TIGERS DEFEND THEIR HALLOWED LAKELAND HOME

The Detroit Tigers have called Lakeland, Florida home for over 70 years, and they defended their turf with a vengeance against the Red Sox.

You see, Josh Beckett was throwing curveballs...only they weren't curving. Subsequently, they were hitting Detroit Tigers batters. Beckett hit Gary Sheffield and Magglio Ordonez. He hit them both up high, Sheffield in his steroid enhanced shoulder, and Magglio in the helmet. So I can understand why the Tigers would be upset.

HOWEVER, the pitches were breaking balls! You don't throw breaking pitches when you're trying to hit batters. YOU THROW FASTBALLS THAT GO STRAIGHT!

And of course, in this day and age, when pitchers are never supposed to pitch on the inside part of the plate, and hitters are allowed to crouch over the dish, the Tigers overreacted to this non-aggressive aggression.

During meetings on the mound, Tigers manager Jim Leyland used the opportunity to bark at home plate umpire Larry Vanover. Then Sox 3B coach Demarlo Hale started yelling at Leyland.

In the 5th inning, Todd Jones who, according to carbon dating, is estimated to be 38 years old (in other words, not a stupid kid, a veteran) threw a pitch tight to JD Drew, then one behind JD Drew. Drew, who is a magnet for getting hit by pitches, thankfully was not struck, don't want him to break before we even get a real AB out of him.

Then the benches cleared, and in typical baseball fight fashion, people yelled, pushed a little bit, while most of the guys stood around and chatted, mingling around like it was some sort of baseball cotillion. Hugging ensued and a game of grab ass broke out, but quickly subsided.

In the 8th inning Travis Hughes hit Chris Shelton, but there was no bench clearing. Neither team knew which player was theirs and which one they should attack. By the way, Hughes is on the Sox, Shelton is on the Tigers.

After the game, Leyland accused the media of "trying to stir up shit" by asking questions about a near brawl in a Spring Training game. Right, like it was the media's fault that Todd Jones threw at JD Drew, or that Leyland was too stupid to realize Beckett is just a mediocre pitcher and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, let alone Magglio Ordonez's head.

Can you imagine Jim Leyland screaming at Todd Jones: "WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE!"? I know that I can.

The Red Sox and Tigers will meet in mid-May at Fenway Park.

MATSUZAKA HAS ROUGH OUTING AGAINST O'S
Daisuke allowed two homeruns in his first bad start of the spring. His own throwing error led to an "unearned" run. In total, he allowed 4 runs off 6 hits in 4 innings. It'll be interesting to see how he responds to his first bad start in the States. I think we should keep this in context, though. It was a Spring Training game, nothing more. Let's please move on.

THREE NEW ENGLAND TEAMS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
Only three teams from New England made the NCAA Tournament. Central Connecticut State is a 16 seed playing Ohio State in Lexington, KY. Holy Cross, for once, is not a 16 seed and is actually a 13 seed playing Southern Illinois in Columbus, OH. Boston College is a 7 seed going up against Texas Tech in Winston-Salem, NC. I really don't feel that Boston College will win this game.

This season the Red Raiders beat Texas A&M twice, and beat Kansas in Kansas. I'm afraid they're more than a match for BC. And even if the Eagles progress to the second round, they'll probably face Georgetown. Not a very good bracket for BC to be in, but we can hardly claim they were somehow snubbed as they have been in past seasons.

The first round games for the three New England teams are going to be played at the following times:
#7 Boston College vs. #10 Texas Tech - Thu 3/15 at 12:25 PM
#1 Ohio State vs. #16 Central Connecticut State - Thu 3/15 at 7:10 PM
#4 Southern Illinois vs. #13 Holy Cross - Fri 3/16 at 9:40 PM

Providence College, UMass, and Vermont all made the NIT.

BC ESCAPES

The BC Eagles needed OT to beat the 12-10 Miami Hurricanes last night in the 2nd round of the ACC Tournament. To be fair to BC, the game was played in Florida. At one time, the eagles were trailing by 14. Percentage wise, they were out shot by Miami. We were 23/50 from the field, 11/25 from the arc, and 17/24 from the free throw line. However, Miami only went to the line 6 times, and although they made all 6, we earned sufficient foul opportunities and got 11 more points from the line then the Canes. Jared Dudley and Sean Marshall combined for a mere 17 points, but sophomore Tyrese Rice carried the team with 32 points, and 5 rebounds.

The Eagles will need to step it up, because this afternoon they play the #8 UNC Tar Heels, the regular season ACC Champions. The teams played in February on Chestnut Hill with UNC winning 77-72.

I don't expect BC to win this game, but if we keep it close, it will draw some attention and might result in us moving up a seed. If we win this game, we probably will move up a bit. It would be a huge win. But as it is, we're somewhere in the 6th to 8th seed range.

In other NCAA news, Holy Cross won their 5th Patriot League title by beating Bucknell 74-66. Rhode Island beat Xavier 79-71 in the Atlantic 10 semi-finals in Atlantic City. The Rams will play George Washington this evening in the finals. Central Connecticut State won the Northeast Conference Championship. Vermont will play Albany this afternoon in the America East Conference Championship.

PATRIOTS MAKING A LOT OF NOISE

DILLON RELEASED
The Patriots released running back Corey Dillon. The 32 year old was the cornerstone of the Patriots rushing attack for 3 seasons, including a 1,635 yard campaign in 2004, a Patriots record. Dillon was a big part of 3 division titles, 6 playoff victories, and 1 Super Bowl Championship with the Pats. Overall he ran for 3,180 yards, and 37 touchdowns with us, and had 431 receiving yards with 2 TD receptions. In 8 playoff games, he rushed for 508 yards on 120 carries.

With the emergence of Laurence Maroney in the backfield, and Dillon's age, this move is an understandable one. Although Maroney did lack some consistency, and his power running left a little to be desired.

The Patriots re-signed Heath Evans, who can rush for power, but not nearly as good as Dillon. Then again, not as expensive as Dillon, either. I'd expect the Patriots to sign or draft another running back in order to compliment Maroney.

PATS BAG ADALIUS
The Patriots made a huge signing just 36 hours into the free agency period, pinning down the versatile Adalius Thomas, formerly of the Ravens. Thomas is big and fast, and is capable of playing OLB and DE, reminiscent of Willie McGinist. He's the type of linebacker that can play a good zone defense in coverage in the middle, cover big fast tight ends, spy on mobile QBs, stop the run on the outside and inside, and rush the passer. He had 11 sacks last season, and 38.5 in his career. He also had 106 tackles.

In our 3-4 defense, Thomas is the perfect fit. The 3-4 is dependant on defensive linemen who can eat blocks and maintain the line of scrimmage, with fast and strong LBs behind them to exploit holes in pass defense, and plug holes in run defense. Thomas can do both of these jobs, very well.

In the San Diego and Indy games, we definitely saw a lack of good pass rushing, and good tackling by our front 7. But Thomas will improve this dramatically. With him, Colvin, Vrabel, and Bruschi returning for another year, we have the foundation of a very nice linebacker corps.

Thomas says that the Patriots were the first team to make him an offer, and he instantly accepted. "We don't want to come here and play games," he said. "There's no need to go looking around for the best, when you start with the best. My first offer was here and there was no need to go anywhere else."

He also said: "I'm a football player. I don't play a position. Whatever is needed for me to do here, I'm going to do." If his words ring true, he will fit in very nicely in Foxborough.

ANOTHER BRADY IN THE BUNCH
The Patriots signed 12 year veteran Kyle Brady. Belichick had wanted Brady with the 10th pick i the 1994 draft, but the Jets traded up to 9th and grabbed him. Although Brady's best years are behind him (hasn't had 20+ receptions since 2003, or 30+ since 2002), he's a good blocker with the ability to catch an occasional pass.

With Graham as a free agent, and Watson and Thomas in the mix, it appears as though Brady will end up as a 3rd tight end, coming in on goal line plays or short yardage downs as a blocker.

PATS SIGN SAMMY MORRIS
With Dillon gone, the Pats acted quickly to sign another RB. They picked up Sammy Morris, formerly of the Dolphins. The 6' 0", 228 pounder adds some versatility, not very surprisingly. Last year he had 400 yards on 92 attempts (4.3 YPC), and 162 receiving yards on 21 receptions. He also played special teams.

PATS IN TALKS WITH WES WELKER
This guy has New England Patriots written all over him, except on his jersey right now. The Patriots are reportedly going to send Wes Welker, a restricted free agent with the Dolphins, an offer sheet. If Miami doesn't match the offer, then he's ours.

The 26 year old out of Texas Tech is very versatile. He had 67 receptions for 687 yards last season, returned 48 kicks with an average of 22.2, returned 41 punts with a 9.2 average, only lost 1 fumble all season, and in 2004 when Olindo Mare was hurt against us, he was the place kicker. In that game he was 1/1 on field goals, 1/1 on extra points, and averaged 52.7 yards on 3 kickoffs.

He's a scrappy, tough player that gets every extra yard he can. He could fit in nicely on offense as a receiver. He definitely isn't a #1 WR, but he can play the slot, exploiting mismatches, and contributing yardage. We desperately need help at WR, and Welker is that help.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS
Special teamster Don Davis filed his retirement papers. Davis mostly played special teams, occasionally being used as a linebacker or safety in emergency situations. David had a knee injury in December and underwent surgery, but wouldn't have been able to run until August.

The Patriots extended O-lineman Billy Yates' contract for 3 years, worth $2.1 million.

The Rams made an offer to unrestricted free agent Tully Banta-Cain, but TBC didn't sign it, hoping to receive more offers.

Daniel Graham has been shopping himself to Oakland, Denver, St. Louis, and soon Seattle.

The Patriots added Billy O'Brien, a Massachusetts native and former offensive coordinator at Duke, as a defensive assistant.

The Patriots attached the franchise tag to unrestricted free agent Asante Samuel.

When he heard the Patriots signed Adalius Thomas, Peyton Manning wet himself.

FIRST AND ONLY POST ON BRADY'S BABY
I'm only going to write about this once, because this blog is about Boston sports, not Boston sports personalities and their personal lives. None of us, nor the media know the true situation with Tom Brady and Bridget Moynahan. None of us know why they broke up. And it should stay that way. All this bS flying around coming from "friends" of Bridget or Tom is irreputable, and unnewsworthy. Honestly, my real friends, the one's I would confide in about something like this stuff, wouldn't be e-mailing Boston.com, or whatever. The type of people who would do that, I simply wouldn't tell them anything important or personal. And I think most people are like that, most likely including Bridget and Tom.

So congratulations, Tom Brady, but don't let this stuff distract you this fall and winter.

SOX DOMINATE THE COLLEGE BOYS, STRUGGLE IN GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE PLAY

After opening Spring Training with a 4-4 tie with the hated crosstown Twins, the Sox are still without a win in Grapefruit League play.

On Thursday, the Sox fell 4-1 to Toronto. Of course, it was a split-squad road game, which means it wasn't exactly our A team. Kason Gabbard went up against Roy Halladay. The only starter in the lineup was Pedroia. Nothing remarkable about this game except that Spann doubled his error total to 4.

The Sox saved their big guns for Northeastern. Well, actually, most of the regulars don't go on road trips, and that's why. The Sox were actually held hitless until the 4th inning. Beckett struck out 5 of the 7 batters he faced.

On Friday, the Sox lost to Toronto in 10 innings. They started a potential regular season lineup, or at least the top of the lineup. Lugo, Youkilis, Ortiz, Ramirez, Drew, Lowell, and Crisp.

Snyder had a solid start, 2 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts. Then Runelvys gave up 6 runs in the 3rd., off 6 hits. That's going to set him back in the race for a roster spot. Donneley had another nice inning, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts. Okajima pitched a perfect 5th in his spring debut.

The Sox took on Boston College in the night-cap of the split-squad doubleheader. It was Matsuzaka's debut. First pitch, he allowed a double. Then he allowed nothing. Retired the next 6 batters he faced, two by way of the K.

David Murphy had another good start, 2 for 2 with a walk, a steal, 3 runs, and 2 RBI.. I don't think Murphy will start out the season in Boston, not because he isn't good enough, but because the organization will want him to get a few hundred ABs this year down in Pawtucket. With Manny, Coco, JD, and Pena, Murphy would have trouble getting consistent playing time. However, with JD's injury history, Coco's lackluster season last year, and Manny being Manny, I wouldn't be shocked if Murphy made his way up and down I-95 a few times this year.

Saturday, the Sox lost another extra inning game, this time to Philadelphia. Wakefield had a mediocre start. Two innings, 3 hits, 2 runs (1 ER), 2 Ks. Jonathan Papelbon came on in relief, and was lights out. Two innings, no hits, no walks, 4 strikeouts. But then again, we already knew he was good in 2 or 1 inning sprints. It will be much more telling when we see Papelbon pitch longer stints. That's when we'll see him pitch against batters multiple times.

One of Papelbon's potential replacements as closer, Pineiro came in and had a blown save. 1.1 innings, 4 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, and a homer. Romero replaced Joel, and the two combined for the loss of the lead.

Tavarez pitched a perfect inning, then Delcarmen allowed 3 runs in 0.2 innings. All in all, not a great day for Sox pitchers, but a good day for hitters like Murphy and Lowell.

ARE YOU TYING? THERE'S NO TYING IN BASEBALL!

Minnesota Twins 4
Boston Red Sox 4

Round 1 of the Mayor's Cup ended in a 4-4 tie, with the game called in the 10th inning. The most interesting parts of the game were seeing Brandon Moss, a pitcher, pinch run, get picked off, and get to second anyway; and some guy named Chris Smith (#97 in your programs, #1 in your hearts) pitch the 10th inning. You usually don't see numbers as high as 97 outside of hockey or football.

I was forced to listen to this game online, and listen to the Twins Radio Network, as MLB Radio was working through some February jitters. The announcers were good, although there was a glaring "duuuuh" statement. Joe Mauer hit a homerun, and one of the Twins radio guys remarked "There's a slight win, but that ball had enough to carry out of the ballpark." Well, obviously. It went over the wall, right?

I also heard Twins manager Ron Gardenheyer (mispelled terribly) bark like a dog to his wife in some commercial. And if I'm ever in North Dakota, I now know where I should go to buy hardware and home improvement supplies.

Anyway, to the game...

Schilling started, went 2 innings, was decent, gave up a pair of well hit (but not very well hit) singles, threw 19 pitches and was done.

After Curt was pulled, a string of potential closers came in. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for Installment #1 of...

DECISION '07: THE SEARCH FOR A CLOSER
Joel Pineiro had a very unimpressive outing. He was hurt by an error (charged to Lugo, but Youk could have gotten it according to the broadcasters), but still allowed 2 hits, which resulted in a run. It was an unearned run, but it was as close to being earned as you can get.

Brendan Donnelly pitched the 4th inning and was perfect. Groundout, fly-our, strikeout. Of course, this was against Matt LeCroy (who might not make the Twins this season), Ken Harvey (last MLB at-bat was in 2005 with Kansas City), and Luis Rodriguez (290 career MLB at-bats, .255 average). So this wasn't exactly Murderer's Row that Donnelley dominated.

Julian Tavarez pitched the 5th inning, and didn't pitch it very well. I know Mauer is a good hitter, and one mistake to a good hitter, and the ball is probably leaving the park. But it was a 3 run homer, not a solo shot. Tavarez was making a lot of mistakes. It's probably just because it's still February, but his 4 hit, 3 earned run inning was not good.

Delcarmen pitched a 1 hit shutout 6th, but by this point the Twins were all backups or minor leaguers.

JC Romero had a hitless inning of work with a strikeout. He also picked a batter off.

Runelvys Hernandez pitched a 1 hit 9th inning, which is great in a regular season game, but with very little meaning in a Spring Training game.

So here are the rankings of closer candidates based on Spring performances:

1. Brendan Donnelly
2. Manny Delcarmen
3. JC Romero
4. Runelvys Hernandez
5. Joel Pineiro
6. Julian Tavarez

1% of precincts reporting.

Still too early to call.

The other interesting thing to watch with the Sox this Spring Training is who will fill the four "open" roster spots. The way I see it, here are the 22 players who will, barring injury or car show, will be on the Opening Day roster:

C Jason Varitek
C Doug Mirabelli
1B Kevin Youkilis
2B Dustin Pedroia
3B Mike Lowell
@@ Julio Lugo
IF Alex Cora
LF Manny Ramirez
CF Coco Crisp
RF JD Drew
OF Wily Mo Pena
DH David Ortiz
SP Curt Schilling
SP Daisuke Matsuzaka
SP Josh Beckett
SP Tim Wakefield
SP Jonathan Papelbon
RP Mike Timlin
RP Julian Tavarez
RP Brandan Donnelly

Now, I think the Sox will carry Eric Hinske is a backup corner infielder, as well as a possible outfield replacement, but if we decide to go with 12 pitchers, there isn't room for him.

The potential pitchers to fill out the roster are: Manny Delcarmen, Joel Pineiro, JC Romero, Hideki Okajima, Craig Hansen, Runelvys Hernandez, and Javier Lopez.

Tonight, we saw three of these potential roster fillers. Delcarmen was decent in a late inning, as were Romero and Hernandez. Pineiro was not so good. But it's still February, and there's a lot more Spring Training to go.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Sox split up and go up the coast to Dunedin to face Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays, and stay in Fort Myers to face Northeastern.

The Sox absolutely OWN Northeastern.

MANNY, SCHILLING, DICE-K, SPRING ROTATION, GAMES ON TV AND RADIO

MANNY SHOWS UP TO CAMP EARLY...KIND OF

You should never, ever, expect Manny to do anything except the unexpected. We in Red Sox Nation were all informed through Manny's PR frontman Julian Tavarez, and then officially through the Red Sox that Manny Ramirez would not arrive in Fort Myers until March 1st, with the reason being that he wanted to spend time with his sick mother. Then we found out about a car show in Atlantic City he was planning to attend before reporting to Spring Training. That's when it hit the fan, and the fan could definitely feel it.

Then Manny surprised everyone by not only skipping the car show, but reporting to camp yesterday, 3 days earlier than expected. It seemed like another Manny induced malignant clubhouse tumor had been averted, and the day had been saved.

But let's not forget that Manny was still late for Spring Training. Let's not forget that even though he didn't go to the car show, he still wasn't in Fort Myers. Let's not forget that he informed the Red Sox of his intentions through Tavarez. Let's not forget that he's kept his teammates in the dark throughout all of this. And let's not forget that he is Manny Ramirez, and will once again "be Manny" in the future.

SCHILLING DENIED EXTENSION, TALKS TRASH ON S.O.S.H.
Curt Schilling was denied his contract extension for the 2008 season. The move was not a surprise, because the Red Sox are about trying to win ballgames and not appeasing The Blowhard. Curt wanted $13M guaranteed before he threw a pitch in Red Sox uniform, and the Sox rightfully denied him this. If he has a good season and looks capable of pitching into 2008, then the Sox will do what they can to retain him.

I'll give Curt credit, he doesn't want contract BS to go on during the regular season. But he also forgets that the date to declare free agency occurs well after the end of the season, not well before it. But Curt has essentially already declared. I don't think he's greedy for money, but like most ballplayers he is greedy for respect. And that respect just so happens to be demonstrated through money.

Strangely enough, there isn't much frustration among Sox fans concerning this. Perhaps we're all too excited about Matsuzaka to pay full attention to Curt, or perhaps all of our ire is being focused on Manny. Or maybe a large chunk of Red Sox Nation worship Curt Schilling as the man who single-handedly won us the World Series. Hopefully few of these people are registered voters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Curt is acting like a big baby, he put an ultimatum to the Red Sox that was simply ridiculous and selfish. If Pedro did something like this, people would be trying to run him out of town. But Curt doesn't have an accent, and his skin is fair. I'm not accusing anyone of anything, I just think that it's a bit odd that he's gotten a free pass by many fans. Last week, Boston.com did a poll asking about whether or not the Sox should extend Schilling's contract. Of the 8,700+ votes, 41.8% sided with Schilling, accusing the Red Sox of making a big mistake.

To quote Maurice Vaughn: "Dumb, stupid Boston fans, they're STUPID!"

Now, Curt is a professional, and he'll pitch his best. We all know that he will. But I don't like how he's responding to this. After all, he put the ultimatum to the Sox to sign him "or else." He was the one who surprised everyone by announcing he wasn't going to retire at the end of the season only a month before Spring Training started. Remember, the Sox are long-term thinkers, and they probably figured Curt would be out of the picture in '08. Now all of a sudden, he pops back in and demands $13M upfront. Curt needs to realize he was being stupid and impatient.

I don't like the fact that Curt engages in an internet flamewar against Dan Shaughnessey. I think it's ironic that Shank is the one not posting messages on Sons of Sam Horn, whereas the millionaire pro ballplayer is. Next thing you know, Curt will challenge Shaughnessey to an online duel of Halo to settle the score between them.

You can read Curt's post on SOSH here, his screename is Gehrig38.

I don't disagree with most of what Curt says in the post, and I think it's cool that he interacts with fans this way, but if he responds to some criticism from a sportswriter by blasting him on an internet messageboard, what the hell will he do when CNN criticizes his lack of political experience, or his inability to comprehend that Hillary Clinton is FOR the war in Iraq during some sort of Senate campaign?

MATSUZAKA THROWS BATTING PRACTICE

I can't believe I'm writing about this. Even more unbelievable is that when I read about Matsuzaka throwing BP, I got really excited.

Daisuke threw 44 pitches in his first BP session on Saturday. Yesterday he threw 50 pitches. The batters who faced him included Wily Mo Pena, David Ortiz, Julio Lugo, and Manny Ramirez. Manny only saw three pitches and didn't swing at any of them. Ortiz was the only hitter to get a "hit" off him, a groundball single.

Imagine how exciting it will be when he pitches in a Spring Training game. Speaking of which...

STARTERS ANNOUNCED FOR UPCOMING S.T. GAMES
Wed 2/28 vs. Minnesota: Curt Schilling
Thu 3/1 at Toronto (SS): Kason Gabbard
Thu 3/1 vs. Northeastern (SS): Josh Beckett
Fri 3/2 vs. Toronto (SS): Kyle Snyder
Fri 3/2 vs. Boston College (SS): Daisuke Matsuzaka
Sat 3/3 vs. Philadelphia: Tim Wakefield*

SS = Split Squad game
* = Jonathan Papelbon will get work in this game in the early middle innings

UPCOMING GAMES ON RADIO AND/OR TV
The following Spring Training games will be available on television:

Wed 2/28 7:05 vs. Minnesota - NESN
Sat 3/3 1:05 vs. Philadelphia - NESN
Wed 3/7 1:05 vs. NY Mets - NESN
Mon 3/12 7:05 vs. NY Yankees - NESN
Sat 3/17 1:05 vs. Cincinnati - NESN
Sun 3/18 1:05 at Baltimore - NESN
Wed 3/21 1:05 at Pittsburgh - ESPN
Thu 3/22 1:05 at Philadelphia - ESPN
Sun 3/25 1:05 vs. Florida - NESN
Mon 3/26 1:05 at Cincinnati - ESPN
Wed 3/28 7:05 at Minnesota - NESN

Upcoming Spring Training games on WRKO 680:

Wed 2/28 7:05 vs. Minnesota
Fri 3/2 6:05 vs. Boston College
Mon 3/5 1:05 vs. Los Angeles
Wed 3/7 1:05 vs. NY Mets
Thu 3/8 1:05 vs. Toronto
Sat 3/10 1:05 at Detroit
Mon 3/12 7:05 vs. NY Yankees
Wed 3/14 1:05 vs. Pittsburgh

MANNY TO ATTEND CAR SHOW IN ATLANTIC CITY

I think Red Sox Nation was prepared to shrug off Manny's tardiness, seeing as how his mother had just come out of surgery. Perhaps we weren't happy about it, but it seemed like a legit excuse. Then we found out that he was (and probably still is) planning to attend a classic car auction in AC this weekend. He was planning to do this long before we heard about his mother getting sick. This is despite the fact that he was supposed to be at Fort Myers before, and during the car auction.

I'm not going to go overboard about this. We pretty much have no choice, we need Manny's bat in the lineup. Part of me does wonder when his BS will go past the point of a legal breach of contract, but I still want his bat in the lineup. So long as he hits his 30 to 40 homers and knocks in his 110 to 120 runs, whatever.

But it's a shame. It's a shame for Manny most of all. He could go down in history as one of the best right handed hitters in baseball, and be part of a legacy of Sox outfielders who are and/or deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. But unlike predecessors like Ted Williams, and Jim Rice, who were disliked mostly by the media, Manny is directly making enemies with the fans by pulling crap like this. You get paid $20M to play baseball, and you can't even show up to work on time? IT'S BASEBALL!!!!!

His final career numbers could eclipse 550 HRs, 2,000 RBI, and come close to 3,000 hits. Those are Hall of Fame numbers. And his consistency and lack of overly bulging muscles suggests he's done this without the assistance of steroids. He's a great hitter, but people will remember him as a lousy teammate.

MORE SPRING TRAINING STUFF

Shaughnessey had a column in the Globe about Jack Roush that was somewhat infuriating for me to read. Shaughnessey knows little about NASCAR, but like every other subject he knows little about, he decided to formulate opinions with his mole hill of knowledge. He insinuated that Roush was somehow anti-Japanese, or anti-global because he opposes the introduction of Toyota to NASCAR. Shaughnessey then went on to say that this attitude was contrary to the Red Sox and their endeavor to assimilate themselves to Japanese culture.

Here's the thing, Roush is against Toyota, not because Toyota is Japanese, but because Toyota is a competitor to his Fords. If you want to know the truth, I think Roush hates Chevrolet much more than he hates Toyota, but Chevrolet has been in NASCAR forever, so there's no way he's going to drive them out.

A little side note, I watched the Daytona 500 this weekend, and only once did they refer to the Roush cars as being owned by Roush-Fenway. In the pre-race, post-race, and during the race, there was little to no talk about Roush selling half his team to John Henry. It seems like the transaction is a much bigger deal to Red Sox Nation than it is to NASCAR Nation. What does that tell you? It tells you that Red Sox Nation is loaded with xenophobic, overreacting, ignorant elitists, and NASCAR Nation isn't. Surprising, eh?

DICE-K'S WORKLOAD NOT CHANGING
Daisuke Matsuzaka will train for the season in similar fashion to the way he trained in Japan, by throwing a lot more than anyone else is throwing. He played long-toss the other day on what was supposed to be an off-day. Francona reported that he threw as long as about 220 feet, which is quite long, and the longest long-toss Francona had ever seen. I can't believe I just wrote a paragraph about a guy throwing long-toss. But it's Matsuzaka, so it is news.

SCHILLING NAMES HIMSELF OPENING DAY STARTER, FRANCONA AGREES
When Curt Schilling said "I'll be ready to start Opening Day," he essentially said that he was starting Opening day. The "Ace" of the staff will probably start the season as the #1 pitcher, with Beckett coming off an inconsistent season, and Matsuzaka adjusting to MLB. But if I were Curt, I wouldn't get so high and mighty. The job of best pitcher on the team is still wide open, and let us not forget that Curt ended last season with strings of inconsistency and bad performance. He may chalk up some of the lack of 2nd half wins to being up against other Number 1 pitchers, but HE IS a number 1 pitcher, so he will inevitably go up against other #1s.

Curt already has his stats ready, he intends to win 25 games over the next 2 seasons. This unimpressive number seems to fly in the face of the money he is asking for. He's getting about $13M to pitch this season, and wants a similar amount for 2008. And he wants it right now. I'm sorry, Curt, but I think we could find better than a 12 win pitcher for $13 million, or at least, we could find a younger one with more of a future.

MORE REPORTS TO THE FORT
This morning JD Drew, and David Ortiz reported to Fort Myers. Today is physical day for position players and it is mandatory for everyone not named Manny Ramirez to be here for that. Wily Mo Pena also reported yesterday, after erroneously arriving at City of Palms Park only to be the only one there. The club was exercising elsewhere.

When asked about Manny, Francona remarked essentially that he wasn't going to comment on speculation. He insisted that he would wait until he was in communication with Manny or his agent. He wouldn't comment on what Manny's "publicist Julian" had to say.