Manny Ramirez was asked if he was nervous or excited to have Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching on Opening Day in front of a hometown crowd.
Not really. Why should I be excited? ... We saw him pitch like 30 games in Boston. It will be the same. We saw him pitch so much and they televised all his games in Japan.Sean Casey has a stiff neck -- "I took a three-hour nap on the plane and when I woke up and tried to turn my neck, it was like, 'Whoa, this isn't good'" -- so he will be one of the three inactive players for the two games, along with Mike Timlin and Tim Wakefield.
If/when Josh Beckett is put on the 15-day disabled list, it will be retroactive to March 19, so he'll be eligible to return on April 3 -- an off-day as the team travels to Toronto.
David Ortiz, on his 2004 trip to Japan:
I had a little bit of a hard time with the food, until I found a Chinese restaurant. I was there every day. Every day. I was killing it. At one point, I showed up at the door, and the guy was like, "Again? What's wrong with you?"Jet Lag Watch: Michael Silverman reports that during Ortiz's third at-bat on Saturday, "his eyes [began] to close on him and he began to drift off - while standing at the plate."
More MLB Confusion?: The Red Sox found out they may be playing the three exhibition games in LA without a DH. Tito: "I was under the impression that we would have a DH. We're trying to [fix that]. That would really hurt us. We don't need to go into the season and not have David playing."
I like Pedroia and Youk 1-2, because I think Youk hits better at the top of the line-up. I don't have the stats, but it sure seems like Youk's decline in both of the last two seasons started when Francona moved him down to 5th or lower. If I had to choose, I'd move Predroia down when Ellsbury is deemed ready to lead off, not KY.
ReplyDeleteOh, they have to have a DH in LA, especially for the Coliseum game. What's the fun of having a completely irrational field if you can't have a full hitting lineup? I want to see balls flying over the screen in left field, every at-bat, from both sides.
ReplyDeleteIt might benefit LA to use a DH, too, anyway. Old Man Jeff could get some hitting in if he's feeling up to it.
But how will Matsusaka get his swing in shape for mid-season-exhibition-games-that-inexplicably-count if we use a DH in pre-season-exhibition-games-that-properly-don't-count?
ReplyDelete