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March 8, 2010

Talk Of Beckett Extension

Josh Beckett, who turns 30 on May 15, can become a free agent at the end of this season -- and the Red Sox have had what the Globe called "amicable" talks with his agent about a possible contract extension.

Beckett will pitch this afternoon against the Cardinals, followed by Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, Dustin Richardson, Ramon Ramirez, and Manny Delcarmen. Former Red Sox knuckleballer Charlie Zink (whose only MLB appearance to date was a doozy) will be one of the St. Louis pitchers.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose schedule has been delayed because of a minor back strain, threw 65 pitches in a bullpen session yesterday. John Farrell: "Right now it's more a matter of refining the timing of his delivery and establishing release points on each individual pitch ..." Dice is penciled in to throw live batting practice on Friday or Saturday and pitch in a game on March 18.
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Trivia: Who is the only player (since 1901) to hit three triples in a season without any singles?

24 comments:

  1. MLB back at it again with their annoying adventures of complete ineptitude in technology!

    I sent them an email asking two questions:

    i) If I buy the iPhone app which allows you to stream radio feed all year, can I use this account to listen to the radio feed on the computer as well?

    and

    ii) How much data is used streaming one game?

    First reply I receive, they tell me that no, it does not carry over to the computer. Fine. I still don't know how much data it would eat up, which is a pretty big decision factor, wouldn't you say? I only have 1 gig, and I'm not going to pay ridiculous overages...so I reply asking them again, how much data a game would approx. use.

    I just received this great, useful reply:

    Response (Lori Ellison) - 03/08/2010 11:19 AM Dear Tim:

    Thank you for your note. We need some additional information to help identify the issue:

    Contact Information
    First Name:
    Last Name:
    Email Address:

    Phone Information
    Mobile Phone Number:
    Carrier:
    Device Manufacture:
    Device Model name or number:

    Description of Problem/Feedback
    Choose a Product:
    - iPhone At Bat 2010
    - iPhone At Bat Lite
    - Android At Bat 2010
    - Android At Bat Lite
    - BlackBerry At Bat 2010
    - Mobile Premium
    - Team Alerts
    - Player Alerts
    - Video Alerts
    - Gameday Audio
    - WAP or Mobile Site
    - BlackBerry Icons
    - MLB 2010 Game
    - iPhone World Series 2010 Game
    - Wallpapers & Ringtones
    - General Inquiry

    Please describe the problem you experienced including steps you took and any error messages you received.

    We will respond back once we receive the information listed above.

    Sincerely,

    MLB.com Mobile Customer Support Team


    ***

    Can you say CANNED RESPONSE?! What a piece of shit. Furthermore, my name/number/email address is in my signature. Its a simple question, would take about 10 seconds to reply to an email with the answer to. Hell, it should be on the website as a FAQ.

    Speaking of which, FA-Q, mlb.

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  2. Beckett: 3 perfect innings, 2K, 31-24.

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  3. Tim: I'd call them: 866-800-1275.

    Way better than email. I don't think I ever received any response to some email I sent 3-4 seasons ago.

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  4. I replied, bashing the response and said "Thanks for nothing, MLB. Again, technology leaves you in the dust."

    Sure enough I received a response within 5 minutes, obviously I had offended someone. They said they required the information to determine how much data is used. Sounds like bullshit to me, but fine, I played along and sent them the info.

    Sure enough, haven't heard back. Doubt I will!

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  5. Tim, I really like the app. I found it very handy last year.

    If you are somewhere you have wifi, it'll stream over that and then it won't use any of your 1gig quota. You're on Rogers?

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  6. Scoreless innings by Pap, Oka, and Ram(S)Ram.

    Trivia: That's an interesting one. I'm guessing it's a pitcher as opposed to a guy who only played a few games but was sent down despite his ability to hit triples. Maybe Babe Ruth in one of his earliest seasons?

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  7. You've placed my blog on your State of the Nation and I appreciate it.
    Thanks,
    Sox.Rox

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  8. Dats is data is data so knowing what data plan you have through which company you have for you phone service or even the phone itself is irrelevant. The only difference in services will be the iPod has video and Android does not. You mentioned in your first question that you have an iPhone. That immediately answers the carrier and phone question and gives ample info to answer your valid question. Now I ask why do you only have 1gb for data with an iPhone?
    MLB sucks the life out of such a beautiful sport.

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  9. Hi all.
    Casey Kelly. Saw his performance Sunday. I was impressed. You know when you see a pitcher and you just feel the good pitches? I felt that about HH and Lester and Beckett when he threw at Abreu's head. There was one curve that just looked dirty. Dirty like being convinced to buy a laptop from a guy at a gas station only to find it is an empty box full of news paper. It looked like a junk pitch and then BAM! strike zone. Catcher's glove dead center and the batter gave that look like they have to fart in church but are holding it in. He knew he was in trouble is all I am saying but he didn't want it to show. I sure hope he turns out to be a real winner not a potential-laden castaway.
    I will say I am more optimistic here now with our hopes for good pitching coming in the form of young fresh arms and not old rehabbed arms. I will miss the effort that Penny threw out there every outing. I will not miss the cry baby batting practice pitching of Smoltz. We have our hopes in the right place this year. Lackey can suck like in the playoffs playing the Sox but he is a no BS pitcher and we need that. Any game would be a good ticket to buy and that makes my decisions for the upcoming season harder than ever. And 2? LBJ is now 2. I will take a picture of it when I do it. I have one of those jersey t-shirts with the players name and number on the back. I am going to turn 46 into -4+6 with white cloth paint. I was pissed. I have LBJ and Youk shirts. Otherwise it is all generic team stuff. I hitched my wagon to two guys and one has to change his number. If Youk changes his number too I will take some of his Milk Money to buy a new one. What will his facial hair situation be this year? How he looks now is not a good indicator as the Youk man chu did not make the team last year. Although Anaheim used that picture all the way into the playoffs on their jumbo-tron.

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  10. Is anyone taking a stab at the trivia?

    I was pissed. I have LBJ and Youk shirts.

    Yes, but now you have a shirt with the players' original number. That's always good. It's a "thing".

    I have 2 LBJ 46 shirts. I'm so glad I bought the 2nd one, since there's no way I'm wearing the new number.

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  11. Casey Kelly. Saw his performance Sunday. I was impressed.

    I have read the exact same thing from others who were there. If I remembered where, I would link to or quote from them.

    What will his facial hair situation be this year?

    WEEI:
    Kevin Youkilis is making his Opening Day facial hair a matter of public choice. Fans who donate at least $1 to his “Hits for Kids” charitable foundation can weigh in on whether he should sport a goatee, mustache, fu manchu or clean shaven look on April 3. (Click here for details.)
    “If I have to look like Magnum, P.I., to raise some money for kids, I’ll do it,” said Youkilis.

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  12. I took a stab. I will take another. So I guess it has to be some dude who came up very late in the season and tripled thrice in very few at bats. Or somebody who got injured after a triple-rific start. It really could be anybody......A death valley era Yankee? A current Tiger? Phil Rizzuto? Brandon Inge?

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  13. Oh and on that Youk page--why is the Green Monster pic backwards? I almost feel like it was intentional to avoid (technically) showing corporate logos, but I would have just made it normal and greened out the billboards.

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  14. Oh sorry, I didn't see your earlier comment, Jere.

    I also guessed Babe Ruth! But more because Allan likes to use him for trivia than because of clever reasoning.

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  15. If I hit lotto, I'd donate a lot of money for Youk to go clean shaven.

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  16. He had 45 PA.
    4 hits: 3 triples and 1 dong!

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  17. So even with 15 BB this guy was a .100 hitter. Who was either fast or played in a big park. I'm just guessing still: Odibe McDowell?

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  18. On-topic: No clue about the trivia, your questions are too hard ;)

    Back to the iPhone, it seems like a good app and I would probably use it at home most of the time on wifi. I only have 1 gb of data because its expensive as shit here, and again, I'm on wifi most of the time. But it sucks when I'm not and I have to pay attention to my usage.

    Oh and I'm on Telus, not Rogers....Rogers for TV and internet though.

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  19. I figured it out, but I had to look it up. But I still get credit, because looking up stuff on Baseball-Reference without a subscription is hard.

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  20. ... looking up stuff on Baseball-Reference without a subscription is hard.

    Not if you look at its blog (and a follow-up).

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  21. Not if you look at its blog (and a follow-up).

    Here's my method.

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  22. Our team looks just plain sexy going into 2010. I am actually excited over our acquisitions. I love that Beltre is on a 1 year you better play good in your contract year contract. LBJ in left is making me especially horny. I just see him doing one of those Fred Astaire run up the wall and back flip things. I see diving catches up by short in shift situations. Mike Cameron who I believe is Kirk and Candice Cameron's brother will be solid I predict even though Boner is dead. Pitching looks to be working. There are no real negative stories about this team yet. Even the Dice situation is hopeful. I think he pledged to cut out his intestines on the mound if he fails. The Japanese to English translations always seem to be edited. Wake is going to be our mid-season guy which carries the old guy mid-season theme but I am much more confident in his prideful play than I was about Smoltz or Gagne or Penny or all those other countless old guys. Penny isn't even old he just plays like it. I miss Ol' Penny Loafer. This is a season of optimism and I am not even thinking about the Yankees at all in all of this. I predict they are irrelevant.

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