Published March 31, 2011
"Boston Terrier" (cmckenna1/Flickr)
Wait? We’re supposed to have snow in the area tomorrow? I feel a lot like this Boston Terrier.
Named Jack after Jack Bauer from “24,” he doesn’t look too ferocious. Flickr-user Corey McKenna (cmckenna1) captured this shot and it lives in WBUR’s Flickr group.
Published March 31, 2011
Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia rounds the bases in a spring training game -- a good sign for Sox fans. (AP)
When last we heard from them, the Red Sox were limping to a 89-73 record and a third-place finish in the American League East. Now, they’re among World Series favorites. What happened?
The Red Sox’ expected resurgence centers on two things: getting rid of that limp and adding new blood.
Everyone is talking about the additions of all-world players Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, and rightfully so. But just as big as Gonzalez’s bat and Crawford’s fleet feet is the expected recovery of the team’s legion of injured players.
Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, half of the Sox’ backbone with Jon Lester and David Ortiz, spent significant time on the DL last year.
Youkilis’ torn thumb kept him out of the lineup for the final two months of the season. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury basically missed the entire 2010 season with broken ribs. Pedroia’s healed broken foot should allow him to fill the significant shoes he left after his 2007 Rookie of the Year and 2009 MVP awards.
Last year, even with the significant injuries, the Sox were only eliminated from playoff contention in the season’s final week. That’s a solid starting block for the 2011 squad.
In October, General Manager Theo Epstein told the Portland Press Herald that he felt good about the team — before the big-time additions of Gonzalez and Crawford.
“We did feel pretty good coming out of spring training,” Epstein said. “We’d like to rewind and start over and do 162 [games] over again, see how it turns out with maybe some different breaks and some different health. We’d feel pretty good about our chances, but that’s not the way you get to do it.”
On Opening Day, every team gets a fresh start. Red Sox fans hope that comes with fresh legs.
Published March 31, 2011
Apparently, we’re in for some more Winter weather. This is no pre-April Fools joke. I don’t want to talk about it.
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Amidst intense scrutiny on non-profit board pay, the state’s second- and third-largest health insurers said yesterday that their board members will continue to pay themselves large salaries. State Attorney General Martha Coakley, who oversees the governance of non-profits, said the companies have failed to adequately explain why they’ll continue the practice.
Boston City Councilor-at-Large Ayanna Pressley has long described herself as a survivor of sexual assault. But during a City Council meeting yesterday, she said she survived rape while studying at Boston University. Pressley spoke with WBUR’s Bob Oakes on Morning Edition this morning.
Tired of waiting for casino compromise on Beacon Hill, gamblers are using computer cafes to skirt rules against gambling in the state. Operators call them Internet cafes, but really, the sweepstakes houses are more like computerized casinos and exist in a gray-area between private business and the public Lottery.
Beaches on the Cape are under attack from an estimated 8 million plastic discs accidentally released from a sewage treatment plant on the Merrimack River in Hooksett, N.H. CapeCodToday has some heartbreaking pictures of the discs covering the shoreline.
As Red Sox fans prepare for the teams’ Opening Day tomorrow in Texas (some teams’ seasons begin today and the Sox are in Boston for the first time next Friday), Boston officials are telling the team to scale down its party. The team hopes to expand the sale of alcoholic mixed drinks at Fenway Park, but authorities aren’t so sure that’s a good idea.
For many students in Boston Public Schools, keeping up with their progress toward graduation is difficult or impossible. They say they’re often surprised by their grades and the classes they’re required to pass to graduate — sometimes after it’s too late. Now, however, some school officials are working to give students an easier way to stay on top of their education.
What we’re following: We’ll continue to report on the changes to the Parole Board and the Probation Department being made on Beacon Hill, the state Democratic lawmakers’ retreat in Western Mass. and state home foreclosure numbers. Radio Boston will speak with the president of the American Federation of Teachers about education reform in unionized schools.