March Madness.

There are just under two weeks left until Opening Day and my boys seem to have hit a little bit of a snag. They've gone on a positively Pittsburgh-ian streak and lost eight of the last nine games. You try not to make too much of spring training games, you acknowledge that players are working on things and the focus isn't necessarily to win the game but, nevertheless, it's just a wee bit disturbing. Thankfully, it would appear that middle-management is aware of the issue. Says Francona of his team's play of late:

"I think we’re going through a three-, four-day stretch here where everybody feels heavy. Heavy-legged, we’ve been split up, we’re on buses. Hopefully we’ll kick it into gear a little bit the next couple of days, get a little more energy, play a little bit cleaner baseball.

He's almost got a little haiku in the middle there except that the syllables aren't right. To wit: We're heavy-legged/We are riding on buses/We have been split up. But absolutely amen to the last part. That would be fantastic.