For Insomniacs.

If you happen to be up very late on Friday night (or technically, I suppose, very early on Saturday morning), Dennis Eckersley is scheduled to be a guest on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Snakebit.

Yesterday, Dustin Pedroia managed to break the navicular bone in his left foot by fouling a ball off of it. The navicular bone (red arrow) is a disc-like bone of the midfoot; it can easily be felt on your own foot--the bony protuberance, slightly off-center of the top of the arch (toward the heel) is the tuberostiy of the navicular.

As was evidenced by the way Pedroia hobbled down the line, the navicular is essential for a normal gait. Along with the three inner metatarsals (longer bones), the three cuniforms (the small, roundish bones--I redrew two of them), and the calcaneus (the heel bone) it forms the arch of the foot. People are heavy and the purpose of the arch is to redistribute some of that weight. The bone also helps to absorb impact on heel strike and propel the body forward while walking.

The two weeks Pedroia thinks that he's going to be out seems highly optimistic; you're more likely looking at the typical six to eight weeks it takes for a bone to re-knit. But if there's any person who could look at his foot and say "Alright, bones. You are going to heal today." and have them listen to him, Dustin Pedroia might be that person.

And then today, Clay Buchholz hyper-extended his knee while running the bases. A hyper-extension occurs when a joint is forced beyond full extension and, in effect, bends the wrong way. Knees are delicate things and you'd be concerned with ligament damage but since he walked off the field under his own power, he's likely okay.

King of the Road.

Reuters Pictures

After a couple of games that would generously be called bummers, Dustin Pedroia came to the rescue of a bullpen that, one can only assume, was suffering from altitude sickness. It was a long strange game but while Pedroia may have had to drag the rest of them there kicking and screaming, it was good win to get. So, good on ya, Pedey.

Underdogs.

My mother put me in dance class when I was two because she wanted my older sister (who was four at the time) to have an experience similar to school before she went off to kindergarten and so she enrolled us both. I stuck around the studio until I graduated from high school; I have really gross toes to prove it. I wanted to be a dancer so badly but, realizing that I wasn't good enough, I was practical and gave it up. Part of me regrets that decision; I mean, life is grand otherwise but I do sometimes wonder what might have been, if I'd been braver. It's an odd day when I don't turn a set of pirouettes in my kitchen (the only place where I don't run the chance of knocking things over) or use the counter as a barre.

So I have a super soft-spot for the guys who stick with their dreams (Craig Breslow, Daniel Nava, all my AAAA guys) despite really long odds. The Projo has an article today about Ryan Westmoreland and his road back, which brought on this bout of nostalgia. Prior to last March, Westmoreland probably wouldn't have fit into the category of guys who might not make it but full recovery from his surgery is no sure thing. And while having a big fat goal at the end of his rehab is undoubtedly good for him, there remains a chance that he'll never be good enough again. It's not the same as my AAAA guys but it's pretty close. Absolute best of luck to him.

Warning: I was weepy by the end of the article.

Taking One For the Team.

For some reason I'm rather blase about the All-Star Game this year. But there are people who care about it and it most certainly means something to the Angels and Disney. As part of the promotion of the game, Disney had littered the area with Mickey Mouse statues decorated to represent each major league baseball team; the first person to take their picture with each of the statues won tickets to the All-Star Game. It was a neat little scavenger hunt.

Things took a turn for the worst Friday night outside the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, where the Boston Mickey positioned. Someone attempted to take him out by beating him, probably with a bat. The article mentions that LAAAAA also plays in the American League but I'd be more likely to blame a Dodgers fan or a lost Yankee fan than an Angels fan; it doesn't seem like Angels fans care enough to beat up a Mickey statue.

Speedy recovery to Mickey, anyway.

Rocky Mountain High.

This will be an interesting one. The Rockies play very well at home and have not lost a homestand since May 25-31, 2009.

Jhoulys Chacin goes tonight for Colorado. He throws a low-nineties fastball, a slider, a curveball, and a change-up. He can have trouble with his control and probably walks too many batters. He's a decent pitcher, though. He will give up hits (not home runs, though) but he has plenty of strike outs.

Ubaldo Jimenez pitches on Wednesday night. Jimenez's fastball is in the upper nineties, with lots of movement. He also throws a slider, a curveball, and change-up. He's another groundball pitcher, who doesn't give up home runs. He's got excellent control and the highest number of runs that he's given up in a game this season was three to Toronto.

Jason Hammel is the scheduled starter for Colorado on Thursday. Hammel was drafted by Tampa Bay and they were primarily using him out of the bullpen. (He does have two starts against Boston, September 26, 2006 and July 27, 2007.) He throws a low-nineties fastball, a slider, a curveball, and a change up. He's got good control and doesn't walk too many. He's got pretty good strike out numbers and gets a fair number of ground balls.

Colorado is a pitching and defense team. Their starters are pretty good, their bullpen (which is about to add back Huston Street--which might be a good thing for them) is more than decent, and they have the speed to cover a lot of ground in that big outfield. Their hitting, on the other hand, is a little lacking. The loss of Tulowitzki to a broken wrist hurts them a lot. Former Royal, Miguel Olivo is having a good year, Seth Smith and Brad Hawpe can hit a little bit but that's about it.

Are You There God? It's Me, Manny.

To cap off a very bizarre weekend, Manny Ramirez may very well have walked out of Fenway Park for the final time last night. But not before he talked to the Spanish language play-by-play announcer, Uri Berenguer. On Saturday Manny told him, among other things, that he'd found God and was sorry for the way he behaved in Boston. I'm not going to pick on a man for finding religion; if it brings a degree of calm into his life, it's certainly a good thing. And while it's good for him, it's not really worth posting. My title, however, was too good to not put it up.

Parental Advisory.

I don't think that I'm overly judgmental; I'm more of a happy hedonist. To each his own, whatever floats your boat is usually where I come from. But there are two things that I find inexcusable: dressing poorly [Aside: I am getting better about not picking on people because of their clothing choices. I haven't called out Victor Martinez on his apparent Abercrombie and Fitch fixation or that he seems to buy his outfits at the mall or the hat he's been wearing lately that looks like a tagiyah. It's summer, peaches, you don't need a knit hat. Unless of course, he's become Muslim; in which case, apologies. There are, however, still some egregious ensembles that need to be pointed out.] and bad music.

I know good music and while this may be a catchy tune and is, apparently, wildly popular out in Colorado, it is not good music. At all. And so I have a favor to ask of you boys, you can't let a team that would promulgate such cheerleadery crap beat you, could you?

Fair warning: Whether you're a skinny white dude or not, if you press play, you may find yourself unable to avoid urging the "C-O-L-O-R-A-D-O Ra-kaaaaaaaaays" to "hit it out da park" for a long time. The stupid little tune has been stuck in my head for days. Also, they don't have a park, they have a field. Get with it skinny white dude.

Typical Friday Night.

Getty Images

And that takes care of that.

He seemed smaller. Not physically because he went off the steroids or anything like that but definitely smaller. Probably because when he was here, Manny was larger than life and now he's just human. I can't decide if that's sad or not.

Holding anyone, let alone Manny, up to those super human standards will only lead to disappointment and, in that sense, being human was a good thing. But the booing/cheering mostly seemed to lack conviction. The roar when he struck out to end the game, that was real. The rest seemed to be more like the crowd was just doing its duty; they were told that this was a big series, that Manny was coming to town and that there would be drama, so they did their best to make it so.

Somehow, and maybe it's Jason Bay's fault, Manny became irrelevant. And that is tragic.

Three Cheers.

This is my fourth attempt at trying to get this right. The first one dissolved into a rant against the way Manny was treated by the media. And while it was wrong (no one should have to cooperate with reporters to avoid having them make stuff up about you), I wouldn't want people to think that I was mere baby steps away from moving to a cabin in Wyoming and writing vicious anti-media screeds about a dying industry and the self-important, power-hungry people it employs, from the public library because I'd gone off the grid. I swear that I'm not that person.

Then I tried listing the reasons that Manny should be cheered but that didn't seem sufficient. The most persuasive reason was, of course, that David Ortiz said to not boo him.

"Cleveland missed Manny and we miss Manny. The Dodgers will miss him when he's gone. The kids with the Dodgers, he's helped them. If you want to get better approaching the game, watch Manny because he slows things down. I hope they cheer him. Don't boo him. It'll make him mad and he'll go deep."

Jason Varitek may be the leader of the team; Mike Lowell could be in charge of the heterosexual female fans; Jacoby Ellsbury could be in charge of the teenagers; but David Ortiz is the heart and soul of this club. Often enough he's carried this team on his broad back that if Papi says, "Don't boo", then you don't boo.

Then I tried the route of explaining why booing Manny was wrong and how people who would boo him were clueless. But who am I to say what's wrong and what's right?

And so I'm left with the plea: Don't boo Manny. Yes, it ended poorly but he was our Manny (the man was beloved) and he was desperately important to the 2004 and 2007 teams. There has never been and likely never again will there be a right-handed hitter quite like Manny. And the media wants him to be booed (Would Fox/ESPN cover these games if they weren't looking for a little manufactured drama?) and it's always best to not give them what they want.

Cliched.

It's a cheesy sports movie: The kid is not big enough, not fast enough, not good enough to play baseball; he believes in himself but nobody else does. He keeps getting cut but keeps coming back. Why? Tenacity? Love of the game? A combination of the two? Finally, someone gives him a chance and in the climax of the film, he hits a grand slam on the first pitch he ever sees in the majors. It's the sort of ending that you roll your eyes at because, well, that sort of thing never happens. Me? I spent the rest of the game grinning like a moron because I'm a sucker for a good story.

Plus, he seems like a good guy (boring taste in women) but a nice guy, nonetheless. And as he said, "Dream come true, for sure."

Oh, Bardo.

Really, buddy? That's how you chose to end the game? Really?

I Hate Cleveland.

I don't think that I'm overly politically-correct but I dislike many things about the Cleveland baseball team. I don't like their nickname but I understand where it comes from and, while I refuse to use it, I don't begrudge them it. Chief Wahoo is hugely cringe-worthy and they should be embarrassed that they continue to use it; if it depicted any other minority, they would have been forced to give it up and apologize for it years ago. But the thing that pisses me off more than anything they do out there, is that damn hick with the drum and the morons that clap along with him. Why is more offensive? Probably because it's so exploitative and it makes the entire population of Cleveland look like unsophisticated rubes.

What Smells So Good?

Things have not gone well for Cleveland this season. They can't pitch. They can't field. And very few of them can hit. This is a team that's regularly running Mark Grudzielanek and Shelley Duncan out there. Matt LaPorta, who was scheduled to be the next big thing in left field, finds himself playing a little left, a little first, but mostly sitting on the bench. They traded Kelly Shoppach to Tampa last winter, which wasn't a terribly bad move, but Lou Marson hasn't exactly blossomed and their backup catcher is former Twinie Mike Redmond. Tempest in a teacup, Grady Sizemore is done for the season after knee surgery; Asdrubal Cabrera has a broken arm and probably won't be back until mid-July; and Andy Marte, though no great shakes himself, is out for a couple of more weeks after an ingrown hair on his abdomen became infected.

Russell Branyan and Austin Kearns were alright off season pickups; Kearns strikes out too much and doesn't have much power and while Branyan isn't showing the power he had for the Mariners last year, he's still second on the club with seven home runs. Shin-Soo Choo meanwhile, leads the team with eight home runs and may very well be Cleveland's contribution to this year's All-Star team--which might get him out of the South Korean military draft.

Three years ago, Fausto Carmona, who goes tonight for Cleveland, had a spectacular year. But then he injured his hip and followed it up with two miserable seasons. And while not the pitcher he was in 2007, he's been relatively effective this season. He throws a low-nineties sinking fastball, a slider, and a mid-eighties change up. In the past, control was an issue for him but after a rough start to the season, he's gotten the walks down. He does give up a lot of hits but not many fly balls.

Lefty David Huff takes the ball on Tuesday. Huff started twenty-three games for Cleveland last season and won eleven of them; this season, in ten starts, he's won two. He throws a low-nineties fast ball, a slider, a curve ball, and a change up. His gives up a lot of hits and a large number of home runs.

I have a ridiculous soft spot for Justin Masterson. I can't help it; he and his wife are quite possibly the two cutest people on the planet. That said, he has not pitched well for Cleveland. There was talk a week or so ago (before he got his win against Chicago) of sending him to the bullpen, in a vote of non-confidence though, manager Manny Acta said he was keeping his rotation spot because "He is still the only guy in the rotation who can strike batters out." He does have good strike out numbers. He's wild, though; way too many walks, hit batsmen, and wild pitches. He had better stuff as a reliever and you can minimize the effect of the nasty lefty/righty split that he's always had (except for in Game 5 of the ALCS when he got Haverhill to ground into a double play) better out of the bullpen. Lefties are hitting him at a .370 clip this season but he doesn't give up many home runs at all.

Mitch Talbot is scheduled to pitch the last game of the series. Talbot was the reciprocal part of the Kelly Shoppach deal. He pitched in relief against Boston for three innings on September 15, 2008; he allowed four runs (plus two that belonged to Kazmir) on five hits with two home runs (one by Ellsbury and one by Youkilis). He throws a low-nineties fast ball, a slider, a cutter, and a high-seventies change up. He doesn't strike out many batters but neither does he walk many. He's especially tough on lefties but righties hit him relatively well.

And their bullpen? It's best to not speak of it.

Ear Worm.

There are some fantastically creative people out there.

Regrets.

Tim Bogar regrets the bad decisions that he made in yesterday's game. He's very sorry and promises to learn from his mistakes. But the two runners he got thrown out at the plate weren't the worst decisions he made yesterday, not at all. The worst decision he made was obviously that jacket. Unless, of course, it was some sort of punishment: Two plays at the plate that don't go your way? You have to wear this.

Bogey.

It was just not a good day for people called Tim. Wakey didn't have the magic today and Bogar twice called for not so close plays at the plate. Of course, the rest of the pitching wasn't so fabulous either.

Ah, well. Tomorrow is another day and it brings a slumping Baltimore. A Baltimore who, rumor has it, may have fired William Shatner, er, Dave Trembley by the time the game starts.

Baseball is a Business.

So, you can't throw, you can't really hit, and your balky knees make running difficult but you still want to make your fortune via baseball? PawSox owner Ben Mondor offers up his experience in running his team.

If I Had $1000000.

WEEI has a prognostication contest going on through 6/29. If you can correctly guess the runs, hits, and errors for each team in the game between Tampa Bay and Boston on 6/30 and your entry was one of the four selected for the contest, then you will win $1,000,000. The chances of actually winning are minuscule at best (although it's probably safe to assume that neither team will collect more than thirty hits or commit fifteen errors, the possibility does exist) but since it requires very little effort beyond figuring out that if everyone stays on schedule the match up for 6/30 looks to be Spitty McGee v. Daisuke, it's worth a shot in the dark. A million bucks is a million bucks.