its time

As snow and ice pound through the mid atlantic region I try to keep in mind that winter will end. It always does. Just as the stock market seemingly always rallies and night turns to day, soon this blight of crappy cold weather will go away and bring sunshine and warmth. I am aided in this effort by the simple glorious fact that today and tomorrow are two of the most magical days on the calendar. That’s right. Pitchers and catchers report and spring training begins. See- even the word is there to help chase away the chill SPRING. Hope springs eternal.

Unless of course you are an Orioles fan. Its bad enough that we have to be in the same division as the Yanks and the DAMN red sox, now our most veteran pitcher is out for the year with a rotator cuff tear. Not what you want to hear the day before camp opens. We quickly signed Steve traschel as a replacement but he was an unsigned free agent nobody wanted.Meanwhile the red Sox continue to feature an unbelievable starting line up and have added pitching. The Yankees of course are the Yankees so again we seem to be playing for third at best before a pitch is thrown. One can hope one of the two giants has a disastrous season allowing us to slip in a wild card but I sure wouldn’t bet it that way.

This should be an interesting season. Will Big head barry break the record or go tojail? Could this be the last year for Joe torre if he doesn’t win World Series number 27 for the pin stripers? There’s four guys with a chance to hit number 500.. Frank Thomas (487), Jim Thome (472), Manny Ramirez (470) and Alex Rodriguez (464).Is matsuzaka worth 101 million dollars? Can Slamming Sammy actually make a big league roster this year? What month and where will Roger Clemens come back? Is Glavine up to the workload without Pedro in the rotation? Is Detroit for real and can they possibly repeat? Who is this years Cinderella team? Have the cubs spent enough money to finally field a winner? Will anyone jack 70 or more this year? Smart money says that a healthy Pujols, Ryan Howard have a chance and with Soriano hitting into the short porch a Wrigley you cant rule him out. It should be a great year. My prediction? Te Yankees. I think Clemens joins them in June, A-Rod earns his paycheck with a monster year and Boston falls to the wayside in September. The Orioles? Probably out of it by June First. Love the team but it’s the worst ownership in the game.In the national league I think the cubs did spend enough. They are this years Detroit

Another sure sign of spring. Just booked my tickets for the annual spring spec list after dark outing to the hallowed grounds of Keeneland raceways. It’s the Ashland stakes this year instead of the bluegrass but it will still be bourbon, gambling and all around fun.Maybe I can find once more the chain smoking, foul mouth hard drinking coed of my dreams that Crossman scared away a few years.Or at least have a hell of a good time looking.

Spring. Baseball. Ponies. Its almost here