Dan Gould

I never saw that one, Matthew, pretty funny. I still find it astounding though that a so-called Sox fan could believe that it was anything but blood.

Jack Morris fans need to deal with the Dave Steib crowd before they bitch if Schilling makes it.

You never cease to astonish me.

So far we've got: Mike Weil Derek AKA WorldB3 Big Al Jim Sangrey Evan AKA Bright Moments

I say Mussina and Schilling will be very interesting cases when they come up for a vote (and is Schilling on the ballot a year earlier than Mussina since he was never on the active roster in 2008?). I appreciate the argument about Schilling's win total being too low but an argument can be made for him being the greatest righthanded power pitcher of his era ...

Danica Patrick is purdy

Hopefully the fourth time will be the charm. Seriously though, this will be my last BFT, and while it has the expected grease factor, I've gone for an interesting mix of relative rarities that certain people will get because they know them but others will probably be grateful for the chance to hear, I also suspect that there are more than the usual number of "gimmes" so if you want to feel good that you got some right, feel free to join in. And since this is the last one I'll do, I decided to expand on the concept of having a "faux Gene Harris" and a "real Gene Harris" track. I've programmed a whole mini-set I refer to as "Is it Gene or Is It Memorex?" Its a two disc BFT, please PM me if you want to participate. Big Al, the Head Honcho of All Things BFT, will handle CD duplication and mailing, so if you'd like hard copies rather than a download, please post as soon as possible as I still need to get master discs to him.

There is a pretty clear age difference on this one. Everyone that I know is at least a few years older than me seems to delight in the memory, while I don't have the slightest clue. My artistic career began and ended with one of these: (My drawings weren't nearly as intricate as this one.)

Sorry to hear of this, Allan - I was hoping you'd be able to participate in my upcoming BFT. Looking forward to your return.

I think you heard him on an especially bad day ... there are radio broadcasts of the "Giants of Jazz" group circa '71 and '72 where he certainly sounds better than "comatose".

Everytime I think about Bard, I remember Craig Hansen - upper 90s fastball, filthy slider, and in the end, no control, no clue, Calvin Schiraldi face when the going got tough, shipped out to Pittsburgh in the deal for Bay. Plus this kid began his pro career as a starter and was an unmitigated disaster, with 73 walks in 75 innings or something like that. And yet he's really turned it around, and he reaches that velocity with such apparent ease. I can't see how he makes the club out of spring training even though he looks very good so far, but I expect he'll get called up by July or so. Given Papelbon's salary demands, I do believe that they regard Bard as the long-term closer, as it seems likely Papelbon won't give up any free agency years even if he does sign a deal, and he wants to "set the market" when he does reach free agency. The only thing missing in this is Scott Boras and I'd expect that Papelbon will sign with him soon enough. If Bard continues to develop, I could very easily see Papelbon be allowed to walk in a couple of years and Bard takes over as closer. Could be a real lights-out situation for Boston: 8th. Bard. 9th. Papelbon. Though, to have two hard throwers back-to-back is not good out of a bullpen. Maybe Bard in the 7th, and curve ball specialist in the 8th., then finish with Papelbon. How about Saito in the eighth? He's looked very sharp so far and reports no physical problems at all. And Ramirez was very effective setting up in KC, especially against righties (third lowest BAA in the bigs). And there is still Okajima, who for all of his troubles last season ended up with very similar, and pretty dominant, stats as in 2007. And don't forget Masterson, who should be ticketed for the bullpen in the next week or so, since Buchholz has looked sharp and Penny is coming along nicely. He was excellent when he went to the pen last year, and in fact the whole staff settled down and was dominant once he was slotted in. Delcarmen is slotted for the sixth inning, and he could probably set up for most teams. And that's without Bard on the roster at all! The bullpen could potentially be extraordinary, IMHO. Which is probably good, because the offense might not be.

Everytime I think about Bard, I remember Craig Hansen - upper 90s fastball, filthy slider, and in the end, no control, no clue, Calvin Schiraldi face when the going got tough, shipped out to Pittsburgh in the deal for Bay. Plus this kid began his pro career as a starter and was an unmitigated disaster, with 73 walks in 75 innings or something like that. And yet he's really turned it around, and he reaches that velocity with such apparent ease. I can't see how he makes the club out of spring training even though he looks very good so far, but I expect he'll get called up by July or so. Given Papelbon's salary demands, I do believe that they regard Bard as the long-term closer, as it seems likely Papelbon won't give up any free agency years even if he does sign a deal, and he wants to "set the market" when he does reach free agency. The only thing missing in this is Scott Boras and I'd expect that Papelbon will sign with him soon enough. If Bard continues to develop, I could very easily see Papelbon be allowed to walk in a couple of years and Bard takes over as closer.

Wild, wacky stuff. Looks like a great LP for a Blindfold Test. Is there a Billy Wiggins who played drums or would that be Smilin' Billy?

PM coming.

There is a recording of that band at Free Trade Hall, I can't remember if the source was a radio broadcast or an audience recording.

Or ignominy.

Interesting news that the Red Sox released Josh Bard, making it apparent that George Katteras, who had been identified as a potential Varitek replacement several seasons ago, is the odds on favorite to be the back up. He was out of options, so sneaking him through waivers was going to be tough. He's got a fairly decent bat with some pop (22 homers) and he does hit lefty, where Varitek struggles so badly. I'm actually glad to see him have a shot at the majors.

I watched the eighth inning and then had to turn it off, I figured they were done as they looked pretty listless.

We all know about beer goggles but did anyone know that they can explain signing with the Nationals? http://soxblog.projo.com/2009/03/tavarez-signs-w.html

The law was changed in 1987 to allow states to raise limits to 65 on rural interstates. In fact, according to Wikipedia, Kansas was one of the states to make that change by the end of 1987. Congress gave authority back to the states in 1995.

Last night Lou Merloni said that the abdominal strain is tied into the oblique. He said he was very concerned with this injury and until he sees Pedroia play a few games he will be very nervous about this injury. I don't know any thing about muscle groups but Merloni seemed very wary of this injury. It also seems that Bay wants to test the free agent market ,this is not really good news. He took groundballs today; he's going to take batting practice Thursday and play Saturday. Merloni is the only person who has implied this is serious or even comparable to an oblique (which is adjacent and notoriously more difficult to rehab). As for Bay, he's free to test the free agent market, after a season in which there is a 15 - 20% decline in attendance, does he expect that the market will be better than it is now, or it will be demonstrably worse or at best, the same? The only problem I see is that Theo is likely to stick closely with the established market even though he could very well give him a slightly larger offer and re-sign him. I could see Theo nickle and diming him so that another team could get him. OTOH, its also possible that the Yankees will go after Bay since Nady and Damon will both be free agents, so perhaps Bay wants to see if the Yankees bid up the price. That would make free agency worthwhile, even in this market.

http://books.google.com/books?id=sKamViqeA...4&ct=result Page 13 seems to indicate that this statistic isn't elusive, it doesn't exist.

Congrats, Cary! :party: (be sure to play that Sidewinder and Sons disc in utero, its never too late to start! )

I don't see Pudge doing much, though switching to the league with lesser pitching might help a little.

a man after my own heart.