THIS AND THAT, A POTPOURRI OF STUFF UNSAID IN MY HEAD

It is nice to be able to watch baseball, not just the Red Sox, but baseball. Kids out playing on the soggy fields, chasing balls hit off the tee by the fourth after work, looking at my cleats and glove stored in the basement while doing laundry and smiling ever so slightly as I think of getting back out on the field. Better writers than I have pondered the meaning of baseball and springtime. I will just say that as seasons turn to spring, and the green life springs into being, the crack of a bat and the thump of the ball hitting a leather glove is as much a part of nature as the song of a robin and bubbling echoes of a brook.

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The joy of Pedro Martinez giving up a three run bomb to Adam Dunn and then the bullpen blowing the game for him was tempered by the fact that Adam Dunn, for the first time in three years, is not on my fantasy team, and Braden Looper, a.k.a. the chump who gave up the two home runs in the ninth and now has an infinite ERA for the season is on my team.

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Of course, twelve strikeouts in six innings by Pedro is quite impressive. Then again, this being the first week of April, I think that it moves the over/under for Martinez blowing out his shoulder up from August first to about July 15.

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As far as I am concerned, the clock is ticking. I really do not see Johnny Damon in a Red Sox uniform for long. He is on the wrong side of thirty, his media hound routine has got to be wearing thin to ownership and the front office, and he is pricing himself out of Boston. Really, why did the sox trade Dave Robert and not Johnny Damon when there really is not much difference in their role? Simply put, Damon and his $8 million dollar contract had no where to go, while Roberts, at less than half that price, was much easier to move. If they can move Damon at the all-star break, I think the Sox will not hesitate to send him on his way. More than likely, they will be content to let him walk at the end of the year and recoup a first round pick in the amateur draft for him.

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Follow-up to the note on Richard Seymour: Watch Jacksonville DT Marcus Stroud and his negotiations, as Stroud, who teamed with Seymour with the Georgia Bulldogs in college and were both number one picks in 2001, is expected to sign a contract extension soon that will make him the highest paid defensive lineman in the game. What Stroud gets is likely going to be the starting point for negotiations with Seymour.

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Slow news day, I guess. The Boston Herald, who have plans to layoff or phase out over thirty editors according to the front page of the Boston Globe business section, has the front page headline of FENWAY FLEECE: Outpriced Sox lead league at $276 for family of four. Umm, is that considered news? The Sox have been number one on the list of priciest tickets and accoutrements for some time now. Of course, having sold out over seventy-five straight home games, is this a point worth a front page banner? Personally, I think it was incredible restraint showed by the Herald with only a small picture of the long-suffering Pope above the banner. For some reason, with the Herald, I was expecting CORPSE EXTREME CLOSEUP splayed across the entire cover.

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Speaking of the Pope, this is truly the end of an era. For the past quarter-century, my Dad has been able to insult not only the heritage of my mother (Polish), but also her religion (Catholic) with a good Pope joke. Truly, it was a two-for-one special. Alas, those were the glory days.

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