Staying Put

Good news for the folks of Fort Myers, FL. The Boston Red Sox are not going anywhere. The city of Ft. Myers, the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox since 1993, and the club have reached an agreement where the Sox will keep training in the city for 30 more years. The club had been looking at moving to Sarasota, but apparently Ft. Myers will build a new complex for the team.

I have never been down to a Spring Training. However, that is one of my goals in life. A nice 2 week vacation, where I could visit several spring training sites seems like it would be fun. One of the drawbacks of spring training in FL, though, is that a lot of the clubs are spread out quite a distance. That is the biggest reason you see quite a few clubs who have left Florida or Arizona, where there are quite a few teams training facilities within quite a small radius, compared to FL.

Another thing I'd like to do one day is try the Red Sox fantasy camp. Spending a week like a major leaguers would be cool. I think there is a blog that somebody wrote that chronicled their experience at a fantasy camp. Someday, I'll do that.

The Phillies declined Tom Gordon's 2009 option. That could be a nice replacement for Mike Timlin for a season. I think he still has some life left in that arm. He has, obviously, had some success her in Boston as a reliever. I'm sure he'll get some offers from clubs who are in contention, so he may end up being a little costlier than the Sox may want to pay. Another name out there that would make a nice invite to spring training is Mark Mulder. The Cardinals released him a week or so ago. He has gone through quite a bit of arm injuries, but if you could sign him to a minor league deal and bring him to camp, I think that is a no-lose situation.

Hopefully we'll here some news out of the GM meetings soon.

Sweet & Sour

Sundays are great days to be a sports fan in New England. You get a dose of the Sox and the Patriots. Last Sunday was great, because you had the Sox at 1:35, and when they finished around 4:00pm it was almost time for kick-off between the Pats and Jets. You can't beat a doubleheader like that, especially when it's a sweep. We all know the difficulty of sweeping a twin bill.

This weekend, though, didn't go quite as planned. While the Sox help up their end of the bargian, and clinched a tie for the wild-card in the process, that Pats fell flat on their face.

Nobody, except for Chad Pennington's mother (seems we've been hearing a lot from QB's mothers lately, Hi Mrs. Young, Hi Mrs. Jackson), could have expected this. Luckily, I did not really get a chance to full watch this game, as I was preparing for my son's 4th birthday party. I got to take a detour and avoid seeing the wreckage. All I can really say is that this is going to be a long two weeks for the Patriots.

Last night was the final game at Yankee Stadium. As a baseball fan, I MUST visit the Stadium before they tear it down this winter. Unfortunately, I will never get to see a baseball game from a seat inside the stadium. However, with the history that has taken place there, I am going to do my best to take a tour of it. I'm actually glad the Yankees were able to win their final game, but how strange is it that Johnny Damon almost went down as the last player to hit a home run in the "House That Ruth Built"?

The last week is shaping up to be a fun one for MLB. With the Rays, Angels, and Red Sox all lined up for the playoffs, we get to watch the Twins-White Sox battle for the Central division starting Tuesday. Meanwhile, we have the Phillies-Mets battling in the East; the Dodgers-Diamondbacks battling in the West; and the Mets-Brewers-Astros fighting for the Wild Card. This is why I love baseball.

Also, we have Dustin Pedroia looking up at Joe Mauer in the race for the batting crown. Ever since appears on WEEI's The Big Show, Pedroia has been in such a slump. He must have chowed down some of the free food that is always in the studio, thus slowing down his swing. I think Big O was trying to morph Pedroia into the same shape of himself, as Big O was a bit jealous of Pedroia being taller than him. Anyway, Pedroia is at .324 while Mauer has taken over the lead with a .330 average. Pedrioa has also seen Ichiro catch him for league lead in hits, both have 204 coming into the final week.

Congrats to Jonathan Papelbon for becoming the 5th Red Sox closer to reach 40 saves in a season. He joined Jeff Reardon, Ugueth Urbina, Tom Gordon, and Derek Lowe. Quite an accomplishment.

Finally, I've noticed that Red Sox seem to have a unique starting OF now and again. I am not sure there has been another one like it, and not even sure how to research it. However, when the Sox acquired Mark Kotsay before the end of August, they were able to put out a starting OF where all 3 OFers last name end in the letter Y. Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Kotsay. I wonder if there has been anything similar with rarely used letters. I bet maybe it has been done with U. Oh well, just a random thought.

Final week of the season. GO SOX!