YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!

It was just another chilly February day up here in Boston... but down in Fort Myers, some very special young lads in red stockings were convening on a muddy field to play a little baseball...

OH MY GOD

SPRING TRAINING IS FINALLY HERE!

Mmmm. Let's look at some of the pictures Boston.com had to offer up this morning:





As always, Papelbon's expression says so much more than my words every could. YAY BASEBALL! Also reporting yesterday was Kevin Youkilis:





Youk looks more like he's gearing up to tailgate the Pocono 500 (most fun sporting event I've ever been to, by the way) than to play baseball, but hey. As long as I'm in giddy, blathering baseball mode, I'm sharing my favorite Youkilis moment of this past season: One of the business school profs I worked for over the summer gave me absolute DREAM seats to a Sox/Blue Jays game: 10 rows up from home plate, smack in the center. That's VIP shit, baby. Schilling was pitching, so I decided to take Mommy dearest since I know she loves him. Bottom of the 1st, Youk steps up to bat and all of Fenway immediately chimes in with "YOOOOOOOOOOOUK!" as he gets ready to hit. My mom turns to me, deeply concerned: "Raquel, why are they booing him?!" Hee hee.

Moving on. Let us all take a moment to bask in the glow of up-and-coming talent and youthful good looks that emanates at all times from Clay Buchholz:



I can't WAIT to see Buchholz pitch this season. Joba Chamberlain, my ass. It would be tragically shortsighted, though, to let Clay distract me from the other fine young pitching prospects gracing the field yesterday:




Yowza. That's Michael Bowden, who has a distinctly Matt Damon-esque quality -- not to mention a 95-mph four-seam fastball that's supposed to be killer. And let's not forget Hunter Jones (hot name, so-so face) and Justin Masterson (sighhhhhh):





Forgive the blatant objectification of this post. Boys, you got the SI Swimsuit Issue this week, so let me indulge.

First spring training game is 2 FREAKING WEEKS AWAY, people.