Kind of Ugly

So things aren't looking so hot right now. We've already lost the series to NY, they are only one game behind us now, this Manny business is an unpleasant distraction, and next up we play the Angels (who we seem to have a lot of trouble with). We need an infusion of positivity, and we also need another starting pitcher to replace Wakef....uhh, we need another pitcher.

I'm hoping Lester can pick up the pieces tonight, but honestly I am not sure how he will do. I'm going to think good thoughts and hopefully we can pull off a win. Ponson is...bad? I hope? 6-1 says otherwise. But an ERA of 4.02 gives me some hope!

8:00...be there or be square. They need to get off to a good start tonight and then just keep it going.

I Am Already Mad

The game hasn't even started yet and I am very upset. Mostly, I am disappointed. Disappointed in those stupid New Yorkers who have booed all of the Red Sox players. HELLO IDIOTS THEY ARE PLAYING ON YOUR TEAM TONIGHT!!

I did NOT boo the Yankees. I cheered for Rivera! Because he and all of the other Yankees are my TEAMMATES tonight. But then again, I am not stupid, and I do not boo my own teammates. Like New Yorkers.

Whatever. Like my father says, if everyone was as smart as us, we wouldn't be appreciated.

A little Pedroia action to get us started tonight (MY favorite player batting 9th, now THAT is stupid)

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?

I Complain A Bit Much

The Sox actually won a game last night, and in pretty good fashion. 7-0 over NY. I was a little worried about team morale after being swept by TB (such close games too), but looks like I needn't worry anymore. What I need to do now is focus my energy on TB and hope they stumble in the KC series...though I doubt they will!

I am quite upset that I don't get to watch half of this series on TV (though day-after MLB.TV has been helping me relive games), and it figures the Sunday night game is on TV so I will be awful at work on Monday. Oh well. Red Sox>life.

Allow me to focus on the good for a moment: Lester was awesome last night: he pitched a complete game shutout and only allowed 5 hits total. Pedroia continued his superb playing, he has now hit safely for the past 11 games. The offense killed Pettitte, who had been 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA in his last 4 starts.

But can I just say that very first called 3rd strike on Ellsbury? What a crap call!

Beckett's Hot

Josh Beckett pitched 8 excellent innings last night, Manny hit 2 home runs, and Mussina only lasted 3 innings. It was a fantastic game!

Except for that whole Farnsworth-almost-took-out-Manny incident (though we did hit A-Rod the other night, after all), everything went well. Even Papelbon giving up 2 runs was acceptable, with a 7-3 lead you are allowed. Ortiz still has an unexpectedly low average at .111, but remember how Pedroia started last year and he ended up Rookie of the Year. No worries yet about The Man.

What's up with Ellsbury getting HBP twice? He must never be injured, we need him too much. Mussina must have something against him..

A Good One

Hey, we won the Boston/NY series! So what if I fell asleep at the end? They were winning, and had been, and did, and it all ended wonderfully. Though with a 7-1 lead you don't expect to only win 8-5....it was still a win.

Now off to Cleveland for a 2-day series, then another series with the Yankees. The Red Sox are on ESPN tonight AND Wednesday...someone loves us non-living-in-NE Sox fans this week.

And hey, Jed Lowrie will make his Major League debut tomorrow night...let's hope we have another one like Ellsbury/Pedroia on our hands!

Theo's Got a Kid

Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein is officially a father. His wife Marie Whitney gave birth to the couple's first child -- a boy named Jack -- on Wednesday at 10:35 a.m. ET.

Who knew his wife was pregnant? Anyone? Congratulations go out to Theo/family though!

A-Rod's deal was finalized today. A seriously overpaid man. What a waste of money. He, even with the wife, will NEVER be able to spend all of it. Consider the poverty in the world, and then consider an overrated baseball player's salary.

Sad.

A Perfect Friday

Don't expect the Angels to walk Ortiz to get to Manny again!

The walk-off 3-run home run from Ramirez was a perfect way to end the night, after Ortiz was IBB'd twice in the game. Manny was having none of that and this picture says it all:

Matsuzaka was not perfect, but he only gave up 3 runs; to Boston's offense, not that much of a threat. The bullpen, however, was perfect: they didn't allow a single run. Papelbon was so excited to get out of the 8th and 9th innings:

A special thanks to this kid, who saved an out by taking the ball from the Angels catcher and allowing the Sox to keep their inning going:

And without J.D. Drew, who singled in the first with bases loaded, the game might not have ended in our favor.

Also, the Yankees losing was fantastic.

Happy Days

NY lost and we won! 3 game lead with 5 games to go! THEY CANNOT BLOW THIS CAN THEY?!

We win 3 out of 5 and we are the AL East winners. Oh how long have we waited? Too many years.

I'm so excited! I know all the Sox fans are, too...but you know what all this means?

Baseball season is almost over :(

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Beckett's 20th Win

May I start off by asking what the hell the Sox did to make opposing pitchers want to hit them so much? We all know about Youkilis (and the Yankees) but tonight Hinske and Varitek got hit in the same inning! Then Ellsbury almost got hit in the 9th, and Pedroia did get hit! This is getting suspicious. We don't need anymore Youk-type injuries.

So Jacoby Ellsbury is definitely a new favorite. He ran into Boston's bullpen and over a chair, all to make a catch in foul territory that yes, he held on to. The Toronto commentators even said it was impressive, one of the best they've seen! Ellsbury and Pedroia, my two favorite players (remember the last 4 players I said that about were Bronson Arroyo, Mark Bellhorn, Alex Gonzalez aka The Gonz, and Trot Nixon...hopefully DP and JE will break the curse).

This is going to sound strange, but...the bullpen held a lead! Josh Beckett left after 6 fantastic innings, then Manny Delcarmen came in and pitched a 1-2-3 7th (2 strikeouts even).

Okay. 8th inning. Our new nemesis. A good start though, a solo Jason Varitek homer. But nothing else good for us. So who would guide us through the potential disaster known as the 8th inning? Delcarmen actually stayed in this time, unlike last time when he came out and Gagne killed it (in a bad, bad way). He got his first out, then as I'm witnessing Toronto's meltdown, they take him out! UHH, okay. Not what I would have done, but okay. Javier Lopez came in, got the second out, got the third out. Nice pitching, actually. You went against me, Francona, and it worked this time. Hopefully it will continue working.

3-run shot in the 9th from David Ortiz! He is "more dangerous than dynamite," said the Tampa Bay guy. Follow that up with a Lowell solo shot, 8-1, this one was over (even with Gagne pitching the 9th). Ortiz and Lugo gave Mike an excited hug in the dugout, how nice :) Brandon Moss hit the first triple of his career, which is very awesome.

And yeah, Toronto? I HATE YOU. Up 4-0 going into the 9th against the Yankees and the next thing I see, it's 4-4. HATE HATE HATE. It was single after single after single, and those add up. It wasn't bad enough you swept Boston, NOOO, you had to blow a 4-run lead against NY in the bottom of the 9th! Extra innings--at least they won. Took 'em 14 freaking innings and a large percentage of my sanity though!

Rant of the Day:
Many fans are saying "as long as we get the Wild Card..." To them, I say: Not good enough! Had we been in second place all year, yes, the WC would be fine. But getting it now, after we've basically been in first place all season...hell no, I do not accept the WC. Plus, the Wild Card is just not as legitimate, really. I want to win. I want first place in the AL East, and settling for the Wild Card is not in the gameplan.

A Fine Performance

Ooh, I sense another player to add to the favorites list. Ellsbury, in spite of his crazy first name (I know none of you agree with me on that one though), was pretty awesome today, and the only reason he was in the game was to replace Youkilis after he got hit. That kid is FAST, too.

So the game started off pretty dumb, with a Jeter home run in the first. However, we also scored in the first and it stayed 1-1 for a while. Until the 5th, when we grabbed a run, and in the 6th we got 3 more...

A beautiful 7th inning for the Sox, 5 walks and some RBIs for Coco, Ellsbury, and Lowell. We went from 5-1 to 9-1 and then...

the 8th inning.

We all remember what happened last night during the 8th inning?

This one was much better. Damon grounded out, (Jeter singled) Abreu struck out, A-Rod struck out. And Timlin was pitching! Our 8th was really nice, courtesy of an Eric Hinske HR.

And because it needs to be said, Josh Beckett was great tonight. Just great. A fantastic effort today, only gave up that one run, and is now 19-6. He is so our #1 guy.

I Can't Believe that Just Happened

I don't even know what to call the catastrophe that went down last night. One minute we're up by 5, the next we're losing by one. I swear this all took place in about 10 minutes.

I have NEVER been so disappointed.

Plus the game took like 5 hours and I was supposed to get up early this morning and you know I couldn't go to bed until the game ended.

And PAPELBON got the loss! He and Okajima gave up the 6 runs the Yankees needed to beat us. Our most reliable people. Still the most reliable, just not last night! Okajima gave up 2 solo shots as soon as the 8th inning began, and STILL Francona didn't take him out. He let him stay in for 2 more batters, who were at 2nd and 3rd by the time he finally got yanked. Then Papelbon came in and Jeter hit a single off the first pitch. Abreu got his first hit of the night, which happened to be a 2-run double. A-Rod put them on top with a single.

It was like everything that could have gone wrong did. You kept hoping Papelbon would right himself, and it didn't happen.

Sad, because Matsuzaka was in line to get his win.

Maybe today will be better?

Nothing Good to Say

Strained oblique for Manny, that's what they told us yesterday. He didn't play last night, and he probably won't for a week or more...I miss Manny. I miss pitchers walking Ortiz to get to Manny and then Manny hitting an RBI double or something (and probably laughing inside, as we all do). I guess I will just have to wait.

So I had a bad feeling about last night's game all day, but that never really means anything. Except, of course, that I was proven right, and we lost another one. And right now? We are losing again.

NO SWEEP. I will not accept that!

Schilling gave up a solo shot to Cano and we are down by one, but it's still early. Still plenty of time for Wang to stop being good. We don't even have a hit yet though. At least I have Giambi swinging at the first pitch and flying out to brighten my day.

Please don't lose.

On another note, John Isner is playing some great tennis and has made it into the 3rd round of the U.S. Open. Juan Carlos lost in the first round, which sucked, but Novak Djokovic is still in it, even though it seems like forever in between his matches (and they didn't even show his first match! So mad about that). Donald Young moved into the 3rd round after Richard Gasquet, my French guy, pulled out with a fever or something -- but hey, Young in the 3rd round! That's still awesome. Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic are both in the 3rd round as well, but unfortunately they are both in the same quarter of the draw and therefore will have to meet in the quarters. I'd want Jankovic to win because she's my favorite female but Ivanovic is my second favorite (or third, I can't decide) and I'd like to see her do well. Of course, she has to get through Venus first before she'd meet Jankovic, and that's a tough thing to do.

Not Good Enough

Well, last night's game didn't exactly go according to plan. Not to worry though, because Josh Beckett is pitching tonight and he will not lose. I don't want to jinx anything, but as long as we win one out of the three games, we'll be in good shape.

The real question is how are Manny and Kielty holding up? Ramirez left early last night due to back spasms and Kielty also left with a back injury. Kielty's x-rays came back okay, and we're still waiting on Manny's status. Hopefully they are both fine!!

And just in case you were questioning why we let Damon go after he hit that HR last night, please be reminded: "It's taken a number of players to replace me," Damon said of the Red Sox. "I'm Johnny [Bleeping] Damon." That is all I think I have to mention on the subject.

What a Show

WOW.

The Red Sox are so hot right now....WOW.

They just won 11-1. That's 10+ runs every game over the last 4 games. And the best part about it is it's not just one or two people contributing, it's the whole team. Starting pitchers, the bullpen, the position players, everyone has been helping. I love it.

The Chicago announcer just said it all -- the White Sox have been outscored in this series 46-7.

That is pretty embarrassing for the ChiSox...but pretty awesome for us. And since NY lost 5-4, we are now up 7.5 games! And hopefully the goodness will carry over into the NY series and we will sweep that one too (oh God I can't even imagine how great that would be)!

It Finally Happened

The day had to come when NY lost and we won, and that day is today. We won 2-1 and the O's killed the Yanks 12-0 (ha). I hear Coco had a game-winning single, which is great. I was out watching a tennis match but this is how I imagine the game went:

Boring...boring...boring...9th inning heroics

(No, a Sox game is never boring)

But yeah, 2 runs in the 9th after nothing for the 1st 8 makes for an exciting game. "Lowell's solo homer over the Green Monster with one out in the ninth tied the game, and Coco Crisp's single to right later in the inning scored Jason Varitek with the winning run, leading the Red Sox to a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Devil Rays on Tuesday night."

Good deal.

I Approve of that Game

Today was a much, much better performance by our team. Beckett almost went all the way, he just couldn't get the last out. So instead of 6-0 it was 6-2 but a win is a win. The offense was pretty good, I remember a lot of doubles specifically from Lugo, Lowell (of course!), and Drew. I also remember David Ortiz striking out 3 times, but that is something I'd rather forget.

So Beckett went 8 and 2/3 innings, and Delcarmen came in to get the final out but he ended up walking the guy. So Papelbon had to come in and save the day, as usual. Again I ask, where would we be without him?

The Yanks are up 10-2, looks like we will stay 5 games up.

And Djokovic just took the first set from Nadal (well, on the tape he did anyway). Go Joky!!!! Juan Carlos Ferrero better start winning because he is facing some serious competition from Novak for the title of my favorite player!

Bad News All Over the Place

Bad news, bad news, bad news.

Tennessee lost to Arizona last night in the Championship Game of the WCWS. I really wanted Monica Abbott and her Lady Vols to take their first title in school history, but it was not to be. AZ got to her for 5 runs in the 5th. BAD.

The Yankees won last night. Again. WORSE.

Boston lost 3-2! That means they've lost every game in June except one. Oakland seems to have their number, but it is time to change that. They cannot keep losing like this: they're only up 9 games on the nearest foe. WORST.

Time for all the bad luck to change!

A Better Outcome

Much better.

RBIs all over the place, Manny hitting a 3-run HR, and Tavarez pitching pretty decently (5.2, 2 ER). All good things that add up to equal a win.

Most shocking part of the night: Okajima gave up a run! Could it be he's not perfect after all?

Mussina gave up 7 runs, all earned. Didn't see that coming, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it!

But Papelbon--what's up? First 2 men he sees he walks? Then he got a K and a ground out, and Jeter was up to be the "hero" and he took 3 pitches and struck out looking! Perfect ending.

Not So Great, That One

That game didn't go according to plan.

Wakefield was off, as was our offense. Things that were not off? NY's offense and pitching. So all of that made for a bad combo.

In positive news (well, sort of positive), Bronson Arroyo gave up 6 runs in 2 innings (and then came out) and he didn't get a loss. His bullpen only allowed one run over the next 7 innings and Washington imploded. So at least one good thing happened today.

Took the Series

That's a triple! A bases loaded triple courtesy of Varitek in the very first inning - that's the way to start things off! And a single after that to send our captain home. Way to bounce back from that last game that we shall not talk about.

I had a feeling those 4 runs would be all we needed, and it turned out that they were - Boston took this one 6-3. Gabbard pitched 5 strong with 7 strikeouts. They did have to use 5 pitchers out of the bullpen but none of them pitched more than one inning so they should be good to go for the Yankee series that is coming up tomorrow.

Oh, and Boston now has the best record in all of the Major Leagues at 30-13. Not to mention a huge lead in the AL East. A very good thing when you're going into a series against Mussina, Wang, and Pettitte.

What Got Into Them?

And they're back on track.

After what was apparently a very restful off day, the bats were HUGE tonight. Youkilis, Pedroia, Lowell, and Varitek each came through with home runs, and Lugo hit a double to grab an RBI. Final score? 9-2. Not to mention Beckett pitched 7 solid innings and only gave up one run. That makes him 7-0, which is just AWESOME.

And this Clemens business? That is why I never got excited about the possibility he'd come to Boston - because deep down, we all knew there was NO chance. I'm sure he thinks he can swoop into NY and be their pitching savior. Which...we'll see. But I'm thinking no.

5 Out of 6

MAN David Ortiz can hit the ball! He killed one in the first inning to give us an early lead. Then that lead increased when Coco Crisp tripled and went home on a Cora RBI.

Then a 3-run Yankee HR, blah.

But then Alex Cora came through with a two-run shot! He sent Coco home in the process, he was on base because he got hit by a pitch :( Cora showed his skills again later in the 7th with a triple, and he did score on a sac fly to make it 5-3.

But that wasn't all the offense Boston had in store. Manny hit his 3rd home run of the year to put the Sox up 7-3 (Ortiz had singled earlier). So at this point I was relieved that despite NY's win yesterday, we would still win the series.

But Mike Timlin would not feel right if he didn't give up some runs. Jeter hit a solo HR off him, and really, who didn't know that was coming? He even let ABREU get a hit, who was 0-for-19 up until he faced Old Reliable. Of course, then the other Old Reliable grounded into a double play (who? A-Rod of course).

Papelbon came in to pitch the 9th and protect a 7-4 lead. Giambi led off with a double, which was most shocking. In more normal fashion, Matsui struck out, Posada grounded out, and Cano ended the game with another ground out. THAT is how Papelbon works. Minor mistake to Steroidface.

Another day, another beat-the-Yankees-fiesta. Tomorrow is an off day, and a series against Oakland begins Tuesday.

That's Right

4 hour game, lots to say:

4th inning - Matsuzaka loaded the bases on 3 walks with no outs. Stupid bloop single cut our lead to one run. Manny made a pretty cool-looking catch on it though. But then D.M. got Cano to strike out, Mientkiewicz to pop one up on the infield, but.... then stupid Johnny Damon got a stupid half-swing 2-run single to grab the lead. Then more Yankees scored.

Then some good stuff happened again, with a David Ortiz RBI to make it 4-3. Then it was a tie game when Pettitte threw a bases loaded walk. And it got better - we got the lead on a wild pitch! Then another walk to make the bases loaded again with 2 outs, and out came Andy. But, nothing.

Julio Lugo HR! 6-4!

Another RBI from Mr. Lugo to get the Sox up by 3. Lugo had a good night, indeed.

Timlin, Okajima, and Pineiro all had great outings, allowing zero runs. Okajima's ERA is 0.84. NICE.

Rivera came in to pitch the 9th and he got one out, then Boston had consecutive singles from Lowell, Varitek, and Crisp (Coco's was an RBI). Then he walked Pedroia to load the bases and out came Mariano for Mike Myers. And he proceeded to walk in a run. Hehe. Then Youkilis grounded out but a run scored on the play to make it 10-4, and then Ortiz hit an RBI single and man! They really wanted Matsuzaka to get a win or something.

A nice factoid from YES - the Yankees are the only team in baseball that does not have a save.

And I did have to buy the monthly subscription to MLB.TV. But only because it's free for 5 days and then I will cancel it. I CANNOT miss Sox/Yanks games!

Imploration of the Day: Coco, please. Stop the hair madness. Just cut it!

Pena Makes Me Happy

I am still recovering from Wily Mo Pena's grand slam last night. That is a sign of what's to come from that man, I am sure.

Matsuzaka in NY tonight, and of course it's not on TV. Uhh...what? It's only one of the most exciting games of the year (in theory). I might have to cave and buy the MLB.TV monthly subscription. This is a can't-miss game, after all.

And just because it's awesome...the Yankees are on a 6-game losing streak. About to be 7.

Is Rivera on NY's Payroll....Or Boston's?

Because that man has given us so many wins, I've lost count.

But let's start from the beginning. Varitek got off to a good start, hitting his first home run of the season. Of course, Rodriguez had to hit two HRs tonight, both off Schilling. Schilling actually wasn't too great today, but he didn't do too terribly. Just really not his best.

Now I'll skip everything else and get to the good stuff. Down 6-2 in the 8th. Ortiz gets on with a double. Manny went from an 0-2 count to get walked (patience pays!). Then Drew made an out but moved both players up a base (Drew had a pretty good night, actually, except for some bad attempt at base stealing). Lowell hit one through the hole to make it 6-3, then in came our good friend Mariano Rivera. Tek hit an RBI and then...the best moment of the night. COCO CRISP TRIPLED and in came 2 runs to make it 6-6. You all have no idea how happy I am for him...and you know, I told you he was coming! Just don't prove me wrong and go back to being bad, Coco.

Then Cora even got in on the action and hit an RBI single. 7-6. And Mariano, we thank you deeply.

I thought Papelbon would close it out, but Francona went with Okajima. He got his three outs and I tell you, the smile on his face could not be contained. Everyone was so happy, and why shouldn't they be? They had one hell of a comeback and man, was it enjoyable to watch.

And they wore the great green jerseys with the Virginia Tech logo on the sleeves and also on their hats. It was really nice to see.

Who Had a Good Night?

All the Red Sox players did! Schilling, Ortiz, Papelbon...they all had great nights. Ortiz had a 2-home run evening (contributing all 3 RBI), Schilling gave up one earned run in 7 strong innings, and Papelbon got the final 5 outs in dominant fashion.

Who had a bad night? The Rangers. Too bad.
The Yankees had a bad day courtesy of Baltimore, which was cool with me.

Timlin also had a good day, since he might be ready to pitch by Tuesday. What that means for us is yet to be determined, because who knows what kind of outings he will have.

Off day tomorrow, with Opening Day on Tuesday. Beckett vs. Seattle. Be there or be square. I, of course, will be working till forever, so I am very, very square.

Oh yeah, and congrats to Zach Johnson for winning the golf thing. I was watching it while I was cleaning, and while I wanted Rory Sabbatini to win, I was happy for Johnson. I kind of like watching golf. But only like 2 or 3 times a year, any more than that I can't do.

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!

BASEBALL!

Baseball starts tomorrow night! Here are the expected pitchers that we will probably see Wednesday evening: Curt Schilling, Joel Pineiro, Brendan Donnelly, Julian Tavarez, Manny Delcarmen, J.C. Romero, Bryan Corey, and Renelvys Hernandez. BASEBALL IS BACK! And the lineup will be:

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Jason Varitek, C
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Wily Mo Pena, RF
7. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
8. David Murphy, LF
9. Jacob Ellsbury, CF

I cannot freaking wait.

I wouldn't be a true Red Sox blogger if I neglected Manny's return, which people say was early but it was later than everyone else, so...make of that what you will. His agent said he is healthy "and very, very excited to start the season." We shall see.

At least Coco won't be the only one on the team with bad hair. Though I have to give him credit for going with red hair and not gray or pinstripes...hey, you never know!

In "What?" news, Sox reliever Craig Hansen underwent a precautionary MRI on his back and Francona said, “everything was normal.” I guess that's good but I don't like hearing about MRIs and Sox players. Usually means bad news.

And this picture of Ortiz, Pena, and Manny just makes me smile. Everyone is back together and baseball will be here in less than a day. FINALLY!

Baseball is About to Start, Kind Of

At this time tomorrow, Matsuzaka will have had his first spring training workout as a member of the Red Sox. Now, the workouts are closed to the media until Thursday, but I will try to be positive here and say somehow something will leak. Of course, the first day of spring training (and really...all of spring training) really means nothing, but it's SOMETHING! Finally, some baseball!

In Yankee news, Bernie Williams rejected NY's offer of a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. Instead, Williams revealed his preference to stay at home, stay in shape, spend time with his family and wait to see if the Yankees change their minds and offer him a guaranteed roster spot.

Yeah. Bernie should just retire while he's still decent.

The United States won the first round of the Davis Cup! They beat the Czech Republic with Roddick and the Bryan brothers winning, including a singles win for Bob Bryan! His first ever singles win on clay, which is pretty cool. Next up is Spain, with Nadal, Robredo, Verdasco, Ferrer, and Lopez. It'll be tough bu they're playing in the U.S. so that is a huge advantage...no clay! Now we wait until April.

A Flurry of Former Sox News

1. Keith Foulke officially signed with the Indians to be a closer again.

2. Mark Loretta will be signing with the Astros. Try not to get to cry too much, there has to be more good-looking players on the team, right? Oh, and we're losing a fantastic second baseman!

3. Former Red Sox first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz will now be a NY Yankee. Another one bites the dust.

The Yankees are improving by unloading Mr. Randy "Guaranteed Loss" Johnson.

But don't worry, we got Joel Pineiro.

News

1. Theo Epstein revealed yesterday that he has made formal offers to two free-agent pitchers, and he wants to make more offers before Thursday. Nick Cafardo's guesses: Gil Meche, Miguel Batista, Mark Mulder, Justin Speier, Eric Gagne, Scott Schoeneweis. So much speculation, so little information.

2. 8 pm tonight = we find out about Matsuzaka. We pretty much "know" the Sox have made the high bid, all we need is confirmation that Boras plans on negotiating over the next 30 days.

3. Dave Wallace is now with the Houston Astros.

4. Apparently, Matsuzaka going to Boston is big news in Japan, since Hideki Matsui is in NY. "The Red Sox-Yankees series will have new meaning to people in Japan because you have one of the best hitters against one of the best pitchers," said Yasuko Yanagita of the Hochi Shimbun sports newspaper. "Boston is a popular team because they won the World Series not so long ago, and if Matsuzaka plays for them and Matsui plays for the Yankees, it will create excitement." And you know what all this means: money.

5. Theo said he has not made any offer to J.D. Drew.