3 replies to this topic

[Mike F]

3/18/08

A check of the thermometer upon arriving at the Edison Complex revealed 72F with a nice breeze. Scattered clouds gave little protection from the sun.

We hiked over to field #2 and watched a lot of stretching, etc, etc. The starters left early because it was their day to pitch on the back mounds. We spotted Bruce Hurst with the coaches and he looked as if he
could pitch about 6 innings. We took a few not very important but somewhat interesting pictures to augment some of the anecdotal information in the report. Cheri will be posting them a little later.

We watched the relievers doing their fielding exercises. They are divided into three groups. Essentially, the Gang we expect to go North, the gang we expect to go to AAA and another group of folks hustling to
Get a shot at AAA or keep a job. Dan Kolb was with the big guys, no doubt in deference to his ML background. Of the wannabees, Dave is currently cheering for Bryan Corey. “He works hard, is athletic and he seems to get guys out.” sez Dave. Every spring Dave adopts a player that is border line and attempts to talk me into accepting his candidate. It is great fun and produces many laughs.

We watched Doug Mirappearstohaveamuchsmallerbelli take BP. Early BP surely doesn’t prove anything but he does look quite a bit tauter in the midriff. Dave and I figure that Doug Beerabelli will change his screen name to Doug Litebeerabelli. Picture forthcoming.

We watched Lowrie and Pedroia taking grounders with great alacrity. All the throws were going to 1st so
we left without seeing if they did and pivot work. Pictures forthcoming.

There were a significant number of jerks with bad mouths complaining about wasting time waiting for autographs. To a man they had a gym bag loaded with balls and at least two bats. One guy had a black bat. This poses the question of what color ink was in his pen. A couple of the guys were dropping f-bombs in spite of having young children with them I surely wish that the security force which won’t let you step around a chain link fence to get a clear shot of players or whatever, would spend a little time running the foul mouthed professional autograph seekers out of the park.

The Tee Shirt of the Day, picture forthcoming, had an obvious misspelling but we decided not to ruin the guys day by asking his permission to photo-shop out the extra letter o.

We shot a couple of neat signs created by a lovely young lady named Eleana, from Cranston RI. There was also one that said “Red Sox Rule”…….”Yankees Drool” but that was just too gratuitous to post.

We heard several conversations about Terry’s management style/errors. I guess it’s natural for us all to think “well I wouldn’t have done that or I would have taken him out”. Just think if any of us has 4 of these incidents from last year, the Sox would have won 100. When I think of Terry, I remember something my father used to say. “Be like the weather, do your thing. When everybody is talking about you, ignore them.”

Tomorrow is another day.




When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty

[BoSoxLady]

We spotted Bruce Hurst with the coaches and he looked as if he could pitch about 6 innings. We took a few not very important but somewhat interesting pictures to augment some of the anecdotal information in the report.

Tito and John Farrell

We watched Doug Mirappearstohaveamuchsmallerbelli take BP. Early BP surely doesn’t prove anything but he does look quite a bit tauter in the midriff. Dave and I figure that Doug Beerabelli will change his screen name to Doug Litebeerabelli. Picture forthcoming.

We watched Lowrie and Pedroia taking grounders with great alacrity. All the throws were going to 1st so
we left without seeing if they did and pivot work. Pictures forthcoming.






Where in the world is Dustin Pedroia?



Joolian


The Tee Shirt of the Day, picture forthcoming, had an obvious misspelling but we decided not to ruin the guys day by asking his permission to photo-shop out the extra letter o.

[wyatt55]

Thanks so much for the reports and pics.

QUOTEWe watched Doug Mirappearstohaveamuchsmallerbelli take BP. Early BP surely doesn’t prove anything but he does look quite a bit tauter in the midriff. Dave and I figure that Doug Beerabelli will change his screen name to Doug Litebeerabelli.

He's everything you ever wanted in a backup catcher . . . and less. Bodes well for a little bounce back for Dougie in 2008.

[Doug Beerabelli]

Thanks so much for the reports and pics.

QUOTEWe watched Doug Mirappearstohaveamuchsmallerbelli take BP. Early BP surely doesn’t prove anything but he does look quite a bit tauter in the midriff. Dave and I figure that Doug Beerabelli will change his screen name to Doug Litebeerabelli.

He's everything you ever wanted in a backup catcher . . . and less. Bodes well for a little bounce back for Dougie in 2008.

And as it was, 2008 is the year Doug Beerabelli is finally trying to get Lite-er. No, I did not coordinate this with Dougie, but perhaps both of us are scraping the breading off the chicken parm.

Great report, Mike F. Always a joy to read. Sadly, I'll not be making a trip to FL this spring, so your reports will have to suffice.