Lammycat

Loretta really stunk it up last year, particularly in the last half of the season, and particularly away from Fenway. Plus, he doesn't have a place on the team besides a back up at first or second (where the back up slots are pretty well taken care of, anyway), as Dustin Pedroia will be given the chance to start at second.

And with the signing of Piniero goes the signing of Keith Foulke to the Indians. I hope he can get his form back, I liked Foulke (at least in his first year with the Sox).

I'm a big fan of the name "Earl," (it's just plain fun to say) but my wife will have nothing to do with it. As the birth of our 3rd son approaches, I've been making a late push for similar "old man" (as my wife refers to them) names: Gus, Walter, Oscar, etc. I conceded to middle-name billing for the first two kids, and am pretty damn adamant about winning the bid for the first-name slot. The clock winds down....

Not that I've heard, but that isn't means for concern. The word is Theo Epstein is (as are most baseball people) on vacation for a few days (read: the holidays). If it drags on to next week it'd raise my eyebrow.

I listen to Being There at least twice a day in its entirety. Haven't missed a day yet since it's been released.

Excellent book. A partial autobiography of his. Bukowski was a huge proponent of his (IIRC, there's a blurb of Bukowski's in the foreward), too, as I'm sure you know. And he was a Colorado (Boulder) native, to boot.

Yeah, Piniero's been pretty wretched the last three years, actually. I guess, with the market for pitchers and what they've been receiving this off-season, the Sox see it as a pretty low-risk deal (whereas $4 million w/ incentives is relatively "low"). Maybe they see something in his injury history and/or performance/mechanics they believe they can correct to make him a decent closer, too. Still, I don't see Piniero contributing in any substantial manner, but who knows....

I loved Bluebeard. Read it in college many moons ago.... Along the same vein as Hodie, I started this a few nights ago. It came out a couple of years ago but I couldn't put it down at the book store:

This is true. You'd think the Odwalla e-coli outbreak in the 90s would've help to bring the price down, too. I'd take an Odwalla over a Naked any day, too.

It is pricey. This may change, though, as Pepsi just bought them out recently (I think I remember seeing figures around 1/2 billion). Pepsi may try to find a way to bring them more to the public view. I only see this stuff in health food stores/bagel shops out here.

Go-Go's opened at the show I caught, as well. They were, of course, huge at the time.

I caught them in New Haven in 1982 and remember it as a pretty decent show, though being a bit disappointed at some of the arrangements of the tunes, as well as the brevity given to some of their songs. Their first three albums hold up very well, IMO, and to a lesser degree so does Ghost In the Machine. Never liked Synchronicity, even though it's often the critics' favorite. They've got a great body of work and I'd like to catch them (original lineup, of course) at a theater show but wouldn't go to a large venue.

Yes. I purchased all these things between Christmas day and yesterday. All together under $100, though. I'm cool for now....

I ventured into the world of eBay for the first time. I scored a few Red Sox jumpers for the new baby, a neat Red Sox shirt, a couple Garcia ties for work, a cool watch, a home dock for the new iPod, the Tiger program to convert my eMac, and a D. Matsuzaka rookie card.

And fresh out of the oven! Oh my.

The complete "Get A Life" series. And world peace.

Very cool tune. Almost like a slow Polka beat there....

These two albums strongly stick out in my mind of getting exceptionally heavy play in my youth: And of course, who hasn't seen a copy of this in the house at one point in their lives?:

Indeed. My first thought was something in the "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder vein. You know, "funky" in the "my feet smell bad from that jog" kind of funky. In other words....a rockin' funky or a Polka-like funky? Funky.

And in your gripe the word "bad" = having deep pockets? I guess I'd rather that the team I route for is able to afford more often than not. If that's "bad," so be it. To be in the same division as the Yankees has been a bane since at least the beginning of the Steinbrenner era, and not just for the Red Sox. With the FO team that purchased the Sox a few years ago, the pockets have gotten deeper, and as a fan of the team, this is good for me. This doesn't mean the Yankees won't generally scoop up any available veteran throughout the season by outbidding the majority of teams, including the Re

Congratulations on the arrival of Parker! He'll require some pretty small headphones I'd imagine.

I believe the article said he'd be present for the birth. He'll be working while mom and baby are resting/recouping. Probably not his ideal situation, but it's not like he's missing the birth.....Plus, he'll be gone for 5 hrs?

A nice piece in yesterday's Baseball Prospectus helping to outline the correct (IMO) belief of money tossed at Matsuzaka for posting rights. Again, looking at the Bhttp://baseballprospectus.com/article.php? http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article....3dff40bfffcdccc

Posting $51 million for the sole right to negotiate with him is a business move, not speculation. Thanks MattZ for summarizing most of the points I apparently struggled to make yesterday....mainly the Japanese market goldmine that opens up to the Sox if the deal goes down.