Oh They Were Just So Close

Bases loaded in the 9th with no outs and they didn't score any runs?! It still hurts now, the morning after.

Masterson pitched a good game, getting into trouble a few times but only letting NY score twice. Too bad for us that Mussina was just plain better yesterday, allowing zero runs in 6 innings. It was Rivera who let us get that lone run, then shaped himself up and got three outs in a row. It SUCKED.

D.P. kept his hitting streak alive and also made a very pretty play in the 3rd inning to get the 3rd out and leave the bases loaded with Yanks. But I think the biggest story of the day (other than being THISCLOSE to winning) was Manny Ramirez getting hit three times! Those NY pitchers must either really hate him, or be really intimidated by him, no?

2008 Has Arrived

First off, Happy New Year everyone! 2007 was a pretty good year for the Red Sox, so now we can just hope that 2008 holds another Championship for them.

This is what the official Sox site has as far as the lineup on Opening Day:

2B	Dustin Pedroia
1B	Kevin Youkilis
DH	David Ortiz
LF	Manny Ramirez
3B	Mike Lowell
RF	J.D. Drew
C	Jason Varitek
CF	Jacoby Ellsbury
SS	Julio Lugo
SP	Josh Beckett
SP	Daisuke Matsuzaka
SP	Curt Schilling
SP	Tim Wakefield
SP	Jon Lester
SP	Clay Buchholz
CL	Jonathan Papelbon

One too many starting pitchers, I see. But that is a roster I love, we can so win it again.

Last night I was flipping through the channels, waiting for the Ball to drop, and I was watching NBC for a couple seconds. All of a sudden Carson Daly is freaking out because Alex Rodriguez has decided to stop by and screw up the New Year's Eve celebration. Needless to say, I watched CBS for the drop.

Potentially Huge

ESPN.com reported on Thursday that the Red Sox and Twins have discussed a potential deal in which center fielder Coco Crisp, left-hander Jon Lester and promising Minor League shortstop Jed Lowrie would head to Minnesota along with one other prospect in exchange for Santana.

Can you imagine the Beckett-Santana KO? I am all for this man coming to Boston, as long as Pedroia and Ellsbury don't leave because of it. Coco, man, I love him and I think he is underrated (well, defensively anyway!) but Santana would be a really huge get.

Adding more intrigue to the story is the fact that the Yankees -- the Red Sox's chief rivals -- are also in hot pursuit of Santana. The Angels are another team to have expressed interest.

Another plus to getting him--our rivals won't.

Also in the news: There are some procedural matters to take care of, such as deciding whether to offer salary arbitration to six free agents from the 2007 team.
The Red Sox have until 11:59 p.m. ET on Saturday to make that decision on Mike Timlin, Eric Gagne, Matt Clement, Bobby Kielty, Eric Hinske and Doug Mirabelli.

Surely we will be hearing about that soon enough. What to do about Gagne? Hope this season was a fluke, I guess?!

Good News on the Pitching Front

John Farrell, the man who led the best group of pitchers the Red Sox have seen in years, has agreed to return next year: The highly respected pitching coach will return to the World Series champions in 2008. This, after Farrell turned down an opportunity to meet with the Pittsburgh Pirates regarding their managerial vacancy.

This is really great news, when you consider that for once, our pitching is a strength instead of a weakness.

Hope you all got to see Papelbon on Letterman a couple nights ago--just reaffirmed my belief that he would be a lot of fun to hang out with!

What else? Mirabelli filed for free agency, which presents a problem for Wakefield. Of course, he wasn't that great this year with the bat, but we've seen what happens when a catcher not named Doug tries to catch Wakefield. Maybe we could just replace Tim? Now begins the Waiting Game, I guess.

I would like to mention that Eric Gagne filed for free agency as well. But I'm not too concerned about that, strangely enough...

Dumb Fest

Another day, another loss, another game closer to being out of the postseason.

Everything that could go wrong is going wrong. Pitchers can't make it through 5 innings, the offense is hitting ground ball after ground ball after fly out, Cleveland is taking advantage of every opportunity they get. Beckett is going on Thursday, the one positive thing we have to look forward to. The offense better bring it, and by that, I mean Pedroia, Drew, Crisp, Lugo, Varitek...oh screw it, I mean ALL OF THEM.

I guess we're in it for the long haul, now we have to have 7 games instead of the 4 that I hoped for before the series began.

It's That Time of Year

Well, here we are. Regular season is over (except for those 2 suckers the Padres and Rockies) and we have the postseason to look forward to.

A List of Things:

1. Beckett is pitching Game 1. Which is fantastic and really important. I'd love a 3 game series and Beckett is the man to get us off to a winning start. Matsuzaka will pitch Game 2, hopefully he will do well and if not, Schilling can pick things up in Game 3. They'll all be fine, though.

2. I am somewhat depressed that we have to play the Angels. I LOVE Vlad Guerrero, but not as much as any Boston player! It will still suck to have to play against my second favorite team. But I will get over it :)

3. It's officially October! It's going to start getting cold (okay, maybe not where I live but definitely in Boston) and it's really going to start feeling like World Series time soon. I wish I was up in New England, because it's just not the same when you're hundreds of miles away!

Djokovic!!

Djokovic just beat Federer. Djokovic just beat Federer. Djokovic just beat Federer. Djokovic just beat Federer!!! He's gotta be the first guy to ever beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament, right?

What a great, great match that was. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Boston's game today -- they were of course winning, then late in the game they blew it and Kevin Millar hit a stupid walkoff home run. Kevin! You are supposed to be our friend!

And what's the deal with the supposedly really good bullpen? Schilling left poised to win it, and as soon as I saw Timlin in I knew the game could be lost. BUT TIMLIN DIDN'T LOSE IT!! (shock) Okajima, Gagne, and Snyder all gave up runs to get us yet another loss. Surprisingly, Timlin and Delcarmen were the ones who pitched well. I feel another late season collapse coming on and this is a really bad feeling :(

Many Men Were Good

We sorely needed a win tonight and barring any crazy stupid hijinx, it looks like we will get one! Actually, Boston is one out away from a win, and after those two one-run losses, it is nice to get a big win.

Kason Gabbard started this evening, and yes I have my eye on that one. He is only 2.5 yrs older than me, after all. I might as well like him, he is wearing Bronson's number (but that golfing, fishing, and hunting thing might be a problem). And he just officially got the win. Timlin, Snyder, Lopez, and Okajima followed. You never know what you're gonna get when Mike is in the mix, but it ended well tonight.

Best moment of the night came from Eric Hinske -- a bases loaded triple will always win. Unless the game had a grand slam in it, then the triple has to take the backseat. Luckily for Hinske, he was the star for me tonight.

Keep it up now!

How Different

What a difference a few hours makes.

We won the first game today 13-3, with a Mike Lowell grand slam (!) and a fantastic pitching performance by Matsuzaka (8 IP, 3 ER). Over his last three starts, Matsuzaka is 3-0 with a 1.87 ERA. Oh yeah, and Lugo, Wily Mo, and Youkilis also had HRs in the game.

And then came the second game. Hansack started and gave up 4 over 4 innings. Not that bad. Then Pineiro came in and gave up 4 in 2. And Lopez allowed 3 in only one measly inning of work. Romero tried to end the bleeding, and he did, for one inning. But Donnelly came in after that to pitch the 9th, and totally gave up 3 runs. BULLPEN '06 RETURNS. We lost, embarrassingly, 14-0.

Those Yankees lost again - in awesome fashion. Johnny Damon pushed a non-HR ball into HR territory. Cano made 3 errors (though I kinda like that kid and do feel bad for him - he actually threw one ball off his foot after making a really good stop). Jeter was very un-clutch. Another one of their pitchers didn't make it through the first inning, though I can't be too happy about this one because Rasner ended up with a fractured finger. They have some BAD luck lately, somewhat reminiscent of a certain team from Boston late last season.

Now That's a Beating

The Boston Red Sox put on QUITE a show today.

14-3!

Pitching: Beckett pitched SEVEN innings and gave up ONE run. Could this be his year??

(Who gave up the other 2 runs? None other than Timlin. How many guesses did you need?)

Offense: RBI leaders for the day: Drew and Varitek, each with 3. You'd think with 14 runs there would have been a lot of home runs, but there was only 1, by Mr. Drew, and it came early (2nd inning). Youkilis was 3-for-5, Lugo was 2-for-2, and Pena came in late and got hit by a pitch. Bad luck for him, but I want more Wily Mo! I like that guy.

Here's the man of the day, J.D. Yes, he's wearing #7, yes, I wish it was still Trot Nixon's number, but yes, I am happy he is on the team and doing well.

Bad Night

Javier Lopez came in after Julian Tavarez had a good inning (and he only ended up pitching 4) and gave up a triple with no outs. Tavarez had a great first inning, an okay second, a bad third, a good fourth, and then he was gone. Of course he did have 87 pitches, so that was probably why. He gave up 4 runs, all earned, all in one inning. If only that third inning hadn't happened, he would have had a pretty good outing.

So what happened after Lopez gave up the leadoff triple? Ground out x2, walk, fly out. He worked his way out of a pretty big jam. Nice work from Javier.

The Sox put together another run in the 6th inning, with Varitek RBI-doubling Drew home. That made it 4-3 in favor of Texas.

So in came Kyle Snyder, who gave up a double and got an out before he was replaced by J.C. Romero. Mistake? I'd say. He threw 3 balls and one strike before giving up a run, then let Sosa hit one out of the park to make it 7-3. Then a single, another single, maybe time to take him out??! Nope. Just a visit to the mound. Another single, this one an RBI. 8-3. FINALLY he came out and Brendan Donnelly came in. A little too late, if you ask me. It took Donnelly 22 pitches to get 2 outs, but hey, he got the outs and didn't give up any runs. I'm looking at you, ROMERO.

So Boston's offense was fed up with the bad pitching and decided they had to do something. Lugo started it off with a single, (Youk flied out), Ortiz walked, and Manny singled in Julio. Okay, down by 4 now. J.D. Drew popped out and made me miss Trot Nixon some more, Lowell did nothing, and I was wrong -- seems that only Lugo, Papi, and Ramirez wanted to do something about that awful score.

Okajima was 1-2-3. The one good thing.

Even though he had a perfect inning, Okajima was replaced by Pineiro in the 8th. But I'm not complaining, because he had a pretty good inning himself.

You know, it's really hard to get excited about games when you know there's a really good chance the bullpen will blow it in the end. This time, even though the relievers did give up a lot of runs, it didn't matter since the Sox offense didn't make up for Tavarez' earned runs. All in all, a very bad, forgettable game.

Oh yeah, and Youkilis hurt his ankle. Swell. Though, he should be ready to play again tomorrow. When Curt Schilling gets his first win of the season.

Funny Quote of the Day: Headline on redsox.com: Bullpen source of strength

Gameday

HOLY COW Gameday is freaking awesome now! They totally retooled it and it looks really, really fantastic. Almost makes not having the games on TV okay.

Not. I'd much rather see Youkilis hit a HR than read about it on Gameday, but I have to say how great it is now. I love it.

So Boston got out of their funk and gave Kansas City hell tonight. Beckett worked 5 innings and only gave up one run, and the bullpen (Lopez, Snyder, Romero, Pineiro) was pretty snappy too. They didn't give up a single run, if you can believe that.

As I mentioned, Youkilis contributed a HR to the winning effort; that along with offensive production by Drew, Lowell, Varitek, and Lugo sealed the deal for Boston. Glad to report a win tonight, I'm feeling a lot better about this season than I was a couple days ago!

See y'all tomorrow night, when we finish up the KC series with a pitching performance by Matsuzaka. Ooh, I can't wait!

Here's a pic of HR Youk - but an older one, without the crazy hair thing:

The First Game of the 2007 Season

...started off great with a David Ortiz RBI double. As usual, Ortiz didn't need any time to get going.

Schilling, on the other hand....whoa. Did not bring his A-game. Maybe his D-game, and that's being nice. By the time he was done, it was 5-1, not in our favor, and I was depressed. Javier Lopez impressed me more. That poor Okajima: his very first Major League pitch, and it goes out of the park. Just nerves, I hope. And Pineiro wasn't too good either, which brings us back to really bad pitching as our major problem.

There were highlights: a sweet double play courtesy of Lopez that went Lugo-Pedroia-Youkilis; an almost comeback in the 8th (even though it ended with a Papi K); I got a good laugh at Youkilis' beard thing; and oh yeah, baseball is back on!

So it wasn't the best start I could have imagined, but I have to be happy, because even bad baseball is better than no baseball...right?

Some Thoughts on This Sunday

I am going to start today with the most important news of all: yesterday was my USTA tennis team's final match, and we won, which makes us undefeated this season! My first time captaining and I put out an undefeated team. I'm very excited, and next week we will be in the playoffs. Yay!!

So, baseball. A week and a day until the first game in Kansas City. It will just fly by, I hope.

The recent announcement of Papelbon as closer and Tavarez as starting pitcher has really elevated my hopes for this season. Papelbon has really found his niche as closer, and as long as he can keep his shoulder healthy, he will be one of the best. Ever, I believe. He knows his shoulder had problems keeping up last year, and now he and Boston's excellent doctors can prevent the same thing from happening this year. And Tavarez as a starter is the ONLY job he should have - he was amazing as a starter at the end of last season. It's like he's a different person when he's starting versus when he's relieving/closing and I like Starter Julian a hell of a lot more.

Coco Crisp has been feeling kind of defensive lately: “I don’t care if people think I suck or they think I’m good,” Crisp said. “I just go out there and have fun, and hopefully the ball falls. . . . If the people think I’m good, then thank you. And if they think I suck, then thank you anyway. I don’t really care, you know?” That kind of tells me that he does care, but for me, I like him either way. He got injured last year early, and unfortunately he didn't have the best season. But really, he was probably the most upset of all about the way his season went. I know I sometimes mock players when they screw up (SEANEZ), but I know that they try their best and sometimes it doesn't work out. I love Coco, I hope he has a great season this year.

Quote of the Day:
Papelbon, showing his fantastic attitude about his game: "This is something that I've decided that I want to do for the rest of my career and chase records, and, hopefully, make the Hall of Fame and do [some] special things in the game that maybe no other closer has ever done before."

And He's Back!

So after all the closer talk, Papelbon will return as closer after all!?

Papelbon, despite his public declarations of embracing the role of starter, said he hasn't been able to sleep this spring because he wanted to close and finally told Francona of his desire on the field prior to Tuesday night's exhibition game.

"I walked into Tito's office and said, 'If you want to give me the ball in the ninth, I want it,'" Papelbon said today.

What about his body not handling the closing responsibilities well? Huh?! I mean, this is BY FAR the best possible outcome, but I do worry about Paps. Can his shoulder handle it? I hope so! He says his shoulder is fine (“My shoulder issue is not really an issue at this point”) and I have to trust him I guess. Of course I am happy we have Papelbon as a closer rather than Tavarez or someone equally bad...I hope he can close and be healthy for many, many years!

I'm starting to believe Manny is mentally challenged:

How is his new Japanese teammate fitting in with the team?

"Who? I don't know," Ramirez said, saying he has not yet spoken to pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

YEAH.

Good News and Bad News

I can't decide if this news is good or bad, so - Mike Timlin will start the season on the disabled list, but he is expected to be ready to pitch after Boston's first regular-season road trip, which ends April 8. Now, Timlin not blowing games is a good thing, but him already having an injury and the very real likelihood that he will not be 100% when he comes back (well, he hasn't been 100% in 3 years) is quite bad.

Bad News - Coco Crisp's shoulder hurts (hey mine too!) and he's been sitting out. My shoulder probably hurts more than his but I still suffered through it playing tennis last night! I suppose spring training doesn't matter and he should sit out as long as he needs.

Good News - Matsuzaka was pretty awesome today. Can't get too excited because it was just the Pirates, but it's better than doing bad against them!

Could be Good, Could be Bad News: With Mike Timlin all but certain to start the season on the disabled list, the role appears destined to go to Julian Tavarez, Joel Pineiro or Brendan Donnelly.

Eek!

Annoying Quote of the Day: "I got two years left, and that's it," Ramirez said. "That's the end of the story. I'm going to move on. I'm going to play, probably somewhere else. But don't worry, I'm going to be fine here. I'm not going to leave $35 million on the table."

Keep endearing yourself to us Manny, you're doing a fine job!

Good Pitching!?

Here's something you won't believe: Julian Tavarez threw three scoreless innings today in the win against Baltimore. I wish he would just do bad all the time, because I worry that when he pitches well, people forget just how terrible he was last year. My efforts to Keep Trot! may have failed, but I hope the new Tavarez Starts or Nothing! campaign will be considered.

Another guy who threw three scoreless today was Kason Gabbard, and he said afterwards, "My confidence right now is through the roof." Confidence is good, but don't get too cocky now. That never ends well.

But, uhh, he's looking pretty good there...

And because I miss and love Kevin Millar...
Terry Francona was chiding him from the bench, but Kevin Millar was too busy with Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis to notice. Then all of a sudden, "Hey Tito!"

Francona yelled back "You have a lot of (expletive) nerve having tendinitis. You can't throw 90 feet."

"Schilling ate your second baseman," Millar shot back. "That's unbelievable. When I looked at the picture (of Schilling's stomach), I couldn't find Dustin."

I miss Millar :(

Here are Manny and Papelbon sporting the green uniform I want so much:


Oooh those look good!

2 weeks left until Opening Day!

Didn't Miss Much

Monday-Wednesday are the days I have to stay late at work, so I'm a bit behind here on all the news. But all I needed to read was this, from yesterday:

Potential Red Sox closer candidate Julian Tavarez didn't boost anyone's confidence that he can handle that role after his performance today against the Pirates in Fort Myers.

Tavarez, in his second inning of relief, had some control problems and gave up two runs in the fifth. After a walk and two singles, Tavarez hit right fielder Luis Matos with a pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run. The Pirates scored another run on a fielder's choice to tie the score at 2-2.

Joel Pineiro, who is also a candidate for the closer position, had a solid outing with two strikeouts in one inning of work in relief of Tavarez.

And yeah, I guess I didn't miss much. Especially since apparently Theo isn't worried at all about finding a closer. Why be worried? We have Tavarez! And Timlin! Ohhh yeah, with guys like that, we so don't need to be looking for a closer.

I need the regular season games to start, I want to be able to actually see the games instead of just read about what went down after. Soon...

WHY??

Okay, look at what I found:

Who do you think has the best shot at being the Red Sox's closer on Opening Day?
-- John H., Norwalk, Conn.

You can pretty much scratch Mike Timlin off the list for Opening Day closer because of his oblique injury. To me, Joel Pineiro has been inconsistent enough with his new arm slot -- he lowered his release point after making the transition from starter to reliever -- where it has probably raised a bit of a red flag. That leaves Julian Tavarez and Brendan Donnelly. I'd give Donnelly an edge because of the way he has thrown the ball and his fiery makeup. Also, I think Tavarez is more valuable being used in various roles. The other thing not to rule out is general manager Theo Epstein making a trade for a closer between now and April 2.

One question: WHY ARE THEY STILL DISCUSSING TAVAREZ AS A CLOSER?!???!

I don't get it! We all know he sucks at the end of the game, and in the middle of the game. The only time he's ever shown any consistency is when he starts games. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG HERE?!??

Sorry. I just had to get that out.

Sadness and Happiness

Well, I think the thrill of liking Tom Brady is gone. He gets two women pregnant in the same time period, and I think that's the kiss of death. He's still hot and his calendar will still remain on my wall, but...oh, Tom. I'm sighing deep sighs of disappointment.

In less stupid news, Mike Timlin is still having problems, and has been sidelined for the time being because of his strained side muscle. And the Sox won today 11-10, despite a 4-run 9th inning by Philly. Kason Gabbard allowed three runs (two earned) in two innings, and Ortiz, Lugo, and Mirabelli contributed offensively.

23 days until Opening Day! Man, I so cannot wait. The Sox will be on national TV on Wednesday, March 21st at 1 on ESPN; I will have to DVR that since I have a stupid job now.

I miss Baseball Tonight.

No Real Horror Stories

I haven't heard anything terribly negative about the starters - in fact, I've heard all good things! Like Wakefield and Papelbon both pitched three scoreless innings in a win over the Mets. Beckett's been good, Schilling too, and Matsuzaka...well, we all know how he's been! From the Herald: "Two Marlins - Jason Stokes and Jeremy Hermida - said they saw a pitch that had movement and action unlike any other pitch they had ever seen before...The ball spun in a clock-wise direction, or reverse to what they are used to. It had a screwball-like rotation that left them shaking their heads."

Nice.

Oh, and Johnny Damon is STILL talking, but I just ignore it. I think everyone else does, too.

And the win today? Courtesy of a walk-off grand slam by Ed Rogers. Love those!

Lester!

Jon Lester pitched for the first time since he had his cancer treatments today, and he was in great form - he retired all three men he saw. His six fastballs, all strikes, were clocked at between 88-90 mph. Good for him! I'm very glad he's back.

Umm..Josh Beckett has eczema. Hence his finger problems. Moving on..

Curt Schilling is a good pitcher, but he's also a little full of himself: “I believe I can be the best pitcher in the league this year.” But you know what? If he thinks that, then it's more likely he will be a great pitcher this year, and we surely need that!

And Alex Rodriguez' teammates continue to be the best teammates EVER, by not putting him under any pressure and just letting him be: "Alex is going to have the best year he's had since he's been here," Gary Sheffield said. Ahh, Sheffield. What a guy! A-Rod should play just fine now, since he knows he is expected to have his best year ever, and we all know how well he handles pressure. Oh well, good news for Sox fans!

Oh My God

Oh my God the Red Sox are playing!

A 1,2,3 first for Schilling, with 8/9 pitches for strikes. He pitched 2 innings, then Joel Pineiro came in. And Julio Lugo already made an error on a routine play, but I'm not saying anything because it's his very first game as a Bostonian.

Ortiz drove in a run, Ellsbury had a 2-run single, and Donnelly was impressive in his debut.

And the game ended in a 4-4 tie after 10, because (get this) Julian Tavarez gave up a 3-run homerun to blow the lead. Yes, I'll be saying that A LOT this season. HE IS A STARTER NOT A RELIEVER!!!!

I thought Spring Training games were free on MLB.TV? What the hell, I want to watch my team!

Manny Ramirez apparently now wants to finish his career in Boston. This means that we will definitely not be hearing anymore trade requests out of Camp Manny.

Ha! Yeah, right.

Roger Clemens' agent said this about where he will play this season: "Let me repeat. Houston, Boston, New York. Only three teams will be picked from if he plays. And he hasn't decided."

Interesting.

But most importantly, baseball was played tonight. It's time for the best months of the year!

Ohhhh Snap

Looks like Tom Brady's got some trouble - his ex, Bridget Moynahan, is apparently with child. And we all know he's got a new girlfriend...oooh! As long as it doesn't interfere with football, I do not care.

And um, in real news, we have this: Some Boston players have decided to (or were told to) lose weight over the offseason. Dustin Pedroia will look better, as will a certain Mr. Ortiz: from Francona, "He's in very good shape. He lost some weight and got firmer." Perhaps the weight loss will be the equivalent of Manny's new hair from last year?

Speaking of Manny, what will the deal be with him this year? The Globe reports:

There's been no word from Camp Manny since he curiously quit in the middle of the crucial Yankees series at Fenway in late August. Nothing from agent Greg Genske. Nothing from Red Sox management. Nothing from Manny's teammates who loathe his attitude but bite their tongues and say nothing in the hope that Manny will return and post his customary .320, 35, 110. Certainly, there has been nothing from Manny. And please remember that we're all OK with that...Everyone assumes Manny is going to show up this week and act as if nothing happened last year.

I guess we find out this week just what's going on with Manny. Hopefully, we can avoid any drama and just get back to baseball.

Oh, and we'll get our first real look at Matsuzaka March 2nd, when he will be pitching against Boston College. 6:05 pm. Not too far away at all!

In closer news, John Farrell said this the other day, "We haven't actually anointed a closer, as we sit here today. Certainly, there are candidates with Mike Timlin, Joel Pineiro, Brendan Donnelly or Julian Tavarez." To which I say, HOLD UP. Where's Hansen? Why are Timlin and Tavarez options? Do they not remember what happened last year when Mike Timlin and Julian Tavarez tried to end games? WHY?

Wily Mo and Keith

It's been a looong day and it's still not over, but while I was crazy busy, Red Sox news went down! A deal was finally reached with Wily Mo Pena: a one-year deal worth $1.875 million. They met in the middle (ish) and now he's here for another year. I would have preferred longer, but hey, at least he's here for now.

And Keith Foulke has decided to retire instead of suffer through a year of not being on the Red Sox roster. "Over the last few weeks, while preparing for the 2007 season, my body has not responded as it has in years past," Foulke said in a statement released today. "I feel strongly I will not be able to perform at the level where I need to be to help the Indians this season. They are a class organization and I wish them the best of luck in 2007." Over in Cleveland, they're all praising his "integrity," but you know they are secretly mad.

Josh Beckett's been talking (but we all know what's more important than talk): About new pitching coach Farrell, he had this to say: "We just sat there and talked," Beckett said. "I like a lot of his ideas, and I think he's going to be a big help." Apparently they chatted for three hours, and hopefully some of those new ideas will help Josh perform better than he did last year.