I'm starting to cram for my draft exam. My fantasy draft will be held on Sunday and I'm not really ready. My team name: The Green Monsters. I wonder how many other Green Monster teams are out there? I bet quite a few though I have had it for a few years now.

Each team starts with 300-"dollar" budget to field a team that includes eight pitchers, two catchers, five outfielders, one player for each position, a corner man, a middle man and a utility man.

Over the last few weeks I've changed my strategy about 100 times. Lately, I've been concentrating on pitching. This of course goes against conventional wisdom. But I've never really had a top-noth starter. Sure, I've had a few "sleepers" who have turned out to be high-valued comodities. But never a Johann Santana-type.

One of the main reasons: Santana will go for $100 - a third of the overall budget! I can't justify the spending. So instead I'll concentrate on the Josh Becketts of MLB and hope I can parlay my "savings" on some hitting.

And Josh Beckett may well go for more than I'm willing to spend. It looks as though he may have finally found his curveball.

Hooray! This is the pitch he needs in the arsenal. Without it he will undoubtedly struggle. His curveball has been masterful in the past and judging by his comments after the game his confidence in the pitch is increasing. Lookout A.L. East!

When he strays, as he found out in the fifth, bad things happen. If he can complete the package, he'll better his 16 wins of a year ago.

It will be interesting for me to see when and how much the Red Sox pitchers will go in my fantasy draft. All of the team managers live in New England and Boston players are priced high - too high in fact.

Especially with the additions of Dice-K and Papelbon to the rotation.

More likely than not Papelbon will be the fourth starter, meaning he'll be paired against (again more often than not) other No. 4s. Certainly on another club he would be moved up the rotation. So, one could say he's a No. 3 up against No. 4. This should be a clear benefit for the Sox and fantasy owners. The same could be said for everyone of the Sox starters except Curt Schilling. He'll face other No. 1s making it most difficult for a clear advantage. Though, in tough situations I would hand Schilling the ball, even if his "stuff" was mediocre at the time. Why? He steps it up a notch in those situations; he lives for them. Attitude alone can get you places.

Joel Piniero, the early frontrunner for the open position, is one step closer to, well, closing. He recorded his first save Tuesday against the Twins. This is something I'm watching quite closely as well.

Generally speaking - pitching is a crap shoot. They only pitch once every five days. In most leagues a starter is only good for four categories (ERA, K, W and WHIP) and that's if you have a really good pitcher. Most only help you in three. Pitchers are more susceptible to injury.

So, I'm beginning to talk myself out of it once again.

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