Saturday, March 14, 2009

I Know It's Just Spring Training, But...

The Red Sox beat the Yankees last night in Ft. Myers, 8-4. I had the pleasure of watching the game at Professor Thom's with a few other Red Sox fan friends amid a sea of college basketball fans last night. (One odd thing though. We first put the game on the MLB Network, but it was blacked out here in New York. I don't understand that, as the Yankees were NOT carrying the game locally on YES or WWOR. But NESN did carry it and we were able to see it here in New York.)

The Yankees basically fielded their "B" team, with just Xavier Nady and Chien-Ming Wang as first team starters. The Sox hammered Wang for 7 runs in just 1 2/3 innings (although his defense let him down in the second, so he should have been out of the inning with less damage). Mike Lowell and David Ortiz (just back from the WBC) both went deep as the Red Sox put the game away early.

Tim Wakefield looked shaky, giving up all four runs in 2 2/3 innings. But Junichi Tazawa pitched an effective inning, as did Takashi Saito. Tazawa has a terrific curve ball, and Saito continues to impress this spring. He may well end up being the best pickup the Red Sox made this past off-season.

You can't get too worked up over wins in spring training, but it's always nice to beat the Yankees any time of year. On my Facebook page last night, I said that no one got hurt, as that is always a big concern in March. But now it turns out that Julio Lugo left the game in the first with pain in his knee, and he had an MRI on it after the game. The fear is now Lugo may have a torn meniscus. It's a shame because Lugo was off to a great start this spring, and the Red Sox should have more information about the injury later today.

Rumors are now also strong that an announcement by the Red Sox is coming this weekend regarding the five-year contract extension for Jon Lester that came out last Sunday but was denied by the player earlier this week.

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