One of the things I've been up to this summer - seeing Ken Griffey Jr. play in his final game at Great American Ballpark So I realize it's been nearly a month since I posted here, but it has been a busy summer for me, so I had to put my original Sox blog on the back burner.
I hope you guys have been following my posts on Bugs & Cranks, and if not then I'm really sorry I haven't posted here in a while.
Anyway, with a hurricane bearing down on us here in South Florida, which has already forced the cancellation of the kids' first day of school tomorrow, I thought I'd get back up to speed on what has been going on with the club since I last posted.
Some of these stories are old, but just bear with me as I get caught up.
Manny traded to LaLa land, Bay comes to the Bay state
In a move that surprised absolutely no one, Boston dumped Manny Ramirez and his 49 million headaches for Pirates outfielder Jason Bay at the trading deadline.
I was in Cincy visiting the in-laws when the deal went down, and while I wasn't shocked to see that Manny had been dealt to the Dodgers, I was a little surprised at the price Boston had to pay for ridding themselves of the Manny Being Manny freak show.
Not only is Boston paying the remainder of his 2008 salary, which equates to some 9 million bucks, but they also sent promising outfielder Brandon Moss and "potential" closer Craig Hansen to Pittsburgh in exchange for Bay.
Sure it was a high price to pay, but sometimes you can't put a price tag on the peace of mind a deal like this provides.
I'm already on record with my thoughts about the deal, but to make a long (and old) story short, the team had reached the end of the line with Manny's "me first" antics, and when you combine violence against teammates and club personnel with flopping around in the outfield, failing to hustle, refusing to board the team bus and coming up with phantom injuries during a pennant race, it's time to move on.
Look we all loved him while he was here, and everyone (especially Big Papi) will miss his sweet swing and clutch hits, but when his circus sideshow outweighs the on field performance, then it's time to cut the ties.
It was fun while it lasted, but now ManRam is someone else's headache. Until he dons the pinstripes next season and starts killing his former team.
Injuries barking during the dog days
While the team struggles to keep pace with the pesky first place Rays (they are currently 4 1/2 games out in second place), a number of injuries have cropped up in the last couple of weeks that could greatly affect their chance to win the East for the second year in a row.
Workhorse starter Tim Wakefield, who was leading the majors in quality starts despite his sub-.500 (7-8) record, had to go on the DL on August 12th due to a sore shoulder. So much for the "knuckleballers can pitch till their arms fall off" theory.
With Wake shelved and Clay Buchholz (2-8, loser of 6 straight starts since early May) sucking up the joint, Boston picked up aging right hander Paul Byrd from the Indians last week. Byrd proceed to lose his first Boston start, 4-1 to Toronto Saturday, and he allowed his league-leading 24th and 25th homers in the contest. Gulp.
Another major blow was the loss of Mike Lowell. Already nursing an achy hip, Lowell pulled the oblique during a swing in a game against the Rangers last week, and in doing so had to be placed on the DL for the second time this season.
Mired in a 4-28 slump caused by the hip, Lowell was not providing the protection for Papi the team had been hoping for in the Manny's absence, but luckily for Boston the red hot Kevin Youkilis (11-27, 3HR, 8BI in last 7 games) has proven to be more than capable of filling the void.
Wake is already throwing and should return soon, but it is the same injury that caused him to miss most of the playoffs last year, so it will be a concern heading into the stretch. As for Lowell, with Youk shifting to third and hitting the cover off the ball the loss is softened, but they will need the 2007 WS MVP back and healthy if they hope to make another championship run.
Runs, runs and more runs
With Manny pounding the ball out West (miraculously, his knee injury has seemed to fade away), many wondered whether Boston would be able to continue to put up league-leading offensive numbers.
After a recent stretch in which they scored 37 runs in three games, it looks like the answer is a solid "yes".
In the 15 games since Ramirez' departure the Sox have scored 99 runs, an average of 6.6RPG, and those totals include a 19-run output against the Rangers as well as a 2-run and 1-run effort against Oakland and Toronto, respectively.
Granted the 37 runs came against the awful Texas pitching staff, and Toronto just outscored Boston 19-5 in a rain shortened two game set, but still the numbers are up even with their Hall of Fame left fielder hitting on the Left Coast.
This is mainly due to the fact that Youk and Dustin Pedroia are 1-2 in the AL in hitting, and Ortiz is tearing the cover off the ball again. Throw in a resurgent Jacoby Ellsbury and the production of Bay, who has hit in 13 of his 15 games with Boston and scored 15 runs while knocking in a dozen, and what you have is a team that is plenty capable of scoring runs at an impressive clip, even without Manny hitting cleanup.
Now if the pitching staff would just get their act together...
I think that just about brings me back up to speed. As Tropical Storm Fay approaches the West Coast of Florida, I'm off to watch the Rays play the Angels in person tonight in what could be considered an impromptu hurricane party.
Wonder if they'll appreciate having a Sox fan in the club suite?
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