I know.  I’ve taken this whole off season thing a little too seriously huh?  I guess I’m just tired of talking/reading about baseball.  I don’t want to analyze what might happen, where, when and with who anymore.  Eleven more days until that romantic holiday.  Forget the chocolate and roses.  All I want is green grass, blue skies and the Rays back in uniform playing America’s favorite pastime.  That’s a better aphrodisiac than oysters any day!

It occurred to me that I never gave Jonny Gomes a proper send off.  After all the entertainment he’s provided me, that is completely unacceptable.  I wish him all the luck with the Reds.  So I think I’ll throw him Overboard.

When I think of Jonny as a leading man, Dean Proffitt is the obvious choice.  When Joanna first meets Dean he is struggling to make ends meet.  Jonny definitely had his struggles when he was with the Rays.

Dean tricks Joanna into believing she is his wife Annie.  Annie soon finds out that Dean is pretty obnoxious, lacking basic manners.  I’m sure Jonny is a nice guy and has more manners, but visions of him drinking beer out of a protective cup definitely fit the comparison.

Annie works hard to clean up Dean’s life.  She then realizes that although Dean is rough around the edges, he is loyal and has a soft side too.  This mirrors my love/hate relationship with Mr. Gomes.  Jonny is super loyal.  He always had his teammates backs, and although some times he could be so frustrating, you had to love the guy!

In the end Annie/Joanna and Dean’s relationship made them better people.  The fell in love and lived happily ever after.  There’s no happily ever after for Jonny and the Rays, but I think the relationship made them both better.  I can’t imagine that run last year with out him, and I hope he does find his happy ending.  Maybe he’ll even rescue a rich chick and raise a bunch of rowdy boys.