And Catchers.

Victor Martinez with Heidi Watney.

Back to School.

As I wrote last week, Victor Martinez had been planning on returning to Cleveland to fulfill an obligation to a little girl who had won him in a contest. And he did; which was sweet and kind and good of him. He chauffeured (not personally but you get my meaning) the girl and her family to the school in a stretch Hummer, talked with the kids in the class for an hour, and signed autographs. It's all very nice. But here's what bothers me: He doesn't seem to have made an effort to get dressed before he left for the event. Or maybe a matching sweatsuit flies in Cleveland, as a wise person once said "We're all models west of the Allegheny."

What was I saying about trying to be nicer?

Good Eggs.

Tim Wakefield will be hosting his golf tournament for the Space Coast Early Intervention Center down in Florida this weekend. Since its inception the fundraiser has raised almost $6 million for the school. It would seem to be a good, useful program. What's more, Wake sends his own kids there after school. Timmy is a good person who deserves to be treated with respect.

Meanwhile, battery mate Victor Martinez isn't willing to disappoint a little girl either. There was still apparently unfinished business for him in Cleveland. Last year he had agreed to be part of a radio contest where the winner got to bring him to school, presumably for show-and-tell. Unfortunately for the contest's winner, Victor was traded to Boston before they could settle on a date for the visit. So today he trekked up to Cleveland to complete his part of the bargain.

Say it with me: Awww.

Scenes from LA.

AP photos from yesterday's and today's workouts in LA:



No, Papi! No! Baseball gloves aren't for eating.



David Ortiz: Hey! I play first base too. Can I come practice with you guys?
Victor and Youkilis try not to laugh.



Pedroia: Nu-unh, Mr. Beckett. It wasn't me who stole your glove. I swear. It was...Jed. Jed way over there that did it. Honest.




Pedroia thinks: You know, if this whole baseball thing doesn't end up working out. I could have a kick ass career as a smoldering underwear model.




At least Daisuke Matsuzaka thinks I'm funny.

California Dreamin.

The Sox left for California this afternoon and what better send off could there be than to make fun of their outfits?



Would you check out those gams? That boy has a very shapely leg. And really nice shoes. Someone ought to tell him how to wear a French cuff, though. Puffy sleeves are not attractive.



I suppose that we can give Victor the benefit of the doubt and pretend that the stripes on his suit are brown. And while his belt and his shoes do not match (and it appears that he's wearing black socks, too boot) at least he seems to have his priorities straight, making an all important stop at Build-A-Bear before he made his way to the bus.




Besides the fact that Theo is carrying both a backpack and a briefcase (making him look like a young-ish college professor), the only thing moderately interesting about the photo is that apparently his choice of airplane reading material is Harper's Magazine. Although as far as I can tell from looking at their website, not the latest issue.



Even though the pocket square doesn't match and he probably should have resisted the urge to button his suit old man cardigan style (just doing the top button), David Ortiz is able to rock the suit. It's a beautiful jacket.



And Francona. I'll just say that the difference in quality between Ortiz's jacket and Francona's jacket is stunning.

Mr. Mean.

The Projo has a nice little article on exactly what Victor Martinez meant to his former teammates. Essentially, they seem to feel that without Martinez, Cleveland became a rudderless ship. And that they were treading water waiting for someone to take charge. It has to be difficult: To be sputtering along and suddenly find yourself in a class of organic chemistry students without a teacher that's still expected to pass the final.

And to see his affect on the Red Sox clubhouse you need to look no further than David Ortiz. Victor Martinez comes over and shares elaborate handshakes with David and Papi starts hitting again for real. Plus, he seems like just a really good guy in general.

The reason I bring it up though is Martinez's description of Jason Varitek:

“You play against him, and he looks kind of mean. That’s the way he plays. He’s one of the guys I always looked up to. He’s pretty smart, he knows what he’s doing, and all the things he’s done for this organization, no one’s going to take that away from him."

“When I got here, it kind of surprised me, because I never knew that was the kind of person that he is. He’s great, great. He’s been there for me the whole time.

It made me smile because that was the impression that I had of Varitek, as well. I could imagine him being a bully when he was in school and I can't imagine anyone ever telling him to "go suck an egg." When, in reality, he's not a bad guy; he's a decent human being--albeit one with flaws.

Secret Weapon.

I may not be skilled at predicting the outcome of baseball games that have yet to be played but it would seem that the same doesn't hold true for Terry Francona.

Case in point: In the wee hours of yesterday morning, Victor Martinez was bugging Francona to let him play in last night's game. Annoyed? Tired? Francona slipped and revealed a little too much:

"I finally wrote back and I said, 'Leave me alone. You'll come in, pitch hit, and get the game winning hit. He said, 'OK. Goodnight.' "

It does raise the question of why he doesn't win more games, though. If he knows that somebody is going to go 0 for 5, shouldn't he bench them that night? It must be that he can see how the game will turn out but is unable to do anything to change the outcome. It would explain how he remains mostly calm, throughout.

Victor.

Cleveland Indian Victor Martinez traded to Boston

As we bid adieu to Happy, I suppose I should welcome Victor Martinez, a switch-hitting catcher/first baseman who's not too awful defensively at either first or catcher but has a very nice bat. Sadly, he can't throw anyone out either.

So what do we know about Victor? He's Venezuelan. He was sad to leave Cleveland (I don't begrudge him that fact, it's the only place he's ever known). The reporters in Cleveland seemed to really like him. He was willing to give catching Wake a shot at the all-star game. And he wears very expensive t-shirts.