Leamington Letters #22: Let's play ball

In its wisdom, the management of the Leamington Spa Apollo did not consider that Moneyball the movie would fill even the smallest of their screens, so it was only last night that I eventually got to see it. On DVD at home.  Half way through my phone bleeped with the news that Bailey had injured his thumb and would be out for three or four months: “Won’t be back until after the All-Star game” said Bobby V, “but don’t which All-Star game yet”.

Good timing, with the first game of the season tomorrow at 6pm UK time.

If I was optimistic at the beginning of spring training, I am pretty pessimistic at the end. The last news I heard of Beckett was his dissing of Schilling who was dissing Bobby V.  Last night, we managed to blow a 6-0 lead but hung on to beat the Nationals 8-7, with Choye Spoone closing – just.

I don’t know the truth of the reports and rumours which have been emanating from Florida over the past few weeks. If it’s true that the players have major issues with the style and substance of the new skipper, then maybe we have serious problems ahead of us. Mind you, this time last year, we had lost 10 or more games and went on to lose the first six of the regular season with a skipper that we all admired, although – it subsequently transpired – the players had little respect for him.

They liked him, sure. But Tito had lost the dressing room, and in retrospect it happened in Fort Myers before the season started.

This year, I’m not going to be around to sort things out when the Sox open at Fenway, so I’m happier with a skipper that the players listen to, even they don’t like what he’s saying. And watching Brad Pitt as Billy Beane demanding silence in the locker room and telling his players that “this is what losing sounds like”, I thought that maybe a guy who loses his temper now and again might be a good idea at Fenway.

One thing is for sure: I shall be glued to my screen for the first pitch in Detroit and, at that moment, I will believe that the Sox can do it.

And here’s a reminder for all of us of what it feels like. Go Sox!

Thanks to the Globe.

Today's listening: New Order, Closer.