Test? We don't need no stinkin' tests!

I apologise for the infrequent postings, trying to juggle work, exam period at school and sports browsing is not easy...

After last years hearings it seems strange that it's not been universally accepted that Olympic testing is why Barry's not playing in the WBC.

"After he played only 14 games a year ago, you can understand why he came to this decision," said U.S. manager Buck Martinez.

Actually, 8 games over 14 days, all of them as DH shouldn't be too taxing even for BB. I'd be willing to wager that it's the olympic standard laboratories that are Barry's cause for concern...

I wonder if the US players looked at the Dominican roster, and thought 'Damn, now that's a murderers row if I ever saw one', as the US players are now lining up to play. Although Roger's probably lickin' his chops to face the Dominicans, it does indeed take a confident pitcher to face a lineup consisting of;

Miguel Tejada, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Jose Guillen, OF
Manny Ramirez, OF
Vladimir Guerrero,OF
Aramis Ramirez/Adrian Beltre, 3B
Alfonso Soriano, 2B
Albert Pujols, 1B
Miguel Olivo, C

I mean GEEEEEEZZZZZZZ, how do you even put together a lineup? You've got 7 guys or more who normally hit 3rd or clean-up? I'd guess Soriano would revert to his Yankees' lead-off position and Olivo would hit ninth, but after that I'm stumped. Maybe I'll have to put together the lineup in MVP 2005 and simulate it...

Now that ESPN signed a deal to show the WBC, I wonder if we get to see it here in Europe? NASN, if you build it, they will come!

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With Alex Gonzalez signed as short stop on a one year/$3m deal, the Red Sox roster is getting close to finalised.

So far, it looks like the opening roster will be:

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Mark Loretta, 2B
3. Manny Ramirez, LF
4. David Ortiz, DH
5. Jason Varitek, C
6. Trot Nixon, RF
7. Mike Lowell, 3B
8. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
9. Alex Gonzalez, SS

The rotation is a lot more unclear past spots 1 and 2, as the future of Clement and Wells is still up in the air (Wells now more so than Clement), but the pitching staff should look something like:

SP: Curt Schilling, RHP
SP: Josh Beckett, RHP
SP: David Wells, LHP
SP: Matt Clement, RHP
SP: Tim Wakefield, RHP

Bullpen:
Bronson Arroyo, RHP
Jon Papelbon, RHP
Julian Tavarez, RHP
Rudy Seanez, RHP
Lenny Dinardo, LHP
Mike Timlin, RHP
Keith Foulke, RHP

It's not clear whether Red Sox will carry 11 or 12 pitchers, but with Wells most likely on the move, Arroyo will probably take the 5th spot in the rotation and Papelbon and Seanez will share the long relief spots. We'll also have to keep a look out for Melcarmen, Hansen and Lester, as they will most likely climb the ranks this year.

To quote Hannibal - "I love it when a plan comes together..."

Cereal Killer

Bugger....

Earlier in the week, before I got a case of the flu, I'd written a relatively long draft about the pro's and con's of having Coco Crisp in the Red Sox outfield, and looked at the Crisp-Riske-Bard for Marte-Shoppach-Mota trade that The Boston Globe reported that the Red Sox were close to finalising with the Cleveland Indians.

Of course since then Mota "failed/not failed" a physical, the deal's off the table and both sides are looking to restructure it.

One that is being talked about now is Red Sox trading Matt Clement to the Reds for outfielder Austin Kearns. The Red Sox would then swap outfielders (Crisp for Kearns) with the Indians with a host of other minor leaguers changing post codes. We'll see where that one takes us, but I, for one, am a much calmer animal with Theo back in the driver's seat.

Today's most interesting article contains this great quote:

The thing that I find funny is that some of the better writers suck at their jobs from my standpoint: Shaughnessy and [Bill]Conlin are two that come to mind. Two separate incidents from each of them told me all I needed to know about how bad members of the media can be. Dan wrote a column basically calling Pedro a piece of trash after he left the ball park on Opening Day 2004, talking about what a bad guy and horrible person he was for doing so. This is the same guy who waxed poetic years earlier when Roger Clemens did the exact same thing, calling Roger a gamer, someone that despised losing. Don't get me wrong, there is no bigger Clemens fan than me, but the two opposing viewpoints on two people doing the same exact thing paint a stark picture into how these guys look at what they do.

Number 38 himself has been emailing Bill Simmons, and told his version of some of the events in 2004 and 2005, and how many times Manny can utterly confuse everyone in one given day. Top stuff!

One thing that came back to me was that I never managed to peg down which Red Sox player bad mouthed gehrig38 to the Boston press. I don't want to sully anyone's name, but I'm slightly suspicious of Millar or Foulke.

Theatre of Screams

Well, that sucked.

Rarely have I seen a Liverpool-ManUtd game with so few goalscoring chances. Despite a dominating Liverpool midfield, which is one of the top two midfields in the country, the lack off forward committment by the Liverpool side meant the top two had no support. Unfortunately Djibril Cisse is showing more and more that he needs support. When you find yourself thinking (ok, yelling at the TV) that Rafa should take off Cisse and add Sinama-Pongolle, it's a clear sign this team really could use an addition up front. What happened to the Dick Kuyt rumours?

Cisse has blazing speed, but as is more and more evident, really nothing else. A good comparison for you non-Europeans is John Capel, the Florida track standout who won the gold on the 200m sprint in the 2003 World Championships and also had truly blazin speed, but couldn't catch a cold as a reciever in the NFL with the Chiefs and Bears.

Unfortunately, this leads us onto the topic of new players. I hate to kick a man who's already down, but new Reds signing Jan Kromkamp didn't have the best of introductions to the Premiership when he came on in the 89th minute against ManUtd. In the span of 90 seconds, he managed to get out of position and not cover Steve Finnan's closing down of Loius Saha, and forced Finnan to foul Patrick Evra. (Regardless of what Rafa says, it was a foul.). Kronkampt then promptly lost Ferdinand on the ensuing free kick, and voila, 3 points to ManUtd.Still, with the 2 games in hand, we should get 2nd spot, but I can't see Chelsea dropping 10 points...

Beaky Buzzard? Mike Riley?

Referee Mike Riley didn't continue his phenomenal form of awarding a penalty to ManUtd everytime someone made a purchase at Tesco's (UK's Walmart), but still made some dubious decisions. However, I don't agree with Rafa Benitez, Riley had a decent game. His worst game, to date, probably was the ManUtd-Arsenal game in 2004.

Redux

"As you know, we have spoken frequently during the last 10 weeks," the statement said. "We have engaged in healthy, spirited debates about what it will take over the long term for the Red Sox to remain a great organization and, in fact, become a more effective organization in philosophy, approaches and ideals. "Ironically, Theo's departure has brought us closer together in many respects, and, thanks to these conversations, we now enjoy the bonds of a shared vision for the organization's future that did not exist on Oct. 31. With this vision in place, Theo will return to the Red Sox in a full-time baseball operations capacity, details of which will be announced next week."

OK, read that last part again - "Theo will return to the Red Sox in a full-time baseball operations capacity". I don't want to jinx it, but H**l Yes!

Welcome back - what took you so long?

...and more interestingly, what's going to happen to LL?

Core stability?

I know it's only January, but pitchers and catchers report in less than five weeks, fer crissakes! *Yay!*

I would be much calmer if the BoSox gave up the pretense that Alex Cora is a worthy Opening Day shortstop and traded for Julio Lugo. The reported price seems to be Andy Marte, but I'm hoping another deal can be made. I'm not sure about the sanity in essentially trading Renteria plus $11m for Lugo. Still, the Sox need to solve SS and CF, and with relative promptness..

Clement for Coco Crisp is another rumour that's been making the rounds for a few weeks.. I'd prefer Torii Hunter, but there is no way the Twins, with their lack of line-up power will let him go.

However, unless the Sox manage to sign a long-term CF, look for them to go after Hunter next year, unless Murphy can take the step up...

On another note, one's faith in humanity wishes, or even demands, that for every Johnny D that takes the money and runs, the world is balanced by a Paul Konerko, who thought that $12m per year with a team that he liked and in a clubhouse where he knew everyone and felt comfortable, was better than $13-15m per year for relocating one's family and hoping that the atmosphere would be as good there.

The reason I bring this up is today's news, which states that our resident rock star, Bronson Arroyo, has turned down more money elsewhere for a chance to stay with the Red Sox for another three years, and hopefully the rest of his career.

As much as JD is an easy target for the Red Sox nation's rage, and it is when he's quoted in May 2005 saying:

There's no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they're going to come
after me hard. It's definitely not the most important thing to go out there for
the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It's just not what I
need

,very little is said about the way the Red Sox themselves have discarded several WS winners, including Billy Ballplayer, Kevin 'Cowboy Up' Millar, D-Lowe and Pedro. In Pedro's and JD's case, the Red Sox front office set a walk-away player value, and unfortunately, for the Sox, other teams were willing to pay more.

As much as I loathe seeing Damon in pinstripes, I think we'll have the last laugh during the 2009 season, when a then 36 year-old CF will try to throw to the cutoff man from 399 feet deep into centerfield at Yankee Stadium.

I somehow doubt he'll get the baserunner out.

Go West? - the background pt. II

When I first moved to the UK in '97, Sky TV not only showed 3-4 live Premiership football games per week, but for the first time, I also could watch one live NFL game each Sunday - pure, unadulterated joy!

1 game per week first turned into the occasional doubleheader, combined with the Channel Five MNF game, albeit one day tape delayed, meant every weekend was a complete NFL feast.

Still, in accordance to my nature, whilst I needed another sport to follow like I needed another hole in my head, when my friend Andy one day called me and said - "I'm going to start playing baseball with an amateur side" - my immediate response was "Sound's like fun, I'll come too".

Although I'd only played catch a few times with friends in the US, baseball suited me like a...ehh...glove? I'm never going to be a major leaguer, heck, I probably wouldn't get a spot on the worst college team in the US, but still, I was decent. Initially I much preferred playing baseball over watching, (and to be honest, I still do), but with time the curiosity increased.

After the launch of NASN in the UK - (all together now *Hail, Hail to NASN*), I started watching the odd game, first to gain insight in how to improve my own game, but I soon got to the point where I had to select a team to follow properly.

As I have no geographical affiliation to any region in the US (my distant relatives are spread over half of the US), I had the luxury of being able to pick any team I wanted to support. The Yankees were quickly discarded, as they have a business agreement with ManUtd, and other teams were tested and fell by the wayside...

Finally, it was pretty obvious, which team I should support. Although I'd been to both Tiger Stadium and Wrigley Field in my "pre-baseball fan" days, during on of several trips to New England, I was out walking with my then girlfriend in the Fens, and there it stood - Fenway Park.

The more I read about the Red Sox, the deeper I connected to the history and the tradition of Boston baseball.

I spoke to everyone I met in Boston, while trying to hide my complete ignorance beyond the most superficial of baseball topics, and realised there was a passion I hadn't seen before in professional sports in the US. I'd been to college and pro football games (the American kind) previously, but only at a college level had I experienced anything like a trip to Anfield.

For those that haven't been to a European soccer game, preferably an English Premiership game, the atmosphere is unbeatable. I must admit I have yet to go to a real college football rivalry game, such as Michigan-Ohio State, but Opening Day 2004 at Fenway Park is the closest I've gotten to Premiership atmosphere in the US. Like Iain, once I experienced that, I was hooked.

If you can't beat them, watch them - background pt I

One, of several, personality flaws I have is the inability to enjoy things in moderation. This has been evident in many areas in my life.

For example, in music; If I discover a band I like, I have to buy every album they've ever made, ditto with authors, and last but not least with sports.

Let me start from the beginning.

I grew up in Sweden, spending my time trying out as many sports as I could, including ice hockey, football (the european kind), table tennis and various other sports. Unfortunately, and to my dismay, I was never better than average in most of them. However, except a small decrease of interest during the late teens, strangely coinciding with the discovery of alcohol and the effects such drinks have on the social interaction with the other sex, I've maintained a fervant passion for several sports.

Ice hockey and football competed for many years for the title of "my no.1 favourite sport to watch", and Tipsextra was a must every Saturday at 3PM during football season. However, then one day in my teens I discovered a strange sport called "american football". My life has never been the same since...

After watching brief highlights on terrestrial TV showing Joe "Cool" Montana dismantle the Bengals' defense in less than 3 minutes to win Super Bowl XXIII , I was hooked on football, and also a 49er fan for life. Although my first exposure to football had been almost a decade earlier, NFL's presence in Sweden in the 80's was limited to say the least.

My interest increased in 1991 when at university I not only had cable tv with a weekly NFL show and the odd live game, but also tried to play it. I was pummeled for a few years while playing for Västerås Roedeers, but ultimately, like in previous sports, I was half decent, but not a natural.

The introduction of the internet to mainstream society in the early 90's (ok, so I'm an "early adopter", to use marketing speak), meant the discovery of ESPN.com and an almost endless supply of information about football. During this period I also travelled the US for the first time as an adult, and although I watched a few baseball games in person, they were more about drinking and eating for 3-4 hours than anything else. (Little did I know...literally!)

Late nineties and a move from Sweden to the UK later, and I bloomed from a soccer fan to a full on fanatic. Sure, I'd supported Liverpool since I could stand up, but now I was surrounded by Premiership football day and night! My passion for sports continued to grow exponentially...