Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

Post-game update:
- Red Sox 4, Twins 4, 10 innings

- Terry Francona talking about the fact that the Twins brought the Mayor’s Cup (given to the winner of the most spring training games between the teams): “They might have to split that thing in half.”

- Red Sox pitchers didn’t walk a batter and threw 35 first-pitch strikes in 40 tries.

- Alex Ochoa impressed with two laser throws from right field, one gunning down Luis Rodriguez at the plate in the top of the ninth. Francona, who managed Ochoa in the Arizona Fall League in 1994 commented, “That was one of the better throw you are going to see.”

- Commenting on Jacoby Ellsbury, Francona said, “It looks like it’s fun for him to run.”

- Francona said that Joel Pineiro looked like he was inconsistent with his new arm slot.

In-game update:
- Curt Schilling just spoke. He said he threw fastballs on 18 of his 19 pitches (the other being a split). Feels like he can throw “30, 40 or 60″ pitches right now. Hopes to work more on change-up as stints get longer. Change, he said, is a pitch he has been developing for three years.

- Jacoby Ellsbury got a hit, driving in two. His father is beaming (see later in post).

- Julio Lugo just drove in Dustin Pedroia with an RBI single, evening up his plus-minus. David Ortiz followed with an RBI single, even though the Twins were applying a rare spring training shift. It scored David Murphy, whose first at-bat yielded a hit one year after he began the spring schedule with four straight strikeouts. Murphy finished as the only Red Sox with two hits.

- Lugo just made an error. Footwork was solid on first chance, but on this one throw was high because he dragged his foot. See later on in post to get Luis Alicea’s take on what Lugo has to work on.

- Curt Schilling went two innings, giving up two hits and no runs. He threw 19 pitches, 15 for strikes. Both hits, by Rondell White and Ken Harvey, were back up the middle. Will add in comments from Schilling once he is made available.

- Joel Pineiro is in. Arm angle drop is noticeable. Let the closer competition begin. Allowed two hits and an unearned run.

Post-BP update:
- Talked to Daisuke Matsuzaka (through translator, of course) just now with the esteemed AP writer Howard Ulman and MLB.com’s Ian Browne. (Even after his brushback pitch yesterday by a Japanese writer, Browne seemed on good terms with our new friend.) Matsuzaka had just watched Tim Wakefield’s side session, watching it from behind the catcher. He said he thought the knuckleball would be a bit slower. He said there hasn’t been any knuckleball pitchers in the Japanese League in recent years, but his friend from high school would try and throw one. Former Red Sox farmhand Jared Fernandez is bringing back the knuckler to Japan this year, pitching for the Hiroshima Carp. (Fernandez is getting paid 23 million yen, or $200,000 this year.)

- Another interesting sight in regards to Matsuzaka was his socks. They fit his toes like a glove. They are called “Tabi socks,” and have been worn in Japan since the 16th century. According to various Web sites, according to Shiatsu theory, wearing Tabi socks benefits the back, the spine, and the digestion due to the acupuncture meridians located between the toes.

Just ran into Jacoby Ellsbury’s father, Jim. He just drove from Oregon to the Fort, by himself, in his son’s Cadillac Escalade, having started Sunday and just arriving at noon today. There were a few roadblocks in the form of winter storms in Nebraska and Iowa (”He probably had the dirtiest car the state by the time I finished driving through,” Jim said), but it was worth it to see the kid who was 89 pounds as a 12-year-old play in the spring training opener for the Boston Red Sox.

The trip was nothing new to Jim Ellsbury, who routinely made road trips around the country to see Jacoby play for Oregon State. (By the way, it was a nice touch that Jim wore an Oregon State t-shirt and a Red Sox hat.) Jacoby was on the phone to his dad throughout the trip, including the day he became the first batter to face Daisuke Matsuzaka in a batting practice setting. “He said he knew what was coming, but he still missed a slider by six inches,” Jim said. “He never misses by that much.” And then, last night, came the call that no more rest stops would be tolerated because Jacoby was in the starting lineup, hitting ninth against the Twins.

Talked to Ellsbury’s manager from last season in Portland, Todd Claus, and he raved about Ellsbury’s speed, fearlessness, and jumps in center field. Both Claus and Brandon Moss referenced a moment early in the year last year in which Ellsbury tracked down a ball in Manchester, N.H. that nobody thought would be caught and subsequently crashed into the wall. That, Claus said, helped build Ellsbury’s reputation among the players. In terms of that speed referenced before, Jim Ellsbury said that his son has been timed at 4.28 in the 40-yard dash.

In regards to the organization’s encouragement of Ellsbury’s bunting ability, Jim Ellsbury said he bunted more times in two Arizona Fall League games than he did in the entirety of his collegiate career.

Speaking of the man who served as Ellsbury’s bunting mentor in Arizona Luis Alicea, today marks a landmark moment for him. This will be the first time ever the new Red Sox first base coach has ever coached first base. Some of his duties include making runners aware of situations, where the defense is playing, and knowing the pitchers’ times to home plate.

Another huge part of Alicea’s job will be to position the Red Sox’s infield. He said he already has been going over the hitting tendecies for both the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers, the first two teams Boston plays. So I quizzed him: David DeJesus - “Sprays it all over the field. Tough guy to position for because he hits it everywhere.” Mark Gruzielanek - “Have to be tight through third base and shorstop. Doesn’t pull it down the line, but will go the other way down the line.” He passed.

Alicea has also been doing work with Julio Lugo’s footwork, which both Tampa Bay manger Joe Maddon and infield coach Tom Foley told me this offseason were the source of the shortstop’s throwing problems. Alicea said they fixed it this spring training (hopefully, he said) in one day, thanks in part to identification and video analysis. The way Alicea explains it, Lugo has a tendecy to bring one foot behind the other when throwing. Now he has been drilled to set both feet, keeping them shoulder’s length apart. Something to look for.

This was also intersting: Alicea said when he first got out of baseball agent Scott Boras recruited him to basically be a mentor for Carlos Beltran, working with his hitting and fielding. The former Sox second baseman (who left Boston because of the ill-fated Wil Cordero (second base experiment) declined. It has worked out pretty well for him. (Thanks to Joe Haggerty for catching the hanging Chad in Cordero.)

Checked in with Wily Mo Pena, curious about if he has had to change anything because of his Hamate bone situation. As mentioned before, Eric Hinske went to a bat with no knob at the end, while Sox minor leaguers had been instructed not to dangle finger off end of bat. Pena hasn’t changed a thing, still wrapping his left pinky finger off the end of the bat.

From Francona:
- Opened interview session with “Good afternoon and konnichiwa!”

- Jon Lester will throw long toss today and pitch an inning in a ‘B’ game Monday at 10 a.m. against Minnesota. He is then slated to pitch in a minor league game five days later. Obviously they are easing him into the spring a bit.

- Tim Wakefield, who is slated to pitch the first two innings Saturday, threw in a back field.

- Described Hideki Okajima’s curveball as not a typical, lefthander-on-lefthander, sweeping curve. It can, he said, most likely be effective against righties as well.

- Doesn’t plan on carrying a reliever just for the specific reason of having a long man.

- Curt Schilling will go two innings tonight.

- Brad Mills will manage the group playing in Dunedin tomorrow. Eric Hinske, Dustin Pedroia, Alex Cora, and Wily Mo Pena will be making the trip.

Some question answering:

- Draft and follow is when a player is drafted, but then goes on to play for their collegiate team until team potentially loses the rights just before next year’s draft. Actually, for the best explation go to the 13th comment in the last entry. “Tom” does an excellent job in explaining. It is so good, in fact, that I’m second-guessing myself as to the status of Eddie Degerman after being drafted by the Sox in ‘05.

- Rule stating pitcher has 12 seconds instead of 20 seconds is supposed to be more than a guideline. Teams are being told it is a rule that will be enforced, with the penalty being one ball called on the hurler.

- Manny Ramirez has looked in shape, about the same as last year. His trainer had him coming in a bit heavier last year, after the previous year’s reporting date of 220 pounds. His ideal weight, according to his trainer from last year, is between 224 and 226. He looks about the same as he did last year. (We will work on getting the numbers.)

- The team determined that it would best if Wily Mo Pena concentrated on his work in the outfield. That, along with not the most fluid of execution during various first base experiments, led Pena to the outfield for good.

- I think unless he is hindered by a substantial physical ailment this season, Tim Wakefield will play beyond this season. But ask again in four months.

- Author Bill Nowlin was nice enough to come around and hand out a copy of his new book, “The 1967 Red Sox, Pandemonium On The Field.” He noted that the book weighs 2.50 pounds while the Boston phone book weighs in at 1.72 pounds. The book can be currently bought on Amazon.com.

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