It’s hard to get excited about things right now since after all it is spring training. But some good things are happening with the Sox. The starters are having early success. Lester is making his comeback. Dice-K may have thrown the gyroball the other day. Schilling is working on putting the changeup in his arsenal. He is also blogging. Papelbon is looking good right now. Tim Wakefield is working on his curveball. The closer position is still up in the air. Timlin will put his hat in that race on Saturday. So much going on at the Fort, I don’t know where to start.

As I wrote the other day, Jon Lester pitched in his first game since Aug 23, 2006. It is just a great story out of camp right now. It’s a shame that NESN didn’t pick up the broadcast of this game. Most of us here were left to watching the news highlights of him pitch. For everything he has been through since August, it had to have meant the world for him to retake the mound.

The Marlins hitters are saying that they experienced the gyroball when they faced Daisuke Matsuzaka in the game against the Red Sox on Tuesday.

“He threw four different pitches to me – a fastball, slider, gyro and curve,” said Stokes. On the gyro, “He threw it up and in. I could see it was obviously a ball right away. I’m thinking ‘Get out of the way.’ It kind of backs up on you.”

Hermida encountered the pitch three times. He affirmed Stokes’ version that it was a gyroball, saying it was somewhere between a changeup and split-fingered fastball.

“It’s got a good, hard and downward break but comes out with more speed than a changeup,” he said. “It comes out of the hand good and then it just dies on you.”

Hermida hesitated to use the word “gyroball” but he clearly had no idea what it was.

“I think that it is what it is, but it might not (be a gyro),” he said.

So does the gyroball really exist. The Sox pitching coach, John Farrell, says its the way he throws his changeup. Since the game wasn’t broadcast on any television outlet other than back to Japan, it will be hard to find evidence he threw it other than what the Marlins’ hitters are saying.

Curt Schilling said that he threw about 10 changeups in his last start against the Twins. He has thrown it in the past but has never really felt confident with it. Given his arsenal of pitches, a changeup will only make him better. And at his age, he might need any help he can get. Just kidding. He’s a great pitcher and gives it his all every time he is out on the mound. By the way, as I wrote earlier, Schilling has his own blog, 38 Pitches. It’s a great read.

Personally, I think it’s great that he is doing this. It will be really nice to see things from the player’s perspective. You see a lot of blogs by players that are moderated or run by MLB. This is not the case with Schilling’s blog. He has even opened up for comments.