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.

Quote from Manny Ramirez at Spring Training in response to the question,

“What’s it like to be here on time?”

“Hey, I am always on time, I may be late 2 years in a row, but I am always on time”

Huh?!?

Manny has now switched agents to that one guy who we all know and love!!!

Scot Boras, the dregs of the agent world and one of the people who we can definitely all blame for the outrageous salaries that we see sports stars making nowadays, a media whore like no other(except maybe Peyton Manning, but at least his is advertising something other than himself).

Also, not sure how to take Manny’s comments about the team picking up his options for ’09 and ’10. I know Manny has said he wants to play for a long time and be like Julio Franco(who is 50 this year and still looking to play) and I am not sure if the Sox should pick up his 20 million or not, it’s an iffy situation from my point of view. He is still a great player, and he is still worth having on a team, but is he worth 20 million? and would it be worth it to the team to over pay him with that 20 million to keep him off another team? Deep questions….

From Extra Bases on Boston.com:
Manny Ramirez is hiring Scott Boras as his agent, a friend of the Red Sox left fielder told SI.com Friday.

“I want to finish my career here, but it’s up to them. If that doesn’t happen, hey, I’ll go and play somewhere else. I know I can still play and what else can I say? It’s up to them. I’m not the one who writes the checks.”

Ex-Red Sox player Trot Nixon has agreed to a minor league contract with Arizona Diamondbacks.

I guess the big payday wasn’t out there for him…

But feel free to bookmark this… I give him 2, maybe 3 years and he is back on the Sox as a bench player for backup and defense. Why you ask? Fans love him and the Sox will be able to get him for crazy cheap money at that point.

What is that smell? You know you know it….

It’s the smell of fresh cut grass, the smell of hot dogs, cotton candy, pretzels, mustard(even if gross), popcorn and all those other smells, most of them good and some of them bad.

It’s springtime, which means baseball spring training!!!

RED SOX ARE IN THE BUILDING!!!!

or in the park as the case may technically be.

We come into Spring Training as a set of fans with high hopes for our team, they won the World Series last year for the 2nd time in 4 seasons, which for this team is something quite amazing. I personally thank the ownership for this, they have certainly put an emphasis on winning, not just on competing, and they actually appear to care about their investment, unlike the past ownership group of the Yawkeys and the Yawkey Trust.

I feel good about the chances for the team this year, with a high percentage of the team coming back, and a lot of young stars who look poised and hungry to win instead of laying back and enjoying the success they have had early.

Some high points so far:
– Manny on time to Spring Training
– Big Papi’s knee is in good shape, a little sore but no major problems
– Pitching staff is in good shape

Some low points so far:
– Schilling’s shoulder, pretty sure he is gonna be done for the season, but who knows?
– Coco Crisp, I like Coco, he is a walking WebGem producer, and while I wish there was a way to keep him and Jacoby, but  I don;t see that as viable, unless he really picks up the offense, he will likely go in trade for a good utility player, hopefully one with a strong bat.

I feel confident and I look forward to seeing how everything pans out, and hopefully we will see great things from this team this year.

I am hoping for no sophmore slump from Pedroia and an awesome rookie year from Jacoby Ellsbury.