask? Well, they all have a coach or manager who I think is probably going to be a really really interesting person, even without the baseball aspect of it, just as a human being.

I am a little bit disappointed with some of the rules that were listed for the week. The top of which are the no bunting, no stealing, 7 inning games and only 6 runs an inning rule. I guess I kind of understand them all, but it makes me feel like I am back playing T ball again.

I leave in 16 days… a day earlier than most other guys… I am excited!

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Congratulations to #14

Earlier today a great bit of news was released to the world by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

James Edward Rice, #14 on the Boston Red Sox for the entirely of his 16 seasons in Major League baseball was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

This was Jim’s final year of standard eligibility, if he had not been voted in with the 76.4% vote he received, then his only option to get into the Hall of Fame would have been via the Veterans Committee or buying a ticket at the door.

Also elected this year were Ricky Henderson(94.8%), and Joe Gordan(Veteran’s Committee).

I am happy to see that one of the great Red Sox players from the past has finally been recognized the way he was meant to be for his play over the years. I also look forward to meeting and congratulating him in person while at camp in February.

I also hope to be able to get a photo of me with both Jim and Yaz.

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T-Minus 20 Days

Well, here is my first post for the blog. I have had a few blogs in the past but I never seem to be able to keep up with them for very long because the interest in them just sort of wains and I give up on it.

When did all this start? I would have to say when I was a kid and I heard about how you could go play with the Pros, I wanted to go then and there and show em how good I was, I never did though.

I always say I bleed red for a reason, I am a Red Sox fan to the very core. What used to be a heart wrenching experience as a child, turned to gut wrenching as a young adult, and turned into unfettered rapture as an adult.

I have become friend’s with Joe, a fellow Red Sox fan to the core who lives out in San Francisco. He mentioned going to camp in 2007 for the 2008 year, so I told him to put it off for a year until I was 30 and then we could both go for the experience together.

Well, I am 30 and early last spring we both sent in our deposits and this journey was started.

In 19 days I board a plane to head down to Fort Myer’s Florida to the Red Sox Spring Training Facility at City of Palms Park where I will spend a week with other Red Sox fans as we play on the same fields as the team we cheer for all year long.

Excitment is an understatement for how I feel leading up to this, but I am also nervous at the same time.

This will be a blog that will chronicle my experience before, during and after in tandem with my Flickr Account and my Twitter Account.

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Ahhh… Tradition…

The first Spring Training games took place today and Boston did it’s traditional games against local colleges, they opened up against BC and Northeastern today, and not surprisingly won both games, both shutouts, 24-0 and 15-0.

They were split squad games with some of the main players on both teams.

The Red Sox performed well and some good outings at the plate by some of the minor league guys, like Jeff Corsaletti(OF) and George Kottaras(C). Hopefully Kottaras will be consistent and be a good replacement for Varitek who I am guessing is going to be retiring in a year or two, since he turns 36 in a little over a month, his knees probably can’t hold up much longer, and well, his hitting just isn’t there anymore, great behind the plate, just not while standing at the plate.

Yes, they were playing against “only college” kids but I don’t see that as a big deal, you still need to hit the ball and swing well to do it right. Also, a large number of walks certainly helped which shows good patience on the part of the veterans who didn’t take the game too lightly.

Beckett picked up where he left off last year as well, only pitched 2 innings, but had 4 strikeouts, 1 fly out and 1 ground out with no walks. He spoke out after the game and was not too happy with his curveball, but hey, only the first game of spring training so plenty of time for things to shake out, and as we all know, Josh is one of his own harshest critics which is actually a really good thing as long as he only strives to improve instead of getting down on himself from a bad outing.

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