Well the 12:00 games are over with and really no surprises other than the fact that the Stanford Trees Cardinal should have stayed home.

The Louisville Cardinals annihilated the Stanford Cardinal 78-58.

Maryland withstood 30 points from Stephen Curry of Davidson to beat them 82-70.

Boston College pulled away down the stretch and defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders 84-75.

not be acquired via a spring training trade and will come from within the Red Sox organization according to GM Theo Epstein.

“I don’t anticipate anything big,” he said. “We don’t have anything going right now with another team. I anticipate we’ll figure something out with guys we have here and build a good bullpen throughout the course of the year.”

“Guys are throwing the ball really well,” Epstein said. “You can’t really evaluate in spring training, especially the first two weeks of games. Guys are getting their feet under them on the mound, performing against hitters. We just want them to get ready for the season. A structure will emerge.”

So basically what that means is this. The closer for the Red Sox this season will be either Mike Timlin, Joel Piñero, Julian Tavarez, Brendan Donnelly, Manny Delcarmen, or Craig Hansen. The latter two will probably not be the closer but their names have been mentioned during spring training. My guess is that both of them may start the season in Pawtucket if Kyle Snyder is not traded.

The Red Sox did explore some trades for a closer during the off-season. The main guy being Chad Cordero from the Washington Nationals. But the price was too high for him. The Nats wanted Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen. A high price to pay. They had also considered signing Eric Gagne, but his price was too high, especially with him coming off of elbow surgery.

Timlin has the most experience of the bunch, having saved 141 games over his career. The problem with Timlin right now is that he has a strained oblique muscle and has been shut down. And on Wednesday, the Red Sox said he won’t begin to throw again on Thursday because a medical examination revealed some tenderness so the Red Sox pushed him back to Saturday for now.

Piñero just became a reliever last season after being a starter for most of his big league career. He is prone to the long ball. And we all know that chicks dig the long ball. He has worked on changing his arm angle to help make him a better reliever and has the pitches to be the closer. What he doesn’t have right now, is a closer’s mentality. If he is the closer, it will be interesting to see how he responds to the Boston media and faithful if he blows a game.

Donnelly is probably the only guy of the four who is crazy enough to do it. He is probably one of the most intense relievers in baseball right now. In his illustrious career, he has a total of 4 saves. He has struggled with his command but has the pitches as well to be an effective closer.

Tavarez, to me, is the biggest question mark. He is a very emotional pitcher and hasn’t really had that good of a spring training. Being an emotional pitcher can be a good thing and it also can be a bad thing. Usually for him, it’s a bad thing. He has closed games before though, having 22 career saves. He does have heart though. But is heart enough to win him the closer’s job.

The darkhorse candidate not mentioned here at all is last year’s closer, Jonathan Papelbon. A shoulder injury caused him to miss the last month of the season. So there is concern that his shoulder might not be able to handle the stress of being a reliever. As a starter, he would be on a regimented throwing program, thus allowing his shoulder to get its rest. As a reliever, he had to be ready to throw on any given day.

So who do I think the closer will be. Honestly, I think it will be Piñero. If he falters, I really could see Papelbon moving back into the bullpen. But that will depend on the health of Jon Lester. If Lester is ready to pitch at the big league level again after his battle with cancer, he gives the Red Sox a viable option as a starter to replace Papelbon in the rotation. Also, as much as I hate to say this, if the Red Sox did sign Roger Clemens, they would have to move a starter to the bullpen anyways. So logically to me, Papelbon would be the one to move.

Given the fact that Papelbon had never closed before, I was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to get the job done. But he proved me and other critics wrong. So while I am not overly concerned heading into this season, the worry I have is that someone won’t step up. The bullpen is going to be critical especially in the beginning of the season when the pitchers won’t be stretched out as far as they would in August. You don’t want to fall to far in the hole at the beginning of the season and have to dig your way back out.

My other worry is that if the starting pitching falters or the bullpen can’t hold a lead, the Red Sox are going to have to score a ton of runs. They have the lineup to do it, but if they have to do it every game, that will wear on them.

My hopes are like I said earlier, that someone steps up and says “Tito, I want the ball at the end of the game.”

If your going to be in Vero Beach to see the Red Sox-Dodgers game or watching it on television on Friday, you will probably be surprised to hear this in probably the 2nd or 3rd inning of the game: “Now Batting… #18… Daisuke Matsuzaka.”

During spring training when an AL team goes to a NL park, the NL team has the option of using a DH in the games or having the pitchers hit. Well since the Red Sox will be in an NL park, Matsuzaka will have to bat in the game. The Red Sox had tried to get the Dodgers to use the DH but they wouldn’t budge.

Fearing an injury to Matsuzaka, they have asked him not to swing while he’s at the plate.

“I want to swing the bat, but (pitching) coach (John) Farrell told me not to swing,” Matsuzaka told the Japanese media yesterday. “Josh Beckett told me I’m a natural hitter. I was born to hit.”

“We went out and got this guy to pitch,” Francona said, acknowledging that some pitchers find it hard not to swing. “Beckett was taking until the ball was 10 feet away (last spring). Then he couldn’t help himself.”

Matsuzaka was just 4 for 19 in his career batting in Japan. He had 1 homerun and 3 rbi’s as well.

I know I’d rather not see him swing or even bunt for that matter. It’s better to be safe than sorry right now.

Well the truth has finally came out. Pete Rose did bet on baseball. He revealed this to Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann on ‘The Big Show‘ on ESPN Radio. You can listen to the whole interview right here.

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Pete Rose admits to betting
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Here is the article in it’s entirety.

Pete Rose revealed Wednesday that he bet on the Reds “every night” while he was manager of the team and that the Dowd Report was correct when it said he did so.

Rose spoke Wednesday with Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann on ESPN Radio to discuss the new Pete Rose exhibit that will be on display at the Great American Ballpark as part of the Reds Hall of Fame. The exhibit will be on display for 11 months.

“I bet on my team every night. I didn’t bet on my team four nights a week. I was wrong,” Rose said.

Rose said that he believed in his team so much that he bet on them to win every night.

“I bet on my team to win every night because I love my team, I believe in my team,” Rose said. “I did everything in my power every night to win that game.”

Rose accepted a lifetime ban for gambling in 1989, but denied for nearly 15 years that he bet on baseball. He finally acknowledged in his latest autobiography, published in January 2004, that he made baseball wagers while he managed the Cincinnati Reds.

Rose said he doesn’t worry about getting into the Hall of Fame anymore, but if he is reinstated, he hopes to manage again in the majors.

“I quit worrying about it,” Rose said about the Hall. The former Reds great said that he thought he was going to be reinstated when he met with commissioner Bud Selig before his book came out. Rose said he met with Selig about a year before the book came out and told him everything that was in the book.

“I really thought I was going to be reinstated. Something changed [Selig’s] mind,” Rose said.

Rose said he believes it should be up to each individual owner whether he should manage in the majors again.

“[It’s] all about dollars, Dan and Keith. If I was ever reinstated. If an owner don’t want to win and draw people, don’t call my number,” Rose said.

Major League Baseball’s Hit King also said he thinks that Mark McGwire is getting a raw deal from the writers voting for the Hall of Fame. The reason he said he supported McGwire is because nothing has been proven and they’re all “allegations.”

“Don’t penalize McGwire because you think other guys are taking steroids,” Rose said.

McGwire wasn’t voted into the Hall of Fame in his first appearance on the ballot in January because of allegations he used performance-enhancing drugs in his career.

Rose admits he made a mistake in betting on baseball.

“I made a big mistake. It’s my fault, It’s nobody’s else’s fault,” Rose said. However, he said he should be reinstated because “I’m the best ambassador baseball has.”

Because of the ban, Rose is not eligible for induction into the Reds’ or Baseball’s Hall of Fame. He also is not allowed to be involved in most on-field activities, which has prevented the Reds from retiring his uniform No. 14.

Major League Baseball did include him in two events — 1999’s All-Century Team and 2002’s 30 Memorable Moments — that were sponsored by a credit card company.

The new exhibit includes more than 300 items from the career of Rose, who finished playing in 1986 with a record 4,256 hits. His total is reflected at the Reds’ Hall in a three-story high wall of baseballs — one for each hit.

I think I am as much in shock as Olbermann and Patrick were when Rose said that he had bet on baseball. I can’t believe he really thinks he would get into the Hall of Fame after stating he bet on baseball. I will have more on this later and be sure to listen to us tonight on blogtalk radio as I am sure we will have a lot to say. Information is at the bottom of the post.

You know you have had to much to drink when you tell the officer that the reason your car got into an accident was because a unicorn was driving.

According to the prosecutor, a man in Billings, Montana told police that a unicorn was the reason his truck crashed. He was drunk and ran a red light, then made a U-turn in a gas station and crashed across the street into a light pole.

He was charged with felony drunken driving and felony criminal endangerment. This was his 5th arrest for drunken driving although his lawyer argued he hadn’t had one for 14 years. Ok, 4 drunken driving convictions by the time you are 28 isn’t good.

No word on whether or not the unicorn was hurt in the crash.