Goodbye boys!

Yesterday started out for me like many other days. I went out for my morning walk at 8 a.m. When I got home I didn't change out of my walking clothes, didn't shower, didn't fix my hair, didn't put on any make-up and didn't brush my teeth. Aren't you glad you weren't with me yesterday? I didn't realize until my sister (affectionately known as SoxCruiser around here) called me at 5 p.m. and asked how I was that I realized I was feeling a bit depressed.

You see, I'm a spring training season ticket holder and I attended my last game of the spring on Thursday. Most people look forward to the end of spring training and the beginning of a new season but it means I don't get to spend any more gorgeous days sitting in the stands at City of Palms Park watching my favorite team play baseball. I like to get there for the National Anthem and I don't leave until they are playing Dirty Water or the song with the words "so you had a bad day". I don't know who sings it or the name of the song but that's what they play at COPP when the Sox lose....or even if they end in a tie like they did on Thursday.

I love to watch all the new guys who have joined the Red Sox in the off season and all the minor leaguers who get the chance to play with the major leaguers. Every spring for the last 3 years I wait for the appearance of Iggy Suarez. I saw him get his first hit at COPP and he was so excited he stayed around to sign autographs after the game. This year he didn't come into a game until the last couple of games. He's listed on the roster for the Lancaster JetHawks (A) who used to be located in Wilmington, Delaware. Forget keeping track of the players, I can't even keep track of where the teams are playing from year to year.

Usually I can look forward to a trip up to Tropicana Field to watch the Sox in April or May but this year the Sox aren't heading back south until the end of July! By that time I will have made my pilgrimage up to Fenway in the middle of July. So, for now, I'll put away my Sox earrings, my "B" necklace, my "B" sneakers, and my two jerseys (Schilling and Matsuzaka) until July. On Monday, April 2 my depression will lift as another exciting season of baseball begins. I have a good feeling about this year but I say that every year. This year the Sox won more games in spring training since 2004. They Sox also won the Mayor's Cup this year. The Sox and Twins play each other 5 times during spring training and the team who wins the most games wins the Mayor's Cup. The last time the Sox won the Mayor's Cup.....2004. These are signs of good things to come this year.

Go Sox in 2007!

What's he selling now?

Pete Rose doesn't have a new book to sell, so why - all of a sudden - does he go on the Dan Patrick Show today and admit that, not only did he bet on baseball, he bet on the Reds - "every night".

Is he so thoroughly stupid that he thinks admitting this now will bring MLB and the fans who don't want to see his face on a plaque at the Baseball Hall of Fame around?

I've maintained all along that if Rose was the derelict gambler he was proven to be, there was no way he didn't bet on the Reds while he was managing them. That alone is a good enough reason for me to NOT put his mug in the Hall of Fame.

A commenter to the story I linked to called Rose a "pathological liar". I have to agree. For years he refused to acknowledge he gambled. Then he admitted to gambling when it was going to make him money (through book sales) and now he's admitting to betting on the Reds during an interview with Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann. What's in it for him this time?

"Everything should be for the fans", Rose said when talking about letting him back into baseball. So he would get nothing from being reinstated...it would all be to make the fans happy.

That sound you hear is Sox Sistah Booklady's head exploding.

Apparently the only benefit Rose wants to enjoy by being allowed back into MLB, is being a manager again. Out of every benefit he could gain, that is the one that bothers me the most. A gambler (in essence, a cheater) a liar...why would we want that man shaping the lives of young players?

On a totally personal and biased note, the man turn my stomach. I hope deeply that this man is never allowed back into Major League Baseball. With all the problems MLB has been having, bringing Rose back into the loop will only serve to push fans away with it being more proof that the commissioner has no concern for what is truly good for baseball.

I hope Rose lives a long and miserable life and never sees the day when he's allowed back into the MLB fold.