Pitchers...

Photo by Matthew West

Well, the second week of Spring Training games starts today, and Beckett pitched well again. His first game was called "electric" by one sportswriter - and I think this could be an awesome year for him. He definitely has something to prove - although he pitched well in '06, he wasn't the lights-out ace we had anticipated. As a matter of fact, it looks like there is quite a competition shaping up among the pitching staff. Schilling admitted it after his first start. I think that this kind of peer pressure is just what our pitching staff needs. You've got Beckett trying to prove last year was a fluke, Schilling trying to prove he's not old, Papelbon trying to prove he can make the transition from closer, Lester trying to prove he can bounce back from an incredible bout with cancer, Wakefield trying to prove he can still be a starter, and Matsuzaka trying to prove he can make the transfer to the American Major Leagues. I'm getting so psyched just thinking about it!


Speaking of Wake - isn't that an awesome picture of the knuckleballer in action?

And I never thought I'd use the words Youk & cute in the same sentence, but...

(Photo by Matthew West)
Here's Youk playing with David Ortiz' son D'Angelo! Aww!

And speaking of cute, they just had the funniest story on the "Red Sox Report" - showing the players filming introductions and instructions to be played on the electronic scoreboard at Fenway. They're all practicing their "acting" - my favorite was Tek asking if he should smile and be happy, or grumpy. "I can do grumpy" he said! And Papelbon insists on taping his in Spanish! They had to get Lowell to translate. Too funny.