Handle with care: Timlin stays on shelf - Boston Red Sox - BostonHerald.com

It's almost spring, so all you Fence Post readers who couldn't care less about baseball are going to have to put up with me. Every now and then I'm gonna write about the National Pastime:

Watching updates on Anna Nicole Smith.


I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Calm down.

Baseball! It's back. Sure, it's only spring training, but I'll take whatever I can get. I just can't get enough of MLB. To be precise: Red Sox baseball. I'm a card carrying member of Red Sox Nation.

Click on " Handle with care. " Take a look at Sox reliever Mike Timlin. This shot was taken the other day down in Fort Myers, Florida. That's where the Sox hold spring training. Timlin's sporting a new look this year. That hair! That puffy face!

What did he do, have Elton John Surgery over the winter break?

One more thing. The Sox have another pitcher. His name is Beckett ( I'm not making this up. It's Beckett. You have my word on this - as a former adman. )

Beckett's also a writer. You may have heard of a play he wrote:

Waiting for the Dope.

It's about how, every spring, Sox players who report to spring training on time, have to wait for Manny Ramirez to arrive. Late. Every year, it's the same thing. Manny comes up with another excuse for not making it to spring training on time.

This year it was, " My grandmother died. "

Last year it was, " My grandmother died. "

Year before that it was, " My grandmother died. "

Year before....

Well, you catch my drift. But Manny wouldn't.

Handle with care: Timlin stays on shelf - Boston Red Sox - BostonHerald.com