Yeah, I know, they are only college kids, playing against World Champions, and I am not sure they college teams have EVER beaten the Sox, but it was still nice to have 14 innings (7 for each game)

And Josh Beckett did excellent in his 2 innings of work, keeping the Boston College players hitless, throwing 25 pitches (18 for strikes), while striking out 4…Manny Delcarmen also did a great job, throwing a perfect inning, while striking out 2…

In the Northeastern game, Justin Masterson very good(I guess he IS the guy to watch this spring…) throwing 2 scoreless inning, throwing 17 pitches, 12 for strikes and allowing only 1 hit, and striking out 1…

Neato facto: Of the players on the 40 man roster, only THREE were not with the Sox last year. And of course, the Sox have the same starting 9 they had last year–for now. I really think Coco will be gone before the season starts–especially if Jacoby Ellsbury is great in camp, and Coco struggles…

Ohhhh boy: The Sox have released the terms of Bartolo Colon’s contract: If he is not on the 25 man roster by May 1, he can asked to be released from him contract, and if he is traded her gets $250,000. He gets $18K (yes 18 THOUSAND–the poor guy) while he is on the minor league roster, with his contract in the bigs valued at $1.25 million. He also gets bonuses for games started, games finished and days on the big league roster…Have I mentioned how I really hate this deal?

So apparently, Julio Lugo never recovered last year from some parasite he picked up in Europe the off-season before the 2007 campaign. But this year he says he is stronger and better. From pitching coach Dave Magadan: “He’s a lot stronger than last year at spring training at this time…He got into some mechanical difficulties because I don’t think he was as strong as he usually is. The ball is jumping off his bat better.” We’ll see…

Tomorrow night is V-Day Wilkes-Barre 2008 (see our site under “Blogs for a Cause on the right”) This the is big cause I have dedicated a huge amount of my time to for the last 4 years, and this year will more than likely be my last. My life is too crazy anymore to drop everything for the 3-4 months it takes to organize/direct such an event…Now, if someone else takes the reins, I am sure I will be continue to be part of V-Day in some capacity…

Today: Daisuke takes the mound this evening against the Twins at Hammond Stadium. Boof Bonser gets the start for Minnesota. Also pitching for the Sox will be: Okajima, Mike Timlin and Julian Tavarez…where else but in spring training is the pitching lineup so mapped out? 1st pitch 7:05pm