The ONE and ONLY 2006 Baseball Thread!!

[ChrisPitch]

You forgot to mention the Braves\' lights-out closer. Who is that again?

[antbach]

:Yankees fans sit silent and laugh at Mets and Sox fans bickering:

what else is new :lol:

[Me!]

I\'m not gonna deny the fact that Pedro is a good pitcher, some times a team change is what is needed fact is he was always choking in important games against a certain important team, in a certain house that a certain former red sox built

[Dyed_Tie]

Red Sox team ERA last year: 4.74

Not bad for a team who lost their ace and closer...

Seriously though I would like to stick Schilling and Wells in a cannon and catapult respectively (mainly because Wells wouldn\'t fit in a cannon) and send them out of town.  They need to shut their effin\' mouths.

I bet the Sox have more 2B than any team in the majors, it\'s all part of their master plan.  Just you wait, you\'ll be singing their praise when Enrique Wilson wins the MVP.:sarcasm:

At least the Sox seemed to have acquired Cerrano for Arroyo.
 
Bat is scared of curveball, straight ball hit very well, but curveball bats frightened.

Hopefully Jobu can help out with that.

[ChrisPitch]

It is very bad to steal Jobu\'s room. Is very bad.

I tell ya, one of the best parental moves ever made by my mom was taking me to see Major League in the theater at age 11. No wonder I swear like a drunken Teamster at a truck rally. Thanks mammy!

[Me!]

Boston\'s Tavarez punches D-Rays\' Gathright
By Howard Ulman, AP Sports Writer  |  March 27, 2006

FORT MYERS, Fla. --The Red Sox are ready for the opening bell. One week before their first regular-season game, excitable reliever Julian Tavarez punched Tampa Bay outfielder Joey Gathright lightly in the jaw Monday during a play at home plate Monday, the latest flareup between the teams.

Players ran from benches and bullpens but no injuries were reported as they clutched opponents and tried to keep their teammates from going after the other side.

The action came one day after Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett yelled at Philadelphia\'s Ryan Howard when the right-hander thought the first baseman took too long to watch what he may have thought was a homer but ended up being a long fly out.

Players ran on the field then, too, after Howard went to his spot at first base for the top of the seventh, threw his glove down, looked into Boston\'s dugout, talked back to Beckett and walked toward him. Beckett was restrained before he stepped back onto the field and no one threw any punches or shoves.

In Boston\'s 12-11 win, which ended when Hee-Seop Choi walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Gathright raced home while Julio Lugo was caught in a rundown between first and second in the eighth. Second baseman Zach Borowiak threw to Tavarez, who tagged Gathright out as the outfielder slid.

Gathright said Tavarez stood on his right forearm after the tag. Tavarez agreed but said he wanted to beat Gathright to the punch.

"I saw him try to get up and I wasn\'t going to let him throw a punch at me right away," said Tavarez, who threw a second punch on the top of Gathright\'s head. "You hear about whoever throws the first punch gets the win. That\'s what happened."

In the Devil Rays clubhouse, Gathright rolled up his right sleeve to show a small scratch on his right forearm. He said he had pushed Tavarez\'s left knee to try to free his arm. But Tavarez drew his fist back with Gathright\'s right knee and hand still on the ground.

"It just kind of grazed the jaw," Gathright said.

Both players were calm after the game.

Gathright said "we\'ll forget about it tomorrow." Tavarez said, "I don\'t know if I hit him good or not. I just wish that would\'ve never happened."

Tampa Bay designated hitter Jonny Gomes said he hopes no bad blood remains between the teams when they play April 18 in Boston.

"I hope not," he said. "but we\'re grown men out here and you never know who\'s holding a grudge."

In the bottom of the eighth, Choi was hit by a pitch by Wayne Franklin, but Red Sox manager Terry Francona said it didn\'t appear to be intentional. Still, both benches were warned.

The Red Sox and Devil Rays have been involved in several brawls. Tavarez is in his first season with Boston.

Four players and both managers were suspended for their role in a game last April 24 in which pitchers from both teams intentionally hit batters, sparking a fight.

On Sept. 27, 2004, two players from each team were hit by pitches and players ran onto the field.

In August 2000, eight Devil Rays and no Red Sox were ejected when Tampa Bay\'s Gerald Williams charged Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez, who had hit him with a pitch.

Monday\'s brawl "had nothing to do with history," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "That may require suspension, absolutely. That kind of action cannot be tolerated."

Tavarez, who played for St. Louis the past two seasons, broke the fourth finger and bones in his left hand when he tried to trash the bench after allowing a tiebreaking homer in Houston\'s victory in the fourth game of the 2004 ALCS.

"He punched the phone," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

On Monday he punched Gathright, a move he said he regretted.

"I\'m not a fighting guy," Tavarez said, "I get along with my teammates and everybody, but when you\'re on the field, you know, things happen."

Gathright said he couldn\'t do much with Tavarez standing on his arm.

"I was like, `Get off my arm,\' and he wouldn\'t move," Gathright said. "It\'s spring training and he\'s known for something, so nobody really cares. I could care less. I\'ll get over this. Hopefully, everybody else does."

Both starting pitchers struggled, with Boston\'s David Wells allowing six runs in four innings and Tampa Bay\'s Casey Fossum giving up 10 runs in 4 1-3 innings. Boston led 7-0 after two innings, 7-6 after three and 10-6 after five. Tampa Bay tied it with four runs in the eighth -- Ty Winnington\'s RBI single making it 10-10.

Tim Corcoran walked the last two batters in the ninth, giving Boston the win.

Gomes and Boston\'s Mark Loretta had three hits each. Gomes hit his third exhibition homer and Toby Hall hit his second, both in the third against Wells.

[Spacey]

Boston is a really classy team.

Honestly, who fights in Spring Training?

[Me!]

didi you read the whole thing?? I"m not absolving either side here I think the whole thing is fuckin crazy but it looks like both sides hold a little blame.

[Wolfman]

Tavarez = Definitely NOT on steroids.  That\'s more than I can say for half the Yankees.  Sox are gonna finish in last place this year.  Funny thing is, it doesn\'t even bother me.  Pop in the 2004 DVDs and all my troubles are slip sliding away

[Spacey]

didi you read the whole thing?? I"m not absolving either side here I think the whole thing is fuckin crazy but it looks like both sides hold a little blame.

I can\'t read. I just looked at the pictures. I was breaking the BoSox fans balls. A little pre-season ball busting.

[davepeck]

[Spacey]

^^^ :lol:

classic! good work.

does this girl still know photo\'s of her still exist as moshzilla or whatever she is called.

[Me!]

classic, love it dave....

[ChrisPitch]

Well this is as good a time as any to make the 96,000th post in the history of thebreakfast.info and use it to say: OH BABY!

[Dyed_Tie]

Tavarez is a PAB.  I mean the Red Sox have a pretty good FO but sometimes some moves come out of there where I just feel like shaking Theo vigorously and say "what the hell is the matter with you".  Signing Tavarez was one of those.  He "loves himself, bro".  What an ass.  I mean even Manny was taking him away from the media. What does it mean when the guy who played sick and then showed up at dinner w/ Enrique Wilson knows that you are doing something stupid?  Another Sox to put in the cannon...

Good news everybody.

ESPNDeportes, which first reported the news that Ortiz was close to signing an extension, said the deal was a four-year contract, running through 2010 and worth an average of $12.5 million a year.

What a way to begin the season huh?  Good for Papi, good for Sox, and good for New England.