Who is Jason Bay?

Well your new left-fielder, of course.

He's a tick above a league-average left-fielder. A career .280 hitter, with an OPS+ of 130. He had a down-year last year but has been having a nice bounce back so far this season. He's hit twenty-two home runs, with fifty-nine walks, and sixty-four RBI. He's got an OBP of .375 this season. He's also stolen seven bases. In 2005, he played in all 162 games for the Pirates. He's kind of useless against left-handed pitching (hitting only .193) but pretty good against righties (hitting .308, with a .570 SLG.)

The important stuff: In interleague play this year the Pirates went against the Yankees, the Orioles, the White Sox, Toronto, and Tampa Bay. Against the Yankees he went four for ten in three games, with a pair of singles off Joba and Moose, and a pair of doubles off Rasner and Hawkins. Against the Orioles he went five for eleven with a single and a double off Burres, a single of Chad Bradford, a double and a single off Cabrera. Against Toronto he went two for eleven, he didn't fair well against Halladay but did hit a home run off Jesse Litsch and a single off Dustin McGowan. Against Tampa Bay he went three for thirteen with a double off Kazmir, a walk-off home run off Jason Hammel, and a sacrifice fly and a double off Andy Sonnastine. He played in two of the games against Chicago, he went two for eight with a double and a single.

Say It Ain't So.

The thought of Manny leaving the Red Sox really bums me out. I hadn't realized how attached I was to the loon until tonight. The idea of him leaving is ridiculously upsetting. For all his quirks and crappy defense, he is a truly fabulous hitter. I wanted Manny to surpass Ted Williams in Fenway Park. That he might end up playing in a football stadium for a team named after fish is belittling to his cult-hero status. Manny Ramirez deserves better than that. (I know that the Marlins are up there with the Phillies and the Mets this year and that they've won the World Series more recently than either of those teams but come on now, baseball teams aren't supposed to be named after fish.)

Part of me wants to believe that it's not really happening. Theo Epstein seems to work under the radar. You hear nothing and then-boom-it's done; Nomar is gone, Daisuke is in. All of the noise makes me want to believe that it's some kind of ploy. The Pittsburgh press is all over Bay going to the Rays. And yet, I can't convince myself that he'll still be here the day after tomorrow.

And all because of the odious Scott Boras. Flashback to spring training: Happy, go-lucky Manny shows up on time, declares that he's going to get six more years, and have his number retired at Fenway. Jovial Manny has a fabu time in Japan, is on an absolute tear when they get back-getting hits, stealing bases, throwing out runners, says that he intends to win a Gold Glove this season, and when Ortiz is struggling tells everyone: It'll be okay. I'll hit for him. Then he switches agents and it all falls apart. Somewhere along the line his feelings get hurt and Boras is there, poking at the sore spot like a bruise-preventing it from healing. It builds. Manny acts out. And the Manny-haters in the media (and there are a lot of them: practically anyone at the Globe, Peter Gammons, Jerry Remy, Bob Ryan) pile on. The situation goes from bad to worse and as a result, the Red Sox are probably going to let one of the best hitters in the game go for a song. All so that Scott Boras can get his greedy little fingers on some extra cash.

And Then There Were Two.

When JD Drew was drafted out of Florida State in the first round of the 1997 draft by the Phillies, he wasn't the only Drew from Hahira to go in the first round. His younger brother, Tim, was selected by Cleveland, twenty-six picks later. A right-handed pitcher, Tim appeared in thirty-five games before shuffling off to the Atlantic League.

Besides being first-round picks, the brothers have something else in common: a propensity for getting themselves hurt. Two years ago, whatever it is in their make-up that makes them so easily breakable, took it's toll on Tim. He had surgery on a torn labrum and was told he'd be good to go in two years. Two years came and went and he isn't better, so he's calling it quits. On Sunday, he threw the last pitch he's likely to be paid for, ever.

But don't feel sorry for Tim Drew. His wife, while probably not rolling in dough at the moment, will be eventually; she is in the process of becoming an osteopath. Tim, meanwhile, plans to get a degree in physical therapy. More importantly, he sounds content with the decisions he's made.

Serenity Now!

Hmmm. I wish that last night hadn't happened (although, if you could access my inner Pollyanna, she might claim that at least they didn't give up.) I wish that the offense didn't run so hot-and-cold. I wish that they could get on (and stay on) a roll. I wish that there could be some sort of consistency-that wasn't consistently sucking. I wish that I could believe the new trend of being beaten at home would be evened out by a new kick-ass attitude on the road. I wish that they didn't look so tired. I wish that it was August first. I wish that the end of July could be proved to be no more than just a hiccup.

But for now, you know where to find me and my ostrich friend. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we can dig the sand out of our ears.

Fiesta!

Last night Univision sponsored the first annual Tecate Premios Deportes, a Spanish-language awards show for the best Hispanic athletes. From the Charo act it looked to be quite the party.

Unfortunately, for David Ortiz and Manny (both of whom were honored) they had to play a baseball game in Boston and couldn't collect their awards. David Ortiz was awarded the best Designated Hitter award. I imagine that it wasn't much of a competition and that he won in a landslide as his competition was Jose Vidro *blink* and Sammy Sosa *double blink*. Manny, meanwhile, was given the award for best outfielder-which seems to me to be a bit of a stretch. Mike Lowell was the only other Sox player nominated but, once again, he lost out to Alex Rodriguez.

Ask and You Shall Recieve.

Thank you. Also, I may be a little bit in love with Jon Lester right now.

Rain, Rain, Go Away.

Gentlemen: I hope that you take this opportunity, opportunely handed to you by the baseball Gods, to get the suck out of your game for tonight. Thank you.

I Hate Yankee Games.

I hate them. I really, really hate them. And not just because they generally come with a side of Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee on Saturday and friggin' Joe-did you know that the Cincinnati Reds won the 1975 World Series? Didja?-Morgan on Sunday, I hate Yankee games because they're complete crap.

They're more about the media and MLB hyping the most fantabulous, fantastical rivalry in-the-history-of-sports-in-the-whole-wide-universe-ever than baseball. The rest of the country doesn't give a damn about Sox-Yankee games but since MLB/Fox/ESPN seems to think that the rivalry is the most-awesomest thing since the creation of the millstone, they shove it down everyone's throats. And because of that, things get out of hand. I love my boys but, in general, they're not the smartest chickens to ever crawl across the face of the planet. On some level they buy into it and manage to ruin a perfectly good ballgame.

That said, I don't hate the Yankees. I hate Yankee fans-I loathe them in the same way that Bartok despised Shostakovich-but I don't hate the Yankees. Really, it's almost August and they're in third place. Given their recent history, it's hard for me to make myself care about them. But I'm really starting to dislike this Chamberlain kid.

Possibly there's some history there that only Joba knows about-Youkilis seems just as clueless as everyone else as to why Joba keeps trying to kill him-or maybe he's just a punk kid who takes the whole thing too seriously. Either way, kid needs to chill.

Look, I've tried to like the microdont. For Clay's sake (although Buchholz has shown some questionable taste in the friends he keeps) and for his love of exclamation points (how could I not be a little bit taken with a, perhaps, slightly abusive but ever-enthusiastic grammarian?), I've wanted to like him. He's also a really good pitcher and good pitching is fun to watch no matter where it comes from. I don't know why he feels that it's necessary to try to intimidate Youkilis every time Youk steps into the batter's box. But the way it comes off to me, two things scare Joba Chamberlain: bugs and Kevin Youkilis.

Mike Lowell is Pissed.

Stupid ump. He's got to be on the take, right? There's no way that the pitch was even close to a strike.

Condolences to Pedro.

Pedro Martinez has had a tough year. He busted his hamstring (I think) at the beginning of the season, he worked his way back, but then hurt his shoulder. It was looking like it might be time to call it quits. And now? His father has died from cancer. Hopefully he can find peace, return to the mound, and finish the season well (if that's what he chooses to do.) Nothing but good thoughts for Petey coming from here.

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind.

February is a dismal time of year. In December the weather can be crappy but the prospect of Christmas at the end makes it tolerable. In January, it gets really cold and dry-so while static is a problem, snow is less likely. It also has the wonderful phenomena of January thaw-a couple of wonderful spring-like days to break up the monotony. March starts off badly but by the end Spring begins to appear. But February? February is cold and dark. It's snowy, icy, and sleety. The only redeeming feature of February is that it's short. When the weather is at it's worst, Sox fans head south and they do so in impressive numbers.

Sarasota county is attempting to lure the Red Sox from Fort Myers. In order to convince the local populace that paying for a new stadium and moving the local fair is a good idea, Sarasota commissioned a study to determine the economic impact of the Sox. It's pretty dry and, mostly, boring but they did estimate that should the Sox move to Sarasota they (and the fans) would spend $47.7 million locally. It seems like a pretty impressive number.

Next Up: the Seattle Mariners

Replacing Bedard for tonight's game is the lefty Jarrod Washburn. He throws a four-seam fastball that can get into the mid-nineties. He also throws a good slider, a curveball, and a good change up. He pitches to contact and he walks too many batters. Righties have a much easier time against him.

Tomorrow's pitcher will be R.A. Dickey. In addition to his knuckleball, he throws a low-nineties fastball and a curveball. They've been using him as a reliever/spot-starter and the last time he threw was Saturday against Cleveland-he gave up one hit and two walks in two innings of work. Earlier this season against the Sox, he gave up two hits and one run in two and two-thirds innings. Right-handed batters have an easier time against him than left-handed batters.

The last pitcher of the series is Felix Hernandez. Hernandez throws a high-nineties fastball, an excellent curveball, and a good change up. His command isn't yet all that it should be so he will walk batters but he gets plenty of ground ball outs and strike outs. He pitched against Boston on May 26 and gave up five runs on seven hits in seven and two-thirds of an inning. He also walked five and struck out five. In his next start against Boston (on June 6), he gave up six hits in six innings but didn't allow any runs to score. That time, he walked three and struck out five. Lefties have a little more success against him.

They have just gotten their closer, Putz, back from the DL. Adrian Beltre, Raul Ibanez, and Ichiro Suzuki continue to be their best hitters. Ichiro is always a threat to steal a base, he currently has one less than Ellsbury. He continues to play excellent centerfield (he made a spectacular catch off Varitek earlier in the season.) Defensively, they get most of their errors at short and third.

Home Cooking.

One of the most interesting main-stream media Sox blogs has to be Jeff Goldberg's blog on Courant.com. He includes fascinating little things that you used to be able to find on Rob Bradford's blog (when he used to update it often.) Not only does he tell us that Aardsma is on the DL and that Masterson is up to replace him but he also drops this interesting little tidbit: at the conclusion of his stay in Pawtucket, Ortiz brought in goat meat for the class. I think I would have preferred Sean Casey's steak.

You Just Can't Keep a Good Pitcher Down.

According to Tony Massorotti David Aardsma has been placed on the DL with a strained right groin and has been replaced by Justin Masterson. Masterson had success against the Angels during his start in April-it'll be interesting to see how he's transitioned to relieving and if he can continue to be successful. Speedy recovery to Aardsma, though.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Josh Beckett, Academian.

In ESPN the Magazine, there is an article about Josh Beckett working out at Trinity University in San Antonio in his downtime.

I watched the little video that accompanies the story before I read it and thought "Aww. That's kind of sweet, maybe I've misread him." (A little self-deprecating humor goes a long way with me.) The feeling grew as I got further and further into the story. "What's wrong with you?" I demanded. "He seems like a perfectly decent, nice guy." And then I came to this:

"We would be having a 70-foot-catch, and he'd signal that he was gonna throw a fastball, and he'd throw a curveball," Fregosi says. "I would tell him, "You can't do that; you're going to break my face. But he would just laugh. He thinks that's the funniest thing in the world."

and my faith in my ability to accurately read people was restored.

Josh, kitten, remind me to never have you tell me a joke.

Next Up: the LA Angels.

Tonight's pitcher is John Lackey. Lackey throws a good fastball, a slider, a change-up, and a really good curve ball. He's good but righties have a better shot against him. Lackey missed the beginning of the season due to an elbow injury but was gangbusters when he came back in mid-May. He did get knocked around in his last two starts before the break, though. He was routinely giving the Angels seven or eight innings a start before the hiccup. He's generally right around the strike zone so he does give up hits (quite a few on cheap swings) and he doesn't walk many batters.

Tomorrow's pitcher is scheduled to be the lefty Joe Saunders. He last threw an inning in the All-Star game, giving up one hit. He throws a decent fastball and a change-up. He likes to challenge batters but you don't have to be a mind-reader to figure out what he intends to throw. He got a win on April 24 against the Sox when he gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings of work. He's got good control and doesn't give up many walks. Righties have a little more success against him than lefties. The vast majority of the walks he's given up have been to righties.

The last pitcher of the series is Jered Weaver. Weaver throws both a low-nineties four-seam fastball and a lively high-eighties two-seam fastball. He also has a great slider and a change-up. He has excellent command. In his April start against the Sox (April 22), he lasted only five innings, giving up five runs on ten hits (including two home runs-one each by Ellsbury and Youkilis.) Righties have a better batting average against him but he's given up more home runs to lefties.

Their biggest bats continue to be Howie Kendrick, Vladimir Guerrero, and Torii Hunter. Chone Figgins is the most likely guy in the lineup to steal a base. It should be an interesting set of games-excellent pitching and a strong lineup on (hopefully) both sides.

A Welcome Sight.

In his second at bat tonight in Pawtucket, with the crowd chanting "Papi! Papi!" so loudly it came over the radio very clearly, David Ortiz gave them what they wanted by knocking a line drive out of the park to make the score 0-1. He circled the bases, acknowledged his mother, and everything is (hopefully) on it's way back to being what it's supposed to be.

Poetic.

I try very hard to keep my Yankee-hate in check. But after the bad behavior exhibited by said fans tonight, there's something very poetic about the Yankees players not having all that much to do with the win. Jeter and Rodriguez? Offensive duds tonight. Yankee-trained Navarro? The throw to second was just not good. Rivera? Ridiculously lucky to have a couple of double-plays turned behind him. It was also nice that seventy-five percent of the runs scored by the AL tonight came from the two teams that are ahead of them in the division.

Meanwhile, JD Drew seemed to be the only player still interested in playing baseball five hours after the game started. Voted-in by the players to his first all-star team, JD was declared the MVP of the game. A two-run home run, a single, a walk, a stolen base, and a couple of routine catches in right field will do that for you. So yay JD!

I was never particularly high on JD last year. Trot is a hard act to follow and it's even harder when you're the anti-Trot. Maybe it's just because he sucks less this year but he's starting to grow on me. There was a nice interview describing his feelings about going to the All-Star game on SouthCoastToday yesterday in which he comes across as a really good guy.

Sing It!

I've tried to resist but find that I can't help myself. I've got to post the picture if only to post the song. In defense of myself, I'm not exactly un-Lilliputian. So it should be all good. Also, I just noticed that in the caption Getty lists his name as Justin Pedroia not Dustin. I don't think that's right.

A Boy Named Lowell.

The city of Lowell finally got it's act together and did the most obvious thing imaginable by making the connection between Lowell and Lowell. Yesterday, the city council presented Mike Lowell with a key to the city, a Lowell High School baseball jersey, and a couple of t-shirts that read: There's a lot to like about Lowell. Being Mike Lowell, he graciously accepted the gifts along with $5,000 for the Mike Lowell Foundation.

Looking (Really) Good.

If you happened to be down at Chelsea Piers in NYC today you might have noticed a giant target set up in the middle of the river. It was part of Vitamin Water's Homers in the Hudson publicity stunt. If you could hit a ball off the tee and hit the target, you could walk away with a million dollars. And, of course, Vitamin Water spokesperson David Ortiz made an appearance.

I've got to say: Yowza!

Meanwhile, Back on the Farm...

Bits and pieces from the farm:

1. Che-Hsuan Lin (a Taiwanese prospect currently playing in Greenville) was named the MVP of the All-Star Futures game at Yankee Stadium yesterday. He hit a two-run home run to put the World Team up 3-0.

2. Dave Pauley (who we last saw in April starting a game against LA) may be named to the US Olympic team. The final roster decisions come down Wednesday. If he made it, I might actually be induced to watch the Olympics.

3. Bobby Kielty has asked for and been granted his release from Pawtucket. It's too bad but I can't say I blame him. He's had a rough year and has got a young family across the country.

We Now Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming.

This may prove to be imprudent but just like that the Red Sox have retaken the lead in the AL East. The Rays have hit a bit of a rough patch, the Yankees offense tends to show up every once in a while but more often than not gets left at the hotel, Baltimore is Baltimore, and Toronto continues to somehow squander the talent they have up there. You can't count the Yankees out and Tampa isn't going to go quietly but it's nice to be on top.

Tampa Bay doesn't look good at the moment-dropping seven games in a row is not a good thing, but they'd won seven games in a row previous to the losing streak so it all evens out. Hinske's cooled off some, which-although I loved Smiley McGee-seemed inevitable. Haverhill hasn't been the same since Masterson broke his finger. Carl Crawford has hit a dry spell. But Dioner Navarro and Cliff Floyd (when he gets playing time) have both been solid. Longoria has been tearing it up-it'll be interesting to see if he can keep it up for the second half. Their starting pitching should be a real concern going into the second half of the year. They're such a young staff-Garza has already surpassed the number of innings he'd previously thrown in a season and Sonnastine is fast approaching a place he's never been before-you just can't tell what's going to happen to them. Edwin Jackson has either turned a massive corner or is in for an atrocious second half. James Shields looks to be the rock of the organization at the moment-you know what to expect from him because (so far) he's having a perfectly average year. The Polish Prince (Kazmir sounds like a Polish name and he looks Polish, so I'm going to go with it) has suddenly run into trouble. You've got to think that when a strike-out guy (who's not the physical prototype of a starting pitcher and has had issues with injuries in the past) starts walking guys, running the count full, and has trouble getting through five innings, something might be wrong. That said, they've got themselves a juicy farm system down there in North Carolina. So they very well could be alright if things get worse or go wrong.

The Yankees have gotten off to a rough start this year. Their highly touted pitching prospects (Hughes and Kennedy) did not do very well in the bigs. They have been absolutely riddled with injuries. Three-fifths of their opening day starting rotation (Kennedy, Hughes, and Wang) have landed on the DL-Kennedy is probably the first back next month. Their biggest bats (Rodriguez, Matsui, and Posada) have all missed some time. Even the cogs that make the machine run (Damon and Jeter) have had to sit out some games. It's impressive that the motley crew they've pulled together has done as well as they have. And although Cabrera and Cano have had down years, Giambi has flourished in this contract year. Surprisingly, they've gotten solid contributions from Mussina and Pettitte-both of whom looked like they were done after last year. And as much as I had hoped he would go the way of Hughes and Kennedy, Chamberlain seems to be working out for them. If they could get it together, figure out how to string together a couple of hits and then a couple of wins, and get healthy, they could make a run for it. If no one else goes down, they could be back to their usual offensive (hee!) selves. Matsui could be back soon and Damon seems to be on the road to recovery. Hughes and Wang are probably out until September. Posada's shoulder, on the other hand, is unlikely to get better without the surgery and it may well be affecting his swing; he's unlikely to be the Posada of last year or even the year before.

There's still sixty-five games to go and you never can tell which way the wind is going to be blowing on any given day but it's still good to be in first. The state of the Sox tomorrow...

Virulent, Like a Virus.

If you went across the street from the house I grew up in and then hiked about a quarter of a mile into the woods, you came across a pretty big lake. From the 1930s-60s, a boys camp operated on the lake for inner-city under-privileged youth-types from NYC.

When the place was closed in the late-sixties, nobody bothered to clean it up and so in the '80s the place had a wonderfully creepy, mysterious atmosphere. Just to be clear, my mother had prohibited my sister and I from going there but we were neither particularly obedient nor good children and so we spent many hours climbing over crumbling foundations, scrambling over rusty wire fences to get to the weedy tennis courts, exploring the dining hall and offices (the most complete building, although it was missing a roof) or trying to jump over the remains of the bathroom (The building had rotted into nothing but in it's wake had left a pit a few feet deep and maybe five feet wide that was filled with crushed porcelain and plumbing pipes that hovered above the pit by two feet. The challenge was to get a running leap, jump over the pipes, and try to clear the pit completely-if you didn't, you had better land on your feet because porcelain is going to cut up your knees if you fall forward.)

The point? The idea of getting NYC kids out of the city for the summer by sending them to the country still exists. The Fresh Air Fund is responsible for a lot of the placements nowadays and recently dropped some kids off in Westport. One of the children was Ibrahim Ib-Hamida who was questioned about his baseball affiliation upon arrival: "Red Sox," Ibrahim replied without hesitation.

And so the infiltration begins.

Happy Birthday Javier!

I suppose I haven't always been fair to you. I've criticized your pitching ability and I've openly expressed shock when you've done well. And what's more, none of my poor behavior was on you-I've got no beef with you-it was just that you seemed to be the biggest obstacle to my man Craig [Aside: I haven't decided (or, in actuality, worked up the courage) yet whether to hit publish or not on my post about Breslow's pitching the other day. Maybe, eventually, I will.] making the team out of spring training and as such, you were fair game for all the cattiness I could muster. The silliness just got away from me and for that I apologize.

When you think about it, there really was no reason to choose Breslow over you. You have similar stories: you're both really smart guys who could easily have had perfectly lucrative and respectable careers outside of baseball but you both chose to forgo an average life and to take a big chance on a dream. You're a better looking guy (taller, stronger, nicely spaced features, strong jaw line, great eyelashes, and a pleasant smile) so that can't be it. You've displayed more personality than Breslow; all I know about Craig is that he's very, very, very competitive and you've exhibited a sense of humor (always a good thing) and you played the tuba in high school (which has to count for something.) Also, I think I read somewhere that your father was in the FBI; growing up with Mulder must have left you with at least a couple of interesting stories to tell.

And so for your thirty-first birthday, Javier Lopez, I've decided to make a sincere effort to be kinder to you. I hope you enjoy many happy and healthy returns of the day. How about that for a start? Pretty good, huh? No sarcasm at all.

Next Up: the Baltimore Orioles.

Brian Burres is up first for the Baltimore Orioles. Burres has faced the Sox once before this season. He threw four innings on June first and gave up seven runs on twelve hits (including two home runs-one of them was Manny's five hundred and first.) He walked one and struck out two. They were hitting him at a .571 clip. Overall, Burres does give up a lot of hits but not a lot of home runs. Lefties tend to have a field day against his sinking fastball, slider, and change up.

The Orioles starter for Saturday is Radhames Liz. Liz's fastball can reach the high nineties. He also throws a curve ball, a slider, and a change up. He's subject to bouts of wildness and he walks too many batters for comfort. He does get a good number of swings-and-misses, though.

On Sunday, the Orioles plan to start Daniel Cabrera. In three starts against Boston this season he's got a 1-0 record. He's given up eleven runs, twenty-three hits, and four home runs. He's walked six and hit two. He's given them two complete games so far this season and it's likely (given the state of Baltimore's bullpen) that they'll try to get the most they can out of him.

The new face on the Orioles offense is Brandon Fahey. He was called up when Alex Cintron went on the DL with a strained hamstring. In fifty at-bats he's got twelve hits (including five doubles and a triple), six RBI, a walk, and eight strike outs. He has made two errors defensively. Melvin Mora has gotten the errors under control at third to make him a slightly above average third-baseman. When I was thinking about what to write about the Orioles the other day, they were in an interesting spot. They had won forty-four games up to that point. They had lost forty-four games up to that point. They had scored four hundred and fourteen runs. They had allowed four hundred and fourteen runs. They've since dropped two games and ruined the symmetry but I liked it at the time.

Here Comes the Groom...Skinny as a Broom.

Jon Lester told Dan Roche that he became engaged last night. Anybody care? Didn't think so. But congratulations anyway.

For Those Who, Obviously, Have Too Much Money to Begin With...

A luxury napkin company in Wisconsin called Jerseynaps has been awarded the contract to provide the napkins for the All-Star Game Gala and Pre-game celebration.



So when you think luxury napkins your first instinct is to wonder what the hell a luxury napkin is anyway, right? Are they made of silk with gold threaded through them? Taffeta? Tulle? (I can't think of any non-cotton fabrics that would be absorbent.) Secondly, you've got to wonder: How could I not know that such a product as a luxury napkin existed? Why have I been rubbing my face and my fingers down with rough cotton or *shudder* paper? Could I seriously have saved all of those shirtsleeves from ruination?



As it turns out, the napkins they will be producing are paper. The twist is that they can be folded into the shape of a baseball jersey that will look like the All-Star Jersey. Nifty, huh?

But baseball is about the common man and the common man can't possibly afford to attend either of those soirees, you protest. How can I get my grubby little hands on those napkins? Well, you can't. Not yet, anyway. MLB has decided, though, to sell the licensing rights to the napkin company so that they can produce napkins depicting the jerseys of eight major league teams including the jersey of your Boston Red Sox. So fear not, chickens.

Manny Needed That.

The smile says it all.

Maybe, he was getting a little antsy on the road; his thighs were bugging him, things weren't working the way he wanted them to, he couldn't figure out how to fix the problem, frustration was setting in (and spilling out), and he was becoming unhappy. An unhappy Manny is both a strange and unpleasant sight. Then he got back home, re-centered himself, got his feet back beneath him and figured it out.

Last night, he got a single to drive in the winning run. Tonight, he launched a game-tying, two-run home run over the monster. And a cheer rose throughout the land celebrating the return of Manny. Hopefully, he hangs around for awhile.

Next Up: the Minnesota Twins.

Scott Baker throws tomorrow. He throws a mid-nineties sinking fastball, a good change up, a slider, and a knuckle-curve. He has very good command and doesn't walk many people. He gives up a fair number of hits but he does get strike outs. Lefties have pretty good success against him.

Nick Blackburn is scheduled to pitch on Tuesday. He has very good control and doesn't walk many. He pitches to contact, so he does give up hits. He has a high eighties four-seam fastball, a two-seamer, a curveball, a slider, and a change-up. He's been inconsistent this year but if he's having a good day, it's a really good day. He's easier on righties than on lefties.

Livan Hernandez takes the mound on Wednesday. Hernandez has pretty good control but he struggles against lefties. His mid-eighties fastball has become hittable, as it's pretty flat. His change-up isn't all that much of a change from his fastball. His out-pitch is an eephus pitch. He'll last pretty deep into the game. He won't walk many and he won't give up many home runs.

They have a good lineup but their biggest bats are Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Alexi Casilla (with Denard Span filling in very nicely for the injured Michael Cuddyer.) The Twins are a well-trained team, so they don't make a lot of errors. They turn a lot of double plays. They're not a particularly free swinging team (Mauer, in particular, doesn't strike out very often.) Carlos Gomez is the biggest threat to steal a base (having taken twenty-one this season.) I would send a friendly wave to Craig Breslow but it didn't turn out that well the last time I did that, so I won't (he's been doing well-hasn't given up a run yet, really cut down on the walks-he did wrench his back recently and he hasn't pitched since June 30.)

Breaking News!

The returns from the battleground state of Connecticut are in and in a stunning turn of events, Red Sox fans outnumber Yankee fans in the state for the first time in, probably, forever.

The poll (conducted by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT) found that fifty-eight percent of the people in the state claimed to be baseball fans and of those fans forty-one percent claimed the Red Sox as their team while only forty percent went for the Yankees (the rest were mainly Mets fans.)

So, are these new fans due to the afterglow of a World Series championship? I don't think so. My guess is that the increase in fans is directly due to the tireless campaigning and the spreading of the good word by our fearless leader, Jerry Remy. Congratulations President Remy on a job well done!



That said: I'm off to Block Island for the weekend. No tv. No internet. If I survive, I'll be back late Sunday night.

Next Up: the New York Yankees.

Since it's been awhile and there are some new faces...

Andy Pettitte goes tomorrow for the Yankees. As of late, Pettitte has really been doing well. In his last four starts, he's given up three runs. Lefties still have trouble touching Pettitte but righties do have success against him.

Darrell Rasner is the righty brought up to replace Ian Kennedy. He throws a low nineties fastball, a curve ball, and a change up. None of it is truly excellent but he does have very good control to help even it out. He's not a big strike out guy and he gives up a good number of hits but he's not easily rattled by base runners. He started off really well in May but has hit a rough patch as of late.

Mike Mussina is the scheduled pitcher for Saturday. After a rough start to the season, Mussina has recently settled into something closer to his usual self. Mussina is vulnerable to righties (Manny in particular, though with the way Manny's been hitting it probably won't be to his advantage.) They hit Mussina really well back in April (at a .405 clip) but it took him awhile to get his old bones rolling this year.

On Sunday night's ESPN game Joba Chamberlain/Dan Geise takes the mound. Chamberlain's conversion to a starter has worked out well for the Yankees. He's exhibited some control problems recently (he's made five starts and twice not made it to the fifth because of his pitch count) but even with the extra zip he's had to take off the fastball to enable himself to throw more of them, he's still a big strike out guy. Lefties have had more success against him. If Chamberlain should find himself in trouble early, then his wingman, Dan Geise, generally takes over. Geise throws a fastball, a curve ball, and a slider. He's got very good control.

Hidecki Matsui is out of the lineup with a bum knee and was replaced with Brett Gardner. Gardner is a speedster but had significant trouble getting his first major league hit. Giambi, who earlier in the season seemed unable to get a hit off anyone but Timlin, has since come out guns blazing. Melky Cabrera has gotten off to a dismal start this year. The fact that they're still carrying three catchers (even though Posada has been back for almost a month) is interesting-it might signify a belief that his shoulder isn't 100% or it might not.

Oof.

I haven't done a game recap in awhile and I'm not going to start again now but damn, that really sucked.

Matsuzaka should have gotten that win. Yeah, it would have been better if he could have gone deeper into the game so that Francona didn't have to bother with the craptacular bullpen but there's no way this game should have ended up as a win for the Rays. Daisuke did a good job-he held the Rays to one run through five innings but when 2008-Okajima and Javier Lopez are the bright spots of your relief pitching, something is desperately wrong. It was as if someone told Manny Del, Hansen, and Aardsma that the Rays wanted to win the game and they collectively said: Oh! Sorry about that. Here you go.

Maybe in the same way that Cleveland has the bugs and the ex-girlfriend anthem/God Bless America singers (I don't remember which it was), their equivalent of the bullpen cop is secretly a hypnotist and whispers in the relievers ear: Don't throw strikes! Don't throw strikes!

At least they had offense tonight which is definitely an improvement. It mostly came in the form of Dustin Pedroia (who was a single short of the cycle.) I'm not generally one for second-guessing (it's easy to decide something was the wrong move after things have fallen apart) but what was Varitek doing out there to end the game? Had Lowell not been caught stealing, he would undoubtedly have grounded into a double play. You've got Casey sitting on the bench-let him try to score the game winning run on his birthday. If he struck out, it wouldn't be any worse than what you were likely to get from Varitek anyway.

It's the Red Sox of my youth-finding new and creative ways to lose games daily. Oh, how I missed you.

Happy Birthday Sean!

Today marks Sean Casey's thirty-fourth birthday. To be honest, I didn't know much about Sean Casey when he first showed up here. But with a-mile-wide grin plastered to his face (perhaps he was hired to replace Hinske in more ways than one), a twinkle in his pale blue eyes, an apparent love of wrestling, stories about eating food off the floor, his nutty batting stance, and being ready to go to the mattresses, he's worked his way into my heart. And he's not a bad baseball player to boot. There's an open and honest quality about him that's very appealing. So happy birthday Sean and many happy returns.