Josh Bard, We Hardly Knew Ye.

Josh Bard was given the axe this morning; which is too bad--I liked Bard. I suppose that, in terms of offensive production, Varitek made Bard redundant. They both hit lefties pretty well but are all kinds of useless against righties. Hopefully, he can find himself a job somewhere (the Marlins were looking for a catcher) and Georgie K. is up to the task.

Where's Mel Gibson Now?

Watching Josh Bard's body language (because it's a Heidi interview I had to work my courage up to turning the sound on), he seems like he's a good listener--he's very still. He also seems immune to Heidi's giggly, flirtyness. I think I might like him.

Josh Bard pluses:

He likes good food. He likes to dance. He's self-deprecating. And he likes his family; in four minutes he mentions his wife twice, his brother, and his parents.

Josh Bard minuses:

His taste in movies. He lists Braveheart and Bull Durham as being among his favorites. I suppose they're not necessarily negatives--I don't think I've ever seen Braveheart in it's entirety because it was boring and Bull Durham had it's moments but was too long. He's also kind of literal (but I could chose to believe that he's being purposefully obtuse, which would be a positive.)

Josh Bard trivia:

He hit a walk-off homerun in his very first game.

In His Wake.

Watch this at Boston.com

There aren't too many questions during this spring training. Besides a little bit of intrigue in the shortstop department and maybe a concern or two about the health of extra outfielders, the only spot really up for grabs is that of the backup catcher. Of course, with someone having to catch Wakefield it's not as easy a task to pick one as it might be otherwise.

Peter Gammons takes on the problem in the clip. He talks with Kottaras (which he pronounces "Cot-er-us" not "Co-tar-us" but he's probably right), Bard, and Wakefield.

Georgie K. says that the goal is:

"Just to relax and don't give a target because Wake's throwing to a general area. So just relax, keep the body loose, and let the ball come to you."

Bard:

"There's no really way to practice for it. There's only one guy in the world right now that throws a world class knuckleball. I think the biggest thing is just being aggressive, having the mindset of, you know, Red Sox Nation isn't on my back every pitch--if you miss a ball, you miss a ball and I just have to control what I can control."

And always the gentleman Wakefield chimes in with:

"I think everybody that I've thrown to already this spring is has, you know in my opinion, got the hands good enough to catch it."