The Diceman Cometh

what the... ?

BoSox threaten to boycott Japan trip

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- The Boston Red Sox refused to take the field for their final spring training game in Florida on Wednesday and threatened to boycott their flight to Japan for their season openers unless their coaches and other staff are paid for the trip.

Fans filled the stadium, the national anthems were sung and the Boston and Toronto lineups were announced, but the game did not begin at its 12:07 p.m. scheduled start.

Manager Terry Francona and his players were upset after learning staff members are not going to get a $40,000 stipend. The Boston Herald reported players insisted part of their agreement to make the trip included the fee -- for them and the coaches.

"I did not have an off day yesterday. I had the phone glued to my ear because I was promised some answers and I haven't even received a phone call," Francona said Wednesday. "So I'm a little bit stuck. What I want to do this morning is get excited to play a baseball game and what I ended up doing is apologizing to the coaches and being humiliated."
(si.com)

crisis averted -- the trip is a go...

play ball!

(yawn...)

nice comeback win.

dice-K was shaky (5 innings, 2 runs, 2 hits, 5 walks, 6 K's), but the bullpen settled things down.
brandon moss (who?) hit his first major league dinger to tie it in the 9th, then manny hit his second 2-run 2B to ice it...

Home sweet home... can't wait for April 8th

we're getting tested early with back-2-back series against detroit & NYY...

sawx are back in the continental-48, and playing the dodgers tonight in an exhibition at the old LA coliseum.
it's a football stadium, so the outfield dimensions are ridiculous... should be fun to watch...

Although I found it a bit hard to stay awake for, it was a fun game to watch. Some of the camera angles were a little funky though.

I think I heard that it was going to be in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest crowd to ever attend a baseball game.

a 7-4 win always is nice even if it is just an exhibition game.

still can't figger out how they drew such a huge crowd for a throw-away game.
yes, the proceeds went to charity... but still.
maybe it was the novelty of seeing a game there?

***

the sawx have signed another japanese pitcher --
Terumasa Matsuo
if he makes it to the bigs, i'm sure we'll be calling him 'tiramisu' in no time

dice-K (6.2 innings, 2 hits 1 run no walks, 9 K's), oki-doki & pap combined on a nifty 3-hitter last night.

all is well in red sawx nation (although big papi is still ofer-'08)...

Not anymore.......

He won't have to face that guy from Oakland again for a while, anyway...

RH

did i do a reverso-jinx-whammy on him?

lester pitched a gem (6.2 innings, 3 hits, no runs), helping to shutout the A's after they pounded him in japan.
oakland managed only seven base-hits in the two games.

have glove will travel:
youk set a record for consecutive errorless games at first base.
194 and counting...

it's good to be a sawx fan...

Viscious Hawk Attacks A-Rod at Fenway!

EXTRA EXTRA, read all about it...

eerie......but I love it!

Wally should come out in a hawk costume on April 11th

i like it!
they could call him the Yankee Clipper...

nice bling ceremony.

russell, orr, bruschi, buckner... buckner!
yep, all is forgiven...

***

the fans were sent home happy, thanx to another shutout.
dice-K led the way (6.2 innings, 4 hits, 4 walks, 7 K's).
pedroia & youk provided most of the offense (combined 5-fer-8, 2 ribbies).

and how bad is detroit?
no team has ever made the playoffs after an 0-7 start.
ouch...

Are the Sox playing in the rain?