Baseball (the talkin' sport)

[Bolshevik]

"I'm very excited to be here in Boston and ready to beat the Yankees."

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2010/12/live_video_adri.html?p1=News_links

T-minus 4 months

[mstar1]

HOO WAH !

good news!

[Bolshevik]

there's a sports bar nearby that Justin Masterson's Mom frequents . . . to my knowledge he's not particularly happy in Cleveland . . .

Vmart was fun . . . but was he worth the trade? We could use a few arms.

[mstar1]

If I remember he had atough year in Cleveland last year, but then again I have to wonder is anyone living in Cleveland happy? (Sorry LindaZ)

The loss of VMart hurt, I was growin g to like him alot--although his defense was sometimes lacking....

Adding Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford will make for a very strong lineup and some serious excitement but there will still be a big hole behind the plate.

Saltalamacchia had all the potential in the world a few years back but has seemed to have fallen off the edge...

[Bolshevik]

That hole might be evident in later innings? If we get some productive arms, the backstop might be compensated for.

[mstar1]

Theres a pretty darn strong starting staff of Lester, Buchholz, Beckett, Lackey and DiceK,--

any one of them could potentially win 20 if they could hold it together for a season and not get hurt..

Odd year Beckett is generally much better than even year Becket--so hopefully he'll be on this year--- DiceK got two or three years worth of injuries out of the way last year, so maybe he will be healthy for once and I can squirm and be totally uncomfortable watching him pitch every fifth day and somehow pull wins out of his ....hat....Lackey still has to prove that he is worth his contract so hopefully he will have that in his mind to drive him...

I dunno, more arms always helps, most years they need at least 7 or 8 quality starters because someone goes down for months at a time....I'll take em if Theo can get them.

I'd like to see catching shored up and always more middle relief

[Bolshevik]

Well, I'll miss this thread.

[mstar1]

We may have to collectively sign a multiyear contract with another website

[Bolshevik]

:biglaugh:

Who's our agent?

Perhaps a third-party site will swoop in at the last minute with a more alluring offer.

[Bolshevik]

I'm sure you've heard of Bob Feller . . . hadn't heard much about him if at all . . . but . . .

“I would rather beat the Yankees regularly than pitch a no-hit game,’’ Mr. Feller once said.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2010/12/16/bob_feller_92_hall_of_famer_had_blazing_fastball/?p1=Features_link1

. . . he sounds he was an okay guy to me.

[mstar1]

He was one of the classy guys until the end, even in his 80's he looked like he could still take the mound if needed...By my time he was already a legend

[Bolshevik]

The bullpen was the weak spot of Boston's 2010 team, but Epstein has added Jenks, Wheeler and Matt Albers to go along with Daniel Bard and closer Jonathan Papelbon.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101218&content_id=16343076&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

If it weren't for the pats and Cs . . . It'd be a really long winter.

Hopefully, the new site will have a baseball thread for next season.

( and if you guys are ever passing through . . . I know a good coffee shop in Yellow Springs, OH . . . bolshevik29@gmail.com)

[mstar1]

It looks like the Sox are going for it this year..

Its been a prolific offseason (Gonzalez, Crawford,Jenks and Wheeler) and we are not even to Christmas yet.

7th , 8th and 9th innings look good--really really good--(on paper at least)---lets hope everyone stays healthy this year

[Bolshevik]

quiet here. . .

. . . any thoughts on Manny/Damon joining the Rays?

[mstar1]

Manny used to take about a month off in Florida every season anyway--maybe this will work out for him....

seriously-I cant believe they got him for 2million.

Never mind that he'll be hitting in that park.

I didnt (and still dont) think the Rays line up well on paper this year, but two vets of the AL East like Manny and Damon will at least make it interesting.

Bartolo Colon to the Yanks? WTF is that all about?

[Bolshevik]

Yeah $2million for Manny. . . . he's not at peak in his career but I would have never thought less than $10 million/yr for him . . . (how does one cope living on less than $5 million/yr, eh?) . . . I'm actually gonna miss the Rays of a few years ago . . . don't think I'd recognize them now . . . (not that I'm not happy about Crawford) . . .

all I know is Colon got a minor league deal . . . NY is crossing their fingers for Pettitte . . . Joba, with an injury, is middle relief? . . . their starting rotation is weaker . . . but I assume there will be another splash with them . . . they are the Yankees.

expectations are high for that ballclub up in Boston . . .

it's that time of year when I begin routinely checking the extended weather forecast for any sign of spring . . .

[mstar1]

I have at least 6 feet of snow piled up on the edges of my driveway--the only thing I know for sure is that mud season is gonna be very squishy this year---AND... Im praying the Sox can go without the injury plague this year.

It all looks good on paper, if Ellsbury and Crawford can stay healthy they could potential steal 150 bases..which is mind boggling to me having lived through the Sox years when anyone with 10 was a big deal....and there is talk about moving the rightfield bullpens in 10 to 12 feet to accomodate Adrian Gonzalez....Im expecting a big year from Buccholz.....

Im sure the Yankees will have plenty of things up their sleeves and as always nobody knows what the surprise factors and surprise teams will be yet---Its a long long way to October.

HELL--its still a long way til April

[Bolshevik]

Truck Day

[alfakat]

seats open on SF Giants 2011 bandwagon....going fast.....

[mstar1]

well---its STILL snowing here..

BUT ..the Sox looked good all the way around drubbing the Astros in the final exhibition game last night 10-0---heck we even had the first 'guy falling out of the stands' moment...

to me a perfect note on which to end spring training, and let us know that baseball and all of its joyful idiosyncracies and surprises are finally back

:P

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PzcQp2A-P9s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Bolshevik]

The general consensus is the the BoSox are the favorites this year . . . *knocks on wood* . . . *bangs on wood* . . . . *grabs sledge hammer and mauls a forest*

[mstar1]

Well.... a week into the season and the Sox have still yet to lose a single game at Home!...of course they havent played any home games yet either ---but at least its something :)

you watching the home opener today Bolsh? Geisha?

[socks]

The Giants are up again! Season's on, and they're shaking out the bugs.

Rings, parades. Sammy Hagar and Joe Satriani doing the SPB!

2011 - keep it going!

[geisha779]

Well.... a week into the season and the Sox have still yet to lose a single game at Home!...of course they havent played any home games yet either ---but at least its something :)

you watching the home opener today Bolsh? Geisha?

It was great! Today... not so much... :(

[mstar1]

They look like a good team--on paper--but nobody ever won on paper---things will warm up(hopefully) I just hope the sox dont dig themselves too gigantic a hole that would take months to get out of----

Sad to see Manny go, especially on such a note...even with all the drama of the last few years, during his Sox years he was still the best hitter and funnest ballplayer I ever had the pleasure of watching----I'll miss the genius goofball--for better or for worse--there was only one Manny

Joe Posnanski

Manny Ramirez was a hitting genius.

I wrote this once before, and I continue to admit it’s a bizarre notion. But what is a genius anyway? The dictionary definition is “a person who is exceptionally intelligent or creative, either generally or in some particular respect.” MannyBManny is clearly not a generalist. The man has been ticketed for having the windows on his car tinted too dark. He has wandered to the outfield with a water bottle in his back pocket. In an era when nobody — and I mean NOBODY — with even two milliliters of sense would test positive for steroids, he apparently has now tested positive TWICE, the second time sparking his sudden and forced and merciful retirement from the game on Friday.

But in one particular respect … I never saw anybody hit a baseball quite like Manny Ramirez. You can — and I often do — a lot of crazy things with numbers. But do you know how many men in baseball history have hit .310 with 525 homers and 525 doubles? Of course you do. One. M-A-N-N-Y. He also hit 21 grand slams — only Lou Gehrig hit more. Yes, those numbers are skewed to single him out, but I’ll tell you one thing that those numbers do suggest: It’s possible that nobody ever hit more balls HARD than Manuel Aristides (Onelcida) Ramirez.

And he hit the ball that hard without even the slightest outward suggestion of anything resembling discipline or exertion or dedication. People may not have liked Barry Bonds but nobody could doubt the commitment he made to being a sensational baseball player. MannyBManny hardly seemed to care at all. I can only assume he DID care, and that he DID work hard on his hitting — it doesn’t seem even remotely possible that anyone could become that good at anything without extreme drive — but, yeah, he did an amazing job hiding that part of himself from the world. He cared so little that the main defense his fans had against the likelihood he was using steroids was that using steroids would take too much effort. He cared so little that at one point when he was still hitting rockets all over the park, the Red Sox put him on waivers. It was a bit like putting Alexander the Great on waivers just after he crossed the Tigris … only they didn’t just put him on waivers, they basically PRAYED that someone would claim him. Nobody did.

Of course, the story goes that the Red Sox were forced to keep him … and he led the league in slugging in 2004 and was named World Series MVP. In 2007, the Red Sox — with Manny playing a somewhat less prominent role — won the World Series again. In fact, Manny Ramirez’s teams always won. I looked this up once before in 2009 — at that time Manny Ramirez had never once played for a losing team in his 15 full seasons. His teams had made the playoffs 10 times and the World Series four times. He may have been a terrible teammate. He may have been an atrocious left fielder. He may have been the biggest pain this side of kidney stones. But the man hit baseballs hard. And because of him or despite him or both, his teams won.

In my own romantic view of baseball and the world, I tended to see Manny as baseball’s Mozart — an often vile personality who did one thing so beautifully that you could not turn away. He finished top five in batting average five times, top five in on-base percentage five times, top five in slugging 10 times. He faced Dennis Eckersley three times … he walked once and hit two home runs off him. He hit .643 against CC Sabathia. Here’s one that will blow your mind — there are 27 men out there who have had only one at-bat match-up with MannyBManny … and they will always be able to tell people that Manny hit a home run in that one at-bat.

When I wrote the Manny-is-a-genius piece, I talked to a few people in the game … and it was clear that these tough old baseball men who had no respect at all for the way Ramirez treated the game were almost absurdly awed by his talent. They talked of games he would play with pitchers during spring training to set them up later in the year. They talked of adjustments he would make pitch-to-pitch that were so remarkable they could only compare it to chess grandmasters. Bill James — co-host of the next Poscast, coming out Monday — insisted that Manny Ramirez would purposely get into 3-2 counts with a runner on first so that the runner would be on the move with the pitch and could then score on the double MannyBManny planned to hit.

I think “genius” — at least the way it has come to be understood — needs a bit of mystery. We can’t understand, most of us, understand how Einstein could have conceived of a whole new kind of universe or how Shakespeare could have written Othello, King Lear and Macbeth in a rush of two years or how the Beatles could have recorded Sgt. Pepper’s, Yellow Submarine and Abbey Road back-to-back-to-back. There is no mystery in Albert Pujols’ ability to hit a baseball. He works harder at it than anyone. He has a singular focus that obliterates all distractions. He has a deep faith, and he has a giant chip on his shoulder, and these things drive him to hit baseballs like almost no one in baseball history. It’s remarkable. But it’s not mysterious.

Same goes with Larry Bird — the mystery was not how he played such glorious basketball but what kept him out there on the courts, for hour after hour after hour after deathly hour, perfecting his shot, devising his moves, developing a sense of the game that could seem (if you did not know his work ethic) supernatural.

But Manny — I don’t know how he did it. Some will say he did it with steroids, but that seems a copout to me … I suspect a whole lot more players than anyone will ever admit used steroids. How many of them hit baseballs like Manny Ramirez?

Edited April 10, 2011 by mstar1