ITM: Ft Myers Bound

Remember when you were a 9 year old kid? You had a four page Christmas wishlist full of complete crap that somehow seemed like true necessities at the time? Remember how excited you used to get on Christmas eve as a result? Well that's pretty much how we here at ITM feel right now.

Only this year I don't have a Larry "Grandmama" Johnson poster or Tony, Toni, Tone, CD on my wishlist, and it's not Christmas eve either....it's Ft Myer's eve.

We'll be cutting our already unproductive workdays short tomorrow as it's time to head south for an extended weekend of baseball, sun, adult beverages and March Madness.

We'll do our best to keep the blog updated with some pictures and thoughts as we take in four ballgames and enjoy the surroundings.

Feel free to drop a comment or shoot us an email if you've gotspecific questions on how players look (not just Heidi). If you make it attempt to keep it clean we may post it, but a few of you clowns last year ruined your chances by the third word of your email.

Go Sox.

The Priceless Dusty Quotes Are Endless...

A quick afternoon post for those of you who may have missed a classic Pedroia comment today.....

Pedroia to his new teammate John Lackey:

"Hey Lackey, I heard you signed here for the minimum just so you don’t have to face me anymore."

With no real formal response from Lackey, he's got a long way until he's fully assimilated into Dustin Pedroia's clubhouse. Expect more to ball busting to follow.

ITM is currently considering ways to make Dusty come out with us for some beers while we're down in Ft Myers....first inclination is to just make fun of him until he likes us......talk about priceless.

Go Sox.

Ortiz: "See How Much I Poured?"

WEEI.com: “What I said the other day is totally true. This is my 14th spring training and nobody talked to me about my numbers in spring training before,” said Ortiz after his Red Sox’ dropped an 8-4 decision to the Orioles, at City of Palms Park, “so I can’t believe you guys are kind of getting encouraged into (doing) that.”

“Oh, you guys are going to see some results,” Ortiz insisted, “believe me.”

Wait....Back up the truck.....all of a sudden Mike Lowell is disposable again.....Ortiz hit a tater and a single during a Spring Training game today.....All is right in the world.

The 34 year old slugger went 2 for 2 today....he's back!....forget about his 1 for 21 start this spring.....for the moment, feels as though he's cured the overall concern that he'll once again fall off a cliff for months at a time this season.

I can't deny my love for Ortiz....I was the biggest proponent of the "Trick question, Ortiz is god" saying back in 2003 and 2004. He helped Boston to two championship rings and contributed to many foggy nights for myself after celebrating Ortiz classic walk offs. He smashed the Red Sox single season home run record....he's a teddy bear goof ball with a smile on his face....how could you not love this guy?

But a lot has changed since the good old days. He'd like us to forget about his positive PED's test, the fact that he couldn't hit T Murph's weight over the first few months of 2009, and despite turning it on after June, he couldn't manage to get his average past his own weight by season end.

Like I said, I love Ortiz, I swear I do (by now I'm sure you're asking yourself if I'm doing some self-convincing with this post or not...), I'm just skeptical of the real value he's going to bring to the team in 2010. I hope he proves me, and everyone else wrong, but we've been burned by the recent past (in both fantasy and reality baseball.....yes, both are significant to me), and we can't bank on Ortiz-like production in 2010.

As a result of being a fan.....and being concerned....I'll be watching his ABs closely this weekend in Ft Myers. I've heard everything from slow bat speed to mechanical problems with his swing....either way I'll try not to freak out in the stands when he K's three times on Friday.

Calm Down, It's Northeastern and BC

Just a quick mid-afternoon rant here......

Casey Kelly is a stud. He's a great athlete with all the talent in the world.....and he's likely to be up with the big boys sooner than later (although not this year)......let's just remember one thing: It's Northeastern and BC they're playing today.......

I had a coworker run over to my desk to tell me Casey Kelly threw a perfect inning.....

Boston.com's Direct Quote: "It's Casey Kelly's world and we're all just living in it. The phenom retired the side on 10 pitches, seven strikes."

Sure let's get excited.....but pump the breaks and realize some context. The game isn't even televised.

I mean, Ino Guerrero, one of the team's staff members, pinch hit for Ortiz in the 5th inning (he grounded out, and presumably hurt himself trying to leg out an infield single to save face).

I'm right there with everyone with the excitement. Sure I'll be checking the box score and I've already refreshed Boston.com about 9 times for updates....but I'm trying to remind myself (via this post) and everyone else that we're not talking about a true Spring Training game....it's not a game against an AL East rival.....or even a farm team......or even a collegiate powerhouse like Texas or LSU.....we're essentially talking about a structured practice against the mediocre baseball schools of Northeastern and BC. Yes, we're talking about practice.


All that said, it is nice to know we're getting closer to "real" games......and I'd love to see Pedroia crush some lasers right at the college kids in the field.

A Love/Hate Relationship with Spring Training (and the city of Boston)

Today's monsoon got me thinking about Ft Myers. Eventually my mind wandered to last year when T Murph and I stayed at a Ft Myers pub a few rounds too long and he decided to climb on top of a huge satellite TV truck (which seemed like a great idea to both of us at the time), only to end up with some kind of questionable crap all over him (he says it was tar, I say it was guano).

Anyways, I digress. The spring is young, the Sox have yet to even annihilate BC, yet I find myself already complaining about how long Spring Training is.

I know I'll be down South in just a few weeks so I really can't complain, but we're talking about "Professional athletes" who "need" nearly two months to get ready to do their day jobs. Most players, fans, and owners agree it's far too long, so when will uncle Bud do something about it?

Maybe it's because there are suckers like us here at ITM who spend dumps of money to head down there and watch these guys take hundreds of grounds or cover first off the mound.

It's an amazingly drawn out process that involves the veterans (see JD Drew) requiring rest and watching nameless rookies or minor leaguers (see #96 in your Red Sox manual) on the diamond.

Call it current anger with Boston's current weather, call it a random soap box rant, I don't care, I just wish they'd shorten things up by two weeks and stop playing significant games in the snow of late October and early November.

They are the boys of summer after all.

ITM Note: Typed this on the bberry on the T while experiencing "switch problems"...followed two stops later by "disabled trains".... for the second day in a row. The Bostonian anger grows.

Iglesias Might Convince ITM to go to Ft Myers After All

(He's studly already, I can just feel it)

Even in the far east, I can't get enough of Jose Iglesias. I'm not sure I've ever had a man crush on someone who I've never see play, but Jose is different. I've made every attempt to calm my optimism about the 20 year old Cuban, but I can't. He's here, he's working hard, and I'm damn excited about it.

In fact, as soon as I return, I plan on buying one of his jersey t shirts (ITM note: if he goes bust as a result, it's not my fault).

Apparently, Lou Merloni shares this kind of excitement....and Framingham Lou is never wrong about baseball. Here is a snippet from Lou's article on WEEI.com

"...before I even got to see Iglesias on the field, I must say, I was very impressed. From day one, Jose walked around the clubhouse shaking hands, signing autographs and taking pictures with would-be fans trying to get a glimpse at the future. With a very impressive grasp on the English language, Iglesias handled himself like a seasoned veteran.

Every morning I was greeted with a smile and a handshake. This young man gets it. But how good is he? I spent the first few days watching him hit in the cage. He looks like he has a good approach at the plate, staying inside the baseball, driving the ball up the middle and the other way. His stroke was short and compact and his hands looked quick. If I had to compare him to someone, I think that Orlando Cabrera would be a good comparison — a player without much power but a good major league hitter.

I had to wait a few days to see him take ground balls, which was killing me because that’s what I was really looking forward to. Let’s just say that it was worth the wait. There’s a certain level of cockiness and confidence that all great infielders possess in order to play the position at such a high level. At the young age of 20, Iglesias already has that trait. There was never a doubt with any ground ball hit his way. Like every great shortstop, it seemed like the ball never hit his mitt. It was catch and release. Smooth. He turned double plays flawlessly. He charged the ball. He ranged to his left and his right."

As much fun as he was having taking ground balls, I must say, it was even more fun to watch. The Red Sox have found their shortstop of the future, and after watching Jose Iglesias take ground balls for a week, I would say that it’s in very good hands."

Jose Iglesias is clearly a man after my own heart. If that article doesn't get you excited then you're simply not human, and certainly not from Boston. Couple Lou Merloni's review of the short stop of Boston's future with Joe Murph's recent email to me that all of a sudden he "needs to go to Spring Training"...and you've got me searching travel sites like crazy for deals to fly down to Spring Training in March.

NEVER AGAIN