Back in Boston after an abbreviated (and earlier than usual) trip this year down to Spring Training. During the trip I was hit by a pretty nasty stomach virus, but didn’t miss a game. It did cause some setbacks on the blogging front, but hey, I’m sure our loyal reader(s) is/are happy for whatever they can get from the dawn of the baseball season.
Lackey brings it for the Red Sox now!
It’s still about a week before I usually go down for my first game (which is frankly a better time to go down as the starters are getting more playing time and you can get a better sense for how they’ll start the season…unless your a complete roto-nerd and you want to see how people with high uniform numbers look getting mowed down).
Plenty of photos on flickr from this day which you can view by clicking the photo of Lackey above or by following this link.
My Dad, a 10 year veteran of the Grapefruit League baseball shares tips for those of you planning to make the trip this year or in the future. He’s a natural vlogger!
Lester delivers vs. the Twins on Friday, March 5, 2010.
A tour of Hammond Stadium, Spring Training home of the Minnesota Twins, plus some interviews with fans at the game. I also have a reality check for the people who run the concessions at Fenway…there’s a right way and a wrong way to serve relish.
You’re doing it the wrong way.
Also uploaded a ton of photos to flickr. Click here or on the photo above to see those.
If you’re planning to go down to Fort Myers to catch a few spring training games, you owe it to yourself to head down the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) about 30 minutes south from City of Palms Park to check out Lansdowne Street, what must surely be THE most authentic Red Sox bar in Florida. There are a ton of details I didn’t even cover in the quick video I shot, suffice to say: it’s worth the trip down from Ft. Myers. They have gotten many many little details right about this place. There’s also an outside patio area for dining and drinking (called Yawkey Way). It’s brilliant, and they depend on your custom as Red Sox fans to stay in business.
Compared with many of the bars in “downtown” Fort Myers which re-brand themselves as “Red Sox” bars with a banner from kinkos they put up for the month of March, this place is truly invested in its identity. I met the owner last year, and he’s the real deal.
If there is a God, this place should be overrun with Red Sox fans in March.
I caught an interview with him earlier today and it confirmed what we all know. He’s a great guy.
“Eleven years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and that was the farthest thing from my mind,” Lowell said to Tom Caron and Peter Gammons on NESN in an interview from Tuesday. “I’m willing to take things in stride and I’m not really too stressed out about it.”
Don’t cry for him. The media circus doesn’t affect him. He just wants to get out there and hit.
Now that we’ve gotten the cliched title out of the way, it’s time to start really, TRULY start thinking about the Boston Red Sox of 2010.
Captain Carl greeted us at the gate on the way down to Fort Myers, a reminder of the team I grew up watching and its legacy so very different from the one the contemporary iteration will enjoy in years to come.
Will the vaunted pitching staff live up to its billing? Will the offense suspected of being short on power surprise us? How much (and how small) will a beer at Fenway be?
All these questions and more are waiting to be answered.
I’ll be updating YOTS with a few posts and plenty of photos from spring training beginning Friday, March 5th including a few live video streams. To be informed about when those live video streams will take place, you can follow me on Twitter at either @peplau or @Mueller11.
The Pats loss no longer hurts (much), I have little faith in the Celtics (and less in NBA officials) and we have a rock star for a senator.
The days are still cold, the moon was full this past weekend, and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. As the days grow a tiny bit longer every day, my mind is drawn to thinking about baseball.
Spring training is just over two weeks away.
So that means YOTS will be back soon. What do you think the new season will bring? We’ll try to dissect the season, the team, the games and the plays.
We’ve been quiet here at YOTS. I’m hoping next year it will be easier to post.
One of the most entertaining aspects of hosting a blog is reading the comments. We moderate comments here–and we’ve gotten some good ones since we started this site nearly a year ago. But it’s not the legitimate comments that are the most entertaining. The spam comments are sidesplitting.
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hotyuew came up with this: Все бы было так хорошо, если бы не было так грустно, это так к слову… Эх, научил бы кто нить меня сайты делать – может тоже не хуже вашего бы получилось Отличный у вас проектик, не соскучишься, спасибо
And if you were tense about the world’s state, worry no more, according to generic aciphex, who assures us all: There’s nothing to worry about.
So, that sums it up: found poetry. See you next spring.
Should the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim California USA Planet Earth Milky Way Galaxy The Universe and their fans require further motivation to win the World Series, here it is:
You not just playing for the opportunity to hoist the Commisioner’s Trophy.
Nor are you playing simply for the right to douse one another and every microphone-toting interloper in your clubhouse with Perrier-Jouet NV Grand Brut.
Don't let this man win a ring...
Not even the ring you’ll receive and the attendant glory that comes with wearing it, an heirloom to be cherished by you and your progeny for generations to come, is your primary motivation. No, you’re playing for something bigger.
<===This. This is bigger than all those things. You are playing, more than anything, to prevent this man from engaging in any of those aforementioned activities.
And I’ll be rooting you on with everything I’ve got.
Letters, we get letters
November 15th, 2009 by Mark · Comments
We’ve been quiet here at YOTS. I’m hoping next year it will be easier to post.
One of the most entertaining aspects of hosting a blog is reading the comments. We moderate comments here–and we’ve gotten some good ones since we started this site nearly a year ago. But it’s not the legitimate comments that are the most entertaining. The spam comments are sidesplitting.
topamax online wrote this: He looked directly at me for the first time and there should have been little splintering sounds as his lips moved slowly into an unaccustomed smile.
buy cialis medication wrote this gem: clients benign pipewala banilower nathan neatly leiby uttering symbolically entire underwritten maximized
hotyuew came up with this: Все бы было так хорошо, если бы не было так грустно, это так к слову… Эх, научил бы кто нить меня сайты делать – может тоже не хуже вашего бы получилось Отличный у вас проектик, не соскучишься, спасибо
And if you were tense about the world’s state, worry no more, according to generic aciphex, who assures us all: There’s nothing to worry about.
So, that sums it up: found poetry. See you next spring.
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