You know it and I know it, it’s great to see the Red Sox playing at Fenway again. What a beautiful sight it was to turn on my television this afternoon and seeing Pedro Martinez taking command of the game at his familiar standing post, the pitching mound. (Pedro didn’t pitch that well today, but I’ll get back to that later on.) Spring is here and baseball is back. Ahhhhh, it’s great!

I am psyched for this year’s season. I love the new looked Red Sox. Owner John Henry and his partners have done a tremendous job with the club and the facilities since taking full control just over a month ago. The team has made some dramatic changes in the clubhouse also. You remember those couches that Jim Kerrigan took out last year when he took over as a manger three quarters through the season? Yup, they’re back in there. And Manny should be happy because the team has made more room. They took out all the tables and chairs and computers that were sitting in the middle of the clubhouse and cluttered things. With this improvement, there’s no reason for Manny to be complaining about “needing more space.” Manny shut your big mouth and hit the damn ball. As you can tell, I’m still agitated from Manny last year complaining about needing more clubhouse room and space for himself. And to add, Manny went 0-2 with two strikeouts and 4 walks.

One thing I don’t like what the new owners have done is adding those advertisements on the outfield walls. The Delta advertisement in right field and the Giant Glass one down the left field line. Give me a break. What’s this look like? To John Henry: I know you spent some $400 million dollars of your own money to buy the team, but do you really need to put ads on the walls of the field to raise some more revenue? It looks gross and it’s not apart of the game. I have also heard rumors of ads being put on the Green Monster. Now if that happens, I have some cruel things to say about our good buddy John Henry.

Now about Pedro. He pitched 4 innings, letting up 8 runs, 7 of which were earned. I don’t think people need to get all worried about Pedro. He didn’t look that bad. Most of his pitches that were hit were bad change ups that hung in the strike zone. And I also noticed his fastball was consistently 92-93 mph. We usually see his fastball around 94-95, but I think I know the reason why he wasn’t throwing as hard. The guy did gain 15 pounds of muscle in the off-season to protect himself from getting hurt again midway through the season. It’ll just take time before he’ll get use to his “new” body and start again unleashing his over powerful four-seam fastball. So Sox fans relax and stop worrying about Pedro. And look at the bright side, as long as Pedro is healthy and dominate when it comes October, we’re golden….All I can picture tomorrow is the (expletive deleted) Globe having the headline, “Pedro was a No-No in Opener.” And I can see the kids in school saying, Pedro sucks, trade him, he’s a cry baby, he always gets hurt, etc. To all those ignorant people who say or think this, let me just provide you with one fact. This “cry baby” has won (expletive deleted) two Cy Youngs in his career, one in each league so shut your mouth and don’t open it again until you know what you’re talking about and have something intelligent to say.

Other notes…Damon was okay, but nothing special, he had a single, but he’ll improve and become a valuable piece on our march to the postseason. To Grady Little: let’s take more chances. This Damon guy we have, he’s pretty good and has pretty good speed. Let’s have him run, it might work. (Sarcasm being used here). But that’s just me…The bullpen help in the opening was okay with Oliver, Fossum, Arroyo, Garces and Urbina. I like Urbina and I hate those who don’t. The guy has a cannon of an arm. He just has to mix up his pitches a little better and stop throwing first pitch fastballs all the time. Oliver was horrible today, but I still like him as being an effective long relief pitcher for us. Fossum and Garces looked sharp. And for Arrojo, I don’t know what to do about him anymore. He sucked as a starter and his performance today as a reliever wasn’t that good either. Let’s get rid of him. He has too big of a salary to pay if he all he is going to do is sit in the bullpen and when called upon be ineffective…Lastly and once again to John Henry, I think putting those owner seats next to the Sox dugout was a great idea, but it might be more useful and productive if you actually sat in them. (Again, sarcasm). But, that’s just me. Who am I to say something to a multibillionaire and owner of the Red Sox.

Go Sox and don’t worry fans, it’s only one game. The Blue Jays aren’t gonna be anything. They suck and have no pitching. Buck Martinez needs to lose some weight and dye his hair again. He looks like an old fart. Also, the Yankees lost so all is good. The Sox are back!!!

Till next time, take care of yourself and watch those Sox

Matto85@aol.com