Boston Red Sox vs New York Mets Spring Training 3-16-11

Anyone watch baseball in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day?  Is this blog post an utter exercise in futility?  Well, we’ll see.  Here is today’s lineup:

Let’s pay special attention to Francona’s approach to the Ellsbury/Crawford order in the lineup.  Both men have amazing speed and on-base skills so these two men could steal 6 or 7 bases today if they both get on a lot.  There is the chance for lots of hit and run action, but the Sox are missing Gonzalez, Youkilis and Ortiz from the lineup today so the big RBI bats behind them are missing.

Ellsbury CF

Crawford LF

Cameron DH

Lowrie SS

Drew RF

Hoover C

Anderson 1B

Sutton 3B

Spears

Lackey SP

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Boston Red Sox vs Atlanta Braves Spring Training 3-16-11

Lester beat cancer, he can have a hot wife.

Interesting choice by Francona today as he doesn't have Jacoby Ellsbury in the lineup and moved Mmarco Scutaro into the leadoff position instead of Pedroia.  There's some grumbling being made that the Sox have their own top of the order issues that are similar to what the Yankees are going through in New York.

Bobby Valentine, "Crawford Doesn't Fit the Image of the Red Sox 3 Hitter"

I was shocked last night to hear Bobby Valentine, on ESPN 2, claiming that Boston fans would never accept Carl Crawford as the number 3 hitter on the Red Sox because he doesn't fit the IMAGE of what their number three hitter.
After stammering over himself, for a bried second or two, Valentine went on to state that Red Sox fans remember Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski, and can't have a person like Crawford battig third in their order because he wasn't a "pure" hitter.  But this qualification only only came after he must have realized he was calling the entire Red Sox fan base racist xenophobes who could not think that a black man that gets on base at a historic rate could succede in Boston just because he doesn't fit the image of Ted Williams.

Stud after Red Sox Stud Shut Down by Yankee Rookie

Here is the one down side of sending your entire every day lineup out in a meaningless Spring Training game against your biggest rival and their top pitching prospect: said prospect could very well own your biggest hitters and wish list of future Hall of Famers.

New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox Spring Training Lineups 3-14-11

What started out early this morning as a routine spring exhibition gets the rivalry treatment on national television tonight between the Yankees and Red Sox as, Manny Banuelos, one of the young studs of the Yankee farm system gets the last minute nod from manager Joe Girardi to replace injured Sergio Mitre.  The game will be on ESPN 2 at 7:05 pm

Mariano Rivera himself called the twenty-year old the greatest pitching prospect he has ever seen.