Sep 13, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Felix Doubront (61) pitches against the New York Yankees during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

The day started out with three players being sent to the minors, the first of many to follow. Justin Henry was sent to minor league spring training with the Pawtucket Red Sox in his sights. Left Hander Drake Britton and shortstop Deven Marrerowere sent to AA Portland.  Nineteen players were signed to one year major league contracts.

As far as the game itself with the Tampa Bay Rays, everything looked pretty good. Sox pitching held the Rays to one run in the fourth inning while sprinkling out five runs. Starting pitcher Felix Doubront went  1 2/3 innings, walking one, throwing 23 strikes out of 43 pitches, with no runs scored against him. He showed up to spring training out of shape, which was evident today but he got his work in. He was relieved by Terry Doyle who gave up the only Tampa Bay run, when Cole Figueroa  doubled in Jack Cust.

Doyle, who got the win, was relieved by Right Hander Chris Hernandez, went for three  scoreless innings, followed by  Chris Carpenter with Anthony Carter relieving Carpenter.   Tampa Bay started with Jeremy Hellickson for 3 innings, loser Jeff Niemann for two, with Dane De La Rosa,  Alex Colome,  Kirby Yates and Enny Romero splitting the balance in partial innings.

The day was mild, almost windless as a crowd of  just under 10,000 stalwarts witnessed another comfortable, journeyman demonstration of America’s Pastime.  The Sox put in good performances, building a decent head of steam for the looming opening set with the dreaded and hated pinstripes down I 95. Still the usual questions generated by spring training to be dealt with; all in all, after the shambles of the end of the 2011 season and the nightmare last year, the  citizenry of the Nation should feel no braggadocio in demonstrating mild optimism. Now, if John Lackey will only not douse the glow.

September 21, 2012; Boston, MA USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Jon Lester (31) pitches during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

I confess I had mixed emotions when I started watching this game Friday night. From the brouhaha that was raised during last season to the ostensible doldrums running rampant through the Red Sox Nation, I thought I might rather go to the dentist. Shame on me. The boys looked crisp, loose and had a bit of a swagger.  Jon Lester, in his second start, shone like the seat pants of a cheap suit. Three innings does not a season make, but, boy, he looked sharp, relaxed and business-like with three one hit innings.

Rubby De La Rosa, who we got in the Dodger trade last year and who was recovering from the now routine Tommy John surgery brought some serious heat with his two scoreless innings. Steven Wright did okay until he knuckled under (please forgive me, but I had to say it) when he faded in the top of the eighth inning. He was the only pitcher pulled by John Farrell, after he loaded the bases and allowed two runs to come in, scratching the shutout. Wright shows promise, no doubt, but he’s not quite there yet.

Feb 17, 2013; Fort Myers FL, USA; Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Alex Wilson (63) poses during photo day at JetBlue Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Wright was relieved by Alex Wilson, who did a nifty job getting out of the eighth inning jam when he snared a hot come-backer in mid-air and threw to first to complete a double play that ended the inning and stopped any further bleeding. Wilson remained in the game and nailed down the save in the ninth.

We got a solid debut from Mike Napoli.  Stephen Drew looked exceptionally comfortable at short and Pedro Ciriaco, as well, at third.  Will Middlebrooks sat this one out,  but no cause for alarm. Pedroia, as usual, gave 110% and had the dirtiest uniform on the field.

All in all, I think we will be in contention at the end of the season, which I definitely did not think last week. The team had fun. It wasn’t an exciting game but it was comfortable and reassuring. The probable first string acquitted itself admirably (with the possible exception of Jacoby Ellsbury dogging it a bit).Our new right fielder, Shane Victorino played especially well, joined in by Drew, Napoli and Pedroia. I will always remember that Victorino, when with the Indians, was ejected from the game while playing in center field by the home plate umpire, from behind home plate. Never had seen an ejection with that much distance between the offender and offended.

The game, as I said earlier, was comforting for those wanting to see the Red Sox of the last decade.  The TV team was split between our Don Orsillo and JerryRemy with the Pirates’ crew of Bob Walk and Tim Neverett. The banter was superb, humorous and insightful.  I remember when Walk pitched for the Atlanta Braves back in the Joe Torre years, and I remembered what a horrible name it was for a pitcher to have – Walk. I also remember that he turned his turns at the plate into high drama. From his stance to his swing to his customary strike out, it was worth the price of admission, especially when narrated by Skip Carey, the  Ambrose Bierce of play by play men. (Skip was taken from us way too soon. Chip has a long way to go). Forgive me if I wander down Memory Lane but if you can remember Ted Williams‘ return from World War II, you’re allowed a slight digression from time to time.

Remy,  Orsillo and Walk finally got around to discussing the Valentine year; Remy adroitly damned Valentine with faint praise, but the tone, in general, was not gentle. They had a decent discussion about the Red Sox’s chances this year (after quickly and gently dismissing the Pirates from any serious contention). Remy, who correctly acknowledged the fans’ anticipated disappointment but he was  more than a little optimistic.  Last year was a total nightmare. There were numerous reports of anonymous and otherwise covert communications between players and the triumvirate upstairs, all indicating “Get rid of  Valentine or we go up in smoke!” The Pittsburgh Pirates who had a worse year than we did last year, looked a little out of it, so I can only get so fired up over tonight’s win, but it does look good. It’s a long way until April 1, and the final members of the Dramatis Personae. 

To a large part, this dissension precipitated the wholesale trade with the Dodgers. What it did was move to repair the rent in the fabric of the universe.  Josh Beckett had become unbearable; Carl Crawford became our resident  rehab patient and Adrian Gonzalez, who played pretty well for us but was about to man the barricade of rebellion against our funny Valentine.  At season’s end, as we suspected would happen, Bobby was sent packing – enter John  Farrell. An excellent manager and teacher, a familiar and friendly face among the veterans on the team – the proverbial breath of fresh air. Jeff Bridges was in a movie where he played an androgynous space alien who was growing weaker as he was deprived of the rejuvenation of his own people. As the movie progressed, he became weaker and weaker, until he made contact with his people. His change in demeanor was dramatic and instant. He became completely revitalized and all was well (cue the music and fade to black).

From what I understand, the change within the rank and file players was positive and obvious. Remy’s main point was the bad guy had been run out of town and birds in the trees renewed their chorus of optimism.  The fans haven’t seen that yet and remain despondent, as despondent as they have been in a long time . They have yet to collectively feel this new energy but Remy’s analysis likened it to motivation with a touch of fear,  keeping  all awake. Okay, we got rid of the bad guys’ gang with it’s leader (my jury has not returned on John Lackey yet), so we now have no alibi for failure. We got the manager we wanted and needed. We got some fresh strong faces and the only thing in our path to hinder us is ourselves.  As Pogo the Possum said,”We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Last night’s game accented this positivism  with good, fundamentally sound play and attitude and Lester’s probable  reemergence as one of the best left handed pitchers in the game gave off very good vibes. Our new players, the returning ones with injury question marks hanging over them and our core veterans left me with a warm fuzzy feeling.  As said at the outset, one preseason game against a “rebuilding” team does not a season make, but from what I saw yesterday, it is a harbinger of things to come.  As a mother would comfort a child, last night said “It’s gonna be all right. Don’t be afraid.”

Aug 10, 2012; Cleveland, OH, USA; Boston Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks (64) fields a ground ball in the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

If Middlebrooks, however, turns out to be injury prone, it harkens back to another season and a promising young player, Jed Lowrie.  He was a top rookie in 2011 but could never get off the injured list. Lowrie was ultimately traded to the Houston Astros in 2012 without living up to his potential. The highlight of his stay with the Red Sox was his alleged affair with the then on-field reporter Heidi Watney, now with the MLB network.

The loss of Middlebrooks would really deflate our early season hopes as he is supposed to nail down the troubled hot corner position, created by the departure last year of Kevin Youkilis whose dedication to the gamer was publicly challenged by the intemperate mouth of Bobby Valentine, the erstwhile and ersatz manager of the Sox. Youkilis, as we know, went to the Chicago White Sox and now resides just down I-95 with the New York Yankees (Youkilis is currently out with a strained oblique).

The ancient Greeks felt that a mortal angering the gods caused turmoil like a stone thrown in a pond.  So long as there were ripples in that pond caused by the mortal’s sin, the mortal’s universe was out of harmony with itself.  It seems the Red Sox’s historic and infamous collapse at the end of the 2011 season angered the baseball deities with such an intensity that  it  reverberates today. Let’s pay homage to those deities, so that our pond will be again be calm.

On the positive side of things, Ciriaco, now playing shortstop, is playing well, and Don and Jerry, our TV guys are in fine fettle.  As I have been writing this post, the word out there is no debilitating injury to Middlebrooks’ wrist, so we’re getting some much needed good news.

Supporting the Middlebrooks TV news were two recent tweets. At 10 pm ESPN’s Gordon Edes tweeted, “Middlebrooks:”No pain No X rays Just a scare” while the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham tweeted, “More @Middlebrooks: “I probably could have stayed in the game and done fine. I have all my strength, we did strength tests.”

That’s good news indeed.

August 14 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine (25) in the dugout during a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

This being the case, the Valentine hire was star crossed from the starting gun. His known bombast and “my way or the highway” did not bode well for success.  They needed Dr. Phil, not the Navy Seals.  From day one he clashed with his players, publicly denigrated them and overworked his mouth. I guess one should not be surprised that one who claims to have invented the wrap sandwich, which had been in existence for hundreds of years, would have no trouble with self-approval.

Cut to the season’s end – exit Mr. Valentine. No long thought process, no suspense – just “you’re fired. Get out.” So, once again, Mr. Valentine found himself on the discarded manager pile, where he had been twice before. Then, something unusual. Bobby was quiet. There was no reappearance on ESPN, rumored managerial or coaching hirings, nothing.  Just recently, I mean like yesterday, suddenly, without a prior leak, he emerged as the executive director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Sacred Heart College in Connecticut , Valentine’s point of temporal entry.  (One would think the Vatican had enough controversy to handle at this point without adding him to the incense pot.)

During a recent  interview with WEEI, Valentine glibly alluded to his days as Red Sox manager. “I thought I did a hell of a job in Boston,” Valentine said.

“I thought what had to be done there was done except for winning a pennant. But Connie Mack wasn’t going to win with that team.”  The blog Big League Stew added “ Of course he didn’t do a “hell” of a job with the Red Sox, unless that means he contributed to the hell that was 2012”  I guess he thinks the Sox would have wound up in the National League cellar as well as the American league if he were not there. What a silly twit.

Gentle reader, please do not waste any precious time digesting Mr. Valentine’s remarks. He is a loser, will always be a loser and should be ashamed of himself for belittling the team he publicly humiliated. The Sox were down, no doubt; but shame and name calling were not on the recommended list for possible cures. I could go on for another few thousand words concerning the disservice and mismanagement by Mr. Valentine but you get my point.  Do you think he went to Sacred Heart to have absolution readily available? Please don’t write in screaming sacrilege. I am a Roman Catholic myself, but I am also a journalist of sorts, and the irony here was too good to ignore.  So Robert John Valentine , go forth and sin no more – and shut up.

September 9, 2011; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Johnny Damon (22) is safe at first as Boston Red Sox starting pitcher John Lackey (41) attempts to tag him out in the third inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

I place John Lackey as one such self anointed  deity. He is  our own poster boy for self aggrandizement. This season may negate this opinion,  and while there is no”"I in team, if you look hard enough you will find “me”.  Lackey had no problem. He found it.  Of late, as he tries out his “new” arm in competition, there seems to be an attempt to “make nice”, but I ain’t buyin’ it.  He is still unrepentant about his participation in “chicken gate”; and as for his dramatic showings of disapproval from the mound, we are to take solace because he promises to work on it. It appears he has accomplished what we all want to do about regrettable past transgressions-act like your reprehensible prior conduct did not occur and since it did not occur, there is no need to make amends. With apologies to George Orwell, Big Brother would be pleased.

I yearn to be wrong.  I am tired of my ease of acceptance of disappointment. One can hope that Lackey will put up 18 games in the win column and chase us naysayers to the showers; but let me be clear. The Red Sox franchise is storied, from “Nuf Sed McGreevey” and the  Royal Rooters, to the glorification of a musical parakeet named Tessie,  the curse of the Bambino, the Splendid Splinter”s Red Seat, the Pesky Pole, Yaz,  Jim Rice‘s dramatic rescue of an injured fan, the Green Monster,Pedro Martinez‘s little friend, Curt Schilling’s  bloody sock, the 2004 “Idiots” and so on, most  played out in the cathedral that is Fenway. No other sports franchise can come close to laying claim to such history. Our main rival comes from a media market and population center that should bury our little city, but we stand toe to toe for all the marbles.Do not take us for granted. Tread softly or accept the consequences.

When you join the Red Sox, you join a family. It’s not the Marlins, where your name is attached by Velcro to your uniform and your bag is never unpacked. When you have been selected, one from many, to don the uniform and represent this fabled team, you have  the duty not to besmirch either. Your talent or health may cause you to move on, but that is part of the game. But you do not sully the uniform. You do not trivialize it and bring embarrassment to the team.

John Lackey, j’acuse; you have done that and more. You have whined, rationalized, belittled-you have sullied that uniform while collecting a king’s ransom. Your new found rah-rah attitude does not erase the sins of the past.   I do not know you, John Lackey, but as a member of Red Sox nation, you have failed miserably-and I do not like you.  I wish ill on no one, if you do not show you have truly seen the light on the road to Damascus,  then get out. We don’t need you.

Feb 17, 2013; Fort Myers FL, USA; Boston Red Sox catcher David Ross (3) poses during photo day at JetBlue Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

But I do not come to lionize Mr. Varitek’s accomplishments any further, except to say, 2004 and 2007 would not have been possible without him.  Smashing A-Rod’s face didn’t hurt either,  I come to humbly suggest a successor to Jason Varitek in the personam of one David Ross.  He might not have Varitek’s pedigree of Little League, College and THE World Series appearances, but I do see an intensity, a true intellectual student of pitchers, pitches, pitch counts, ball placement and the myriad of things that make a great catcher. The fact that he can do a little hitting as well doesn’t do him harm; but make no mistake about it, he is a Mensan among catchers and as he nears the end of his active playing years his wealth of knowledge will be likened to a national treasure.

Sounds like a well-needed clone on the way up,  but wait – he also has a vibrant contagious sense of humor and personality.  Unlike Varitek, who gave the outward aura of a brooding genius, Ross acts like he is actually having fun. This is not to lessen the importance of Jarrod  Saltalamalacchia; to the contrary. Salty is our main man, but Ross is the new boy in town (albeit 35 isn’t exactly new in Major League Baseball).  Manager John Farrell is still unsure of where Ross fits in, but Farrell knows Ross is an asset and will fit in.

“The one thing we knew going into this year is that David is more capable than just a traditional backup catcher where it’s just 35 or 40 games,” Farrell said. “He’s an encouraging catcher — encouraging from the standpoint of encouraging the pitcher. Just talking to guys who have thrown to him, there’s been such positive feedback on the interactions they’ve had after throwing a bullpen [session] or while throwing a bullpen [session] just on David’s comments in between pitches.”  From one of the best pitching coaches in the business, that’s heady stuff.

His personality and baseball IQ will go far in the organization if the triumvirate in the front office doesn’t sell him to get more headsets. Varitek is one of a kind and we, the Red Sox, were blessed and are being blessed by his presence; and maybe, with Pedro Martinez‘s antics, he may do stand up before it’s all said and done; and while Ross is not nor does he want to be another Kevin Millar, he has that mixture that only the alchemy of baseball can create. He knows what he can do and let’s let him do it.

Feb 25, 2012; Fort Myers FL, USA; Boston Red Sox president chief executive officer Larry Lucchino (left), owner John W. Henry (center), and chairman Thomas Werner (right) hold a press conference prior to spring training at JetBlue Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Now we, once again, with the confidence of Sisyphus take on the new season, and let me tell you, this will be one interesting season.  2011 will always be there for the worst-case scenario and 2012 should be documented as a manual for defeat.  Chickengate merely removed the scapegoat. The new broom that didn’t quite get the job done in 2011, so we were forced to watch 2012. So what can we expect from the triumvirate now?

Let’s hope John Henry didn’t buy a polo team. We have enough horses’ asses around us now, thank you.

As a glimmer of hope, for the most part, it seems the team has shed itself of the arrogant, the lame and the dissenters.  Our beloved “idiots” were also casualties as was Theo Epstein with his “brilliance” belatedly sullied by pedestrian decisions made but not uncovered until after his leaving, but then again, who really is concerned about the Cubs.

Now, the new boy king, Ben Cherington, rumor has it, having passed whatever tests the triumvirate set before him, promises to put his imprimatur on things.

First and foremost, without a dissenting vote from the masses for a new manager, John Farrell as the new manager, breathes quiet efficiency and confidence into the atmosphere, something sorely lacking in the immediate past.  Cherington did well with his first opening shot. Farrell  does not have the invention of the wrap sandwich on his resume, but he does have success and competence. But is he the savior we expect?

His sober demand of professionalism brings hope of an adult at the helm, but where does that leave us? Trainergate is upon us. That consummate crybaby Jonathan Papelbon has joined in the chorus and the circle of finger pointers increases in tempo and volume.  So what else is new? We seem to thrive on that.  But must we promulgate a self-fulfilling prophecy? I think not, but we must have patience.

Caroline has lost some of her past sweetness and the Green Monster molders. But we, the Nation’s core, we who burn with a white-hot gem-like flame, must keep the faith.  The once foundering ship has just left dry dock. She is sound and well managed. Let her gain her once and future greatness at her pace, not tomorrow as is presently demanded. We have a strong, proud, history with long faithful, albeit grousing, followers.  Don’t worry folks. It’s going to be all right, yes – and interesting. That ancient anonymous Chinese pessimist has never been to Fenway.