Friday, March 14, 2008

Colon Impresses--Bye Bye 'Belli

There was good news and sad news for the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. First, the club released old friend Doug Mirabelli, the personal catcher for Tim Wakefield. Taking over the knuckleball catching duties will be defensive specialist but ultra light hitting Kevin Cash. Dougie's batting average had plummeted from .281 in '04 to .202 last year. Thank you for everything, Dougie. You were there when we needed you, and you will be missed.

Bartolo Colon made his Sox pitching debut yesterday and opened some eyes. Wide. Here is what some said after his performance...

"...a good two-inning performance in a 3-3 tie with the Tampa Bay Rays proved to be good news for the Red Sox. Colon allowed two hits, one run, a walk, and a home run in two innings. He struck out one of the 10 batters faced.
"I thought he was way up in the zone," said a scout, "but for his first time out, pretty good. HE'S GOING TO HELP IF HE CONTINUES LIKE THAT."
There were a lot of scouts on hand to watch Colon, and the consensus was, "WISH WE'D SIGNED HIM."
"It was a lot more velocity than we expected," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. "He had good arm strength for his first time out. Much more life on the ball than the side session he had, which is what we wanted to see."
"I'm thrilled," Colon said. "My arm is responding. I didn't know how hard I was throwing, but it felt great."

Bartolo, we're thrilled, too! And you were consistently throwing between 92-94MPH. Pretty darn good!! The club hopes Bartolo will be ready by April 12th, which is the first day a fifth starter will be needed. That's just about a month away from now, so I hope that gives him plenty of time to hone his skills, skills that still remain after two years of injuries. This could be a stellar pickup for the World Champs and it might allow Clay Buchholz the chance he needs down in Pawtucket to treat his young arm right.

In another news note, Curt Schilling has been placed on the 60 day disabled list. No surprise there. But the most important news of the day was the first mound appearance by Bartolo Colon, our "probable" fifth starter. As many of the scouts who watched his two inning stint said, "...wish we'd signed him." Well, tough luck. He wears a Boston Red Sox uniform now, the best garb in the baseball world.

Click on the title of this post for the entire Colon article from the Boston Globe, and have yourselves a very merry Friday. Thanks for stopping by, and as always, BE WELL. That's the most important wish of all. Forever.

3 Comments:

At 3/14/2008 11:23 AM, Blogger Bosox Fan in Wichita said...

I was pretty disappointed to hear about Dougie. I just hope we're not watching a lot of runs crossing the plate while the catcher is running to the backstop to find the ball. Let's also hope this move proves to be beneficial to the club.

 
At 3/14/2008 12:00 PM, Blogger Suldog said...

Over the past 90 years, the Red Sox have not won a World Series unless they've had somebody named Mirabelli on the roster. I think we should get him back.

 
At 3/14/2008 12:17 PM, Blogger Peter N said...

BFW, I know. Even though Dougie's average has plummeted and his throws to second base have been a tad slower, his replacement has a lifetime batting average in the .150ish range. I (we) just have to hope he (Cash) has a .44 caliber gun to second base. Doug was always there for us, and I too will miss him. Thanks!

SUL, could you explain to me a little bit more? I am fascinated. Before Doug Mirabelli, there was another Mirabelli? Hmmmmm...or this...I'm having a brain lock by not being capable of doing the math. I.E. 2204 and 2007 Word Championships WITH DOUG. And the others would be before the 80 year old threshhold that you set. I think I'm thinking way too much. And for that, I have only YOU to thank. Hey, thank you for the kind words from yesterday, Sul. They touched me.

BFW and SUL, thank you, thank you, and thank you again. Gracias tu, mi amigos.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home