Boston Groundhog Day ( Red Sox ) (Becket: health, best, park)

[rapking of boston]

The Red Sox truck has left Fenway Park today ( 2.8.11 ) for Ft Myers. SPRING IS COMING !!!!!!!!!!

[Cliff Clavin]

Not soon enough.

[ogre]

Nice. One of the annual milestones telling us that spring is drawing closer. Now the question is whether the Sox will give us a nice hot summer.

[rapking of boston]

The Red Sox is like the time ( Spring ahead, Fall back ).

[ogre]

Well, it used to be like that Rapking, for a loooooong time. But you know, then along came the Idiots of '04, and the Curse was broken. That spring forward and fall back situation isn't so much true anymore. At least not unless they ever return to their old ways long enough to re-establish that history of heartbreaking near misses.

The question I raised earlier about whether this summer will go well had more to do with this year's team. I haven't read any pre-season predictions yet, but I'm guessing many analysts will pick the Sox as the favorites in the AL. Some might take them as favorites over the Phillies to win the whole thing, but I think we'll have to wait and see. Looking good in pre-season is a lot different from being there at the end. I also think this year's Sox may have enough question marks in their pitching so that I'm really thinking this is a wait-and-see kind of season, depsite the strong group of position players they've put together.

Always nice to see those signs of spring, though, like the van leaving for the trip south.

[lrfox]

It's a battle of attrition. IF the team stays healthy, they're the favorites on paper. As you know, health is a BIG "if" and "on paper" doesn't always count (that's why they play the games, as cliche as that may sound).

I like this team. I have questions though. Adrian Gonzalez needs to adjust to AL East pitching (no easy task) and recover from an injury. Youk, Pedroia, Drew, Ellsbury and Beckett are all recovering from injuries last year. I hope they'll be fine, but those are a lot of starters with concerns. I think the lineup is good, but The bottom of the order scares me (Scutaro/Saltalamacchia- sp?) and who knows what to do at the top of the order (though many teams would love to have the same lineup "problem" that the Red Sox do)? Aside from Lester and Buchholz, the rotation could go either way. If Lackey and Beckett regain even a semblance of their former selves and Dice-K remains Dice-K (low innings, high pitch count, era in the mid fours), this is at LEAST the second best rotation in baseball (tough to top Philly). If not, you could have struggles 3-5.

The good news is that the team has depth in every aspect of the game. They're built to withstand some injuries and still win. I think they have an excellent team; solid in all areas. However, I wouldn't be a Red Sox fan if I wasn't skeptical. We'll see. I'm so pumped for this season.

[ogre]

Good point, LR, about not really being a Sox fan if you didn't have some doubts. Even though I pointed out above, that fortunes had changed, I was talking more about how the Sox themselves have done in recent years. When it comes to how fans react, myself included, I think it's too deeply ingrained to expect the Sox to disappoint you in the end for that to be completely erased by a couple of championships.