Bambino's Curse

My Baerga hopes

I'm starting to get really impatient with spring training. I know it's necessary (just look what happened to Pedro last year after getting a late start in spring), but, as a fan, I'm really ready for the "it now counts" games to begin.

I'm itching to see Baerga do well. I like the picture I get in my head of Baerga being a real success with the Red Sox. And, so far,things are going in that direction:

When Little witnessed Baerga in action on Wednesday, however, his jaw dropped for all the right reasons. Trim and toned for the first time in nearly a decade, the 33-year-old immediately showed Little that his appearance in training camp was far more than a courtesy stop.

Baerga led off the fifth inning by lining a double down the left-field line and immediately stole third base. Tony Clark followed with a pop to second baseman Tomas De La Rosa just a few steps beyond the infield cut-out. Baerga noted the infielder's momentum carrying him toward right field and alertly tagged up, hustling home ahead of the throw with a head-first slide (Horrigan, The Boston Herald).

Now that's the kind of thing I'm waiting to see in April and beyond.

Site Technical Note: Links and new windows

Wanted to let you know that beginning today I will not create links such that when clicked they open a new browser window before going to the linked website.

It seemed like a good idea to do the new window thing a year ago, but I'm no longer convinced. I know that when I'm browsing other sites, I like to have my own choice. Sometimes I want a new window, sometimes I don't.

Since it's easier for you, as user, to make that choice (right click on link in Win, option+click and hold in Mac) on your own, I'll leave it at that.

I've seen some sites that have a fancy "check this box for links in new windows" option, but that seems too limiting as well, since it may depend on the link itself whether you want a new window or not.

(Yep, I probably think way too much about this kind of stuff. Comes with the profession.)

Edes is feeling good

I'm not the only one in good spirits. Boston Globe reporter Gordon Edes had this to say in his online chat today:

. . . but anyone selling this team short does so at his own peril. If there's skepticism, it revolves around health issues, especially as they pertain to Pedro. But I think there is every reason to believe this team will be in the postseason mix.

I happily concur.

In a good groove

I'm in one of those moods where if I were a major leaguer I'd be seeing the seams of the ball as it leaves the pitchers hand, knowing the pitch coming, and cranking on it.

For the past day or so my mojo has been in the house. I'm kicking ass at work. I've got new ideas for web designs, both work and personal, coming so fast I barely have time to sketch one on to a page before another one comes.

Everything just seems to be in alignment. For instance this morning, while walking with the big bulldog, Butch, we came upon a half dozen deer, loping along grazing at the wood's edge only 20 feet away. Normally, a situation like this would lead to instant pandemonium: 110 lbs of dog with 500+ years of predator chase-bite-subdue DNA coursing through his veins, instinctively going full tilt in pursuit, me yelling "Heel" while my heels literally bounce and drag as I'm yanked along several yards before Butch relents, realizing chasing deer is not in the cards. And the deer, meanwhile, with white tails up go scattering through the woods in a rustle of leaves and snapping twigs.

But not today.

Today, deer looked at dog. Dog looked at deer. Ho hum. Life in Eden where animals live in harmony.

The Bradford pear trees are in full bloom. The Red Sox have made the last of their adminstrative and coaching changes. There are 16 days 'til opening day.

I'm in a good groove.

Headphone Nation

Little is going to stick with the headphone rule for the club:

. . . Little said he will require players to wear headphones when listening to music in the clubhouse or on team buses or airplanes. Kerrigan ran into problems with both Manny Ramirez and Ugueth Urbina last September when they refused to adhere to the headphones rule . . . " (Horrigan, The Boston Herald).

Interesting considering that I once read (but can no longer remember the source) how minor league managers credit the Walkman as a cause of the erosion of team unity. On the long bus rides ubiquitous to the minors, instead of groups of players hanging out to play cards or strum guitars or just shooting the breeze with each other, they now all don headphones and Walkman's and live in their own private little worlds for the 12 hour hauls between cities.

It shouldn't surprise us, then, when ballplayers increasingly seem to ever more solipsistic in their actions. Baseball is a reflection of our culture, and if you look at teenagers today, with their omnipresent Walkman's and cell phones at their ear, never giving themselves over to the space they inhabit but always somewhere else at the same time, be it their music or a conversation with someone somewhere else, you will see this sort of detachment.

I wonder what music Ted Williams would have listened to on his Walkman or iPod?

And what did ballplayers do before personal music devices. Certainly Yaz, Tiant, and Rice all had divergent tastes in music, so what did they do in the clubhouse?

"Every thang's gonna be all white!"

Have you heard about the intramural basketball team from the University of Northern Colorado who are looking to make a statement about mascots that are named after Native Americans? They call themselves the "Fighting Whities" and have an incredibly humorous mascot of a clip-art style 50s gray flannel suitish white guy.

What a novel form of protest. The only problem is it sort of works against them. I mean "whities" doesn't seem offensive, just funny. And as the InstaPundit points out, "People usually name teams for people (or animals) they respect, or at least somewhat like; that's why team names are generally not perceived as derogatory."

And speaking of race, LA blogger Tony Pierce had a poignant take on the Red Sox hiring of Grady Little:

Maybe it should be said early here, that I get hyper-sensitive when Black manager candidates are overlooked, especially by cities who are rumored to be racist (Pierce, Baseball Blog 2002).

As you can imagine, his comment led to lots of emails from Boston fans. He posts two of them on his blog including the email I sent him.

Littleisms already starting

You heard it here first. Remember when I predicted that if Grady Little was named manager we'd have to endure countless puns and word plays on his name?

Well, it's already starting. Did you notice this headline in yesterday's Globe? "Steward Little" Pretty funny, for now. I imagine it'll begin to get old quickly though.

Meanwhile, Grady Little brings out the joking mood in everyone:

``He and I never got along - I never liked him that much,'' said Nomar Garciaparra, trying, as usual, to generate a back-page headline. ``When they announced him, everyone else was happy. Not me (Silverman, The Boston Herald)''

But Nomar was just joking.

''He's easygoing, easy to get along with. When times are down, he'll probably make a joke and make fun of you. Instead of getting all fired up, you have a tendency to laugh. He's a good-natured person and now we have to go out there and play for him. Grady's a good guy. I don't see him changing a lot'' (Shaughnessy, The Boston Globe).

I could use a little (oops, that was an unitentional pun) joking this morning as well. I'm still trying to recover from losing the SXSW best weblog award to this site. Then again, it was great to be nominated, especially considering that Bambino's is so focused on the Red Sox. (You know a lot of people, especially the new media types, consider baseball an anachronism, something completely outdated.)

Hold the champagne, for now

I'm back, The site didn't win (more on that later).

Red Sox in Spring continue to look good. Now that all the uniforms are filled, we can begin to imagine how good this year'll be.

Regular postings return tomorrow . . .

Spinning

My head is spinning with all the news. Alou wants the manager's job? Lowe and Fossum combine for a 7 inning no-hitter?

Meanwhile, I'm writing this from the trade show floor at SXSW (that's why I haven't provided links to the above stories, no time), and I'm starting to get nervous about the awards thing tonight. Yeah, I'll admit it. I'd like to win. I'm competitive by nature.

I'm psyched the site is back up. I have no clue how long it was down for.

Met up with an old friend mine last night here in Austin who is die hard fan (Conn. native) and we just talked Red Sox for hours last night, much to my wife's consternation.

Life is good.