See You Later

So much for today being a quiet off day for Boston. Coming off a sweep at home to the Angels and harsh words from Manny Ramirez saying that "Boston does not deserve a player like me," the Boston brass obliged and sent Manny packing in a three way deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Manny heads out to the West Coast to play in another league. Good luck Joe Torre. Never thought I'd say that. The Pirates will get two minor leaguers from the Sox in Brandon Moss and right handed pitcher Craig Hansen. LA will send Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to the Pirates. The Sox will get Jason Bay from the Bucs.

Bay is a left fielder who will probably be able to actually play left field and bring some offense to the plate. The 2006 All-Star brings a career .281 average, 140 home runs and an .890 OPS to the Sox. It's not Manny, but I think it might do for the rest of the season. I guess the best question will be is if Manny did have a stranglehold on the the clubhouse and will this trade relieve some pressure and allow the Sox to get back to business. I guess time will tell.

All in all Manny had a great run in Boston. I loved him as a hitter, but that was about it. Having to answer for him as a fan was sort of a pain in the ass. "Manny being Manny" could only take you so far. He'll be missed from what he can produce from the dish, but I doubt he'll be missed for his antics. There are some noted Boston fans that have Sox blogs that will claim Manny was pushed out, but I don't believe the hype surrounding him being defaced to the fans so they (Epstein and company) wouldn't look like bad guys jettisoning a player who helped carry them to two World Series victories. Manny was never really the face of the franchise, as David Ortiz took over that role from Nomar when he was pushed out in 2004.

I remember posting some cut outs of Manny back in 2001 after the deal was made to bring him to Boston at my desk at work. I was incredibly pumped for him to come to Boston and make an impact against the competition and the Yankees mainly. It took a few years, but he was a big part of that run over the past few years. Little did I know the rest of the baggage he'd bring along with him. That I won't miss.

Oh, by the way some other American League teams are on the move before the trade deadline. The Angels traded for Mark Teixeria, the Yankees traded Kyle Farnsworth for Ivan Rodriguez (WTF???) and the White Sox traded for Ken Griffey Jr. While we were worried about getting rid of a headache, the rest of the top teams in the AL were looking for players to put them in position to win a World Series. Does this spell doom for the Sox to not make a serious playoff run? The next month will certainly be interesting.

Sox Win, Manny Goes Too Far

Wow, so this blog thing is getting away from me again. Well, between the new job (yes, it takes up that much time), dog (she takes twice as much time) and my small town deciding to not send me a sewer bill and turn my water off (don't ask) I will from time to time run out of time to post on here. But just like that bad case of the herpes, I just won't go away. Wow, too much info, right? Right. Let's move on.

Monday night, Lester rocked the Seattle lineup to sleep coming off some extended time off. Last night Dice-K kept his stride he's had over the past four starts and not earning cheap wins as he had been getting into the habit of doing previous to this month. He walked a few last night, but was still able to strike out more and kept his pitch count down to make it through the eighth.

Yes, Manny was arrested last night. For what you ask? Jaywalking. Yes, jaywalking in Seattle gets your harassed by a traffic cop, which in the state of Washington is the equivalent of stealing an old ladies purse apparently. Look, I'm not a huge fan of Manny other than what he brings to the plate, but this is a little ridiculous. Although the cell phone thing turning a pitching change was pretty funny, even the biggest Manny haters will have to admit that.

Tonight the Sox will but Clay Buchholz on the mound to try for the sweep out in the great Northwest. However, I'm sure most fans are looking forward to Friday night's showdown between Josh Beckett and the Sox against Nebraska alumnus Joba Chamberlain the New York Yankees.

Also a stat of note that was achieved last night. Surprisingly, Jonathan Papelbon became the first Sox player to get to 30 saves in three consecutive seasons.

Hey, Nice Comeback

With my finger on the On/Off button heading into the bottom of the 8th inning last night, I was all prepared to do something other than watch the Twins beat the Sox 5-2. Then I decided that getting off the couch wouldn't be a good idea because, well, I'm sort of lazy most of the time. Good thing I didn't.

It's nice to watch some other team's bullpen screw games up rather than the healthy dose of relief issues I've been witness to this year. Even with a three run lead, I was surprised to see Twins manager Ron Gardenhire bring in Matt Guerrier rather than All-Star Joe Nathan to preserve the lead after Jacoby Ellsbury's lead off double. Even in the next two at bats when Dustin Pedroia singled and pushed Ellsbury to third and JD Drew grounding out to score Jacoby, I was still waiting for the signal from the visitor's dugout to bring in Nathan. Even with the guy who won the game just the night before coming to the plate, Gardenhire stuck with Guerrier.

After Manny's homer I was certain that a pitching change was to be made. You have take your guy out when he's drowning like that, especially in the middle of a raucous Fenway crowd. Right? Nope, Gardy stuck to his guns with the score now tied, even less likely to bring Nathan in now I guessed. I couldn't help but laugh as the Sox took the lead off another double by Youkilis and the eventual go-ahead RBI hit by Brandon Moss.

The Sox and closer Jonathan Papelbon did try and make it interesting with Nick Punto of all people smacking a lead off double and eventually moving to third with only one out. Jason Kubel ended up striking out and Alexi Casilla grounded to Pedroia for the final out of the game. I don't believe the Sox won this game in as much as the Twins coaching staff mis-managed it away. I have to think that Nathan after not being used since Sunday would be capable of pitching for two innings to put the game away. Easier said than done, considering that Gardenhire has been making some poor game time decisions regarding the usage of his pen. Not that I care, a win is a win at this point with the Rays still up by a few games in the division. I'm sure Francona and company will take it any way they can get it.

Random Thoughts

- For those of you that watch SportsCenter, does anyone else think that the "TitleTown USA" contest they are running on their website is much better than last year's "Who's Now?" poll? This is what I hate about ESPN. They take the nickname from a community that is very proud of their team and it's rich history(Green Bay), and trivialize it by having places like Lawrence, Kansas as a finalist for TitleTown. Kansas? Really? Their football team has one good season by playing one of the weakest schedules in all of college football and go to their first major bowl since my Mom was in the 5th grade and now they're at this point?? I understand their basketball program is one of the cornerstones of men's basketball and just coming off their first title in 20 years puts them on the map, but labeling them "TitleTown?" Give me a break. The same goes for Knoxville, Tennessee. And Parkersburg, West Virginia.

- Memo to Brett Favre, please stay on your swamp farm down in Mississippi and shoot some more Wrangler commercials. If I were a Packer fan I would be pissed that one player (albeit a legend) had my entire organization over a barrel. While I was getting ready for work today ESPN analyst John Clayton was talking about how the guys who run the organization don't want to be responsible for running Favre out of town if he wants to come back. Hello! He left town on his own, right?!? I know the Packers are a unique organization, but what a bunch of pussies. General Manager Ted Thompson and company need to grow a sack and tell Favre that the Aaron Rogers era started the day he cried his way out of his retirement press conference. I'm not the guy to tell professional athletes when to retire, but if you say you're gone, then be gone.

All-Star Roll Call

In my exasperation after last night's 1-0 win over the Minnesota Twins, I failed to mention all of the players that were voted on to this year's All-Star team. As we know, the outcome of the game itself determines which league will have home field advantage for the World Series. The Sox haven't had much need for it during their championship campaigns sweeping the Cardinals in '04 and the Rockies in '07, although it could be argued that opening the series in Fenway for two games did set the tone for the next two on the road both years.

Along with the Chicago Cubs in the National League, the Sox will send seven players to the Bronx for the final All-Star game in Yankee Stadium, more than any other team besides said Cubs. I'm usually game for all the festivities surrounding the break, however this year will be ESPN's goodbye love letter to all things Yankees. I may need to keep a bucket next to my couch for when it gets a little deep.

The Sox will send two outfielders in JD Drew and Manny Ramirez, only one pitcher in the way of Jonathan Papelbon, one surprising (but not really) DH selection with the injured David Ortiz and position players Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Jason Varitek. I'm not sure how deserving Manny is for this year, however leave it to the fans to vote the guy in. I guess he gets points and entrance to left field (which is sort of a joke) for being a character.

Ortiz obviously won't play in an exhibition game while only taking his first BP since going on the DL June 3rd, but I'm sure his presence will be felt as it is everywhere while playing or not. I wouldn't expect to see Papelbon closing the game in a save situation as the nod would more than likely go to either the Twins' Joe Nathan, the "Mexecutioner" Joakim Soria of the Royals, or most likely Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels who just broke John Smoltz's save total record for the first half of the season with 35.

Sidetrack: A Simple Request

I encourage everyone to vote for Royals outfielder Jose Guillen for the final vote in player. Not because of his baseball acumen and playing ability, but because he's a giant asshole and does a good job of giving my hometown team's fans fits. It's a constant talk radio topic with Guillen either fighting with pitching coach Bob McClure, or telling the fans to fuck off and calling it motivation. The team sucks, and it's sucked especially hard for the past, well, couple of decades. The fans are complacent save for a few diehards and the community needs some sort of kick in the pants, even if it's from this jackass. I'm not defending Guillen by any means, the guy is clearly a jerk of epic proportions and has played for something like nine teams while only being 31 years of age. But the guy needs to be an All-Star in a Royals uniform, just for that reason alone.

In order to counter balance the picture at the top of this post, I give you my favorite stunt perpetrated by Sox fans at Fenway last year when A-Rod was going through a previous martial indiscretion while being photographed with the award winning exotic dancer in the category of "Best Man to Appear as a Woman Stripper." Enjoy.

The Hard Way

The Boston Red Sox, losers of their last seven of nine, entered into tonight's contest against the Minnesota Twins who are arguably one of the hottest and most surprising teams in baseball up to this point. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect with the Sox seemingly going impotent against the Yankees this past weekend in the Bronx.

Luckily for the Sox, Dice-K had one of his better performances of the year. He was able to keep his pitch count down and battled his way to his 10th win on the season. One thing that was pleasing to my eyes tonight was the fact that no matter how hard Hideki Okajima tried to give the game away (as the bullpen has been doing this year) in the eighth, the Sox along with Okajima managed to see their way to the bottom of the inning with the games still knotted at 0.

Seeing that the pen has been a major disaster this season so far, Theo has decided to sent Justin Masterson down to the PawSox in exchange for Clay Buchholz entering back into the rotation this weekend. Sending Masterson down for the week to next 10 days isn't without a purpose. Epstein is planning on the young hurler having bullpen work take up 100% of his time while in Rhode Island with the idea he comes back to Fenway to help the floundering pen in the bigs. I think it's a smart move as the Sox really are sort of stagnant when it comes to arms for their middle relief. We'll see if it pays off likely after the break.

Speaking of bolstering middle relief, it's hard to say where or which direction the Sox will take, if any, before the trade deadline at the end of the month. I didn't think the Sox had a realistic shot at landing Sabathia, and I'm almost glad they didn't for the same reason I was happy they didn't sign Johan Santana. I'm still of the mind a trade for Dan Haren would have been a boon for the rotation now that Schilling seems to have been sent out to pasture, at least in Boston.

The next two nights the Sox will have their two best starters on the hill with Jon Lester getting the go tomorrow against Nick Blackburn and Josh Beckett closing the series against Livan Hernandez. The better game will probably be tomorrow night, but who doesn't want to see the battle of the dueling fatties on Wednesday? I know I do.

The New Style?

As if you didn’t know already, the Tampa Bay Rays are for real. I know some people who still think they are playing above their heads and are waiting for the reality that they are the Rays to settle in as they fade down the stretch. As much as I would like that, I don’t see it happening any time soon. I’m expecting that they battle all the way down to the wire or run away with the division if Boston can’t get healthy or New York can’t find their way.

Last night was the first game after the infamously embarrassing brawl started by Coco Crisp and Rays pitcher James Shields. For me, it was just flat out frustrating to watch given the fact that even though it was close for most of the night, the Sox just never seemed like they were in it. Plus the annoyance of the wondering if some Busch League antics were going to transpire.

So now with the Rays one and a half games in first, each time the put more distance between them and the second place Sox (gulp) it’s going to get more attention considering the Rays come All-Star Break are generally around 25.5 games back. If Boston continues to lose when the play at Tropicana Field I may give up watching Sports Center in the morning, as it will probably lead off each and every day with nothing going on in terms of anything interesting going on in sports.

The Sox are now officially on a slide being the owners of a three game losing streak. Hopefully they can get off the deck tonight against Matt Garza. They won’t get any freebees from him, so they’ll have to earn the W and try to avoid a forth straight loss and the prospect of being behind the Rays by two and a half games. Let’s see if Tim Wakefield can go back to his traditional modus operandi of owning the Rays in Tampa.