RedSoxRooter

I'd agree with you if Boston were Seattle or Oakland, but we're not. We have a big payroll and last year was proof (at least to break the "curse") that Boston needs a veteran team to win with all the pressure and s*** in the media. Young guys usually don't pan out in Boston. Look at Nomar for God's sake - even he didn't pan out if the true goal is to win the World Series in Boston. Our prospects are basically nothing more than bargaining chips for the team. If a real, REAL BIG prospect a-la another Clemens comes along, then I think the Sox would keep him. If it comes down to Damon having another great year and signing him for 3 years at 9 million/year, the Sox can afford that and will probably make an offer. We are not a poor team so keeping a rookie because he's cheaper than an established player is not even an option. Damon I think we have to keep, even if it means paying too much. He's a lot like Tek in that way. Of course it aint my money, so I say spend away!

The only way last year could have possibly ended any better is if the Sox won the World Series A ) at Fenway and B ) with Nomar at short, in my opinion. I'd almost forgotten about the "Happy Birthday" chants........ I still miss the lug, though I know things are probably for the best now. Here's a great article on Garciaparra that his fans should read. There's a nice little slam in there for BostonDirtDogs too. http://redsox.bostonherald.com/redSox/view.bg?articleid=73029 I hope he has a monster year this year. The whole free agent thing last year has produced something interesting for me... I can finally watch, on certain days, Dodger, Cubs and Mets games with some level of interest now.

Wells looks like the same old Wells. That's a good thing I think. A Mueller error and a bad read by Damon lead to two runs here in the second. Dinger by Trot. 2-1 game.

the one about shutting up 50 thousand new yorkers? "I'm not sure I can think of any scenario more enjoyable than making 55,000 people from New York shut up."

The prophet spoke, yet we all laughed... On a side note, I bet I'll get to 1000 post before you. Sucka. :harhar:

Thanks for the info. I'll check into it. Figures you'd enjoy COX Anyway, next time check out the CNN tour if you're down here again. The CNN Espanol anchors are unreal.

Ok, from the guy who's never owned a cell phone and still owns a record player.... XM Radio. You pay for a car and/or a home account?? You can pick up any radio feed in the US?? Are there blackouts?? Here near ATL, I'd be able to get the EEI radio station in my car? $130??? Is that a month/year or lifetime??? Finally, lucky bastard who gets a new Honda with XM Radio BEFORE he goes to college!!! I know people who get that when they graduate, but not for getting in. Congrats.

BTK needs a good lawyer. You should get in touch with him.

I don't think it's anything serious. Again, going back to my question, why isn't Sheffield and Bonds on the list? I think it's more to find out about steriods in Baseball than accusing the subpoenaed players.

Well, it's no longer an invite. Subpoenas are coming down on Wednesday. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2008206 If the report is accurate, I wonder why Sheffield and Bonds are not going...

I'll take Wake's average 14 wins a year (as a starter) right now in the #5 spot. Arroyo will have his day. With the players we have, and their skills/age, Arroyo will be in the pen.

Wakefield.

get over it.

I read that this morning too and kind of wondered... I don't put it past anyone, not even Schill to be using steroids, but I think it has more to do with his willingness to talk on and on and on and on about the subject. At least that's what I hope.

It's not as shocking that he threw 60 pitches in his first spring training game as it is it took him 60 pitches to get 9 outs. I'm not bashing Pedro, I'm just saying that he's no longer the 50+ million dollar pitcher he (and some of you) think he is. And no, I'll never bash Nomar. Nomar's playing this year on the cheap to show he's still a great player. Pedro's doing the exact opposite.

Well, ol' Petey's in a new place, but he seems to be the same Pedro we worried about last year. He's pitched his first game for the Mets and has the BS meter on red again. Also, his performance was pretty typical of his last couple of years with the Sox. They had better watch it though with how they use him. Sixty pitches in his first spring start seems a little crazy! Anyway, in typical Martinez fashion, he had a high pitch count over three innings and was in trouble most of the time. Yet in that amazing Martinez way only allowed 1 earned run. It's really pretty amazing how he walks such a fine line and almost always gets away with it - but that's what's always made him elite. Anyway, do these lines sound familliar?? "He told me he feels as good as he's felt in the last five years." - Rick Peterson "The doctors explained to me that after I did my rehab in 2001, the second or third year would tell me whether I'd feel normal or not," Mart?nez said. "I suddenly picked up velocity without any effort. Now I feel like I can throw every day. So far, thank God, everything has been roses." - Pedro There is no question in my mind that his best years were with Boston before the injury. The Pedro of old would not need 60 pitches in 3 innings of ANY game unless he was hurt. Not that he's hurt, mind you, but he's certainly not going to throw the Mets the best season he's thrown in the last 5 years. And that's without the DH. The prediction for me stands as this: He'll be iffy into June. He'll be great in July and part of August. He'll start to break down in September. Same old (new) Pedro. Personally, I hope he does better and wins the Cy, but I'm glad he's someone else's headache now. Let me also go on record right now and say that DLowe - who I saw pitch 3 innings on 30 pitches against Atlanta today - will have a great year. He looked great, calm, confident and had his s*** going on. Yes, folks, I think DLowe will have a better year than Pedro... Here's the story from the NY Times. JUPITER, Fla., March 4 - The issue of the day, as it always will be with Pedro Mart?nez, is the soundness of his right arm. Mart?nez detests the notion that his arm is as fragile as porcelain, that it must be constantly monitored and babied to ensure he does not break down in July. Since arriving in Port St. Lucie 10 days early for spring training, Mart?nez has insisted to the Mets' pitching coach, Rick Peterson, and Manager Willie Randolph that he feels strong and healthy. Proving it, he threw 60 pitches over three innings against St. Louis on Friday in his spring debut. That was 16 more pitchers than were thrown by the erratic Cardinals starter Mark Mulder, who was also making his first start, and 5 more than the Mets had budgeted for Mart?nez. So Peterson, who takes a careful and scientific approach to building arm strength in young pitchers, reacted with surprise and mild annoyance to reporters' questions suggesting that Mart?nez had been overworked. "That's not his first outing," Peterson said stiffly, referring to the 36-pitch simulated game Mart?nez threw five days before. "He told me he feels as good as he's felt in the last five years." Because Mart?nez feels no concern, Peterson said, "I don't." Facing the team he shut out for seven innings in Game 3 of the World Series in October, Mart?nez gave up two runs (one earned) and three hits, with three strikeouts and a walk, in the Mets' 7-5 victory at Roger Dean Stadium. The Mets staked Mart?nez to a 4-0 lead in the first inning by batting around against Mulder, the former Oakland Athletics ace who threw 44 pitches in his only inning. Mart?nez actually made his first Mets appearance as a batter, grounding to first for the third out. "It felt a little bit weird," he said. As far as his pitching, Mart?nez said: "I feel healthy. I feel strong. I'm right where I want to be." Still, 60 pitches seems unusually high for a pitcher the Mets invested $53 million in over four years. Mart?nez's health so concerned the Boston Red Sox that they monitored his pitch counts closely and occasionally gave him an extra day of rest to keep him from wearing down. Tom Glavine, for instance, threw 24 pitches in the Mets' spring opener Wednesday, and Carl Pavano of the Yankees threw 30 in his first start Friday. But the Mets are not treating the 33-year-old Mart?nez any differently from Steve Trachsel, who also has thrown a simulated game and is slated to go three innings Saturday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. "He's in great shape, and that has a lot to do with it," Randolph said. "We're not going to get crazy about pitch counts and him throwing one or two more pitches because he's in such great shape. "It's spring training. He's got to be strong right now. If we see something in his arm, we'll make adjustments. If you look at his work and see him throw on the side, he's fine. He's not going to break. Today was a nice easy workout for him." That depends on one's definition of easy. With Fred Wilson, the principal owner, and other Mets officials in the sold-out crowd of 7,438, Mart?nez threw all of his pitches and moved the ball around. But the Cardinals put runners on base in every inning Mart?nez pitched, and he needed 25 pitches to get out of the third. As Mart?nez took the mound for the first time, the sun poked through the overcast for the first time all day. An omen? Hardly. Mart?nez gave up hits to two of the first three batters - a soft liner by David Eckstein that dipped under shortstop Jos? Reyes's glove for a single and Albert Pujols's full-count double to the base of the right-field wall. Two runs scored, on a passed ball between Mike Piazza's legs and Scott Rolen's groundout. "We're still getting reacquainted," said Piazza, who caught Mart?nez more than a decade ago in the Dodgers' minor league system. "He's very spontaneous at times, if he sees something. It's my job to make it smooth." Yet Mart?nez, with his long curly hair flapping in the breeze, made several quality pitches in the first inning. He struck out Roger Cede?o flailing at a changeup, and finished the inning by striking out Jim Edmonds on three pitches, the last a perfectly spotted fastball on the outside corner for a called strike. A slick double play started by second baseman Kazuo Matsui with a long backhand flip helped Mart?nez complete a scoreless second inning, when he threw only five strikes in 13 pitches. Mart?nez passed his 55-pitch limit while battling Pujols through an eight-pitch at-bat in the third. Pujols grounded up the middle after fouling off two full-count pitches, and Matsui knocked the ball down and threw him out. "The doctors explained to me that after I did my rehab in 2001, the second or third year would tell me whether I'd feel normal or not," Mart?nez said. "I suddenly picked up velocity without any effort. Now I feel like I can throw every day. So far, thank God, everything has been roses." The Mets hope the roses remain in bloom deep into summer.

A-Mart and Arroyo I think.

That is awesome! Congrats. Don't forget to bring a 12 foot Talksox sign with a picture of Chewbacca on it!

haha. 17-0 no hitter. The Braves did the same thing against Georgia Tech except it was 19-0.

Abe's looking pretty good. He doesn't look like a rookie. He didn't last year against the O's in his start. He really looks calm out there.

Way to go Bellhorn!!!!!!!! Picking up right where he left off!

Yeah, it's a little less tense than the last few games we saw the team play.... Just enjoy it.

ALMOST GAMETIME!

Going to college?? I am right there with you on the Real player. They offer both Real and Media Player - but I find the theater mode in Real to be much more enjoyable. If you take the Real Player install REAL slow, you can set your associations, etc. then. But if you fly through it, Real will take over your machine. :thumbdown

If you go here http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/video/daily.jsp and click on the archived Mets game (top link), you'll get an idea. They use Real player for live games, which is cool because you can switch to Theater Mode and play it at 200% on a black background. Obviously, the better the connection, the better the stream... I remember the games a couple of years ago when I had a 56k modem were really not that bad.