Musings from Mandy

Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek with the fam waiting in line at Carrabba’s in Fort Myers . . . Sox rookie Brandon Moss meeting friends to catch a flick at the Regal 20 . . . Pitcher Jon Lester begrudgingly signing his old Pawtucket Red Sox cap offered up to him by a PawSox long-time season ticket holder now in possession of it . . . I usually don't take my news from the Inside Track, however, Jon, you best not be signing things begrudingly until you are 18-4 with a 2.49 ERA. Do I make myself clear?

Finally got the Sox highlights on Sportscenter. Saw Lester's reception. Man I miss us. PS. In North Carolina, they have these things called Palmetto beatles, a fancy name for cockroaches, and a lot of people have them, and we are currently working on killing the little mo-fo's, and I just spent a good 20 minutes at war with one, chasing him around my apartment with a spray bottle of "home defense". I finally was getting nervous I might miss the Sox highlights and had to go get a shoe. I will kill these bugs. PPS. Michael Vick shouldn't have waited so long to plea. Always better to go first in these kind of things.

*I hate when, after a tragedy, someone says, "This kind of thing reminds you what really matters". As if something horrible needs to happen to remind me that baseball is just a game. However, story is just horrific. The AA hitting coach of the Tulsa Drillers, Mike Coolbaugh, was struck in the head and killed during a game Sunday during a Texas League game, he was 35 years old. He leaves behind a wife, Mandy, two sons, Joseph and Jacob. His wife is due with their third child in October. * "Reliever Joel Pineiro has been designated for assignment to make room for Jon Lester on the Red Sox roster, Terry Francona announced after the game. Pineiro is out of options, meaning the team has 10 days to release or trade the pitcher." From the Extra Bases Blog . I'm pretty surprised by this one, Pineiro seemed to be pitching better as of late. I think that we must have something in the works / almost complete for another bullpen arm. Also, we have 10 days to trade ...

On April 30th Jon Lester made his season debut for the Pawtucket Red Sox on a cold damp New England night. Tonight, the amazing comeback story comes full circle as Jon will be taking the ball for the big club tonight against those hard hitting Cleveland Indians. I am so excited for him and for all the people he has inspired this last year. Is it 7:05 yet? (also, I know I have been slacking, but I have all kinds of good stuff on the way, promise!) photo credit goes to the Boston Globe

This is going to be a rambling mess, but I haven't posted in a while and I have a about 29293 things running through my head right now. Proceed at your own risk. Okay, I'm offically stressed out. Our in ability to hit with runners in scoring position is so freaking frustrating I can't take it anymore. David's single followed by Manny popping out last night just added to my tension. I'm wondering if we need to make a move for another bat (although if our lineup could just hit how we know our lineup can hit, all would be well in my world). July 31st is quickly approaching and I think Theo has a big move in store for us. Here is my things with trades. I don't think in terms of statistics or productivity or contracts. I think in terms of how much I love the player. Under those rules, Jon Lester, MDC, the Typo Twins (Jacoby and Kason) (Credits to Surviving Grady for that one) , Mike Lowell and Wily Mo would not even be considered for a possible deal. (I didn't ...

*The Sox had a solid weekend in Arizona, although the bats are still quieter than I would like. Joshua dominated Friday, Julian took care of buisness, and Dice-K pitched good enough to win yesterday, says Jeff Horrigan . The Sox have today off, and get back at it on Tuesday they host the Rockies, and Soxgal. *If you haven't read Curt's recap of his near no-no, please do so immediately. *The Sox are now 40-22 on the season, and 9.5 up on the 2nd place New York Yankees, and 11.5 up on the last place Tampa Bay Devil Rays. *After 6 weeks as #1 upon the ESPN Power Rankings, the Sox dropped to 2nd, with the Padres taking over the top slot . *The Nuggets had a rough week, with J.R. Smith being thrown from a car during an accident and one of the passengers in the car having severe head injuries, and another Nugget DeeMar Johnson was tasered and arrested outside a night club. *Julian Tavarez has his own cure to fix his own blister problem. *Mike Reiss, as always has some good stuf...

I was an angry Red Sox fan last night. It may have been the 4 raw teas I chugged when I got home. It may have been that the Yankees tend to do that to me, it could be the fact that I have Wakefield on my fantasy team too. Mainly, I think it is that I hate watching him pitch for my real team, then I have to deal with him sucking for my fantasy team too. And it's not just the 6 runs, it's also the fact that games seem to take forever when he pitches, and that the knuckleball isn't that exciting to watch. I would much rather roll the dice (no reference to Dice-K intended) with Gabbard, Lester, or even one of the really baby babies. I'm tired of watching high knuckleballs dance their way right out to the upper deck of Yankee Stadium. (that, and I think everytime I see Tim out there I get flashbacks to a year...four years ago...didn't get out of bed for a week...don't want to talk about it). Anyway, got Julian tonight. Hopefully he has some momentum going for...

Hello MFY, so we meet again. It’s nearly June and the Red Sox are (get ready, breathe in, breathe out) 10 and a half games up on the 2nd place Yankees and Orioles, and…drum roll please, only 1 and one half game out of last place. See Devil Rays fans (all 3 of you), there is hope for you yet! Anyway, two months in and heading into the 3rd Yankees series of the season…here are some of my thoughts: *I don’t want Karma to take this the wrong way, but it almost seems like it’s going too easy. I mean, I’m a Boston fan, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. (all while hoping it doesn’t). *Dr. Charles Steinberg is really responsible for Papelbon having “Shipping up to Boston” play when he gets to the mound? And here I was so excited that he loves that song. (and another thing, I hate people called doctor that aren’t actually the people you want working on you when you drop from a heart attack or something…If I ever get a doctorate of History or something, I am not having people call me...

Surprise Surprise, Roger is a Yankee. I really didn't see him signing with the Astros again as they continue to get worse each year. And I never really saw him coming back here either. So the Yankees have the Rog, which, I'm not sure I could have ever been completely comfortable rooting for him anyway ever. Roger is going to be making 4.5 million a month… Or, $640,857 a start Or, $107,142 per inning (if he averages 6 innings per start like last year) Or, $35,174 per out. That is just plain sick. *Carl Pavano went and saw his BFF Dr. Andrews and is probably going to require season-ending elbow surgery. *Lester is with the Sox and is going to be playing catch Tuesday in Toronto. *The other day I was saying that the Futures at Fenway game was actually at Fenway. But it isn't, its being played at McCoy. Why do they call it that? I guess NESN is broacasting the game, but couldn't someone have come up with a better name for it? *Red Sox fans... um, aren't amused . *...

The word "tired" doesn't really describe my current state. "Exhaustion" is closer, but I'd say I'm some point past there as well. "Corpse" is probably the closest thing to how I feel this morning. I went to see the Sox beat the A's on Wednesday and the Mariner's on Thursday. Here are some quick thoughts: *Beckett looked great Wednesday (well, I mean, he always looks great). *I needed Manny to break out, both for my real team and my fantasy team. *I think Dice-K next year will be Beckett this year. There is going to be an adjustment period. *Unless your name is Okajima, then, you just dominate. (My favorite nickname I have heard so far, from the comments on Surviving Grady, is Japelbon. Very politically incorrect, and pretty awesome) *I am falling more in love with Mike Lowell by the minute, I loved his little shuffle step against the A's when he popped the ball out at second, I loved his quote after he hurt Piazza, "What,...

Being the die-hard Sox fan that I am, me, Kate, Amy, Paul and T went down to Pawtucket Friday for Lester's first AAA start. It was a great time (except it was freezing), and we had sweet seats 5 rows behind home plate. Lester looked great, didn't give up any runs and hit 96 once, and 94 a few times on the gun.

Actually, 2/3 is pretty sweet. *In case you were under a rock this weekend, the Sox took 2/3 from the Yankees . *Bob Ryan says that despite protests from Cora , he is making a case to take Pedroia's job. *Seth Mnookin has an entry where he says why he doesn't like Jay Payton and Kevin Millar, and also says that Doug Mirabelli is a jerk . Interesting. *This Sox / Yanks recap has Tavarez going over and giving Lester a big hug . Tavarez talked about how he went up to Jon Lester recently, when Lester was throwing on the side at Fenway Park. Lester has valiantly battled back from cancer and figures to take his spot in the rotation. "I gave him a big hug," Tavarez said. "I said, `I'll see you soon. Be better. You're going to be fine.' He's a kid. He has a big future." * Josh Hancock , who came up with the Sox and made his first ML start with the Sox was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning. The news hit some of the Sox who came up with ...

*I love those NY papers. Hehe. *Bob Ryan has a good one about the freaking amazing 3rd inning . Just for the record naysayers, I did call it. I told Paul that the Sox were going back to back to back to back. (I meant to say that Jason would hit one too and thought that they would hit 3 in a row, but I said it wrong.) But I did call it. So, if anyone wants to hear it directly from Paul, call my cell phone number only change the last number from a 3 to a 5. One more thing on the 4 HR's in a row. It's happened five times in baseball, and once Terry Francona's dad was involved, and TWICE, J.D. Drew was involved. What are the odds of that happening? *I mean, I know it is early and all, but you can't ask for much more than what we got this weekend. Gordon has the game report. *When Papelbon came on in Saturday and Wild Thing started playing...I mean, it was like a dream come true. We all new he needed a song. He is so bad-ass. I mean, the ovation he gets / everyone singi...

Dice-K is sadly a memeber of the Tim Wakefield school of run support. Overall he looked good though...Daisuke could have very easily gotten out of the 4th with the questionable call with Veronon Wells safe at first after Mike Lowell's throw, and, if that sharp grounder to Lugo had been hit to Gonzales instead of Lugo it's a double play. (Lugo's been good mostly with the D though). (also, I'm really starting to fall for J.D. - until the first pulled hamstring anyway) It's okay though, I can't think of a better place for Dice-K to get his second win than this Sunday @ Fenway against the MFYankees. *Devern has looked like the real thing so far for the PawSox . * Edes's notebook has Gabe Kapler forgetting to put Lester on the scorecard the other day, and the pitcher had to miss his start. He ended up throwing a simulated game instead. Gabe Kapler, who was willing to go to the low minors to learn how to manage, was caught by one of the game's technicalit...

I'm currently working on a Texas recap (and it is harder than you'd think because of some um, blackout issues), but in the mean time, here are just a few links... *BSM had all the links from Opening Day and Matsuzaka Mania. *The AP is reporting all charges against the Duke lacrosse team are going to be dropped. *I read this in the Atlanta Journal Constitution yesterday (one of my favorite airport newspapers) yesterday. Hank Aaron will not attend any kind of ceremony for Barry Bonds . *Jeff Francour had 5 RBI's yesterday. I knew I should have picked him for at least one of my fantasy teams! *Jon Lester had another strong start in Greenville . *Peter King's MMQB had some good Pats and Sox stuff. *This is kind of a nice story about how a bunch of Brewer's fans came out to cheer on the Indians who are playing some games in Miller Park b/c Cleveland is covered in snow. I'll be back later with some Opening Day pictures, Patriot pictures, and whatever I can reme...

I am sorry for the delay this morning, I was booking a car for Texas! I just need to get out of this state in a hurry. And see the Red Sox play real life games that count. I cannot wait. Anyways, here are some thoughts while wondering when I can find a weekend to go visit Gabe and Jon. *Craig Hansen was demoted to AAA . And here I was thinking I was going to have a MLB facebook friend. Damn it. Manny Delcarmen went with him. *Jeff Horrigan has some more on Dice-K's "struggles". *Bryan Corey and his 1.50 ERA couldn't fit on the Red Sox roster. *Lester's going to hang out with Gabe in South Carolina for a bit. Also, he was placed on the DL with Timlin and Clement. *The current roster looks like this : PITCHERS (12): Daisuke Matsuzaka, Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Jonathan Papelbon, Julian Tavarez, Brendan Donnelly, Josh Beckett, Hideki Okajima, Joel Pineiro, J.C. Romero, Kyle Snyder, and Javier Lopez. CATCHERS (2): Jason Varitek and Doug Mirabelli. INFIELDERS (6)...

Ever wake up in the morning and think, I would really like a white Russian right now? (no? me neither.) This has already been a super long week. Maybe it is because I know the awesomeness known as St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us. I'm tearing my room apart to find my shamrock earrings tonight. Anyway, I'm getting bored with Spring Training and while I watch March Madness, I don't know anything basketball or the players playing the tourney. I am doing four pools this year, one with school friends, a facebook one, a work one, and a family one. I picked Texas as the National Champ in the first two, but I might pick a different one in the other two, just to keep my interest incase Texas gets bounced in the first round. *Anyway, onto the links... * Jordan's furniture will refund your money if the Red Sox win the World Series. I feel like this is bad karma, I mean, the Red Sox winning the WS and a free couch that I bought in March! *Jonathan Papelbon killed 4,402 duck...

Jon Lester returned to the mound today and threw 8 pitches in one inning of work, retiring all three batters he faced in the "B" league game this morning. Lester had this to say after the game. "Command was great. I went away when I wanted to go away and went in when I wanted to go in. I was in the general vicinity [with] all my pitches. I don't know what the velocity was. It felt good. We'll just build from here and hopefully get stronger as camp goes on, and if the velocity isn't there, hopefully it will build back up to normal ... I don't think the treatments are a factor right now. I'm still building it back up from the offseason, but I think I'm right about at 85 or 90 percent, getting close and starting to feel a little more comfortable with my body and how things are flowing." So great!