Red Sox: All your moneys are belong to us

The Red Sox and the Massachusetts Lottery have teamed up once again, this time for a $20 scratch ticket.

Twenty dollars.

I have never in my life walked up to the counter of a store and thought to myself you know, dropping $20 on that lottery ticket sounds like a good idea right now, but I have to admit that I might be tempted to buy one if I happen to be in a good mood at the right time, given the $10 million grand prize.

With that kind of money, you could do something that you would ordinarily consider to be financially irresponsible and out of reach. Like taking your family to see a game at Fenway, for instance.

There are also twenty $1 million prizes and 100 Red Sox road trips.

The new ticket is expected to raise $23 million in profit for the state of Massachusetts. 

Back from my preseason hiatus

I took the last couple weeks off to get ready for the grind of the regular season (Japan doesn’t count, I don’t care what the standings say), but I’ll be back at things in full force come tomorrow.

Our starting pitching has been a bit shaky lately, but real opening day is tomorrow for the Red Sox (even if it is at 10:05 PM), and who can be pessimistic about that?

This is the best time of the year. 

Boycott averted, Red Sox headed to Japan

The Red Sox threatened to boycott the trip to Japan this morning, after learning yesterday that the coaches were not going to receive the $40,000 compensation that was expected.

So far, members of the Red Sox have made it sound like MLB was either untruthful or deceptive, hinting that money was promised and then not paid.

I have a hard time believing this, and the Globe has a more feasible explanation.

I’m thinking MLB promised they would throw a certain amount of money into the pot, the players thought it would be split up among everybody, but then found out that the coaches weren’t eligible to receive it and freaked out.

I know that MLB will take some hits for this, but kudos to them for making it right in the end. And kudos to the Red Sox for standing up for their coaches. The fluffing they’re getting on ESPN is reaching Jeter-like proportions.

No Japan trip for Beckett, Dice-K will start opener

It’s official: Josh Beckett will not be making the season opening trip to Japan.

Said Terry Francona:

Beckett threw off the mound yesterday for the first time since injuring his back, and by all accounts the exercise was a success.

Dice-K Matsuzaka, whose wife gave birth to a baby boy on Saturday, now has clearance to travel to Japan and will pitch in the opener vs. the Athletics.

Lester will start game 2.

It should be a pretty special day for Matsuzaka, as he’ll be throwing in front of his countrymen for the first time since defecting to the Major Leagues last year.