Sunday Links: Papelbon, Papi and Killer Sheep

There's (almost) nothing but good juicy Red Sox news out of Fort Myers this weekend. On Friday, Daisuke Matsuzaka threw two scoreless innings in his debut - 25 pitches, 19 strikes. This morning we got up, made toast and read that Jonathan Papelbon "the starter" fanned the NL MVP on Saturday. It's tough not to get pumped for these 2007 Sox!

Here are five links for Sunday afternoon:

"Papi a fatherly figure: Advice has helped young Pena" [Boston Herald]
How great are these stories about Big Papi as "mentor" to Wily-Mo Pena? This article even refers to Papi as the "Supreme Allied Commander" of the Red Sox. Nice.

"The evolution of pitches" [Sporting News]
The Sporting News chronicles the evolution of pitches in Major League Baseball starting with the introduction of the curve ball and change-up in the 1860's.

"A Chat with Red Sox Assistant General Manager Jed Hoyer" [The Baseball Analysts]

"NBA Highight Mixer" [NBA.com]
NBA.com has an interesting new feature where you can "mix and mash" NBA video and photos to create your own NBA highlight films. It would be nifty if MLB adopted a similar feature. Imagine being able to sort through current and historical Red Sox game footage to create your own highlight reel.

"Black Sheep Trailer" [Apple Trailers]
This link is in no way Red Sox-related, but try to watch this movie trailer without laughing. Just try.


"City of Palms Park" photo by my little sister, Jill.
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