Spring Training Officially Begins

It is 12:01 am on February 11th. The 2013 baseball season has officially begun. For Red Sox Nation we hope that the season will be much longer than last season, hopefully having the team play well into October. While it is only pitchers and catchers who officially have to report today it is the official beginning of a brand new year. The final memories of the previous season are put to rest, no matter how good or bad the memories are. Today is the day that all the hopes and dreams for the new season begin to form.
This years pitching staff is much better than last seasons. Starters Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Bucholz, Felix Doubront and Ryan Dempster pack a punch not quite as strong as last years starting rotation but do provide pitchers that can all throw more than 190 innings this year. The bullpen has made great improvements from last year adding closer Joel Hanrahan, and middle reliever Koji Uehara to the bullpen. Andrew Bailey will settle into the position of set up man for Hanrahan but will also be ready to take over the closers role if necessary.
Behind the plate will be a familiar face on a regular basis, with Jarrod Saltalamacchia calling the game. Mike Napoli may catch some games and has already reported to Florida. Napoli will play first base for the team but has a history of catching games at times. Pitchers and catchers need the most time to mesh together as a unit which is the reason that they arrive at spring training first. This is going to be a great season, one that hopefully will linger in the minds of Red Sox Nation for much longer than the past few seasons. To the pitchers and catchers who are in Florida enjoying the warm weather its time to get to work, its time to create new memories to last us all next winter. To quote a favorite Boston band, The Dropkick Murpheys "It’s been a long time coming, The boys are back, The boys are back, The boys are back, And they’re looking for trouble".

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