Manny Ramirez went 2 for 3 in his first Spring Training game with 3 RBIs that helped push the Red Sox over the Orioles in City of Palms Park by a score of 10-6. Ramirez's nice outing was joined by Coco Crisp who had a very nice day for himself in the leadoff spot in the order. Crisp was 3 for 3 with a double, a pair of singles, 2 runs scored, and a stolen base. Trot Nixon also had a good day going 1 for 1, walking twice, scoring twice, and knocking in a run. Mike Lowell went 1 for 2 and knocked in his first run of the spring. J.T. Snow was 1 for 3 with an RBI. Alex Gonzalez did not have a good day, he went 0 for 3 and made a throwing error. He's still trying to get readjusted to be being back in Fort Myers and not playing for Venezuela, I think. Let's remember, this guy isn't known for his bat. Neither was Edgar yet we expected Nomar Garciaparra of 1997 numbers from him for some reason.
The pitching wasn't as good as it could be. Papelbon started, allowing a pair of runs off 4 hits in 3 innings. Rudy Seanez and David Riske continued to be less than adequate. Seanez gave up 2 runs in an inning of work. Riske allowed 1 earned run and 2 runs total in the next inning. Cla Meredith got the win with 2 scoreless innings. Manny Delcarmen pitched a hitless 8th inning.
JOHN FLAHERTY RETIRES
Flaherty was vying for the backup catcher's spot behind Jason Varitek but instead he's decided to call it quits. Flaherty is a veteran of 14 seasons and although he didn't give a reason in any of his statements to the press, he just might not be feeling it anymore. Be that as it may, that's one down in the competition for the backup catcher's role.
SCHILLING LOOKING TO PITCH INSIDE
Interesting piece by the Associated Press's Howard Ulman:
Here's the article on Boston.com
I don't know if Schilling should stray away from a style which he is comfortable with, however he seems like the type of player that analyzes his performances and comes up with good strategies to improve himself. If this is what he wants to try, then he will probably be successful in doing it.
TEAM USA SQUEEZES BY MEXICO
It's hard to view the WBC as the Ultimate Baseball Competition, which is how it is being vigorously promoted by MLB, when pitchers are kept to pitch counts and hitters are in rusty spring training habits swinging at bad pitches and taking bad swings at good pitches. It is also difficult to get into baseball games when there is 6 inches of snow outside. However, it was still fun watching today's games. I must say, I was more excited about the Dominican beating Venezuela than I was about the US beating Mexico. I want the US to win this thing, but they are supposed to beat teams like Mexico. No offense to the Mexican team, but the US team is simply stacked. The Dominican win over Venezuela, however, was much less expected and it was nice to see David Ortiz beat up on the team that didn't want his new teammate Alex Gonzalez on their roster.
Mike Timlin got the win for Team USA by pitching a perfect 4th inning. Really, Jake Peavy deserved the win with 3 shutout, 1 hit innings to start the game, but for some reason the 5 inning rule for starters applies in the WBC. Oh well, that is something nice that Timlin can put on his resume. He won the first WBC game for the United States.
How awesome was it that the fans in Arizona were booing Alex Rodriguez? I don't know if it was the Mexican fans or the American fans or sections of both. However, it was indeed awesome.
Also in WBC action, Alex Cora went 0 for 1 with a walk for Puerto Rico in their 2-1 win over Panama. "Italy" slaughtered Australia 10-0 in 7 innings. I didn't know until today that any team up by 15 through 5 innings or by 10 through 7 wins via a slaughter rule. Half of "Italy's" RBIs came from American born players. All but 2 and a third innings were pitched by Michigan native Jason Grilli. My point is, "Italy" is a fake team.
South Africa is surprisingly hanging in there with Team Canada. The South Africans, arguably the 16th best team in the competition, had been up 4-3 but are still in the game down 6-4 to the Canadians who have much more Major League talent than the South Africans do.
Tomorrow afternoon, Canada plays the US and we will see Team Cuba for the first time in the WBC. It should be interesting to see how Cuba fares against other pro-level all-star teams.
BONDS A CHEATER? ACCORDING TO A BOOK, HE IS
According to a book that is about to come out, Barry Bonds used steroids and HGH. The book documents, in detail, Bonds performance enhancing drug usage and claims that the slugger started doping in 1998. Now, a lot of people are instantly believing this as fact just because it is in some book written by a pair of San Francisco Chronicle reporters. I'm going to play Devil's advocate. I think Bonds has taken HGH in the past, but there is no proof of that. Certainly, what we know about this book is not proof either. An excerpt will be in the March 13th issue of Sports Illustrated and I'm sure the book will be out in time to capitalize on this very convenient surge in free publicity.
I'm just going to say right now that I hate Barry Bonds. I hated him before he got huge and became the best hitter in the game. I hated him because he is an a-hole, takes up 3 locker rooms in the Giants clubhouse and has a recliner in there. I also think he is a cheater. But I can't prove it. There simply is no proof out there. Yet. So let's not convict the guy just because we don't like him and want to find something about him so we can tear him down. Let's investigate properly and let evidence make conclusions and not our own biases.
It will be interesting to read this book, however.
THE BRUINS WHIZ IT DOWN THEIR LEGS AGAIN
The Bruins needed to come back from the Olympic break and earn points. They needed wins, and OT losses. They have been in every game since they came back, but haven't gotten many points out of them. Since coming back, they have won a single game and lost three more. That's 2 points in 4 games. That won't cut it. The games have been close but the Bruins have lacked a killer edge to them. They lost 4-3 to Carolina, and lost 3-2 to Buffalo twice. They have a huge game Thursday night against Montreal in the BankNorth Garden. The Bruins have fallen 7 points behind Montreal for the 8th and final playoff spot. Not only that, the Islanders, Maple Leafs, and Thrashers are all in between us and the Canadiens. Conveniently, the Bruins will host the Islanders on Saturday. They're still in this one, folks. But they need a swift kick in the ass and need to get in gear.
Sources and Resources for this post:
Boston.com's Sports Section
ESPN.com
World Baseball Classic
Yahoo! MLB Photos
Yahoo! Sports MLB Section
BostonBruins.com
The Houston Chronicle
Baseball-Reference.com
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