we've both given up smoking because it's fatal. so whose matches are those?

2008 is the International League's 125th anniversary AND they are bringing back the IL Hall of Fame. Amongst this year's inductees will be Ben Mondor, Joe Morgan, and Jim Rice. I told you this already, but consider it a reminder. Strings around your fingers.

All this year's game balls will bear the 125th anniv. logo. GIT YOU SOME!

Sunday May 18th - Syracuse and Rochester, the two oldest teams in the IL, will play an exhibition game at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown. Special unannounced guest? Carlton Fisk.

In 1914, Babe Ruth played in the IL (Montreal). He pitched over thirty games but only homered once! The crazy thing is he tripled 10 times.

More on the PawSox luncheon later on...

I shall be profoundly tardy.

Tomorrow's probables: RHP Bryan Bullington, Indianapolis Indians homeboy (born in Indianapolis) v. Fatolo... No, I'm sorry, Bartolo. I want to call him Fatolo so badly but it's not at all funny.

You would have blown my mind in 2005 if you told me that Colon would be the PawSox opening day pitcher in 2008. Triple-A is crazy like that. And this is why I'm hot.

I'm off to the Welcome Home Luncheon feat. the IL Prez, RJ, Hyder, and T-Pain. They're going to serve me food I won't eat and I'm late. Already.

More to come...

R. Zimmerman

The Nationals' new park looks pretty nice.

I don't wanna do any more International League team previews. They're too boring.

Kee fig! Tomorrow! Yella, yella!

I mentioned Jordan Brown (CLE) the other day.

"My junior year, I fooled a bunch of scouts into actually taking me in the fourth round, and I've had a blast ever since. I currently play in the Cleveland Indians organization alongside college roommate and fellow stud Trevor Crowe. He was selected as the 14th overall pick a couple rounds before me in 2005 and we've paired up ever since (we had a clause in our contract that says we can't be separated ... just kidding)."

-from Mr. Brown's player journal on MiLB.com

In other news, Pawtucket played Rochester yesterday. Allegedly. I can find no further information about this game.

Guns n' Roses

Not long ago, there wasn't much to say about Brandon Moss. Then all of a sudden he does the thing there with the bat over there. And he blows up like Cocoa Puffs.

Here're some blogs where's he's been spotted:

1. The Sixteenth Minute
2. Dan Shaughnessy Watch
3. beRecruited SportsWrap
4. Sox Addict
5. Sawx Blog
6. Sports by Sam
7. SOX & Dawgs
8. Londinium Project
9. McKeon and the Mongoose
10. The Foul Line
11. Boston Irish
12. Boston Blood Sox
13. Lyflines
14. Who Made You Mirabelli?
15. Respect the Tek
16. A Large Regular
17. The Bottom Line
18. Two of Us Talking Sports
19. Redbeard
20. Fenway West

And so on... I omitted a lot of the veteran blogs, but as you can see, Sean McAdam might have a little competition. I noticed a LOT of people were liveblogging the Japanese games. There really are a million little Red Sox blogs. Good luck, everyone.

if i'm faced with being replaced

RHP Dan Miceli has retired. Wow, that's too bad. I was hoping to see him opening day in Pawtucket. I wanted to get his autograph so I could die happy.

"Dan Miceli showed up with a gash on his hand and claimed he got "jumped in a parking lot by four or five guys" after defending his wife's honor in a bar or something. Turned out he'd actually gotten into a knife fight with his brother at his house the night before, and he wound up apologizing to the team and his new bosses on Day 2 of camp."

This went down in 2000 at the Marlins' spring training. A knife fight! I have three brothers and I don't really remember things getting quite that heated. My sister Alicia, that's an entirely different story altogether.

ska revival isn't cool

Former PawSox lefty reliever Juan Perez was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Uh-oh. Perez was reportedly a wicked nice guy, good with the kids at the park, and was a decent AAA reliever. Excelsior!

Former Boston reliever Rudy Seanez was released by the Dodgers. What a life. I wonder how aging relievers feel when they wind up on the same team that drafted them ten years prior.

All of this makes me appreciate Mike Timlin. How often do teams retain a reliever for the amount of time MT's been in Boston? Especially a non-closer. Just a set-up guy. How can I even look this up? I will pay you twenty dollars if you come up with a ranking of non-closing relievers' service time on the same team. I wanna know.

DO IT!

April 19th: The Buffalo Bisons have HOOVES

The Buffalo Bisons are the AAA team of the Cleveland Indians. 'B' comes before 'C' (Columbus, Charlotte) and I was trying to go in alphabetical order. So I'm mad as a nest of hornets! And I was really looking forward to the Durham Bulls this morning!

The cool kidz:
1. RHP Adam Miller. Candy and Ronny, have you seen him yet? I saw him pitch last year, not knowing anything, and it was really exciting. I should look that game up. Wait... okay, it was two years ago! Miller gave up two hits and struck out eight Pawtucket batters over seven innings. The bullpen blew the game, though. So he's been in Buffalo since '05? Anyway, yes, he is a champion. And he won't be in Buffalo for long.
2. 1B Jordan Brown. (lefty)Was the Eastern League's MVP last year. So I saw him in Connecticut? Not really, it was way too foggy.
3. LHP Chuck Lofgren.
4. What you really need to do is read the superlative Cleveland Indians Minor League Insider blog. You cannot touch that.

spread the word around:
1. Pitchers Jeremy Sowers, Tom Mastny, Aaron Laffey, Scott Elarton.
2. INF Aaron Herr, RHP and banjo player Matt Ginter
3. OF Jason Cooper, OF Nate Panther. Panther! I remember him from the Akron Aeros, playing the CT Defenders! PANTHER!
4. Former Padre Josh Barfield. We had such high hopes.
5. Cliff Phifer Lee has landed the fifth spot in the Indians' rotation. Good for him. I saw him pitch at both Fenway and McCoy.

Separately and relatedly:
1. The Bisons play at Dunn Tire Park and I am going in a few weeks. I will probably bring this up about 500 more times. I could also talk about the time I drove to Niagara Falls for no reason, because it's a good story.
2. The Buffalo Bisons come to Pawtucket three times. They really have one of the best rosters in the IL so... I recommend a game or two.
3. Also check out the Bisons Blog.
4. The Bisons have been around since 1880. That is something to marvel at.

is there really no chance to start once again?

Back to Pawtucket for you, kid. Let's try and get some more work in at first.

PS They called Moss 'Sunbeam' because he tried to put a peanut butter sandwich in the toaster. True story.

June 19th: Columbus Clippers weigh anchor in Pawtucket

The Columbus Clippers are the AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

Talent:
1. RHP Collin Balestar: "6'5", 205. Struggled early on in Double A, his first experience there but caught on as the season progressed. Has an average fastball, plus curve and a below average change, a result of trying to throw it too hard. In line with the other two, Balester will start the season in Triple A and should hit Washington by the All Star break." (from Armchair GM)
2. There are others at lower levels who may come up at some point. But seriously.

Don't imagine you're too familiar:
1. LHP Mike Bacsik, INF William Bergolla, INF Yurendell de Caster, LHP Eude Brito, OF Jason Dubois, RHP Brian Sanches, 3B/OF Kory Casto, C Wil Nieves. Many of the same guys. God damn, how many freaking Clippers games did I see last year? And can I sit through even more mediocrity?
2. INF Ed Rogers! I loved him in Pawtucket!

"God, this sucks. I'm never getting called up":
1. Bret Boone! Dude, enough already.
2. Manny Alexander. Yes, THAT Manny Alexander.

In related news, the Clippers are getting a new ballpark in 2009. Oh, aren't we all? The new facilitah is going to be green! And accessible! YEAH!

I really don't know what the hell is going on with the Nationals. Odalis Perez is their number one and I think Nick "Fat Vampire" Johnson is still on the team.

good things good things good things

Congratulations!

PS: It should be noted that Bryan Corey was most excited about his Pawtucket teammate's success. I love BC.

Dusty Brown: Handsome Like Jim Rice

Atomic Age catcher and subtle paint color Dusty Brown got chucked downstairs to Pawtucket. So that's it, then.

What needs to happen is an unregulated fist fight between Brown and Kottaras. Oh, god, I would almost feel bad about that. Blood everywhere... GK scampering home to California or wherever he's from.

Who catches more games at McCoy this year? They must, must get Brown in there.

this voice keeps whispering in my other ear

The first time I saw Craig Breslow was not in San Diego, but in Pawtucket. I thought he was odd-looking - all knobby and flushed and wearing an ill-fitting uniform. Nothing special. I had no idea I'd be seeing so much of him.

There is no glory in being a triple-A reliever who hasn't come up through the system. Or one that's been lodged at the same level for a couple of years... growing older and less interesting. You can have a freaky-low ERA and be real stingy with walks and hits but seriously, no one cares. You may get called up here and there but aside from that, no one's paying much attention to you.

No one in AAA wants to be there. They're all just tarring up their bats and working on their third or fourth pitches. Waiting. Working out. Sometimes complaining. Getting jealous when someone MUCH LESS DESERVING gets called up because, damn it, that should be THEIR job.

Anyway, Craig Breslow was a nice guy. The Indians claimed him off waivers but they don't REALLY need another lefty in the pen. He's out of options so... they're likely to try and sneak him through waivers to the minors, send him to freaking Buffalo. Who knows what's going to happen.

Craig Breslow's best year in Pawtucket was '06. He pitched 67 innings in 39 games... had 7 wins as a reliever (one lonely loss) and wrapped it up in a .269 ERA. 2007 was more of struggle for the kid, and we can leave it at that because I'm feeling magnanimous and I like Breslow.

Take care of that arm! Maybe we'll see you in the IL!

The Crab Song

Sorry, one last thing. SeaDog/Red Sox infielder Zach Borowiak has retired and gone back to school. This happened during the off-season but I'm just finding out now.

Escribeme pronto!

zinkfield

Local Rastafarian Charlie Zink may perhaps wonder if he is being retained as a set of knuckleball training wheels.

One of my favorite CZ memories is the guy sitting behind me in Rochester FREAKING OUT that the Red Wings hitters couldn't touch a guy throwing 68 MPH "batting practice". (He was unaware of the baby 'dancer'.)

I just bought my Buffalo tickets. Here's a look at my April schedule:

April 2: PawSox welcome home luncheon feat. Jonathan Van Every
April 3: PawSox season opener at McCoy
April 5,6: Whitewater rafting trip
April 7-9: Portland SeaDogs series in Connecticut; Lehigh Valley IronPigs' Pawtucket debut
April 10: blood donation
April 11: Johan Santana's potential first start at Shea (I probably won't go)
April 23-25: Syracuse Chiefs first series v. PawSox
April 25: Rochester Red Wings game @Frontier Field
April 26-27: Weekend in Buffalo for PawSox away games

That's all for today.

2008 IL Preview: The Charlotte Knights

Let's get ready for 2008 at McCoy!

The Charlotte Knights are the White Sox' Triple-A club. Their first visit to McCoy this year will be August 8th, but you may be more likely to see these guys at the Futures game on August 9th.

Players of note:
1. RHP Lance Broadway, one of Chicago's Top Ten Prospects. Chances are he'll be Chicago's 5th this year, so his time in the IL may be brief.
2. RHP Jack Egbert, high-ranking prospect. Crappy fastball and good change-up.
3. Chris Getz, a lefty second-baseman! WHAT! He's pretty close to bustin' out of the minors. Watch out, Danny Richar.
4. RHP Tomo Ohka, who threw a no-hitter in Pawtucket about 30 years ago.
5. C Wiki Gonzalez, pivotal figure in the 2007 Chad Spann controversy.

Players of NOT:
1. Almost everyone else. The White Sox' farm system needs a little TLC.
2. 2006 IL ROY Josh Fields, back at third base. Joe Crede's holding him back and you know Fields is miserable. Just move him, already! His expiration date is coming fast!

Somewhere in a lonely hotel room there's a guy starting to realize that eternal fate has turned its back on him:
1. Joe McEwing, who is hated by smart people and loved by dum-dums like me, is the Knights' hitting coach. Guess that's why they broke and you're so paid. He's going to give Ben Mondor a big hug!
2. Much like the Cincinnati airport is for really in Kentucky, the Charlotte Knights' park is really in SOUTH Carolina. I told you this already but you never listen.
3. And so you can expect a new ballpark in uptown Charlotte in 2010. Already there're problems with its construction.
4. The PawSox had better CRUSH this team at Fenway Park!

Have a miraculous Easter!

So, are Mulder and Scully ever gonna do it?

I swear, I'll stop talking about Chris Carter soon:

"He's not a very good fielder and more of a DH-type guy," said a scout from an American League club. "He's just one of those guys that has a great feel for hitting. He's got kind of goofy actions and not the greatest body in the world, but he can really hit."

(from Baseball America)

Chris Carter, why must you defy all search engines? Can you not change your name to 'Wily Mo' or 'Ichiro' or 'Nyjer'?

Barry Hertzler is still alive?

East Providence is a weird place. It is, in many ways, unknowable. I mean, sure, I can handle Rumford and the bowling alleys and the Wampanoag Plaza. But get me over to Riverside or closer to the Red Bridge and forget it.

You really need to take a day and check it out.

Barry Hertzler graduated from EP High and went to first Old Dominion, then Central Connecticut State. He did really well for himself there! The team went pretty far in the College World Series and he pitched well. He was subsequently drafted in the 11th round by the Boston Red Sox. Can you believe that?

Hertzler had his ups and downs, from Portland to Pawtucket. Last year in Pawtucket, whoa. He was awful. He wound up back in Portland and isn't he getting a little too old for this shit? His sinkerball didn't even seem to work up in Maine.

I saw a photo of BH at minor league spring training the other day and I couldn't believe he was still hanging around. Then this morning I read that he was released, along with Junior Spivey. The funny thing is that I was going to say a few words about Spivey, who was my birthday present in '07.

Barry Hertzler pitched 16 innings in Pawtucket last year and finished with a robust 16.31 ERA. In Portland, 2.98 in 54 innings. He will probably be best remembered for busting up a door in Toledo after a bad outing... they made him pay for it. Please don't bring this up if you run into him at WaterFire.

Write soon, lads! Exit music begins.. aqui!

This picture is described on the Globe's web site thusly: "David Ortiz (left) walks through the terminal after Friday's arrival."

Really, I'm glad they clarified that Ortiz was the person on the left.

Julian Tavarez is going to wear a kimono in his hotel room.

Recently, I was asked by my employer to do some work travel. I said I would and asked for a mileage form.

A couple of days later I was informed that I would not be paid for mileage. That's great. I'm not going. I was offered other, lesser compensation.

Unacceptable.

So as it stands, I am not going. I'm not trying to drive a hard bargain. Gas is expensive. My car is nearly 8 years old. I do not make a lot of money. I only want what is fair.

安全な旅, Boston Red Sox!