Tuesday, March 10

ITM Ft Myers Update


Unfortunately it's ITM's last day down here in Ft. Myers. We're cleaning up the disaster that is our hotel room and checking out....we'll be going to today's game and then stomping our feet as we head off to the airport for a night flight back to Boston.

We'll have our first look at Mikey Lowell this afternoon, here is today's lineup:



1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF



2. Julio Lugo, SS



3. J.D. Drew, RF


4. Rocco Baldelli, LF


5. Mikey Lowell, DH



6. Jason Varitek, C



7. Brad Wilkerson, 1B



8. Jed Lowrie, 3B



9. Ivan Ochoa, 2B




Clay Buchholz, SP


With yesterday's game being a few hours north of Ft Myers in Bradenton, we decided to take a day off from baseball and hit the beaches. After screaming at the navigator system for about an hour, we made our way to Ft Myers beach...not much baseball talk there, but we can verify that it's a great place to visit. The night brought with it our attempt at finding the best Red Sox bars in town, we had a small pub crawl of sorts downtown...but being a Monday night we can't say there was anything crazy to report. The Hideaway Sports Cafe showed the most potential. We had a few awkward experiences with drunk locals but were told a free trolley runs to and from City of Palms Park before and after the game, and that it's the best Red Sox bar in town....something to remember when return.


Yesterday's Sox game against the Pirates started with Jon Lester struggling a little through2 1/3 innings, and ended with a football score of 15-14 in Boston's favor. Jeff Bailey and Nick Green continue to make ultimate roster decisions difficult, Green has played extremely well, but the 30 year old faces an unlikely chance of making the big league team with Jed Lowrie likely to assume the utility role (even though he made two errors in one inning yesterday...no big deal). Bailey on the other hand, is proving to be a legitimate choice for the coveted 5th outfielder role.

Even though we're be headed back up north to the cold tonight, keep checking in with ITM for our additional thoughts on our trip down Ft Myers. Tim has a few soap box items he'll be posting on for sure.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw Lowell go 1 for 3 with a single, how did he look running the bases?

DVicino said...

Hey Soxin09, good to hear from you since ITM is stuck at a bar inside the Ft Myers airport with an 4.5 hour delay. Awesome.

Anyways, the best takeaway is that Lowell remains healthy and got through the game without issue. He was swinging well in the box but wasn't 100 percent hustling on the basepaths...which is exactly what we want considering it's only spring training. All in all he seems well on his way to being ready for opening day.

Anonymous said...

What's with all the 1 year deals announced today?

DVicino said...

The Red Sox, along with every other team in the MLB, were required to have their entire 40 man roster with 2009 contracts signed by yesterday's deadline. The one year deals are most likely hold-over contracts for a few of those involved (i.e., Jon Lester) as longer term deals are still in the works.

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