JOHNNY D-BAG

You know, it's hard to take Johnny Damon's "Thank You" ad seriously when he says stuff like this from the NY Times:

"'He thought for sure he was going to be gone,' Damon said Tuesday. 'Unfortunately for him, he's not. He's been there for five years. He just wants a change. He knows how good he is. It's just an unfortunate situation.'"

Seriously, Johnny, shut up. Try to adhere to the Jimy Williams doctrine when it comes to talking about the players on the other team (remember when that Japenese reporter asked Jimy about Ichiro "Oh well he plays for Seattle. Go over and talk to Seattle." Or maybe adhere to the Bill Belichick doctrine of only praising opponents in public forums.

David Wells continues to be standoffish to the media. When asked whether or not he was still seeking a trade, Wells responded "That's it guys...you asked the wrong question." The Q & A was over. Remember, this is the same guy who stood up for Kenny Rogers last season. NESN cameramen, beware!

Tonight, the Red Sox begin their Spring Training schedule by going across town to Lee County Stadium to play the Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox have released their starting lineup for tonight's game:

1. CF Coco Crisp
2. 2B Tony Graffanino
3. 1B Kevin Youkilis
4. RF Dustan Mohr
5. C John Flaherty
6. DH Ron Calloway
7. SS Alejandro Machado
8. LF David Murphy
9. 3B Enrique Wilson

Jonathan Papelbon will be on the mound.

MANNY REPORTS TO FORT

Manny Ramirez has kept his promise and reported to Fort Myers today. He deflected questions and stated that his "...main focus is baseball." Let's hope he's right.

In other news from Fort Myers, Keith Foulke's progress has been slowed down and he has been taking injections in his knees which troubled him all season last year. Let's hope this is just a temporary problem due only to his return to a strict training regimen and doesn't last all spring, or even worse all season.

A FEW SPRING TRAINING NOTES

Tomorrow is, possibly, Manny Ramirez Day in Fort Myers. The day after that, the Sox will play the cross town Twins in the first game of the Mayor's Cup, a small trophy going to the winner of the Spring Training series between the Twins and Sox who both train in Fort Myers. Australia will also begin training at the Red Sox facility and will be playing an exhibition game against us. This suits Red Sox minor leaguer and Spring Training invitee Trent Durrington who won't have to go anywhere when he goes from the Red Sox to team Australia.

A few days ago was Photo Day, when the team takes a team picture and many baseball cards are photographed. Players going on to international duty donned their international uniforms. David Wells, who isn't expected to be on the team for much longer, did not participate on photo day. Neither did Manny Ramirez, of course.

Several pitchers started to throw live batting practice including Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield, Jonathan Papelbon, and Jon Lester. Will Lester asked to be called Jonathan if he makes the big club this season?

For once, the Red Sox actually had a decent amount of young pitching talent in Baseball America's top 100 prospect list. Jon Lester was ranked as the 22nd best prospect, Papelbon was 37th, Craig Hansen was 54th and infielder Dustin Pedroia was 77th. Baseball Prospectus ranked Pedroia at 11th. One can easily see how much of an unclear science valuing prospects is. However, it is very nice that we actually have some young pitching talent on its way up. If Papelbon does well, and Hansen and Lester develop in the minors, we could have a nice staff at the end of a season with pitchers ranging from veterans like Curt Schilling, to recent college grad Craig Hansen.

AXELSSON ADDS MORE GOLD TO THE BLACK AND GOLD
The Bruins will be back in the swing of things on Wednesday night when they play down in North Carolina against the Whalers/Hurricanes. Carolina, by the way, has the most points in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins will welcome back Gold medal winner P.J. Axelsson of Sweden. The Bruins didn't sent too many players to the Olympics this year and that might help them in the regular season. Several teams will be struggling for a few days as players return from Torino. The Bruins desperately need maximum points from as many games as possible. Starting off against Carolina will be a test, but the Bruins can do it. They've been edged out by the Canes 4-3 twice this season, but both losses were in OT.

Speaking of the Whalers, did anyone else hear an organ version of the Hartford Whalers theme song played at the hockey rink in Torino, Italy during the bronze medal game between Russia and the Czech Republic? I did, and it was awesome.

PATRIOTS AND NFL IN A WEIRD SITUATION
The Patriots are once again facing an off-season full of questions. They are once again without an offensive and defensive coordinator due to Eric Mangini going to the Jets to be their head coach. More importantly, the NFL may or may not have a collected bargaining agreement in place for the upcoming season. The deadline is tomorrow, but we've seen deadlines for CBAs pushed back numerous times, particularly in baseball. Without a CBA in place, the 2007 would be a season with no salary cap. Teams could spend as much as they wanted on players. This would seriously screw things up, especially if those teams that go way over the cap are forced to go below the cap in 2008. Even worse, there might be a lockout of the 2008 season if no CBA is agreed on.

The Patriots also might have to find a new kicker as they didn't put the Franchise tag on Adam Vinatieri. They haven't done much in terms of negotiating with him because of the uncertainty of the NFL's economics for the upcoming season. If he goes, I think it will be a big blow to this team. Yes, he is just a kicker, but he is the most dependable kicker in the history of the game. How many times have we seen other teams lose because their kicker missed a field goal near the end of the game? Quite a few times. How many has Vinatieri blown? Not too many, if any.

The Patriots also released Duane Starks who spent most of the 2005 season injured and trying to chase down receivers running for touchdowns. The Pats also extended the contract of special teamer Don Davis. The Patriots also might have to replace Willie McGinist this upcoming season. We all forget because of the way he plays, but Willie isn't exactly young for an NFL D-end. He's been around a long time.

There are so many uncertainties with the Patriots and the NFL, and there isn't anything we can do about it except sit, wait, and watch.

BC BEATS NC STATE IN DOUBLE OT

Boston College had been 1-4 against ranked teams this season, beating only #25 North Carolina back in January. They had lost to the #14 NC State Wolfpack 78-60 in Chestnut Hill on the 10th of January. The Eagles needed two overtimes to do it, but they edged NC State 74-72 to win a very big game. The win gives the #13 BC Eagles a 9-5 ACC record with two conference games remaining, both at home and both against unranked opponents (Wake Forest, Virginia Tech). All BC has to do in order to ensure a 4th seed in the ACC tournament, and a bye, is to win one of those games or have Florida State lose on of their remaining games. Florida State has one of their games against #1 Duke so the odds of them running the table are slim. The Eagles are pretty safe in the 4th spot and if NC State loses their last game against Wake Forest and BC beats both Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, the Eagles will move into the 3rd seed for the ACC tournament. Getting the 3rd seed would bring us out of the bracket with the #1 seed. The ACC tournament will begin on March 9th (March 10th if BC gets the bye) in Greensboro, NC. If the Eagles have a good showing in the ACC tournament, they will probably get a good seed for once in the NCAA tournament.

The game itself was a great one. BC had a lead in the middle of the 2nd half before NC State when on an 8-0 run and got the lead back. Neither team led by more than 6 points the entire game. BC played some amazing defense in the overtimes, as did NC State. Only 12 points were scoredby both teams in the two overtime periods. Sean Williams had 8 blocked shots for BC. He also got 7 boards and a steal to lead the BC defensive effort. Craig Smith had a double-double with 18 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists. The Eagles blew some opportunities to win this game, but whenever they did so they'd make up for it with a great defensive stand or a big shot such as Sean Marshall's three point play that won the game in double OT.

After starting their first ACC season by going 0-3, BC has gone 9-2 in the league. Their non-conference schedule hasn't exactly been easy, but they've had a few big wins within the league such as this one against NC State, and the win against UNC earlier in the year. They are poised to do some damage in the ACC tournament and if they can win two games in that, they should get a very good seed for the NCAA tournament.

Boston College is also still on top of the Hockey East standings despite a pair of losses to Maine over the weekend. They have three games left before the end of the regular season. They are 3 points ahead of rival Boston University. BU has a much easier schedule going against UVM, and then Northeastern twice. BC plays UMass-Lowell and then two against 4th place UNH. Of the 10 teams in Hockey East, only Merrimack College has been eliminated from making the tournament.

MANNY OUT OF WBC

According to the Red Sox brass, Manny Ramirez will not be participating in the World Baseball Classic. This means that if he reports on March 1, as promised, he will not leave on the 2nd to join the Dominican team. Actually, this works out to give Manny more time in Red Sox camp than if he had arrived on time and played in the WBC. Perhaps the Sox and Manny made a deal in which Manny agreed to not play in the WBC in return for permission to arrive late for camp.

Of course, the team claims that they did not ask him to pull out of the event.

LET'S GIVE SOME CREDIT TO DAVID WELLS

David Wells, like Manny Ramirez, asked/requested/demanded a trade this off-season. David Wells, like Manny Ramirez, didn't get his request. David Wells, like Manny Ramirez, was not traded because the team couldn't find a good deal. David Wells, like Manny Ramirez, doesn't want to play for Boston anymore. But unlike Manny Ramirez, David Wells isn't guaranteed a spot on the roster, let alone a starting position. David Wells has only been with Boston for a season, unlike Manny who has been here for 5. David Wells has been paid a few million dollars by the Red Sox. Manny is bordering the $100 million mark. Yet David Wells was still able to show up for camp. David Wells was still able to work out with the team. David Wells is still DOING HIS JOB! So while criticising Manny, let's give credit to David Wells and all the other players that are doing their jobs.

Let's also stop with the Keith Foulke criticism. People are complaining that "how can you be bored when you get paid $7 million?" I'm sure there are a good number of people in this world with boring but high paying jobs. Foulke never said that he was bored when he pitched, either. I think he meant that he doesn't like to watch the game, he only likes to play in them. And you know what, THAT IS FINE! I don't care if he is having fun sitting in the bullpen. Hell, a lot of releivers don't even watch the game until the 5th or 6th innings. If Foulke goes out and pitches like he did in 2004 or 2003, I don't care how he feels about baseball. Again, it is all about doing your job and doing it well. If Foulke does, he can call me Mr. Burger King or KFC Man for all I care.

Steve Buckley wrote a harsh piece in the Herald today about Manny laughing at the Red Sox as he plays games with them. I don't think Manny is so maniacal. I just think Manny is immature. He has no boundaries or restrictions. He's a spoiled brat that simply can'd listen to discipline. I see them all the time at school. Do you know how many rich, spoiled New Jerseyans go to my school? Manny reminds me of them. They get everything they want 99% of the time and in that 1% of the time they don't, they can't take it.

Someone commented on my last post that if you get 140 RBIs, you can do whatever you want. Sadly, this is true. However, it will be very interesting to see what happens if Manny doesn't get such huge numbers this season.

This might be the best situation. Manny never shows up, thus making him in violation of his contract. This means his contract would be voided, freeing up millions of dollars for the Red Sox in the next few years. It is sad that it might come to this.

Just a question to ponder: would we have been better off if the Manny for A-Rod trade went through? That's a tough question to answer.

MANNY BEING LATE

According to the Boston Red Sox AND Manny Ramirez, the $20M slugger will not be reporting to Spring Training until March 1st. According to a jointly issued statement, Manny requested, and was granted permission to arrive late. According to the statement, Manny has been working out in Florida and will continue doing so. He won't, however, continue to do so with the team. Why? I have no clue. What could possibly keep him from moving his lazy ass across the state to work out with the team? Neither the team, nor Manny have stated why this is happening. That's the weirdest part, in my opinion. All you gotta say is "family problems" or "sick" or something like that. At least give us a reason. And give your teammates a reason, too.

What kind of message are we sending to younger players like Dustin Pedroia or Craig Hansen? That if you're good enough, you can walk all over the team? That isn't a productive message.

So Manny will report to Spring Training on March 1st. The next day, he may or may not leave to play for the Dominican Republic. This is just another chapter in the all too long and frustrating book of Manny Being Manny.

MANNY ISN'T IN ITALY?

According to the Red Sox, Manny Ramirez is not in Italy. He isn't even abroad. However, this statement doesn't come from Manny himself. Nor has clubhouse friend David Ortiz - who wore a "Manny being Manny" t-shirt - talked to him in some time. Neither has manager Terry Francona. Ortiz seems confident that Manny will be in camp sometime this week, as is Francona. We'll hopefully see you soon, Manny, wherever you are.