A Few Pics and Videos From Ft Myers

Full recovery from this trip may never be reached....my body absolutely hates me....but here are a few additional pics and videos from ITM's last day in Ft Myers...

Pap getting in some work against a bunch of 18 year olds...

Bard doing the same....walking off immediately when getting the final fly ball out...

Downtown Ft Myers...

T Murph, Myself, and my brother Rich....with Joe Murph on camera duty.  Great seats, rough game, par for the course.  (this photo was taken about 15 minutes before Heidi walked right by us and we all fell out of our chairs)...

Joe Murph at the minor league complex...taking it all in...

More pics to come as we continue to sanitize them in an effort to ensure they're all Internet appropriate...

ITM in Ft Myers: Cloudy Recollections of Day Two

It's another beautiful day in Ft Myers....although here at the Courtyard Marriott, it's a bit of a slow and rough morning as the Red Sox, buzzer beaters in March Madness, and cheap beers may have gotten the best of us yesterday.  Anyways....

After spending an hour or so at the minor league facility, we hit the road, driving 90+ miles north to Bradenton to see Josh Beckett and the Sox take on those amazingly talented Pirates.  Despite only recognizing 3 names on the Pirate's team, Josh Beckett looked eerily similar to the pitcher we got saw in 2010.  He started out fairly strong, but eventually allowed 5 runs (only one earned) in 5 innings. 

Regardless of the runs to earned runs ratio (the Sox decided to throw the ball around a bit in the 5th), JB was far from sharp.  As we entered the small but appealing Pirates complex, we saw a Beckett fastball get bashed to left field....luckily for our number four starter, Daniel Nava pulled a Griffey-like home run-saving catch (no, Manny would not have caught it).  Without a public radar gun, it was difficult gauge Beckett's velocity, but overall, it was easy to see he was leaving pitches up and not hitting his spots.

Thus far, we've yet to see a Boston player really stand out, as offense has been tough to come by over the last two days, and starting pitching has been rocky at best.  We know it's just spring training, and we've been pretty quick to forget about the struggles when screaming at TV screens at the Ale House.....but still, it always makes me feel better inside when they perform well in March.

Random picture of the day....tough to see below, but it's the "Dos and Don'ts for Living with Alligators".  Found at the Red Sox minor league complex. 

In addition, check out some video of Lars Anderson taking BP at the minor league complex.  It's amazing to see just how "Californian" he is...

We're headed back to the minor league complex this morning, then running back to City of Palms park to see Pujols and the Cardinals take on Dice-K.  Odds are the game won't end until 6pm...

ITM in Ft Myers: Day One, Game One - Game On

It's our first real day in Ft Myers....and the trip is already living up to expectations.  We're currently in between games (that's right, we went to the minor league complex, followed by the Sox game at City of Palms Park, and now we're driving up to Port Charlotte to see the nightcap Sox vs Rays....all while slightly hungover).

It's been a solid 86 and sunny here today...making the Murphy's retreat to the shade, but here are a few pics thus far....

Lineups...solid split squad....we'll be checking out Jacoby, Crawford and Drew tonight....

This is the classic pic that we take every year.  It makes me never want to leave.  We were by far the loudest people in the right field bar stool seats.

A grill in the right field area caught fire during the 2nd inning....causing Mike Cameron to slightly freak out in right field since it was so smokey he couldn't see the ball.  While T Murph tried to offer his services, the pros were required.



More as it develops...which it most certainly will...

From London to Ft Myers

Today is the day. After about a million "get excited" emails between T Murph, Joe Murph, my brother and I, our annual trip to Ft Myers begins today.

All the prep work and due diligence has been done and compiled, each year the trip gets better. Given this year's offseason moves, I'm not sure if it's possible for the four of us to be more excited than we are.

It's a guys trip to the fullest. Beginning with St Patricks day drinking at the airport, filled with a ton of red sox baseball, fierce betting competition over March Madness, and a sincere appreciation for a bucket or 5 beers for 5 dollars.

The only difference is this year I'm flying over from London. Where a bucket of 5 beers would cost me 50 bucks. Time for some 5 hour energy drinks and red bulls to get me through what is sure to be a fantastic, but rough weekend.

Currently getting the trip off to a good start with a beer at 9am...London time....by myself.

And begin. Check back for updates. No promises.

Signing Off From Ft Myers

ITM concluded an amazingly successful trip to Ft Myers today. Joe Murph has just taken off for JFK and I'm left to conclude our trip via blackberry. Ft Myers airport is much less appealing when you're leaving, but we got the most out of our short stay in Boston South.

As many of you know by now, the Sox lost 11-9 today to a Rays team that featured the majority of its major league talent with James "big game" Shields on the mound. Shields pitched well for the Rays, and we decided it's games like today that gave James his nickname....(seriously, how did he really earn that nickname before pitching in a single big game?).

Anyways, some quick takeaways from the City of Palms Park:

-Boof Bonser, today's starter for the home team got through the first inning cleanly...but that's about it. The Rays teed off on him after that. The burly right hander surrendered a tater to Longoria and let up base hit after base hit afterwards. Later in the day he told the team he was suffering from some groin problems while on the mound. The jury remains out on Boof....awesome name aside.

-We decided today that while Jacoby and Dustin have been on point, the biggest surprise in our eyes was the play of Mike Cameron. He blasted yet another gap-ball double in the middle innings and showed off his power all weekend. We're eagerly awaiting his performance once the games begin to count, but as of right now, he's been very impressive.

-JD Drew got picked off first base today....to which Joe Murph responded: "yea, but didn't he look like a gazelle doing it?" Some people are just amazing.

-This just in, Evan Longoria is a stud. He blasted an absolute shot off the scoreboard in the 6th inning, his second of the day. He also displayed an impressive glove with a great play down the third base line. That said, we were quick to remind ourselves, and everyone around us, of the recent story where Tampa's coach called Beltre the hands down best glove he's ever seen.....it made us feel better at the time.

-Not that it's about winning at this point, but the Sox managed to drop every game while we were down here.....and they were never in this game. Despite the 11-9 final, it was only made close as a result of some garbage time production in the 8th and 9th by guys no one has heard of.

Alright, it's boarding time so I'll cut this short for now. We'll be posting more throughout the week on our thoughts and include pics/video.

We'll miss Ft Myers, and sinking adult beverages at 2am in front of a fire (see above), but we're already planning our trip for next year. It's an annual requirement at this point.

ITM: Going Around the Horn From Ft Myers

(We had a great view of Pap getting smacked around today....)

We're still drying off from today's Grapefruit League game at City of Palms Park. The game was called in the 8th after the skies opened up with rain, wind and lightning. The game ended with the Sox being on the wrong end of a 10-7 score, but there was a lot of action behind the numbers. Quickly going around the horn, here are some takeaways we had:

-With good seats just off set behind home plate, Joe Murph was finally able to see the ball off the bat....the past few days have been full of Joe ducking every time he hears the ball hit the bat in fear of a foul ball pinging him off the dome....he's amazingly blind.

-Jon Lester went 5 strong innings, striking out 7 while letting up 3 runs to a split squad from Houston. He featured a good mix of off-speed pitches and an overpowering fastball that mostly hit the spots. We're in agreement that he looks more than ready to start the season at this point.

-Marco Scutaro is just as short as Dusty. They're both listed at 5'9", but there is no way either is taller than 5'6".

-Boston's top of the order is on fire. Ellsbury showed off his power, speed and defense by going 3 for 4 at the plate and making a few nice plays in his new home in left field. Pedey followed him every time with a hit of his own...including turning on a fastball to hit a bomb over the left field fence. He can hit that pitch.

-Mike Cameron may strike out 180 times this year, but he'll hit for some power as well. He continues to swing a heavy stick at the plate. He belted a tater and hit a deep gap ball today. A productive Mike Cameron at the bottom of the order would really help to balance a top heavy lineup.

-Pap. Oh Pap. We screamed at the clouds to hold off all afternoon so we could watch a clean inning from you.....and you pitched just like you did in Game 3 last year. Pap has been effective all Spring, but just didn't have it today. He reportedly had a migraine, was noticeably failing to locate his fastball while working in some breaking stuff. In the end, it didn't matter what he threw, everything got hit, and hit hard. He allowed 6 runs, 5 earned, all while only getting one out. One. For now we're not worried, we'll call it an outlier of a performance.

-Ramon Ramierez and D Bard came in to clean up Pap's trash. Bard pumped fastballs by guys with uniform numbers in the 80's and 90's. It just wasn't a fair fight.

-WHERE IS HEIDI? It's been an amazing trip for ITM thus far, but one major missing piece is the absence of Boston's best asset.....Heidi Watney. With tomorrow being our last day, we'll undoubtedly be searching high and low.

Alright, we're off to the Ft Myers beach area for food and drinks. We'll be at tomorrow's game and will make attempts to post via our b-berries.

(Dice-K this morning....clearly my bberry has amazing picture quality)

(Theo analyzing the Diceman)

(Sean Mcadam looking slim and getting the scoop)

Again, we'll have much better pics and additional video from the trip posted on Tuesday and Weds.

A Quick Recap From Ft Myers

ITM just returned to our disaster of a hotel room after a great day of baseball. We were lucky enough to meet, take a picture, and briefly chat with Jose Iglesias after morning workouts at the minor league complex a few miles away from City of Palms Park. Safe to say our tails were wagging in excitement.

After stalking Casey Kelly for a bit, and learning that he was the starting pitcher in the Double AA match up against the Rays, we decided to take in a few innings.

We sat with Kelly's family and other minor leaguers with the 20 year old stud on the mound. It felt amazingly similar to watching a little league baseball game. With most fans up the street at the big league club, we got an up close and personal experience with the best prospects in the Sox system.

Kelly went 3 innings, allowing one earned run and some loud outs, but there is no doubt the kid has a ton of talent. He's got a live fastball with late movement and a great breaking ball, but got into trouble at times when missing a few of his spots over the plate.

I know we're pretty high on Iggy (our new nickname for Iglesias, pass it on) as it is, but he managed to confirm our man love even more today. He made a smooth backhanded play to his right and showed off a strong arm across the diamond to get a speedy runner. At the plate, he went 2 for 3, going to the opposite field with an outside fastball and hitting a triple to the left-center gap (ITM note: we have exclusive video of the triple, and other minor league happenings....we can call it exclusive because there were no other cameras there today....we'll post it once we get home).

We also managed to take in a bit of the Triple AAA game which was being played simultaneously on the adjacent field. Lars Anderson (pic below) worked a walk and showed off some speed around the bases, scoring from first on a double.

After about 4 innings we ran up the street to City Palms Park to take in the last few innings of the big league club. We got in to see Marco "don't hate on me" Scutaro hit a tater to give the Sox a 3-0. The high number players were quickly substituted in and the game ended at 6-0. After asking around, we were told Wakefiled was lights out for 5 quick innings....making Tito's job that much more difficult of course.

Here are a few blackberry pictures from the day, better pics/video to follow once we're back to upload them:

....yes, that last pic is a list of do's and don'ts for living with alligators......where are we???

A Quick ITM Update From Ft Myers

ITM shook off a few cobwebs this morning and traveled two hours north to Bradenton, Florida for the Sox/Pirates game. We won't brag about rocking a Kia Rio all day, instead, here are a few of our takeaways:

- Josh Beckett, despite a shaky line on the day, is looking fit and strong. ITM got to the park a couple hours early to watch him long tossing, then staked out a spot on the ledge three feet away from 'Tek while Beckett had his bullpen session. The takeaway? - the man looks ready. 'Tek, too, was commenting on the stuff, and it looks like Beckett is making a focused effort to play around with some offspeed pitches this season.

- Ortiz, a little short on hits, is not short on swagger, watched one soar over the fence and into the swamp like he never expected that there could be any other result from a pitcher throwing something near him.

- Mike Cameron's famed personableness is no lie. Perfectly cordial to the legions of fans hanging over him during BP and bullpens telling him 'this ain't that pansy NL pitching, Mikey' like they know the man. ITM is as condescending as anyone when it comes to the NL, but don't taunt a professional athlete to his face, folks. It just shows an embarrassing lack of self-awareness (ie, we're fat and awkward). Cameron handled it classy in any event, letting the fans have their fun.


- Pitt's minor league facility has a lot of character. It's smaller than City of Palms Park, but they combine southern hospitality with family fun. We were able to talk baseball with some old timers without anyone getting heated....something that is harder to come by in Ft Myers, and of course nearly impossible up North (applicable to both NY and Boston).

.....We've got pictures and videos that we hope to be posting later, but for now, we're headed out to "Joe's Crab Shack" in downtown Ft Myers. To the handful of Floridians (Tampa fans) who follow this blog, we'll take any suggestions on places to eat/drink.

More to come....go Sox.

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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.