The other day this Blog took Framingham Lou to task for calling out Adrian Gonzalez for not giving fans what they deserve while not giving any player inside information from his Fenway "Louuuuuuuuuuuuuu" playing days. Boy did Lou come out swinging today in the first hour of Mut & Merloni on WEEI.
Mut & Lou went through the disaster that was the end of 2001 Red Sox season and what coming into spring training in 2002 was like from his perspective having lived through it. Couple of exquisite gems and a wonderful fleshing out of that period of time:
Mike Lansing: Admirable player from the opposing dugout, most miserable player Lou has ever played with as a teammate. The guy would be mad he wasn't in the lineup and mad when he was. As a fan this Blog thought the exact same thing, pretty good from afar, crap when he was on the local 9.
Carlos Baerga: The catalyst who taught the team how to have fun playing baseball again in 2002. Turns out Kevin Millar wasn't the beginning of the idiot carefree culture, it was good old Carlos Baerga, he of the .286 2HR 19 RBI in 73 games batting line. Also, he took greenies (amphetamines) constantly, a 50 game suspension for the first failed test these days.
Dan Duquette: The man would look straight through a guy, no communication skills. Not exactly a revelation but it does flesh out the atmosphere of those pre-2002 Red Sox.
Joe Kerrigan: Would tell hitters how to hit, to lay off Roger Clemens' pitches for example, and how indignant the hitters would be. Again, not huge revelation but nice detail.
In general Lou pointed out how players like Lansing and Crazy Carl Everett, the manager, the GM and the ownership were all changed up in the 2001 offseason, making spring training of 2002 rather smooth. This time around most of the boys who brought the team down last September are back. Combined with the grumble producing task master Bobby V, the dark smoke still hanging around from last September could make this spring training rather combustible.
One player who won't be there to be kicked around will be Tim Wakefield. The maestro of the knuckleball is reportedly going to announce his retirement from baseball sometime today and this Blog must admit to the disease of now. Lou pointed out that when Wake signed his perennial 1 year @ $4 M team option contract after the 2005 season he not only took a slight annual pay cut, but did so after a 16-12 with a 4.15 ERA season. There is no doubt Wake could have cashed in to the tune of $8 -$10 M a year for 3 to 4 years at that time. He valued pitching for the Red Sox, for the fans, in this town, and should be celebrated for that. Thanks to his pitch he is a unique figure in baseball history and certainly a great Red Sox player. Thank you Tim Wakefield, and please accept this Blog's apologies for the short-sighted beat down.
On a day focused on baseball Merloni is showing how good he can be when the subject is in his wheelhouse and he's willing to be revealing of his time in the game. Could portend better ratings and a tighter mid day race with the sometimes old Ordway 'grown men yelling' Big Show-esque production that Gresh & Zo can be on The Sports Hub. At least until the Patriots season rolls around again.
As to the news that Rich Peverly is out for 4 to 6 weeks, it certainly makes the time leading up to the NHL trade deadline that much more exciting. Peter Chirelli has proven rather adept at the trade game, what will he do? Is this Blog falling into the disease of now again thinking that trading Tim Thomas would be a good idea? Too bad people who know have thrown cold water on the Tim Thomas for Patrick Kane idea. The dream of a Seguin-Bergeron-Kane line was sweet while it lasted.
Until next time,
The SAHD
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