During the first NESN Live last night from Ft. Myers, FL, NESN introduced a new feature called The Second Base Cup. In it, the Boston Red Sox players who appear on the show will hit three golf balls from behind the set to the second base bag. The closest to the bag at the end of spring training will win something (they haven’t figured out what what the prize yet).

The first two golfers last night were skipper Terry Francona and reliever Daniel Bard who came away with the lead. On tonight’s show, it was time for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and starting pitcher Jon Lester to get their hacks in.

As you may or may not know, we here at SOX & Dawgs have been nominated for the “best Red Sox blog” in the New England Sports Blog Awards being held by Trufan.com. Today is the last day to get your votes in so we would greatly appreciate it if you could head over to Trufan.com and vote for us.

NESN has introduced a new feature during it’s Red Sox Live broadcasts called the Second Base Cup. Every Red Sox guest who appears on the show wil take three shots from behind the set to the second base bag.

With the first NESN Live taking place on Sunday night, the first two “golfers” were skipper Terry Francona and reliever Daniel Bard.

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed to vote once a day. Thank you for your support not only in the voting but also to make the site what it is today.

During his session with the media on Saturday, Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz talked about his expectations for the 2011 among other things as well.

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed to vote once a day. Thank you for your support not only in the voting but also to make the site what it is today.

Here’s a little of what Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz had to say about former pitching coach and current Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell.

Are you curious to see what new Boston Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez has done to get his surgically repaired shoulder back into shape? Well if you are, check out the video below.

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed one vote per day! Thank you!

Former Boston Red Sox shortstop and current ESPN baseball analyst Nomar Garciaparra is very impressed with the 2011 Red Sox as evidenced by his words in the video below.

SOX & Dawgs has been nominated for “Best Red Sox Blog” at the New England Sports Blog Awards! Please take a few moments from your day to vote for SOX & Dawgs by heading over to Trufan.com. You are allowed one vote per day! Thank you!

Here’s a New Balance commercial featuring Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KmkEWAsic88?rel=0

Apparently you can say ass on television and not get bleeped as Boston Red Sox skipper Terry Francona called Dustin Pedroia a pain in the ass during an interview with ESPN’s Jon Miller, Joe Morgan and Orel Hershiser.

Here’s the video for your enjoyment:

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If anyone had any concern about Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury’s ribs, he may have put that to rest in Friday night’s 6-3 win over the New York Yankees.

With a runner on second and one out in the top of the 8th, Yankees DH Lance Berkman hit a liner to center that Ellsbury made an incredible diving catch on. It didn’t appear that the ribs bothered Ellsbury after the catch.

Here’s the video of the catch for you to enjoy:

{flvremote}http://ianbethune.com/ellsburyribs.flv{/flvremote}

All season long whenever Boston Red Sox third baseman Adrian Beltre hits a home run, catcher Victor Martinez tries to rub Beltre’s head. Of course Beltre’s not a fan of this and always reacts by throwing punches back at VMart.

Well after Beltre hit a grand slam in tonight’s 6-2 win over the Cleveland Indians, Marco Scutaro and VMart combined to get Beltre before he even got to the dugout.

As Beltre got to home plate, he did the usual high-five’s, arm bashing, etc, etc until Scutaro stole his helmet and VMart got a few rubs in before hightailing it into the Red Sox dugout to avoid Beltre’s wrath.

Here’s the video of the moment for you to enjoy:

{flvremote}http://ianbethune.com/gangbeltreshead.flv{/flvremote}

One of these days Beltre is going to get one of them and probably hurt them really badly. But still a funny moment in what’s been a crazy 2010 season for the Boston Red Sox.

Photo credit: AP Photo