Polls for you to answer…Full Monday wrap-up
11:02 PM — Our blogs this season were converted to Word Press, and I absolutely love it. I’ve been playing around with all the options, and now we can do polls. Here’s a sample for all of you to answer.
[polldaddy poll=4806037]
1:33 PM — All minor league exhibition games were cancelled this morning due to wet grounds. The heavy rain cleared out at 9:00 am, but the fields were deemed unplayable. Per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe: John Lackey threw 74 pitches over five innings in a simulated game at the Player Development Complex.
Facing Carl Crawford, Kevin Youkilis and assorted minor leaguers, Lackey looked solid.
Jonathan Papelbon (21 pitches) and Daniel Bard (13) each pitched an inning.
Crawford and Youkilis each had nine at-bats.
10:45 AM — Most of the weather in Florida featured thunderstorms, lightning and heavy raining during the early morning, but the temps should reach in the mid 80’s. The Red Sox scratched John Lackey from his scheduled start in Dunedin, due to the rain, but he’s expected to pitch in a minor league today. I’m not sure who he is pitching for, but I can tell you that Portland and Pawtucket are playing at the Twins’ complex — so there’s a chance I could get some photos of Lackey.
Last night I had dinner with a couple of former Sea Dogs: Iggy Suarez (infielder and fan favorite) and Brad Pearson (Sea Dogs trainer, now the Red Sox Minor League Medical Director).
It was pretty nice being perched up on the second floor of a very popular restaurant on the beach (Beached Whale, weird name), and have seven flat screen TV’s about 15 feet away. I can only imagine watching football during the December in shorts, and 90 degree-heat.
Yesterday was a camp day for the Red Sox Minor Leaguers, but the main attraction was Jon Lester, who pitched five innings in a intra-squad game. Lester allowed five runs (four earned) over five innings. Not sure why people even keep track of these stats, he was throwing a lot of fastballs on 0–2 counts, but did snap over some beautiful curve balls. Lester starts opening day for Boston in Texas this Friday. Jason Varitek caught Lester, and had about five at-bats. One of the thrills of the start was watching Luis Exposito park a towering homer over the right-field fence. It was a blast, and got both dugouts going.
There was another occasion when Lester yelled out Kalish’s name after Ryan got a hit off him. I don’t think it was pronounced right, oh, Happy Birthday Ryan!
I’ll have some more reports around 4ish — but you can follow me on twitter at seadogsradio.
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