BANGOR -- The Bangor Civic Center was the place to be Tuesday night for Red Sox Fans, as local radio station WZON put on their ninth annual Red Sox Hot Stove Night. Boston Red Sox Radio announcers Joe Castiglione and Dave O’Brien were on hand, giving their opinions on the Red Sox, along with a few other major league teams ,including the Yankees.
 
The night started off with the Husson University and University of Maine baseball teams being honored for winning their respective conferences. Each team was represented by the manager and captains. Each group spoke about trying to build on last season’s success and were grateful for being invited to this event full of baseball fans.

WZON hosts Dale Duff and Clem Labree started first by introducing Castiglione. Castiglione has been calling Red Sox games for 30 years. Labree had a list of things that started or were invented since Castiglione has been there; even stating that O’Brien was a senior in high school 30 years ago. Duff’s introduction of O’Brien was more factual, but still a great one. O’Brien had been calling an ESPN women’s college basketball game at Notre Dame the day before. Both received standing ovations and stated that they were very happy to be back in Maine.

They started the night off by recapping the disappointing season the Red Sox had last year. “It was the longest month of my life,” O’Brien said. “I have never seen a team of this caliber dissolve so fast. You see pretenders that dissolve after the All Star Break or in August, but this team could have won 100 games.”

“A team with an ERA over seven in the month of September should not be in the playoffs,” added Castiglione.

When the topic of former Red Sox manager Terry Francona was discussed, both said they were not surprised he left, and Castiglione called him the greatest manager in Red Sox history. O’Brien said the downfall of Francona was that he let the players do too much. He often defended players when it was not necessary. Francona won two World Series titles in his eight year tenure, which is the second longest stint in team history.

Both were excited about Bobby Valentine being named manager. “He is a showman, yet he really knows the game. He will hold the player’s feet to the fire,” said O’Brien.

“Expect a lot more hit and runs, as well as bunts,” added Castiglione. “Valentine said this is not small ball, but simply baseball. The bunt is back at Fenway Park”

Another new face for Boston this year is general manager Ben Cherington. “Ben is very thoughtful and you cannot really judge him until a few years after he makes a significant trade,” O’Brien said. “We are comfortable around him because he has been on the staff for so long; I think you guys will too.”

“He is not a headline grabber, a quality which I think is great,” stated Castiglione. “Without all the extra attention, he can focus on improving this good ball club.”

They each had several predictions for the upcoming season. O’Brien thinks Carl Crawford will get back to his old self after struggling in his first year in Boston. One of his sleeper players is newly acquired pitcher Vicente Padilla. His reasoning was that he had great stuff and is an inning eater. Castiglione thinks that Daniel Bard will be the closer and that Jose Iglesias will be the shortstop on opening day. The duo also thinks that Carl Yastrzemski will throw out the first pitch on Fenway’s 100th anniversary.

At the end of the show they revealed their predictions for how many games the Red Sox will win this year. O’Brien thinks 94 wins while Castiglione was hoping for more in his prediction of 96. Both announcers were happy to be in Maine and cannot wait to come back to talk baseball for the tenth anniversary next year.

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