seabeachfred

hIP HIP HOORAY,, the Cubbies beat the Dodgers today.....AND WE BEAT THE YANKEES!!!!!!!

Check the box score today. It looks like our pitchng was rock solid---three good innings out of Masterson while the bullpen was lock down. Hard to make much of ST games, though. Everyone is getting their stuff together and no one is in mid-season shape by a long shot, but from I've heard there seems to be a strong comaradarie developing on the team and that is a good sign and this time around Buchholz is participating and not nursing a hangnail or other malady. I wish I could get some of the games but my MLB package doesn't kick in until the regular season. I'll see if I can get a radio feed on my computer.

If Craig has a good spring it could mean that he has shaken his injuries off and is now well and ready to play. I too would be very leery right now trading him, especially since Victorino looks to be on the shelf again and the spectre of putting Bradley into that lineup with a weak hitter in Vazquez already penciled into the lineup. With our pitching up in the air we need every bat we can get in that order.

The kid lefthander apparently has a howitzer for a pitching arm and can heave it at time over 100mph and his curve isn't at all for an 18 year old. He pitched two days ago I believe and had a little trouble with is control but when in the zone was pretty effective. The Dodgers say they are going to bring him along slowly and they are right about that because they do seem to have a pretty good and experienced rotation, but frankly I'm already tired of reading, hearing and watching the Dodgers out here, and that now is going for the Angels. I don't MLB Red Sox games until the regular season and I wish there was some way I could get them now or at least listen to them on the radio.

I want Shane in that lineup Spud but if this going to be another 2014 version of in and out then he has to realize he is going to be either a reserve or traded. Hopefully this setback is because he hasn't used his legs strenuously for quite some time, but he needs to get back in that lineup and stay there if he want to contribute like I know he can.

Yup, you've been there Ex1 and I remember the same thing from my experiences on the mound even though I was mainly a centerfielder. Sometimes I think ML pitchers should be above that feeling but they are not robots but humans and each pitcher deals with tension and pressure in their own way. That's why I was so amazed at Koi two seasons ago. He was almost automatic and even when he let that one game get away at TB in the ALDS he came storming back the next day and then was lights out in the ALCS and WS.

That's not the way I have it Navafan and you're raining on my parade.......but, then again, you could turn out to be right.

I get a case of the hives Ogden when anyone predicts a last place finish for the Yankees in any season. Except for 1966 and maybe one year in the 80's they don't finish last and the AL East seems to even and wide open that they could finish first as easily as we could. It seems to me going back over my 65-plus years as a fan Dame Fortune has shined on them a lot more than that of the other kind of fortune.

Just for the record, Kimmi and I have gone a few verbal rounds but I like her very much. She's my foil but a very loyal Red Sox fan who is pretty much always up beat, and, besides, she's my avatar helper.

Pretty good hitting, not so good pitching. I hope Ogando's next effort is better. I'm told he has a good arm and moxie. We may be needing him badly in the bullpen this year even though Breslow said his arm feels better than it has it ten years. Don't know what to make of that. What I would like to see is the team win about half their games this Spring and emphasis placed on sound defense, improved pitching and timely hitting. Then again, isn't that what every team says?

Fine mvp....well said! Now if Vin Scully will pardon me....IT'S TIME FOR RED SOX BASEBALL!!!!!!!!

Saying what happened elsewhere shouldn't bother you or anybody else. What it does do is to expose a pattern of behavior that could explain someone is an apologist for miserable play and is in total denial about what happened and refuses to even admit it. There is no thought police here and there shouldn't be. This is a forum to express one's views and that's what I'm doing.

Well maybe you weren't taking in enough water Spud because it was all over the internet and in the papers last year. I got it on Dirt Dogs time and again. Ever download that site? They have papers all over New England weighing in---Prividence, Hartford, Portland as well as Boston. Even for the sake of argument if they didn't say it your own eyes could see it on the field and read about it in the papers. No team that was properly prepared and coming off a WS Title could play that poorly unless they weren't prepared to play. Going from first to last is not a common thing and doesn't happen very often. In fact, I'm hard pressed to remember when it last occurred.

Let's close this thread User. We're getting nowhere with it save for the fact there is a lot of disagreement here and that can only lead to hurt feelings and some nasty exchanges perhaps. We all have bigger fish to fry to why not just move on.

Well you cannot keep saying the team will right the ship and that Farrell is doing the best job he can as you did incessantly on that other board last year when the team was imploding by the week. Face it Kimmi, you see the glass always as full, never even half full. That was your MO on Sawheads and your MO on STFU and that is your MO here. The fact was that writers, fans, the media and most of the posters on the boards came to the conclusion that our team was NOT either physically or mentally prepared when the 2014 season began, and my eyes didn't lie to me. I saw them play in Boston last year and they looked like s***. I saw them play in Anaheim last year and they looked like s***. I saw them in Oakland and they looked like s***. If they look like s*** and smell like s***, the chances are they are s*** and they played like it. And they never got better. You have never even attempted to say why they looked so miserable last year and you still seem to be in denial. It could be in your DNA that it is impossible to admit a unpleasant truth and it isn't in mine. Whether Farrell ran a boy scout camp last year is beside the point. IT IS MY OPINION and like it or not I'm going to stick to my opinion and the facts back me up. They finished last and lost over91 games. That is not winning baseball.

Peace brother.......let none of us get carried away with anger, snotty retorts or sarcastic posts that belittle our colleagues. Frankly, I thought my post about the lack of hitting was about as mild as I could make it....I merely mentioned what was a fact and didn't say this was a hint of things to come. Remember, I'm the only guy on this board who has gone on record and predicted an AL East title for our team and with that I'm the last person standing who wants to rain criticism and nasty missives at our team.

My God, there all over the place here in California and you only have to peruse the Padre, Dodger, Giant and Angel boards to get a real whiff. I also have to think that you would have them in the East as well. I guess there isn't that much of it in the DR and for that I think you can be glad. What I think about that is that this new sabermetrics has created a corps of fans who suddenly believe the are experts in the game---not all and maybe not even a majority, but to me if you're baseball savvy it is an evolving process where you learn something new year by year and grow with the sport. But that's me.

That's good news Pal----and remember I have become the first member of Talksox to predict an AL East Title for our team this season so I hope this leads to the kind of team we grew to love two seasons back.

Well I thought that's what I said---that there is room for both. I have found, though, that there some of the new era saber types who don't give much slack to those so-called "older" methods of evaluation. I hope we're both on the same page now.

The thing that irritates the hell out of me is that we still have people who simply cannot handle any ideas that run counter to their own. If one or two who will remain unmentioned read my posts and got all hot and bothered Israel. I only stated the facts....we did not hit the ball well. True, most of the regulars didn't play and that was mentioned I believe but those guys simply read the part they wanted to. We don't need flamage on the board this season. Disagree if you have to but don't get nasty and personal. No need for that. If you don't like what's being written don't read it or put the person who irritates you on ignore. That way there is no reason for conflict unless you're looking for conflict. Personally I think some of you read too much into what I wrote but we don't need any thought police on this board this year. We had a couple of those types who have apparently left. Let's disagree if we have to but do NOT get nasty and personal because that only leads to anger and hurt feelings.

Hell sk, even great hitters fail in the clutch a good deal of the time. The key in my opinion is the player(s) who keep failing to get that big hit time after time until the record shows a consistent one of failure. Papi doesn't always get that big it----he gets a decent amount of the time, while others don't seem to be able to. Scouts and coaches notice that.

Those who accuse "traditionalists" of bagging on sabermetrics data are off their charts. Data like that is very valuable and a great tool to measure performance but it is not an end all either. What I see is that the Saber people simply will not concede without a fight the idea that old school ideas are still very effective is now combined with new technology. One thing sabermeterics cannot measure is determination, heart, guts and balls of a player. Constant observation is the only way to judge that and even then it is not foolproof.

That's BS Kimmi!!!!! I never said that in 2013--I didn't even say it 2011 when I was concerned over the breakup of Tito's marriage and his holing up all season in a hotel. The only other time I mentioned that was in 2008 when Josh Beckett came to camp with a big gut, and in 2010 when your hero Epstein moved Ellsbury to LF to "save his legs", one of the dumbest things I ever heard a front office official say. Criticize me, ok, but keep your facts straight.....plus you and I are just wired different.

Imagine that!!!!! I could tell how hard we worked by the way our hitters teed off on those college pitchers. And regardless of what you say in defense of Farrell, our team was NOT ready physically and mentally when the season began last year and it not only I and a few others here who say that. Writers, Media and even a club official moaned about how we looked flat in te early going.....and it only got worse. Once again we will just have to agree to disagree.

Boy oh boy, how someone could deduce that I was complaining takes the cake for utter silliness. For Spud, yes I said the same thing last year and we weren't ready in my opinion when the season opened because I thought Farrell ran a very loosy goosy camp, and was hoping that we was running a tougher one this season so this year we will be ready. As for the games when you score one and two runs you have a right to ask where the hitting was, especially as I saw the Phillies and Yankees tee off on one another today. I would also urge some of you out there to take care of your own business and let the rest of us have a live and let live on the board. I'm asking that this season there be more of a sense of urgency this ST so we don't go into the season with our heads in our pockets.