L'Assessment Premiere

I have to start this post by giving out my first throwback accolades of the season to the Jays for their polyester performance last night. Shades of powder blue, dark blue and white, thoughts of Dave Steib and Pat Borders and the most ridiculously forgotten part of the new Jay uniforms, the Jay himself. They seriously need to bring those hats back because they're probably the greatest hat of all time next to the Garvey era Padre caps.

Ok, enough ogling. Hammen asked and he shall receive because, and I'll be totally honest here, I am a giver. Not a taker, like some bloggers I read. You're right though, Jimmy boy. I've been hankering to write a Sox assessment but I wanted to wait until the season was at least a few games in so there could be things to complain about. Sure enough...

At 3-2, the bright spots are Daisuke and Youk. As far as I'm concerned everyone else has been totally mediocre and yet to get into the flow of the season. I can't blame any of them because after all, the boys were on a fantastically absurd road trip to start the season (and still are). But Dice has looked pretty sharp early on and Youk has pretty much picked up where he left off...rock solid in pretty much all phases of the game. Other than that, the offense has been sluggish and pretty sparse while the bullpen has looked both great and horrendous at different times.

I've got to interject here, as I just got back from a mid-blog evacuation during which I read a Men's Health snippit involving my most favorite Sock, Jake Ellsbury. Apparently his encore to the groundbreaking breakthrough he made last year is to break the MLB record for the strength test that scouts use to rate talent. It's a mix of jumping, shuffling, running and throwing medicine balls and his scores are fucking legit. I just love his work ethic, drive and everything about his approach to playing in the majors. He says that he doesn't want to just be great, he wants to be relied upon by his teammates. That's something pretty mature to say for a 24 year-old with minimal MLB experience, isn't it? I think so. But these are just more reasons why Sox fans abounding are salivating over the thought of having Jacoby roaming around center for the next several years. He's the man.

Early predictions, a la Francaise:

1. JD Drew will surpass his homerun total from 2007 by June 15th. Yeah, I know. That's not exactly an achievement, but it's something. As long as he can stay OFF THE DL...he should be swinging sweetly all season.

2. Bartolo Colon will prove to be more valuable to this rotation that anyone could have ever predicted. I don't know why, but I just feel like having him in the 5th slot when that time comes will be huge. A productive Colon will mean a whole hell of a lot to that 'pen.

3. Jacoby will steal 50 bases...playing in less than 100 games. How much is he going to play? I really don't know yet, do you? Coco is serviceable but I really hope his timetable is short. I gotta believe that Tito is dying to implant Ellsbury permanently in center and just platoon Coco when needed to blow Manny or Drew.

I think that's about all I'm going to say for now. It seems to be shaping up that the AL East could be a three team race for much of the year, if the Jays can keep it together. The pitching, as always, will be the key. I don't know what to expect from the Yankees, but all indications early on point to them just not having the pieces to contend for the Division. But they are the Yankees, and that usually supercedes all else.

My Final Four picks were UNC, KU, Memphis and UConn, so I'm pretty much out of contention in my pool. I've got Memphis winning it all but mathematically I can only finish as high as 2nd. Good luck to all those who still have a chance to bring it home.