seabeachfred

I wasn't being argumentative Boomer so I don't know why you had to take a caustic stance at what I said. There was no intent on countering what you said and in fact, I taught that same stuff in my Rhetoric class and it came from Aristotle himself, not exactly a bumpkin in the brains department. If you are going to be t hat sensitive we are not going to get along here either. I said I wouldn't comment on it meant I wouldn't start splitting hairs on the topic as you and o thers have done here. It did not mean I didn't have something to offer on it little that it was. Let's not look to start a feud again. We don't need it and this board doesn't deserve it.

Well give your dad some real kuddos because his timing was perfect. It was in 1967 that Red Sox Nation was born, so I'm told in books and by my Red Sox friends who have followed them much longer than I have. They stunk from 1959-1966 after finishing third in '58. As most likely know they finished a dismal 9th in '66 in what was then a ten team league. The only saving grace was who finished tenth. Think you know who???? If you don't you'll be pleased as punch to find out. BTW, Dick Williams is my all time favorite manager. The guy ran a tough ship but he turned around teams in Boston, Oakland, Montreal, and San Diego. He only failed in Anaheim and back in those days everyone failed there. Getting back to the medium, I referred earlier to my experiences listening to games on radio four seasons before we got a TV set. I think baseball is by far the best sport to listen to by radio. The pace is perfect and if one is inclined they can use their imagination to try and picture the current surrounding of the ballfield your team is playing on. I spent many an afternoon doing just that back in my young Queens days.

Thank goodness for that. I love games at Wrigley Field. Next to Fenway Park, the Cubs' ballpark is next on my list of attractive venues to watch baseball, posts and all. Cellular Field does nothing for me. I did hear that Wrigley might be undergoing some restrucuring very soon and that would mean the Cubs might have to play for a year on the South Side. Make it 2013!!! I won't be coming to Chi Town next year.

I'm not wishing Satalamacchia anything but glad tidings but by now everyone around here knows what a big fan I am of Ryan Lavarnway, and I just believe in my bones that this young man is going to be an outstanding player for us. The balls jump off his bat, he has great power and might also hit for a decent average and he has a good arm. He threw out, what over 30% of those who tried to swipe on him last season in the minors? I hope Bobby gives him enough work this ST so his development as a receiver accelerates so we can see him sooner than expected. Again it is only my opinion but I think I'm looking at a guy who can hit 30 or more homers on a consistent basis and be the first solid RH power hitter we've developed in a long time. Whether it is as a DH or catcher, the sooner I see this guy in our lineup the happier I will be. I just love this player.

+ Boomer, didn't the two of us go round and round with this the past year elsewhere? Well I'm not touching this with a hot poker. When I was teaching, I broke it down simply in absolutes and degrees of certainty. In mathematics, science and astronomy there are absolutes that can be derived once you learn what they are. In human affairs there are no absolutes, just degrees in certainty. You shoot for approximate truth, never absolute. While there are absolutes in those aforementioned fields, in the field of political science, philosophy, psychology and history there can never be absolutes, just degrees of certainty. And that's all I have to say on that subject. Back to Spring Training.

Glad someone mentioned it before I did, otherwise I would be accused to trying to cause trouble. BTW Ted, I do have an avatar on another board but the method to get one on there seemed different. If you could send me a PM telling me how to do it here I would appreciate it. I'm only about 50% computer literate. 3-0 so far. I know it is only pre-season but I get the feeling there is a new commitment in Fort Myers. Then, again, I am a Valentine fan; wasn't much of a Franconian. The one thing all of us might have a problem with is that BV likes to tinker from time to time with batting orders and I am one for a consistent batting lineup.

"Hi Ho" Silva AWAY!!!!!!!!

Sounds pretty good EX1. I guess you like Castiglione better than the Orsillo-Remy duo OR, as you put it, you get a better description. I have the MLB.TV package but can't get the radio portion along with the TV feed but I like Orsillo and Remy. Maybe it's Red Sox bias but I like that combo. What I do not like is when the Sox are on the road and I get some yo yo announcers from the other team that do their best to bore me out of my shorts. My guess is that you are considerably younger than I am and grew up with TV baseball. The first few years of my fandom we didn't have the tube and it was radio or nothing. You can develop a good imagination trying to picture what is taking place on the ballfield listening to it on the radio. Still that was a long long time ago and times have changed.

Out here the LA Lakers may have turned the corner recently with some nice wins but we need a point guard and if we don't get one we aren't going anywhere when the playoffs take over. When Phil Jackson was here and ran the Triangle Offense a point guard was not a necessity but with that offense junked a man at the point is of paramount importance.....and Derek Fisher is not the answer. I astounded the Lakers haven't understood that point. In fact, flush with that big NBA Title win over the Celtics in 2010, they allowed themselves to get careless and resign Fisher for three more years when he should have been released. Hey, maybe we can steal Rondo from you.

First of all our pitchers are going to have to learn to go deeper in games unless we want our bullpen gassed out like the last few years. Besides, Valentine is not a fanatic for iron clad pitch counts as Francona was. Remember Bobby managed in Japan where pitchers go deep into games. I also think that BV is a flexible manager and will let the lay of the game determine which way to go. In my opinion this was a great weakness of Terry. He had his pre-game package determine what he was going to do and had trouble deviating from it. Now if we can get our "Big Three" pitching like a big three it will take a lot of pressure off the rest of the staff as well as the bullpen. Somehow I just feel that someone in the four or five spot is going to step up and be a very pleasant surprise for us this year. Two would be better.

If you think I'm going to argue that point with you Ted you're off your rocker. No way in my opinion do I see Miller any more than an occasional starter and back ender in the bullpen. I brought up Koufax's name for no other reason than give some inspiration and hope to our friend Forsyth who got hit pretty hard by a lot of his fellow posters yesterday. In Koufax's case his first real big reason was 1961 when he won 18 games and set a new ML record for strikeouts in a season with 269. He was 25 that year. Miller is too far gone to even dream that he could suddenly become a Dandy Sandy, not even in his dreams. Hell, though, this is Spring Training. No harm engaging is some fantasy this time of year, is there?

Emmz, I happen to agree with you that Miller may be a lost cause. I cringed every time I saw him pitch last year and he has failed with a number of teams and failed badly. However, there is always that possibility he could find it---slim as that may be. Remember a guy named Sandy Koufax? He was 36-40 his first six years and most of the time he had trouble finding the plate. A tweak here and there by a catcher named Norm Sherry and from 1961 to 1966 he was the best pitcher in baseball and turned out to be one of the all time greats and the youngest player ever to make the Hall of Fame. Miller does have good stuff--control is bad, mechanics worse, and I don't think the guy is too swift upstairs when the going gets tough on the mound. Bob McClure thinks he can help him. Again, I don't think so, but suppose he has five or six good outings this Spring. Maybe as ridiculous as it sounds to both of us, he does turn a corner. It has happened before.

RS305, Jacko is a good foil for all of us because he tried to keep us honest and not get carried away even though it's not his job to try and judge how we should act when the Sox turn in a good effort. I like the exchanges I have with him, but keep in mind he is a Yankee fan. He does not want our team to do well, not in ST or in the regular season. I just think wants to throw some cold water on our enthusiasm but if we hold our ground he will fail in that effort. Besides, I think it's cool to have a diehard Yankee fan on this board to duel with. I would like to see Yankee fan Meh post more here as well.

I think you may be speaking for more than just yourself Forsyth. Today while my wife and I spend the day at Disneyland I had her look up the score of our first "real" Grapefruit game and saw us come out ahead 8-3. It may be only a practice game but I remember all too well what went down last year when we lost 12 of those games in a row. Now it comes out that the team might not have been as prepared as they should have been, so this is just good news no matter how you look at it. Confession: I was always worried sick when we had a lead in the late innings, afraid that Francona would fine a way to mess it up. This year, at least for me, seeing Valentine in charge says to me that we have a guy who knows how to run a game from the dugout. If he can do what Francona did in the clubhouse (before last year) and handle the press as he did, Bobby will do just fine.

Well that's all I wanted to know Forsyth because last season listening to Orsillo and Remy on my computer I don't think I heard the words change-up and Bard used in the same sentence. In my opinion from my own experience a variation of at least 10MPH is about optimum between a fast ball, hard slider and the change. No matter, at least we know he has a decent one and in the next month I'm sure Bob McClure will be in there pitching his spiel about trying to perfect it. Three effective pitches sure beats two of them any day.

I was going to suggest Aviles hit 6th and Ross 7th since Aviles hits for a better average, but that went by the boards when I realized that slowpokes Ortiz and Youk would be ahead of him clogging the bases. Better to put Ross in that spot since he has a better chance of hitting one out. I would put Salty ahead of Sweeney since he can't run either and this was from nine, one and two we have a little more speed which gives Bobby the option to move runners with the hit and run, run and hit, bunt and run and just moving the runners. This, of course, hinges on the seemingly probablility that Crawford will not be ready by Opening Day.

Boomer has a good point but we have to remember two things, though. One the tremendous investment we have in Crawford----and I still can't get away from the idea that the reason we signed him in the first place was that the Sox were convinced they couldn't resign Boras client Ellsbury. Otherwise I think such a signing as this was strange since Crawford really didn't fit in all that well with the team we had. Whether that idea has legs or not, the second thing is that someone has to be in charge and that is either the medical staff, Valentine or both working in concert. The inmates are not supposed to run the asylum anymore and it is up to those in charge to monitor Carl and tell him bluntly that he will resume workouts when he is totally cleared to participate and play. Too late now to alleviate what went down with him, but we sure as hell had better keep a clear eye open so we don't lose any other key players because of over exuberance. This team must stay healthy this year if we want to make a big move towards winning something.

Starting to look that way SCM. One more medical bungle and I'll fall into line and become totally convinced that nothing as changed. They should have checked out Crawford thoroughly before allowing him to hit, bunt, whatever. Wrist injuries are not day to day things; they take time to heal. I wish the medical and conditioning people would get their s*** together; we had enough players on the shelf the past three seasons.