Rounding up all the latest Red Sox news and notes in one post. This edition will cover everything that happened in Soxland while I was out of commission in sunny, warm, beautiful New Orleans over the weekend. Going from the 75 degree sunshine of NOLA to the -5 degree (real temp! not wind chill!) of Chicago in one day was brutal. Thank goodness I have baseball to come home to.
Clay Buchholz: Already in Ft. Myers sporting a "Season begins now" shirt, spent two months at the API in Pensacola (that's where he saw the Sox win the Series- sad panda!), but can't throw a video no-hitter to save his life.
Josh Beckett: Has arrived in Ft. Myers, and already threw a short session with his personal trainer (who also happens to be his girlfriend's brother).
Kevin Youkilis: Buffed himself up in Arizona and landed himself a one year contract.
Daisuke Matsuzaka & Hideki Okajima: Japan is representin' - both guys showed up early in Florida, and have started throwing.
Dustin Pedroia: Still officially has the biggest mouth (and ego) on the team - which is saying something. It's also why we heart him.
What are your own favorite things from the last few weeks of the offseason? Post your favorite photos in the comments.
Photos credit (in order): Charles Krupa, Marc Beaudin, Boston Herald and Anne (aka amh03).
Random Sox Theatre: Daily Show
Red Sox Chick posted her favorite Daily Show video, so I decided that I'd do another installment of Random Sox Theatre and post mine. This is Rob Corddry doin' his Boston thing, back in July of 2004. Granted, it's not exclusively Red Sox, but Fenway makes an appearance, so it counts.
Tuesday Curveball
Every Tuesday, I'll post a discussion topic or question for everyone to think about and then discuss in the comments section. Tuesday is always one of the most difficult days of the week to get through - you don't have the afterglow of the previous weekend's fun any more, and yet you're still days away from the next weekend. This should give us something fun to do to pass the time.
Tuesday Curveball - Week Four
Since Lenten season is now upon us, it's time to give up some bad habits. What bad habit or behavior will you try to give up for this baseball season? Doesn't matter if you're Catholic or Protestant, Jewish, Muslim or atheist -- I know most of us have at least one or two bad behaviors we exhibit at the ballpark, or bad habits we follow when watching baseball games. This is your chance to try and fix one of those- what are you giving up for Baseballent? (see what I did there!)
As always, you don't have to be a fan of the Red Sox to get in on the discussion. All baseball fans- even Yankee fans- are welcome.
Rounding the Bases
Rounding up all the latest Red Sox news and notes in one post.
Clay Buchholzworked hard in the offseason on his strength and conditioning -- and also on watching lots of the "Hostel" movies and playing PlayStation3. Oh to have been a fly on the wall in the apartment he shared with Michael Bowden down in Florida this offseason...
It also looks like it's going to be a tighter battle for that Number 5 spot in the rotation between Clay and Julian Tavarez.
Jon Lesterknows that being pencilled in to the rotation isn't good enough, he wants to prove he's ready to be written in the order in ink.
Daisuke Matsuzakaconfessed to some fatigue during the 2007 season-- he was used to some mid-season fatigue in Japan, but last year he felt tired from spring training all the way through October. He also has asked for privacy about where she will be for the birth of their first child in March, saying, "She's just in a very sort of delicate situation right now and I'd prefer not to answer any questions." Dice-K was out again throwing this morning, amid lightning and rain in Ft. Myers.
It seems a couple of our favorite pitchers have reported for duty down in Ft. Myers with a little something extra this year.
We already saw Daisuke Matsuzaka's creative faux-hawk/mullet combo I posted about back in January, and it seems the mullet-hawk has followed him down to Florida (and apparently is also big news for some Sox reporters). The mohawk he had last season was great -- and now he's taking it to the next level in '08.
One Mr. Josh Beckett has also brought a couple of new friends with him to Florida. Just a few weeks ago, the Beckett trademark chin hair was gone- he was looking all young and fresh-faced and happy. It's back to business for Josh, and he's got that all-business chin hair fully grown in again. The Inside Track girls (and some segments of the Boston media) are saying he's also got something else new this year:
Beckett, working out at the Sox' Minor League complex yesterday, looks like he spent the winter eating barbecue and drinking beer down there in South Texas.
But calm down, Red Sox Nation. Our Florida spies say that Josh hasn't gone Schilling, circa spring 2007, and he isn't actually as flabby as this photo makes him look.
In fact, Beckett arrived in camp with his personal trainer who helped build a gym for Josh inside his Texas compound and, word is, No. 19 is in better shape than he was last year at this time.
Even if there is a little extra beer belly there, I'd wager it's gone by this time next week. Or this time tomorrow.
Okajima's Got A Secret
It appears Hideki Okajima has a secret he's been keeping... a new pitch or two he's been working on in the offseason. He told reporters who asked him about techniques and pitches he'd tried over the winter workouts, and Okajima busted out the English "secret" to make sure nothing got lost in translation-- he wasn't going to tell.
I blame this squarely on the Keeping Up With the Joneses syndrome. Daisuke Matsuzaka has his gyroball. Jonathan Papelbon has his slutter. Okajima is just trying to keep up.
Happy Valentine's P&C Day!
Roses are red
Baseball's a sport
On Valentine's Day
Pitchers & catchers report!
It's finally here- the day we've waited for since October 29th, 2007. It's P&C time, y'all! Oh, yeah, and it's also Valentine's Day. But like I said at Ladies..., I'd much rather be treated to the boys of summer than yet another lame box of candy.
I upgraded the calendar display in the sidebar- now instead of displaying the full month (which had a tendency to cut event descriptions off, and there was that annoying mouseover window problem), the calendar now displays all the events happening today.
Thanks to Cubby Blue for the poetry.
Guess Who's Back?
Few days aren't improved by a Jonathan Papelbon press conference- and yesterday was no exception. The closer was back in fine form in Florida, reporting for duty to toss balls and answer reporters' questions. And given the fact that it was Valentine's Day, I can only assume Jonathan saved up some special soundbites just for the occasion.
Don't take my word for it- here's video of him holding court with reporters in Ft. Myers, talking about his spring training regimen plans, Roger Clemens and steroids, and his feelings on the trip to Japan:
video courtesy of NESN
And just in case you prefer to read the collected works of Jonathan Papelbon in print, here are some of yesterday's greatest hits:
On Spring Training:
Spring Training is always fun. Spring Training is the time to kind of relax and at the same time get ready for the season. I always get excited. Just on the way down here, driving, you think about what happened last year and going out there and doing it again. You turn the radio up loud and you're cruising. It's always a fun time of the year for me, that's for sure.
On his spring training regimen:
I'm gonna stick to closing, man. Last spring training I took a starter's approach and built up my arm strength. So I think for the first few weeks I'm going to be on the starter's throwing program again, so to speak, to build up my arm. It worked last year.
On the 2007 season:
I really didn't think about it a lot until I was on my way back here and thought what it meant. To me, to be a world champ is something you always remember.
Now, I'm kind of switching to the role of [hoping] to be remembered as a person who goes out there and repeats it. My whole goal now is to go out there and keep this ball rolling and pick up where we left off. It'll be tough. I know the challenges we've got ahead. I think if we stay healthy, like we did last year -- and that's going to be a big part of our training staff's [mission] and keep us on the programs that work -- hopefully we can keep chugging along and stay healthy.
On being recognized, and the patented Papeljig:
Back home in Mississippi and Jacksonville, [Fla.], when I'm going back and forth, a lot more people notice me. They give me this 'jig' [stuff]. I've got to come up with something new. Last year after we won it, I was in a hotel room partying, and Ortiz was there trying to show me how to do the breakdance. And he fell over, and he didn't know what he was doing. Either that or he was just too drunk. I don't know.
Some people said you're going out there and dancing and you're making a mockery. I didn't look at it like that. I looked at it like, 'I'm young, I'm doing what I want to do in life and I'm going to celebrate and do what I want to do, regardless of what anybody has to say.'
On the dog-ate-the-ball story that won't die:
If you believe it you believe it, if you don't you don't. What can I say?
On his duck-hunting buddy Eli Manning facing the Pats in the Super Bowl:
I was in the Bahamas when it happened. It was kind of a double-edged sword for me. You've got a friend as a quarterback who is trying to win a championship, and then you've got the Patriots, who are going to do something special, which you hope for them to do because they're in the same city and you want the city to be vibrant and full of life. But they fell short, and what can I say? They've got to go back to work, I guess.
On Joba Chamberlain starting the year in the bullpen
One thing I do know him staying in bullpen with Mariano going to help him (mentally). I think it's a good move.
On the Japan trip to open the season:
I'm not too excited about going to Japan, to be totally honest with you. I love my Japanese teammates and I love Japan -- let me say that, too. I'm not much of a traveler. I'm kind of a homebody; I like to stick to America. Hopefully, they have a McDonald's. We should be good.
On the Sox chances in 2008:
If we're not the team to beat, I'd like to know who is.
The true test of a team is: Can they do it again? Was it a fluke? Did they catch breaks? There's no reason we can't repeat as long as we stay healthy.
Daisuke Matsuzaka is a national treasure back home in Japan, and now they're making it official. On February 23rd, the Daisuke Matsuzaka Museum will open in Wakkanai, Hokkaido (his father's hometown). The museum will contain over 180 different items of Dice-K's baseball gear, including uniforms he's worn and trophies he's won over his entire career in amateur and professional baseball.
Yasuyuki Ohe, vice president of the city's athletic association, spearheaded the effort to get approval for the museum -- and Dice-K has given it his stamp of approval. The plans are to build the museum at an estimated cost of ¥140 million on a plot measuring 230 to 270 sq. meters. There's no announced admission fee yet, but the organizers said they want to "keep admission fees as low as possible in accordance with the wishes of people close to Matsuzaka for the sake of children who want to visit the museum". Japan already has a Matsui Hideki Baseball Museum, in Matsui's hometown of Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture, that draws about 250,000 visitors a year.
The project was originally reported by the Japan Times back in October, 2007 (during the planning stages). You can see the latest article announcing the grand opening after the jump -- but it's in Japanese.
Thanks to reader Noriko, for spotting the article and sending it in!
