Sawks Talk:Offseason
Okay, so we got Lackey, Scutaro, Cameron, Hermida, and now Beltre. We lost Alex Gonzales & even more importantly, Jason Bay.
I'm not sure we're all that much better off for next season. I think Scutaro is better than Alex Gonz, so that's positive. Surprised that happened, but it seems like they just wanted to switch teams. Sorry, but as a hitter Cameron is done, fielding? He's definitely better than Bay, but Bay's bat is better.
I'm hopeful that they'll all hit better in Boston with the Monster only 310 feet away, but I still don't think we should have dropped money on Beltre when Lowell is a question mark. Mikey's a great player, and has been an amazing Red Sock, but even with his injuries and uncertainty, I wouldn't have made the deal for Beltre. I would have saved up all my chips and made a play for Adrian Gonzales from San Diego. Never know, they might do it anyway, using Lowell as a trade piece.
Ideally, I would love to see Youk move to 3rd to make room for Adrian, and have the Sox really start working on this Phenom - Iglesias - to get him ready for the bigs. Maybe Theo Epstein is working on some midseason trades, who knows.
What it all comes down to is I REALLY don't believe he's setting the Red Sox up to compete with the Yankees. Especially getting Johnson at DH and Granderson to take over in left or center. They're going to dominate again next year. We may make it to the playoffs, but I dunno.
And even tho Lackey's wife is a total hottie, I still think he's a bad mouthed, spoiled little brat and I don't see him p
It’s about the little things
Is my son as psyched to be in Cooperstown as I am? I'm not sure. He sure is acting it, but I think he's more psyched to be hanging out with A, his son D, and me all on a boys weekend. And you know what? I'm totally cool with that. I always thought that my kids would play soccer and baseball and swim and be as physical as I was growing up. Aidan's a funny kid. At first, like baseball, I thought he might be getting into japan and stuff related to it because he wanted to be like his old man. And again, he might have been at first, but I think he's really gotten and embraced things about it, that fit in line with my view of it, and then again, he might be slightly skewed in his likes and dislikes.
We're definitely having a good time in kendo together - partially because it's something he and I can do together, and partially because it's really fucking cool 
Sensei is going to give us our gi and hakama on Wed, but he doesn't know that. I'm going to grab it from her and stash it in my car and let him open at our house when we celebrate in front of the tree. [Big shout out to our friend J for the help on the hakama. He'll thank you after he tries it on, meanwhile, maybe you can come and give us instrutions on how to fold it? 
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It's about being appreciated. I had a bad day the other day, and my boss got the feeling that I might be looking for another job and really reached out to make sure I knew how much he valued me and my work. It was really nice to hear, and I was in my car, I pulled over and called him right away - "WHOA! No, I had a shitty day, that never even crossed my mind!" Which is the total truth, but then again, who in their right mind would be moving jobs at this point in the economy? I love my job. Fuckin HATE my commute, but the job itself is challenging and rewarding in itself. And most importantly, I have one
Cooperstown
Last year, right after the Red Sox had won the World Series, I was lucky enough to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame. My best friend and I went and came home to two very upset kids, our sons. So a few months ago, A asked me if I wanted to go back again, this time with the boys.
Duh?!
Leaving tomorrow am with Aidan to go pick up A's son D, going up to Albany, picking A up at the airport, and driving out to Cooperstown. We're gonna spend a few hours walking around town, maybe pick up some souvenirs, grab a bite to eat while talking about baseball the whole time, and then head back to the hotel and let the boys swim for a while before crashing. We're going to go over to the Hall first thing Sunday and spend the day, be back Sunday evening sometime. Gotta love a chance to hang out with your buddy, your kid, and talk baseball for two days
Surprised + confession
Surprised: Well, lets even go so far as saying shocked. Dodgers swept the Cubbies? Did NOT see that coming. I figured the Cubs would destroy LA quickly and loudly.
Confession: I didn't have enough faith in my team. I really thought the Halos were going to eat the Sox for breakfast and tie it up quickly. Starting out in LA, then coming back to Fenway? Figured we'd be able to take the games in Fenway, but I did NOT see Bay and Drew coming through so completely.
Conclusion: All you need to do is get to the offseason, and then all bets are off. When you get to October, everything changes. Boston seemed to maintain to get in. Talk about waking up? Holy crap! I'm still blown away. And very tired from staying up until 2am watching the end of Game 2. Man, so glad I did tho. What an amazing ending! Papelbon was awesome.
I'm curious to see what you all think - were most of the highpower teams playing hurt for a good part or most of the season, or was it just me because Boston was so f'd up all season.
And to go on record - I'm STILL glad Manny left. I wish the Dodgers luck, if only to allow Joe Torre to give the Steinbrenners the bird.
love the one you’re with
Alex has season tix to the Mets and invited me to go tonight. Its amazing how relaxed I feel right now. I'm sitting at Shea, watching them groom the diamond after batting practice, relaxed and easy. With everything I've got going on, its nice to put it all on hold for a small period of time and not worry about anything more important than deciding on popcorn or crackerjacks.
What is it about baseball? Why does it make me feel like a kid? I find it funny that I'm blogging about this and Alex just walked up with a bag of kettlecorn.
Let's see how the Amazin's do against the Padres!!!