Following game 2 of the 2007 World Series I hoped that when the Big Schill got a standing ovation as he left the field that Fenway faithful were saluting a good single game performance, and not a hall of fame career. When Curt signed a contract to put him back in a Sox jersey for the 2008 season, it looked like I got my wish. Instead it just turned out to be a $8M tease. After a season of injuries and controversy, my suspicion was sadly correct: that World Series cap tip was the end to Schilling’s final pitching performance. Schilling (as I’m sure you heard) announced his retirement, meaning that his final pitch thrown led to a World Series victory. Not too shabby.

Most blogs will thank Curt for helping bring not one, but TWO, World Series championships to the Olde Towne Team. They will thank him for the bloody sock, for making 55,000 New Yorkers shut up, and, maybe if they’re really savvy, for teaching Beckett how to pitch instead of throw. But I’d like to thank the Big Lug for one more thing that will probably go unnoticed by most of Red Sox Nation.

Let’s take a trip back to 2003, say, late November. We all know that Theo flew out to the Schilling household in Arizona to try to convince Curt to waive his no trade clause and join the Sox. They provided him with data about pitching in Fenway and all the run support he’ll get, but Schilling wasn’t convinced. Even with all the good data, he was still worried about something else: who will his manger be? The Sox had obviously fired Grady, but still didn’t have a replacement yet. So one of Schilling’s requirements for joining the Sox was that his former manager Terry Francona be hired to lead the team. Who knows if the Sox would have hired Tito without Schilling’s ultimatum, but it seems to only add to his lore as a Red Sox.

So thanks big guy, but for some reason, I have a feeling we haven’t heard the last from you.

First, a quick note for Gary Thorne. The World Baseball Classic is not “The Classic.” Nobody calls it that but you. Also, I think after listening to you and Steve Philips, I now know how painful Joe Morgan and Steve Philips will be each week on Sunday Night Baseball. At least I’ve been warned now to buy earplugs for the entire season since I don’t think the mute button will be powerful enough to shut the two of them up.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, can we also stop saying that any of the injuries that happened at the WBC could just as easily have happened in Spring Training? There’s a major flaw in this line from Bud Selig. Any player in the WBC wants to win every one of these games. They will push themselves hard like a normal game because they care, and they’re competitive. As David Wright said, “We’re taking this very seriously. This isn’t an exhibition to us.” Funny, that sounds like the exact opposite of Spring Training. ST is all about slowly working up to game-speed. And when you start playing full-speed when you’re only half-ready, you’re way more likely to get hurt.

Let’s take the AL MVP for example. He pulled a muscle taking extra BP. Would this injury have happened if he was taking extra BP in Fort Myers? Probably. Oh, but wait a minute, if this was just ST, then he wouldn’t be taking extra BP after playing three full games. He’d have played in 5-6 innings, and gone golfing like the rest of the players do at ST.

So for everyone who says that Pedroia, Youk, Braun, Lindsrom, and Chipper Jones would all have been hurt if they were playing in Spring Training, you’re only correct about Chipper.

Oh yeah, and that US-Puerto Rico game was fantastic. I’ll admit it, I cheered when Jon Sciambi butchered the call (the game was simulcast on ESPN Radio). I was planning on waiting in the car to hear the end of the 9th if it hadn’t ended 2 minutes before pulling into the driveway (I love baseball, but I’m not paying Comcast an extra $25/month for the MLB channel). Maybe if the US was playing 25 on 25, it wouldn’t have been such a good ending. So Bud gets what he wants yet again.

UPDATE: And now the news comes out that Youk sprained his ankle so badly he could barely walk out of the clubhouse, but he played on it for the past two games. Riiight, like he would have continued playing on a hurt ankle and injured himself more if he was still in Spring Training. Can we call Selig’s company line complete and utter bullshit yet?

So the games have begun, which is fantastic but also troublesome for the true fans. You see, on the one hand, there is nothing better than getting to turn on WRKO to hear live broadcasts of Red Sox games, or to see highlights of diving catches and sunny grass fields when I turn on Sportscenter at night. On the other hand, after two spring training games people have already determined that Papi is cooked after going hitless in seven ABs and that Buchholz is totally over his command problems after pitching two scoreless innings against a Dunn-less Cincinnati lineup. Instead of focusing on the state of Lester’s changeup or Lars Anderson’s ability to hit the breaking ball, how about talking about the greatest Red Sox pitcher of all time. No, I’m not talking about Clemens* or some guy who they named the annual pitching award after, I’m talking about the one and only Pedro Martinez.

According to Sean McAdam, Pedro offered his services to the Red Sox but the Sox said they didn’t need him. Surprisingly this story hasn’t created an online riot on SoSH. Let me start by saying that I want Pedro to not only retire in a Sox jersey, but be immortalized in Cooperstown with that B on his hat as well. But the Sox did the right thing here. Pedro hasn’t made 30+ starts in the last three seasons. In 2007, he made only 5 starts, and in 2008 he made 20, but still had a 5.61 ERA in the NL. Going into the season, the Sox have potentially nine starting pitchers they can use: Beckett, Lester, Wakefield, Dice-K, Penny, Buchholz, Smoltz, Masterson and Bowden, all of who are less risky at this point than Petey. Sure, the Sox could do what would be best for the team and offer Petey a minor league deal, but this is still the man who was “disrespected” by a 3-year offer in 2004. This is the same Petey who by comparison made Manny look like a model citizen of the clubhouse. If the man wasn’t the face of the franchise for almost 10 years, this wouldn’t even be a discussion. Hell, Theo probably wouldn’t have even bothered to call his agent back if it wasn’t Pedro Martinez.

I wish Petey the best. I hope he signs on with a team that could use his help so he can have a few more successful seasons before signing a purely sentimental one-day contract so he can retire as a Red Sox. But right now it would be disrespectful to the Red Sox to ask for a spot in the rotation.