Feb. 27th- CHB suggests the Red Sox will choke in first grapefruit league game.

Mar 7: Dice-K has a bad outing against the Mets; millions wring hands about "untested" pitcher getting the big bucks.

May 4 -- Francona annoints Papelbon as closer.

Francona annoints Papelbon as closer.

... even though he has a 3.50 ERA in 5 starts, and te rest of the rotation is all struggling horribly. In the meantime, the Red Sox have lost three games that they led going into the ninth inning, but won 3 of Papelbon's starts 3-2.

June 6: Curt Schilling is finally placed on the DL after dragging his belly through a wretched 12 starts. He never pitches in the major leagues again.

June 18: Josh Beckett gives up a record 7 home runs in one game, but "wins" 11-9. He is now 7-2 with a 6.77 ERA.

August 2: Matsusaka misses his scheduled start because of "a little tendinitis." Two weeks later, Dr James Andrews finds that his labrum is frayed. Matsusaka had been improving recently, but still ended his season 6-11, with a 5.44 ERA in 20 starts.

Guys,
Lest you forget the name of this thread this is supposed to be therapy...

Guys,
Lest you forget the name of this thread this is supposed to be therapy...

This thread must count as exposure therapy... like making people with phobias watch movies of snakes and spiders nonstop...

Vaux,

You're not exactly making my day.

Here's my list:

April 8: Pineiro records his first save, striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faces in a 1-2-3 ninth.

April 9: Pineiro gets his 2nd save in as many nights, looking good once again.

April 10: Even though the Sox lead 11-6, Pineiro is called on to close out the game. He does so without a problem.

April 11-12. Two more nailbiters and Pineiro finishes them both successfully. I remark in Sox Therapy that maybe he should have been rested on the 10th, but everyone says how stupid I am. 'Don't worry, it's early in the year. The workload will even out!'

July 1-30: Pineiro has a terrible month, putting up a 6.43 ERA and ending up on the DL. When I point out that he's been worked to death, and in fact hasn't been the same since the 5 games in April, every says that I'm a big dummy. He had a normal workload, and was often used to stay sharp, everyone yells.

August 15: I feel really smart but still sad as the Red Sox season goes down in flames because their pen is destroyed.

March 1: After his usual off-season diet and routine, Dustin Pedroia unveils his new double play manuever, which he dubs "Rolling Thunder". This play, turned on the pivot of a double play and ending with a Yokozuna-like buttdrop onto the oncoming baserunner, is demonstrated in a game for the first time during a split-squad affair with the Blue Jays.

Unfortunately, the baserunner - an A-baller called up to fill out the split-squad roster - suffers three broken ribs as a result, and is forced to miss the rest of the 2007 season.

I read the title and started preparing Jeff Kent jokes in my head while the page loaded. I'll admit I was disappointed at first, but this is better.

April 11 David Ortiz gets his first hit of the season, an eighth inning HR for the win.

May 22 Ortiz is now hitting .226, but with seven late inning game winners. Image intact, Boston still loves Papi.

June 4 Ortiz goes 0-7 in thirteen inning game, but in the fourteenth he gets a double for the win. His avg now rests at .187. Boston loves the magic but not as loudly.

June 26 Boston turns on Ortiz after he doesn't get game winner in a 9-4 loss. Ortiz points out that he can only get four runs at at time, CHB replies that he's a whiner.

July 1-22 Ortiz goes on a tear, hitting .612/.788/1.050 during the month but with no late innings fireworks. Boston burns him in effigy outside Fenway.

July 31 Ortiz traded for ARod, who is hitting a "gutless" .344 in New York. Both sides elated.

Here's a really interesting article on the Sox development program in the Dominican:



Sox have students of the game

"It's vital," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. "A lot of the best Latin American players sign at 16, 17, and are a long way from being able to play even at the GCL [Gulf Coast League] level. That's really the place where we teach the game, teach the Red Sox way, get them ready to compete stateside. A lot of Dominican players don't play a lot of games. They tend to focus more on skills that show up in tryout camps, but don't manifest themselves in games."

Translation: They have good contact skills but wouldn't know how to work a count if their life depended on it.

alksgd lkfjhg fkhfd;lh fda;
this cold snap is getting to me

i need opening day

soon

April 11-12. Two more nailbiters and Pineiro finishes them both successfully. I remark in Sox Therapy that maybe he should have been rested on the 10th, but everyone says how stupid I am. 'Don't worry, it's early in the year. The workload will even out!'

Hey Darren - if it takes until April 12th for people to call you stupid, then the quality of the posts must be improving.

Mar ??—Francona describes Pedroia as the starter at 2b

From Nick Cafardo's Feb 6 piece of a conference with Terry:

Francona said he's comfortable with Dustin Pedroia as the team's starting second baseman: "At some point you have to play your young players. I have no problem with that." Francona said that the team won't be changing Pedroia's upper-cut swing, feeling that's how Pedroia hits best. He also said while some scouts have questions about Pedroia’s physical presence, "his mental attributes are off the charts."

October 8, at 10:26 pm: Someone will try to blame the entire season's futility on one game.

Oh, no, wait, not October. I meant February.

Pedroia went from aroun 195 pounds to 172 pounds this off-season, FWIW.

Think that means he's thinking he'll play SS, Temple, and needs to be a little lighter on his feet?

I thought the reason he came into camp heavy last year was because he felt he needed to add bulk to gain a little more pop.

Is that the kind of bulk you can drop 23 pounds of in one year in a healthy way?

vi, i think he wasn't able to keep the bulk on throughout the season.

There has been more than one report that Pedroia was just plain overweight at the beginning of last year. This 172 figure can only be good news.

Hey Darren - if it takes until April 12th for people to call you stupid, then the quality of the posts must be improving.

I didn't say it would be the first time they'd call me stupid.

Here's a Bradford article on Pedroia's weight loss. Says his weight gain last year was in part due to a knee injury.

"I've put a lot of hard work in," Pedroia said. "The days over there are kind of tough. We're always moving around, lifting, sprints, all that stuff. It's hectic, but for me and Youk we have put in the time and it's going to pay off."

Big year for both? I hope so.

Youks went there last year too, so I wouldn't count on it making him better. There was another article that said he had a bad abdominal injury (and some other owies) that he played through at the end of last year, which may have led to his big dropoff. CFBPS has him pegged for .310/.450/.500 next year.

"Says his weight gain last year was in part due to a knee injury."

Nah, it was from all those key lime pies kevin baked and overnighted his way.

Youks went there last year too, so I wouldn't count on it making him better.

Probably a quarter (or more) of all professional athletes have trained there at some point, so who knows? Brandon Wood has been training there since he was like an infant. If it's lack of proper conditioning that's holding Pedroia back, then maybe his off-season training at a world-class elite facility could make a difference. If he's close to or has already hit the ceiling of what his body is capable of, then he's going to have to get by on his mad skillz.

Having your body break down at the end of the year seems pretty common for most young players - let's hope Pedroia can hit like PECOTA thinks he can for the whole year.

There's a really nice article on Lester in the Herald today.
It sounds like the recovery is going better than really anyone could have expected, and it might be non-crazy to look to Lester to contribute in 2007. (He remains my sleeper pick at closer.)

There was an article in the Metro this morning on the Sox infield, said Francona has already penciled Youkilis into the #2 slot in the lineup. That's gonna be a nice little upgrade over Loretta.

So who's leading off? Crisp?

So who's leading off? Crisp?

I assume so. One thing that's become clear, I think, over the last year, is that the Red Sox believe strongly in Coco Crisp. They extended him while hurt, they have never suggested he might fall out of his starting role, and now he's the leadoff hitter going into the year. I sure hope they're right.

I am pretty sure Lugo is leading off, and that Tito has said so, though I'm too lazy to dig it up right now.

I am pretty sure Lugo is leading off, and that Tito has said so, though I'm too lazy to dig it up right now.

i thought it was going to be lugo.

(He remains my sleeper pick at closer.)

Lester has a history of not liking and not being good at relieving. I don't see him as a reliever. I think he will start the year in triple-A until Wakefield gets hurt.

i thought it was going to be lugo.

Lugo.

Drew was officially added to the 40-man after Dinardo was claimed on waivers by the Athletics.

May 11 - It becomes clear that Doug Mirabelli (.083/.113/.202) can no longer hit bombs (or anything else) and can contribute little except making sure knuckleballs don't roll all the way to the backtop. Meanwhile, Josh Bard is hitting 280/350/430.

July 22 - Lenny DiNardo, league leader in ERA, WHIP, and wins, is thrilled to be starting his first All-Star game. "My peripherals weren't too bad, it was just a matter of time before everything came together for me," said a jubilant DiNardo. DiNardo entered the game to "Two States" by Pavement.

On May 14th (after a tough April) Josh Beckett kills the college student who works inside "Wally the Green Monster" when he hits him with a fastball. There are rumors (never substantiated) that Tek called in the hit. Jerry Remey is beside himself with grief and will often sob silently for whole innings leaving Don Orsillo to pick up the slack. There is a noticeable increase in the qualitly of the NESN on air show.

The Sox wear green armbands for the remainder of the season in rememberance of their fallen mascot.

An attempt to bring Wally back after the ASB is met with howls of outrage from the public and genuine fright from all the children in Fenway. The new Wally lasts just 4 games before being quietly retired. Remey takes a leave of absence from NESN to work on a 12 step program.

In mid August there is a minor media scandal when Doug Mirabelli mentions that "what's his name getting killed" really helped both the Sox and Beckett in particular. The fact that he's hitting just .215/.283/.362 doesn't help his case when he tries to apologise.