Hideki Okajima began throwing a split-changeup for the first time in his career last year. For 2008, he knows that "the same pattern as last year is not going to work. ... I'm trying to come up with new types of pitches ... some new techniques."Jeemer also wants to avoid running out of gas in September. He says that in the first half of the season, "I'll have less practice and less number of pitches. I'll try to make myself peak at the end of the season -- August, September, October."
Daisuke Matsuzaka also had trouble with the long grind of the season.
I think what happened last year was that the peak of my fatigue arrived at a time when I wasn't exactly expecting it to arrive ... [it] just dragged on gradually, all the way throughout September, so I wasn't able to readjust.Craig Hansen had off-season surgery to correct sleep apnea and is convinced -- now that he no longer snores "like a 500-pound fat man" -- that a more normal sleep pattern will mean greater success on the mound. ... John Farrell says there are two clear candidates for the 5th starter spot: Clay Buchholz and Julian Tavarez.
Theo Epstein spoke about Curt Schilling:
He'll be rehabbing and strengthening for at least 6-to-8 weeks and then we'll see where we go from there. ...Asked about Matsuzaka's availability for the games in Tokyo, Terry Francona said, "unless you want to go talk to Daisuke's wife and ask her when she's going to spit out this kid, we're kind of at a loss here. We're good, but we're not that good. We have Plan B. We know what we're going to do."
The diagnosis process is really behind us. There were some bumps along the road because both parties care so much about the team and his career and doing what's right, but now that we're here in spring training it's pretty simple: he's here to rehab and get back into position to help the club.
Kevin Youkilis avoided salary arbitration, signing a $3 million contract for this season. ... Jonathan Papelbon: "If we're not the team to beat, I'd like to know who is."
14 comments:
Yay! Happy Spring Training, everyone!
Gotta post something while we wait for perjury charges to be filed against the Fat Man!
:>)
Dustin Pedroia is hilarious.
"Ask [expletive] Francis who I am. I'm the guy who hit a bomb off him."
We don't call him Fuck Yeah for nothin'.
Phew. A REAL baseball story. The clouds have lifted, the air is fresh and clear, and the sun shines bright.
Pedro:
"I have a small frame and when I hurt all I could do was take a couple of Aleve or Advil, a cup of coffee and a little mango and an egg -- and let it go!" he said.
"I dominated that era and I did it clean," he said. "I can stand by my numbers and I can be proud of them."
Who's better than him?!
Jack M - you beat me to the punch.
I was SO happy to see some baseball news instead of FB and his legal/PR problems.
And a lot of baseball news it was, thank you RS.
I've been so psyched. Spring training is starting, and we're supposed to have LL tryouts here this weekend. They might be in danger, tho, because it freaking SNOWED yesterday, like 3 or 4 inches. I know that's nothing to most of you, but we haven't had the ground actually covered in several years. Not sure if the fields will soak it up and be usable by Sat. or not. If not, I might go catch a college game.
So happy to read some baseball talk! If only there wasn't inches of frozen crap outside my house, I'd almost believe it was spring.
Today when I was sitting in the car outside of a store, I had my window down. Just one. Soon it'll be two. Then A/C.
Jack beat me to the punch.
I'm SO happy (happy, happy, joy, joy) to be back to baseball.
To hell with Clemens, and tell congress to go fuck up another country or rig another election or something, we've got serious shit to attend to now!
Loved the Pedroia piece, glad to see Curt at camp even if he's wimpy, liked the Japanese duos' outlooks also, and really glad to be yelling YOOOOOOOOOK for at least another year.
There was a piece about Breslow recently also. I'm not sure he's going to stick this time around. It would be nice if he has improved, lefty relief is always a good thing, but if he hasn't, it's time to move him.
Now if the freaking unbelievable SNOW we got here yesterday will just melt off in time for our scheduled LL tryouts this weekend, I'll be perfectly giddy!
C'mon Sunshine!
Snow in Winston? Hol-eee crap.
Geez guys, if you don't like the steroid news, have you considered not reading it?
We have several feet of the white stuff on our lawn. It's beautiful and I love it.
In honour of the coming season, I changed my avatar. :)
Lyndon!
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