It's finally next year....BASEBALL IS BACK!
 

Today is the start of Spring Training games!!!!!! Tomorrow starts the World Baseball Classic!!!!!! It's the most wonderful time of year....yes, that time of year when the Cubbie Bears are full of promise and realize that THIS COULD BE THE YEAR!!!

Hey, hey, holy mackerel,
no doubt about it,
the Cubs are on their way!

The Cubs are gonna hit today
they're gonna pitch today
they're gonna field today
come what may,
the Cubs are gonna win today!

Hey, hey holy mackerel
no doubt about it
The Cubs are on their way

They've got the hustle
they've got the muscle
the Chicago Cubs are on their way!!!


What I would die to be at HoHoKam Park in sunny Mesa, Arizona right now, Old Style in hand, cheering on the cubs!

I already have tickets 28 April vs Milwaukee at Wrigley Field...I don't care how much plane tickets are!

the WBC starts in about 7 hours I believe...I have worked on my sleep schedule all week so that I can stay up all night and watch the games. the Braves are going for 15 straight this year I believe.

What time does the first WBCgame start at?

I cant wait to watch the DOminican and US teams. Heres hoping for a Domican, US final.

I believe Japan and China play at 1:30am...and then someone else in that group plays at 4:30 or so

The Rockies had a great Exhibition Season...
The games count now...time to start losing.

hhaha man. it would be nice to see the ROckies do good huh?

LOL Rockies. At least Coors field is really nice, as long as you avoid the Coors products. Tickets are cheap as hell, too.

you serious? i always wanted to go there


Coors field was one of the OG new old school ballparks too

Korea and Chinese Taipai come on ESPN 2 at 2 am (although the game was on ESPN deportes live at 9:30)

China and Japan come on at 4:30

I'm hoping that my Braves do well this year. My Gramps would be pi**ed if he was still here watching their last past few seasons.

14 years of dominance within the division, but only 1 world title...kinda sucks...but it beats being stuck with a team like the Devil Rays.

Exactly - waiting for the day when Delmon Young gets to the majors and B.J. Upton gives up on the shortstop thing.

I'm interested to watch the Classic, especially after all the hand-wringing over it the past few months.

My boys had a busy off-season; hopefully the pitching staff shapes up, Randy turns the clock back a bit, and Wang has a good year.

Then it must be time for my annual shout-out:

GO PHILLIES!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2352752

I'm not sure why the Nationals made the move for Soriano if they didn't bring up the position switch. The guy has made it clear before that he isn't open to changing positions, and they gave up a very good player (Wilkerson) to get him.

If the Cubs do not do well this year, then they need to fire Dusty Baker. They should have fired him after last season.

3 run homer for the Braves in the 9th to win it today...not a bad start for the season though

and Delmon Young and BJ Upton are gonna help the D-rays out a lot. I got the privaledge of watching them both when they played in Charleston, but I still dont think that it will be enough to help them crawl out of the cellar of the AL-East.

The problem is, Young isn't close enough to the bigs yet (his K to walk ratios still are sketchy in the minors), and Upton is up in the air with his position, and where he fits. They definitely could help out down the road, but it won't be this year.

naaaaah . . . waaaay better to continue letting him crush the dreams of young pitching staffs everywhere. I would be stunned if anyone other than Zambrano gets to 200 IP, and the Cubs are a pretty safe bet to finish 3rd in that division (although the Brewers have a shot at winning it - you heard it here first, it completely depends on how Sheets holds up, and whether Davis and Capuano replicate last year's K-rates . . . ).

The Brewers having a shot to win the division is one of the worst kept secrets so far to begin the year.

Ha, agreed - I disagree with many of the talking heads, though, in that I feel they won't win more than say 90 (adjusted) games - but I don't think the Cardinals are really all that good either. They'll both have inflated win totals b/c that division sucks, but I don't think the Cards will be very good at all.

I love the Fightin Phils

Too bad I doubt they'll win another pennant while I'm alive. :( :mad:

Go Braves,yay and stuff.

I am down here in south Florida, home of spring training. I'm hoping to get up to a Braves home game up at Disney, or if not that then the Cardinals-Braves game at Roger Dean stadium near me in Jupiter.

A couple of big stories the last two days. First, the Red Sox traded Bronson Arroyo to the Reds for Willy Mo Pena.

Second, Alfonso Soriano refused to take the field to start the Nationals' spring training game last night, because he did not want to play the outfield. An already ugly situation is just going to keep getting uglier.

If I'm a Boston fan, I'm liking the moves they made this off season.

I thought you hated Boston?

Ofcourse I hate Boston. I said, If I were a Boston fan, then I'm liking the moves they made.

Why? They made some pretty good strategic moves.

Coco Crisp is only going to get better and Willy mo Pena has star potential and Beckett is a good addition.

And they're all 26 or younger . . . unlike a certain other team that may or may not be starting a series of 80 year olds

I've been trying to convince people in my office that the Arroyo/Pena trade was a very good move. If I were a Boston fan, I would be very happy.

As a Yankee fan, I can't say that I am.

Only the Massholiest of all the Massholes should hate this trade - Arroyo trended WAY downward last year (K-rate well below 5 per 9), and while he was a genuinely cool guy, he's essentially fungible at this point.

I can't imagine not liking this deal, except that Dustin Mohr gets pooped on again.

I really wish Coco was still in a Indians uniform. :( I know he'll be a good addition to the red sox just as long as he doesn't let the pressure of being on a bigger stage bother him.


as for the Tribe, Jason Johnson will be a good fit as the fifth starter. I have yet to hear how Paul Byrd is doing. as long as out pitching staff keep us in the game during most of the season, I think we can get the wild card.

Gerry Callahan rips it in the Herald, and in Gordon Edes' chat on Boston.com, he repeatedly mentions Pena's K rate and defensive deficiencies. I'd pretty much expect that much from those guys though, and the only complaints I've heard are from people who don't know much about baseball.

I always thought Arroyo was way overrated in this city.

He's loved because he plays the guitar and hooks up with northeastern freshmen.

The first comment I had when he was traded is "The freshman girls of Boston must be really bummed." No one knew what I was talking about, though.

Oh, so the usual members of the Douche Bag Coalition are out? Yawn, let me know when Massarotti or anyone local that I care about rips it (FWIW, Gammons was practically hard about the trade in his blog).

It's amazing that these relatively major media outlets can't comprehend that strikeouts aren't actually a bad thing - and they might actually be good, preventing double plays at the bottom of the order and showing a positive correlation with both power and overall batter's value.

(This may also explain why, no matter how well we wrote or how much we knew, you and I would probably never have these guys' jobs - it's sick)

The pitching situation for Cleveland will be interesting this year. Losing Millwood hurts, even if he did put up bigger than normal numbers last year. Losing wickman hurts as well. I know Cleveland fans don't want to see the bullpen blowing games left and right like they did two years ago.

On another note, I still can't get over the fact that Jason Johnson was the opening day starter for the Tigs a couple of years ago.

The twins should be back this year making for an interesting three team race in the central. If Baker and Lirano (sp?) keep progressing, their rotation will be sick.

Baker and Liriano will both be sick . . . but even if they have an ERA of 2.50, the Twins still have to score more than one run.

It takes a Herculean belief in the ghost of Rondell White to think the Twins offense will be anything but ass - and I'm the biggest believer in Mauer and Morneau you'll ever meet.

what is wrong with hooking up with northeasten freshman...as long as they are 18

I would assume nothing if your wife is cool with it and the pictures don't end up all over the interweb.

Maybe he's in an Andrei Kirilenko type marriage...

you better post those pictures