I concur that the fans' treatment of Hawkins was shameful. I can concur with Pete Abe that Hawkins is a good guy. I don't mind them booing his performance, but he O'Neill chant was just uncool and it was clear that it added a nasty venom to the booing.

From my perspective, Cabrera's suspension (which was reduced to two games and started tonight) contributed to the loss as Damon likely gets the ball to deep left that tipped off Matsui's glove and really started the bleeding for Hawkins. Also there was a shot in the right center gap that Damon fell short of that Melky might have gotten to.

3 The chanting of O'Neill is detestable to me. It would be one thing if Hawkins chose the number to showboat, but the fact that he chose it in tribute to Roberto Clemente, I just feel awful for the guy. Look, he might stink, and I have no problem booing his performance (small sample size warning) but by all accounts he seems like a really great guy. Sometimes when I'm at the stadium and some idiot yells something like that, or, "Boston sucks!" I want to tell them to shut up. Stupid bandwagon fans.

He was a hellva player, but he's not going into the HOF.

Yet he seems upset that his number wasn't retired.

It's been 7 years already, get over it, Paulie.

For some reason, I thought he wore 21 with the Rockies last year, but I could be mistaken. I think the boo-birds ought to leave him alone.

Off topic - some very good friends and I are planning a trip to the Stadium in May, likely the May 8th afternoon game vs the Indians. Its a celebration of sorts, and so we might splurge. From what folks have posted before, seats right behind home plate seem to be the way to go. My question is, view-wise, are either of these worth it for the price:

Main Box MVP 206 Row H - $183/ticket
Field Championship 6 Row F - $350/ticket

Or are we better off up in Tier Box MVP 603 Row E at $130/ticket?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

But you can't go wrong with any of those and none are certainly cheap!

Why do you dismiss what I think of as deep affection as irrational worship?

But if by "irrational worship" you mean that O'Neill or anyone else just doesn't deserve such affection, that's what I can't agree with you on.

He may not "deserve" to have his number retired, but what's wrong with fans having special feelings for him or any other player, regardless?

Hawkins isn't keeping the ball down, maybe because he's squeezing it too tightly.

I doubt that he will have much time to right himself.

I wished JG let IPK finish out the inning. Maybe go for 1 more. I didn't want to give up the game, but having IPK get out of it and maybe one more decent inning (the 2nd inning was beautiful) would have left him feeling better. His next performance is more important then this one.... once 6 runs were in.

Wow... it's game four, we have a 2-2 record, and already the 'Bitter Banterers' are in peak voice. Good thing we aren't Detroit fans.

I love this team. At least Farns had 3 Ks in 1.1 IPs. I expect LaTroy will be league average, and like Viz, have good streaks and bad streaks.

However, even since he took LF again after his wrist injury, Matsui is a different guy. Now (with Bad knees?) he's worthless in the OF. Last night has made me really appreciate how much (average?) Melky adds to this team.

I would aggressively shops Mats (I think he will waive his NTC for a decent team, say LA). It's gut feeling more then SSS (small sample size), but I think JD is done. His bat no lomger has any whip to it, but at least he can run and still catch the ball. When you consider his speed, OBP and defense, I wonder if Gardner might not be much of a downgrade. AT least with a kid who gets paid nothing, you have lower expectations.

At this point, it's hard to take the failures of older, expensive players... ie: Matsui and JD, with a sdie order of Farns. I wonder if they will be replaced sometime this year.

Btw, I agree with 10 . I was really surprised and disappointed to hear O'Neill's comments.

Yankees at 1 pm today, and Mudhens tonight -- first game of the season in person. Woo hoo, doubleheader!

I might even agree with you on this. Both were aging players signed to 4-year deals. Everyone pretty much figured that they would be productive at the start and not so much at the end. The gamble was whether the team would get two or three good years; those gambles don't look like they are paying off so far.

Having said that, and seeing as how long it took for Gator's number to be retired, as well as the fact that Willie's number isn't retired, I can see the other side of the issue.

At any rate, that was a poor showing by the fans last night. They probably don't even know who Clemente was :)

:)

It's a Proust thing, I guess is my point. On a deep level, its not about who "deserves" to have their number retired, but more about whether any given fan can get used to dissociating a given number from a given player.

In the case of number 31, I literally can't see it without thinking of Winfield.

We're using different kinds of criteria.

When I became a fan in the 80's, Winfield as 31 was all I knew, like 24 was Rickey, 23 was Donnie & 19 was Rags.