seabeachfred

You know Israel, I just had a wild hair of an idea. Maybe it might not fly this season since some have already started making plans but would it be in the realm of possibility if someone or a few people on this board helped to schedule a weekend where a slew of posters on this board could meet in Boston and take in either a game or two or a series and really get to know each other. Of course, we'd have to take into consideration of how many games a person could afford since he might have a high mortgage, other mouths to feed, paying off college debts or not working full time. I really think we could make a real go of it........or am I dreaming. Hey friends, weigh in. Is this within the realm of possibility? You could bet that if it got off the ground I would be making travel plans the next day.

What a prince of a man Ernie was......totally oozing class in his every word and action. I met him at a baseball coaches clinic back just after he retired in either 1972 or 73. He was kind, considerate and seemed to enjoy the interplay between legend and fans. This is a real loss for baseball and humanity. Hey Ernie, save a place for me up there when it's my turn and we'll play two.

When you say Spring games, does that mean all the way to the middle of June? I'll tell you this Pal from some frozen experiences, 6pm games are not that much warmer than 7pm games in April or the beginning of May. If these games go into June that might be a welcome change. Have you any info how long these 6pm games go?

You won't have to suggest to me twice mvp because summer it is. That ought to make my average of two trips to Fenway pretty close to one another and I can keep fairly warm even in October when for some reason it seems warmer than it does in April. I was at the sixth game of the ALCS and the first two games of the 2013 WS and it wasn't that cold at all. Seems it takes a long time in Boston to warm up and then if we get lucky it stays warmer a little longer than you would expect. By next month I will check out the Red Sox schedule and start making plans, and on God, let's hope that we have a lot to cheer this coming season.

That's why I wish we could have a ignore button on the quote section. I deleted both posts mvp. I don't want to start any s*** and don't want to make a total ass out of myself. And glad to hear that you weren't one of my foils there. As for my memory failing me, I have a great one remembering dates and events decades ago, but cannot remember what I had for dinner two or three nights past so you're probably right........we did discuss it and I had one of my more frequent senior moments. I'm not a young gun like you anymore----I might be the oldest war horse on the board. AND, I want no beef with you either. Somehow, someway, when this season is over we will be friends.

I have been to the Home Opening Series in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2014. You think I would learn and wait until it got warmer. I may be a Red Sox fanatic but I have California blood and I have literally frozen my ass off in all those series. I went to those through RS Destinations and they sit you up by the Coke Bottle where the winds blows in from the Bay. Last year I was chattering and shaking so badly I had to go to the standing section just to keep warm. Hell, in 2009 I went in early June and froze then as well but we swept the Yankees three straight so that was a nice consolation. I have gone in September and playoff times in 2007 and 2013. I like to take two trips to Boston each season, though sometimes it is only one and sometime it's three. You lived in California and I wonder how long it was and whether you developed a phobia for cold and windy weather. I like it warm. This year, God willing, I want to go in July and in playoff mode in October. And I promise myself and everyone else, if the Sox get into the WS I want to be there just once when they win the final game whether it's on the road or at home. I missed by three games in 2013 but did see them clinch the pennant against the Tigers. How many series do you go to and how many are you planning to take in this uyear mvp?

I don't think Koji ever closed before except maybe a few times when the regular closer on the team he was on was either injured to taking a one night hiatus, but I have to tell you from the time that guy took over that role until he struck out Carpenter for the last out in the WS there was never closer who pitched better in that space of time than did Koji. Maybe Rivera pitched as good is his best spots but not better. Mariano just did it for years and years and that's why he's the best one ever.

I like sports in general but even with the Super Bowl a little more than a week away I'm sick of football and right now with the Lakers deep in bottom of the river that sport does little for me. Truth be told, to me it's baseball and the rest of the sports can hang way far away in my rear view mirror. I hope to take two trips to Fenway this season and maybe next season I will go to ST where I can meet up with some of my friends on this board. The difference between ST this season and last is that even though we were coming in as defending WS Champions, we all knew that the odds of repeating were almost nil. This year we know we will be better than we were last year. How much is the question but our chances at this moment are as good as anyone else in the division, and if we could somehow latch on to a solid No. 1 pitcher and not have to give up Betts or Swihart we could come out of it as favorites for the division title. Besides, Spring has always been my favorite time of year and I'm sure baseball has most to do about that.

I wish there was a way that if we have someone on ignore we would also be free of the quote feature as well. This was we would have no way of knowing what the guy wrote. Short of that I will settle for that ignore button. It saves a lot of stress and anger and, who knows, maybe some day we won't have to have anyone on ignore and wouldn't that be nice.

I thought the same thing too Gomes. Renaudo looked real good in his first win of the year and it was against the Yankees. He might develop further and he was a very successful pitcher at both LSU and in the Cape Cod League so he knows how to win. Can he transfer that in a tougher environment is the question. As for getting a shot if we need a pitcher, I think you can safely put that one in the bank my friend. If Ben is really serious about now standing pat with our starters you can bet your last dime that Renaudo will get his shot sooner rather than later. Remember who we have in that rotation---one coming off a crippling season both in stats and health and another who if he blinks wrong is on the shelf for a month.

That leaves us short a No. 1 pitcher---a potential disaster in the making considering we have Buchholz and Masterson for two of those slots, and we also have a glut in the outfield which could make for a very unhappy clubhouse. Betts and Castillo will not like going back down or being on the pine, and Victorino and Craig will not like being consigned to the bench either. This IMHO is both dumb and a time bomb. I hope Ben is just bullshitting us because if he isn't he is terribly wrong about this.....IMHO.

Can you blame any team for not wanting to do business with Amaro? I don't know how they rate GM's or if some group does, but Rube jr. has to rank with the worst in the game. Hell, even after a most miserable 2013 season, their second or third in a row, he didn't make one change except to resign some of his greybeards to extensions even though the needle was pointing down. As much as I've said about Cherington I would rather have him any day of the year over that nothing in Philadelphia.

I didn't and don't want to. I want nothing to do with our team trading Betts, Swihart or Owens. However, they say where there's smoke there's fire and either the pundits who cover baseball are starving for things to write, or there is something afoot via Strasburg or Zimmermann that means something might break with a week or so. I keep wondering mvp just how expensive it's going to be to land Zimmermann or how much it would cost us to land Shields. Needless to say, I've been saying all along we need that No. 1 guy.

I think that's been the holdup all along.....that and the price tag Elk. He has not pitched well at Fenway in the past, something like 2-9 with a high five plus ERA. Still a lot changes when you go from pitching poorly at that park and wind up pitching as a member of that home team. Shields will only cost us money, something Henry has plenty of. Zimmermann, the guy I now really want, might cost us some prospects we'd like to keep.....like Betts and Swihart and Owens for instance.

And please Ted, let's not talk about trading Napoli. He's a key for our success this year and I hope he is pretty much injury free. Besides, who would play first for us if we traded him? We'd be weaker at first in the long run. PS---see friends, 700 Hitter and I don't agree on everything and maybe we can now put that canard to rest once and for all. But he is right about 99% of the time.

We must NOT lose this guy.....no way, no how.

Ex---I loved that idea you put forth until I heard about that "one year" deal for Zimmermann. I would like to get his name on an extension so we would have a least a few veteran starting pitchers for the next few years instead of having to dive for pitchers again next off season. Having failed to get an extension, I would still make the deal but would leave out Kelly and maybe put Renaudo in the deal instead. Kelly might be better than some of us think he is. The good news is that the Zimmermann talk is starting to get some legs. There might be something brewing there and as I've droned on for the past month, we really need that No. 1 guy.

Zimmermann would make me very happy.

OK, send me an e-mail or private note with where I can contact you and I will. Let's see if you're really on the level.

iortiz, I didn't know you were a Daddy Warbucks. Well I know who I can count on if I want to come into some needed cash.:cool: You might try telling me what you thinks the odds are for our getting out of the cellar and having a good season. And, good luck, keep winning and let the money keep rolling in. And keep posting. I like having you around.

Misery and complaints about life. Sorry mvp, you're knowledge of what I am like isn't worth a warm pitcher of spit. I am a happily married man for over 44 years with a wonderful wife, had a good career as a teacher and coach and am fortunate enough to have made some very nice friends over the years. There isn't one person I know personally who ascribes to me your take on my personality and you couldn't be more wrong if you took a 100 question test and got every one of them wrong. Personally, I'm beginning to think you just enjoy having your pre-conceived notions of what kind of person I am because it puts you in some sort of comfort zone but you are as wrong as you can be.

mvp, you really believe that tripe you wrote? I like to go after people, I like being attacked? What nonsense. Look, it is really this simple. I first go after the front office or some player and attack them....them, not a poster. Then some poster comes and attacks me personally from where I retaliate. I have rarely gone after a poster in a personal attack and it I have I sure as hell can't remember when. I have the right to attack someone in the Red Sox organization and not get personally attacked back, and, damn it, you know the two people who made a cottage industry of doing just that----one who is no longer here. Me move on? Absolutely....don't attack me personally when I attack the front office. Sure, tell me why you disagree with me without getting personal and you'll get no retort from me. Now let's see start keeping score on that like you like to do. You'll see that I am pretty much spot on with what I just wrote.

Glad I got on the board today when I did instead of before our telephone conversation. This is a good board and we have some outstanding people on it. It's too bad there are some personality clashes but it shouldn't be too hard to work out. Let's face it, we all love the Red Sox and we have high hopes for them every season.......and face it further, we are all in this together. You're the man Ted.

Thanks CP----you hit another one off the Green Monster.

For the most part much less extreme, much less. And let's try to keep it that way.