With the Economy the Way it is, You're Lucky You Get Soup.

Earlier today, Brad Penny cleared waivers and is in the process of joining the Giants in their effort to keep hold of the NL wild card.

Au Revoir Mon Penny.

When they first brought on Brad Penny, I wasn't overly impressed with the move. But the longer he was around the more he grew on me. Asking to be released was probably a pride--You can't fire me, I quit--thing but I think that I'm going to miss him. He had a good couple of months in there. He has a ready laugh. More importantly, nobody (as far as I know) asked him how he thought his buddy was going to do on Dancing with the Stars. And that mess of a last start wasn't completely his fault, the bullpen did him no favors. (But I can't be mad a Michael Bowden. He has the cutest little accent-those flat "a"s kill me.) Best of luck to Penny with whatever he ends up doing.

Had A Bad Day.

As a player I think Kevin Youkilis is great. As a person? Not so much. I don't actively dislike him. He just manages to annoy me sometimes. So I made a pact to do my best to ignore everything about him that isn't directly related to baseball so that we could get along. And since it's been working, I won't dwell on this too much.

But...if you've just come from an emotional funeral and you're not really in a fabulous mood, then it might not be the best idea to complain about the negativity of the media to it's queen bee, Dan Shaughnessy. Just a thought.

Secret Weapon.

I may not be skilled at predicting the outcome of baseball games that have yet to be played but it would seem that the same doesn't hold true for Terry Francona.

Case in point: In the wee hours of yesterday morning, Victor Martinez was bugging Francona to let him play in last night's game. Annoyed? Tired? Francona slipped and revealed a little too much:

"I finally wrote back and I said, 'Leave me alone. You'll come in, pitch hit, and get the game winning hit. He said, 'OK. Goodnight.' "

It does raise the question of why he doesn't win more games, though. If he knows that somebody is going to go 0 for 5, shouldn't he bench them that night? It must be that he can see how the game will turn out but is unable to do anything to change the outcome. It would explain how he remains mostly calm, throughout.

Josh and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Game.

I know that in some circles Josh Beckett is somewhat of a sacred cow but that was bad. Really bad. Really, really bad. Five home runs? Two bad starts in a row?

Josh, kitten, if you were going to have such an awful game, couldn't you have had the decency to not do it during an ESPN game? When the Sox fail on NESN, Don sounds disappointed. When they fail on ESPN, Joe Morgan is positvely beside himself with joy. Blech.

How's That Curse I Cursed You With, Curse-ty?

I may have found the problem with tonight's game. It lay not with the pitching but rather with a pitcher and a broadcaster. And not the pitcher you're thinking of.

Before the game Jonathan Papelbon gave an interview in which he said:

(Re: the Yankees) "I think all of baseball is seeing how well their playing and hopefully we can stifle that while they're here."

and

(Re: Jerry Remy) "I'll tell you what: Remdawg's back. He might be that missing link.You know, he might get us on that roll that we need."

So there you have it. Blame it on Papelbon.

A Happier Note.

Big congrats to Jacoby Ellsbury on tying the Red Sox record for stolen bases tonight. Plus, unlike a certain opposing third baseman who has a knack for accomplishing feats when they don't have an effect the outcome of the game it was an important run at the time. Before things fell apart.