The REALLY BIG 2008 Red Sox Preview!!!!!

In honor of the Defending World Champion 2008 Boston Red Sox taking the field today (twice) for their first games of the season, I present you with The REALLY BIG 2008 Red Sox Preview!!!!!! But quickly, before I begin, a word or two about the significance of last night's Celtics game. That game closed out the season series with the Cavs with an even 2-2 split. But if I'm the C's this morning, I'm feeling pretty good about that. They beat us by a combined what, 3 points? We beat them by something like a combined 30. I'm looking at this and saying, over a 7 game series, LeBron will beat us a couple of times by putting the entire team on his back, but there is no way he can do it 4 out of 7. The Celtics are pretty effective (well, as effective as you can be) at keeping LBJ away from the rim, forcing him to beat you from the outside. Which he can do, but with James, you pick your poison. Last night was a statement, and it said "you won't be able to do to us what you did to Detroit last year". OK, I digress...

Josh Beckett takes to the mound this afternoon, giving us something to watch other than stretching and batting practice. Even though the games today won't be broadcast (although tomorrow night's game with the Twins will), we'll get our first competitive look at the 2008 squad. Yeah, it's Boston College (I'm refraining from commenting here...), and yeah, there will be several faces that we won't see this year unless you pay a visit to Pawtucket or Portland, but that doesn't really matter. It feels like baseball is here, and there is an odd sense of ease in Red Sox Nation. The quiet off-season comes to an end, and we look towards our title defense with optimism in a team that remains largely the same. Let's take a closer look...

• Pitching: It would almost be enough to just type Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, Lester, Buccholz, Okajima, Papelbon here and move on. I don't ever remember feeling this way about a Red Sox pitching staff. Even with the injury to Schilling, this group is scary good. It is a nice blend of youth and experience. You have an undisputed ace (who I still think should have won the Cy Young), you have Daisuke going in to year 2, where the spotlight on him is no quite so bright and he has a better idea of how to approach the Major League season, you have Wake being Wake, and you have the best closer in baseball. Add to the a crew of young starters who have some innings under their belts now and a solid core of role playing guys (Tavarez, Delcarmen, Snyder, Hansen, Timlin) and some young guys who could be brought up (Masterson, Hansack, Bowden). Plus the additions of David Aardsma and possibly the weighty Bartolo Colon give them some guys to look at. And to top it all off, you don't have Eric Gagne.

• Infield: Let's see...Gold Glove Youk at first, Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia at second, and WS MVP Mike Lowell at third. You have the light hitting but solid fielding Julio Lugo at short, utility middle infielder Alex Cora, and The Mayor Sean Casey as a back-up at first (which not only gives you the guy voted by the players as THE most likeable guy in baseball, but a solid array of options for giving both Youk and Lowell a few days off here and there, plus a solid lefty bat for pinch hitting roles). Hard to believe, but the Sox got better in the infield. And I still think Jed Lowrie is going to be better at short down the line than he's sometimes given credit for.

• Center Field: I'm giving this it's own spot, for the obvious reason that it is the one spot that is "up for grabs" if you buy the party line being spouted by Tito and Theo. But honestly, is there anyone out there who doesn't believe that Jacoby Ellsbury will be roaming the nooks and crannies that are center field at Fenway? I've always liked Coco Crisp, and I think he deserves to be a starter...somewhere else. But I'm hoping, as many of the self-professed experts are, that Coco stick it out and shuts up for a while, getting enough at bats filling in to raise his market value and to allow the Red Sox baseball ops guys to determine what we really need to get in return for him. Needless to say, we're getting speed, defensive prowess and base running expertise from center this year. And if all goes according to plan, a future All-Star filling up the box scores.

• Left & Right: Manny Being Manny. We know exactly what we're getting here, so I won't even go into it. 30 & 100, and several head scratchers. J.D. Drew. Well, which Drew will we see? Regular season Disappointin' Drew, or post-season "Oh, you wanted me to hit too" Drew? Only time will tell. I'll say this, he' serviceable at worst and as long as your expectations from his bat are low, he won't disappoint. At least he showed he can stay healthy for an entire season. Plus you've got super solid Bobby Kielty back and Brandon Moss just biding his time for a call up. Again, we've lost nothing and have the possibility that Manny goes nuts (in the good way) trying to lock himself into the club picking up his option and that J.D. has a calendar that has 7 Octobers on it.

• Catcher: We've got the Captain. Varitek may be getting old, he may not be the best hitter anymore, but he's the best in-game manager in baseball and brings out the best in the pitching staff. He doesn't get rattled, and if the pitchers listen to him, they'll win games. Remeber Schill's one-hitter? He freely admits if he hadn't shaken off 'Tek, he'd probably have snagged that elusive no-no. Toss in Wake's personal catcher, Doug Mirabelli, to catch the knuckle, and (I feel like a broken record) again, we've lost nothing. Toss in the fact that Kevin Cash has shown that he can catch the knuckle in a pinch, and I'm good here. We know we're not getting a lot of hits out of this position, but go look at Varitek's number with runners on in the late innings. When it matters, he'll come through.

• Manager & Coaching: Tito got his extension, and has been the best manager in baseball over the last few seasons. He got a great staff around him and the players like these guys. What more is there to discuss?

• Organization: I love theses guys. Collectively, they have given Red Sox Nation the Christmas gift that keeps on giving. A winning baseball team full of classy guys, colorful personalities, and they've saved Fenway Park. Just keep doing what you're doing and the Nation will keep growing.

So there you have it, the innaugural REALLY BIG Red Sox Preview. If you had any fears, I hope they have been quelled. If the fever hadn't kicked in yet, I hope it has now. It's baseball season. Put me in Coach, I'm ready to play.

Feelin' Alright...

A look out the window belies it, but if you have a pulse in New England, you know it's baseball season. And it is simultaneously the loudest and quietest Spring Trainings for the Red Sox that I can remember. Quiet: Absent is the typical Spring Training controversy and question marks. Sure, Schilling is a question mark, and there is the "it's a good problem to have" situation in center field, but I'm Feelin' Alright with where we are at. Loud: NESN's unprecedented coverage of work-outs in Fort Meyers. I'll admit it, I've been watching in bits and pieces, if for no other reason than to remember what green grass looks like. I'll do my season preview later this week, but until then, ponder this...have you ever felt as good about a Red Sox team heading into the season?

Two other quick notes on the Sox. First, Congrats to Tito Francona on the new contract. The guy deserves it. Second...Bartolo Colon????? Here's hoping the Sox know something the rest of us don't. If not, watch out in Pawtucket. The added weight might sink Rhode Island into the Atlantic.


The Celtics returned to their winning ways yesterday afternoon. Let me go on record for the first time this year...I hate West Coast swings. 10 o'clock game times are too late, I can barely stay awake for the opening tip, never mind the end of the game. A quick look ahead says tonight is it for the Celtics season, and other than the first games stateside for the Sox in Oakland, their schedule is looking good till the end of May. My sleep patterns can normalize for a couple of months...phew! Speaking of odd game times...if it is evening in Japan, is it OK to have a couple of beers during the game before going to work? Hmmm...probably not the best idea, I guess coffee will have to do.

Congratulations...

...for breakin' my heart, Congratulations, for tearin' it all apart...

I doubt the Brothers Willbury, of Travelling fame, were addressing the New York Giants when they penned that tune, but it sure seems fitting this morning. I sit here, still stunned by what I saw last night. I cannot think of any other event in the annals of New England sports which can be compared to this. I tried, really tried, to compare it to something from the past, perhaps hoping to find consolation in what had come before. But nothing compares. Nothing stands up to what we witnessed just a few hours ago. Billy Buckner? Nope. The Pedro Game? Sorry. The '85 Super Bowl? Not even close. No, in every other instance, we were supposed to lose, or at the very least, had no unwaivering conviction the we would win. This team was different, this team epitomized Perfection. Until 10 hours ago.

Last night, we watched the New England Patriots do nothing that we have come to expect from them. They did not protect Tom Brady. They did not move the ball. They did not score prolifically. They did not make brilliant coaching decisions. They did not win. They did not, in short, play New England Patriot football. If you had asked anyone, anywhere, yesterday morning what would be the outcome of Super Bowl XLII if they knew in advance that the New York Giants would score only 17 points, to a man, they would have declared the Patriots champions. This game turned it all on its head. It defied everything we know about sports. In that sense, it was like the 2004 ALCS, but even that does not reach this level.

In a moment of clarity this morning though, I suddenly felt for the New York Giants. Why? Because history will not look upon the G-men for what they accomplished, but rather will look back at what the Patriots could not accomplish. That 18-1 will scream out for decades to come, the Greatest Team to ever LOSE the Super Bowl. It is often said that no one remembers who lost the Super Bowl, but this will clearly be the exception to the rule. This Super Bowl, outside of New York, will forever be about the Patriots. It just won't be about them for the reason that we thought it would be.

Here's an interesting thing that you probably won't hear too much of on the airwaves today. New England fans aren't mad at the Giants for up-ending the Pats. No, we don't hate the Giants, like we do the Yankees, the Knicks or even the Rangers. For those old enough to remember, or at least old enough to have some connection to those old enough, the Giants were once New England's team, too. I can remember wondering, back in the '70s, why my great-grandfather was a Giants fan, not a Patriots fan. But he was old school, and to him the Pats were the AFL, the minor leagues. I didn't get it then, but I do know. So as strange as it may seem, I don't think you'll find too many New Englanders begrudging the Giants derailing our pursuit of Perfection. No, this one is all on the home town team. There will be no "Eli Bleeping Manning", no "Giants Suck" chants. Instead, we will look inward, we will soul-search, we will try to come to grips with how our team, the team that ALWAYS comes through on the biggest of stages, let the one that meant the most slip away.

As I stared at the television late last night, watching the confetti rain down on the wrong team, I had a familiar feeling. It was the same feeling that came to me one October night in 2004- "What do we do now?" Only that time I was elated, this time, deflated. As the days pass, this pain will ease. Thoughts will turn to pitchers and catchers reporting, to the NBA play-offs. But this will linger. It will haunt. Everything we thought we knew about the New England Patriots was wiped away in 60 minutes last night. Now we are left to wonder, what do we do now?


So before I go, to Neil, to Stu, to Jeff, and to all of the Giants fans out there- Congratulations...for breakin' my heart, congratulations, for tearin' it all apart.













Before I go, this being about all sports, not just football- Tiger Woods came back from being down four strokes, birdies 5 of the last 7 and takes the Dubai? Talk about seeking perfection...




.