Was leaning against my family van in a parking lot Saturday morning. Just had breakfast with a friend I was visiting in Palm Harbor, Fla.

A group of bikers motored in and parked. One biker came up to me. He did a quick turnaround so I could see the back of his vest, proclaiming the Maine chapter of some biker club.

He obviously noticed the Maine plates on my wanted to say hello.

"Kennebunk," was all the man said as he extended my hand.

"Standish," I said with a smile. "I go back Sunday night."

The Portland Sea Dogs have a roster of 24 players.

But changes will be coming with some veteran players left behind in Fort Myers, nursing injuries.

The Trenton Thunder beat the Sea Dogs in the Northern Division playoffs last year, on the way to their first Eastern League title.

It not only was the Thunder's first championship, but it marked the end of Portland's dominance over Trenton in the playoffs (The Dogs topped the Thunder in the 2005 and '06 playoffs).

The Thunder look good again in 2008, according to John Nalbone of the Times of Trenton.

Portland Sea Dogs manager Arnie Beyeler joked that his pitcher in Thursday's exhibition looked very good, but the kid is probably moving up.

Yeah, that Beckett kid has a future in the bigs.

Josh Beckett pitched for the Sea Dogs Thursday, allowing one hit and no walks over four innings. He threw 47 pitches and struck out 6.

As some of you know, I'm a native of the Tampa Bay area, so I naturally keep an eye on the Tampa Bay (no more Devil) Rays.

And the Rays are doing what a lot of struggling teams do - they look at success in the exhibition season with too much hope in their eyes.

You can't blame them.

As expected, the Boston Red Sox sent outfielder Brandon Moss to Triple-A Pawtucket after today's game.

Moss, who hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Tuesday's season-opener, struck out three times Wednesday. Regardless of his performance, he was set to go back to Triple-A.

Jon Lester's first pitch of Wednesday's game hit the dirt. Not a good sign of things to come for the young left-hander.

Lester lasted only four innings - throwing 83 pitches (only 47 for strikes) in the Red Sox 5-1 loss to the A's.

Brandon Moss' go-ahead RBI in the sixth, and game-tying homer in the ninth inning of Tuesday's season-opener shows what the Red Sox farm system is about.

Every farm system has talent. The key is getting that talent to perform.

Was all set to see catcher Dusty Brown make his debut in a major league uniform, and witness another successful journey for a former Portland Sea Dogs player.

But, alas, Brown was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket this morning (Brown is still in Japan, but is now not eligible).

As expected, the Red Sox put Kevin Cash on the major league roster, and decided that three catchers were too many.

The Boston Red Sox reportedly have set their roster for Tuesday's 6 a.m. (EST) season-opener.

But the roster is far from settled.

Was looking at this quote from Clay Buchholz's quote from his latest outing, in the first exhibition game in Japan (3.2 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs):

"I left a couple of pitches up over the plate and that hurt."

Got a feeling that Buchholz will be saying that often this year as he continues trying to master command of his fastball.

Also wondering if Buchholz will make the major league team. Sox may want Buchholz getting more work in Pawtucket, rather than being the No. 5 starter.

Yankees Shine (what did you think those hyphens stood for?)

From Yankee Hater caps to foolish chants at Fenway Park, the Yankees are a favorite target of scorn.

So maybe their ownshership says some foolish things (Larry Lucchino does not always hold his tongue, either), and they spend a lot of money (something the Red Sox cannot gripe about, too much)

But put your baseball bigotry aside today and applaud the Yankees.

Just read this quote from Johnny Damon in the Boston Herald:

“I still think I’m a pretty tough person to replace,” Damon said. “I think I’ve been pretty consistent throughout my career - I’m walking into Year 14, and I’ve had two bad years, a couple of OKs and a couple of really good ones. I didn’t have much in the tank last year, but I think time will only tell with Boston."

The Red Sox announced Monday that Daisuke Matsuzaka will be the opening day pitcher for Boston, on March 25, vs. Oakland, in Tokyo.

Jon Lester will start the next day. The Red Sox will then fly to California. Matsuzaka and Lester will likely start the third and fourth games of the season, in Oakland.

Clay Buchholz and Tim Wakefield will pitch the two exhibition games in Japan

The Red Sox also cut four players from big league camp.

Just a public service reminder that the Portland Sea Dogs are looking for host families for some of their players.

Host families usually charge reduced-rate rent or none at all. The players are here from April through early September (although they are on the road half of the time, and usually spend most of their other time at Hadlock Field)

The Red Sox have 39 players still in big league camp (more cuts could come as early as Sunday).

Boston will bring 30 players to Japan and, eventually, will have to get down to 25 players.

When Doug Mirabelli was released Thursday, pitcher Tim Wakefield did not want to comment. Same thing on Friday.

On Saturday, Wakefield finally spoke about the release of his personal catcher.

The eagerly-awaited buundle has arrived.

Daisuke Matsuzaka's wife delivered a baby boy this morning (6 pounds, 10 ounces) at 7:30 p.m.

The boy, whose name was not released, is the couple's second child.

The birth clears the way for Matsuzaka to join the Red Sox in their trip to Japan.

Shortstop Julio Lugo will play in his first game in two weeks, today at sun-splashed City of Palms Park.

Terry Francona said that Lugo will DH in Sunday's game as the Red Sox rush to get him ready.

Bostgon beat Baltimore 7-4 Friday in a game stopped in the top of the seventh inning because of rain.

Reliever Manny Delcarmen slipped on the muddy mound in the seventh, prompting a visit from Terry Francona. Delcarmen was lifted but before Craig Breslow could throw a pitch, the umpires called for the tarp

Daisuke Matsuzaka has left after four innings work, with the Red Sox ahead 5-2 in Friday's exhibition game.

Matsuzaka showed good command (53 pitches, 37 strikes, no walks). He gave up four hits and two earned runs, while striking out two. Melvin Mora clocked a solo home run off him in the third.

Both Manny Ramirez and J.D. Drew hit their first homers this spring, in the early innings.

Jonathan Papelbon relieved Matsuzaka and pitched a 1-2-3 fifth (two strikeouts).

Following up on the last blog ... Terry Francona said he hopes Julio Lugo will be ready to play tomorrow.

"He really wanted to play today," Francona said. "We're going to keep him out one more day. Let him go through the whole day (of pregame drills and BP), except for playing and then we'll play him tomorrow, if everything is okay and he's doing well."

The lineup for today's exhibition game with the Orioles has been posted and shortstop Julio Lugo is once again out of the lineup.

Checked in with Jed Lowrie today. He said he's been told to be ready to go to Japan, until further notice.

Kevin Cash evolved as a better defensive catcher than Doug Mirabelli, which is why the Red Sox released Mirabelli, general manager Theo Epstein said.

Epstein said "this was a debate early in camp." And the argument kept leaning toward Cash.

Cash showed he can catch knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield, when Cash filled in for the injured Mirabelli late last season.

Brandon Moss led off the bottom of the ninth with a home run, sending the Red Sox game with Tampa Bay into an extra inning.

Moss's blast tied the game 2-2. It ended 3-3. Exhibition game rarely goa past the 10th inning.

The Rays took a 3-2 lead with a sacrifice fly in the 10th, off of Sea Dogs reliever Beau Vaughan - who was summoned to the game in case of an emergency (or an extra inning).

Boston tied it again, on Chris Carter's RBI double in the 10th. Sea Dogs outfielder Bubba Bell pinch-ran for Bell, with one out. Moss came up again and struck out. Minor league infielder Keith Ginter struck out to end the game.

More later. General manager Theo Epstein is scheduled to talk to the media about Doug Mirabelli's release.

Bartolo Colon finished his second inning today and should be done. He gave up two hits, one being a solo home run by Jon Weber.

In all, Colon threw 26 pitches, 18 for strikes. He was wild at first and then settled down.

The Red Sox made it official, announcing that they placed Doug Mirabelli on unconditional release waivers.

There's a reason why Dusty Brown is replacing Doug Mirabelli in the lineup today. The Boston Herald just reported that Mirabelli has been released and was seen leaving the park.

Now there is a competition for the No. 2 catching spot between Brown, Kevin Cash and George Kottaras.

As promised, the blogs will keep coming from Fla.

Today's lineup already has a change. Doug Mirabelli was scheduled to catch, but Dusty Brown said he just found out he's behind the plate.

Today's top story is the Red Sox debut of Bartolo Colon.

Saw 2007 Sea Dogs pitchers Beau Vaughan and Jose Vaquedano in the Red Sox locker room. They are "just in case" pitchers for today.

Greetings from the Fort. The Red Sox made a few moves this morning, while still waiting for Coco Crisp to recover from his groin injury.

I landed in the Tampa Bay area today (off to Fort Myers in the morning), but I did not attend the Yankees-Rays game. Too bad. It got exciting quickly.

Remember when the Red Sox and Rays went at it with beanballs, punches and thrown bats?

Seems the Yankees have a problem with Tampa Bay, too.

Can there be any question about Jacoby Ellsbury being the starting center fielder, especially with Coco Crisp still out with a groin injury?

Maybe the injury will help Crisp deal with his back-up role. If he had a great spring, he would not have gone quietly to the bench (and who would have blamed him?).

Is Bartolo Colon going to be needed sooner than thought?

I strongly doubt it, but it makes for interesting news to hear about his progress (Colon makes his exhibition debut Thursday), while other starters are doubtful or out for the opener in Japan on March 25.

No Schilling (shoulder), and maybe no Beckett (back) or Matsuzaka (pending fatherhood).

Maybe Jon Lester.

A few thoughts as I fight off the flu (sorry for the lack of recent blogs).

Now that Jonathan Papelbon got his mony ($775,000), would he be quiet about his cause to set a standard for future relievers. As I try to figure out payment for the heating bill, I don't want to hear about his noble efforts.

Everyone loves the goofball. Jonathan Papelbon is a sensational closer on the mound, and a Disney character off it.

But when he talks about his contract, Jon (as we knew him in Portland, back in 2005) needs to show restraint.

Another story is out about the productive Red Sox minor league system.

milb.com, the "official" minor league web site is profiling all the organizations.

When Jon Lester or Clay Buchholz have a bad day, you shrug and say it's too early in spring training to be concerned.

But reliever Craig Hansen is another issue.