Manny Being Manny?

No All Star selection for Manny Ramirez this year.

As you can tell, I meant to say it that way. No All Star game for Manny Ramirez would not have meant the same thing, given that he's ducked out three times in his career.

I do have something to say along the lines of an opinion here, though. That is, I think Manny might be dogging it for the first near-half of the season SO THAT no one can bitch that he rejects his selection to the All Star game for the fourth time (a record?). Can you imagine these Boston Red Sox in the second half when Manny starts being Manny again?

Let see, that would mean what for stats?

Statistic	So Far	2nd Half	Projected Season
HR	12	30	42
RBI	44	79	125
Hits	82	92	174
2B	17	20	37

Actually, there are only two glaring numbers up there, HR and RBI. The others make it seem like Manny has BEEN Manny. Of course, he's not known as a hits or doubles machine. Manny has NINE 30/100 seasons. I don't see him as failing in that regard this season, either. However, I think he did succeed in losing some of the whiners complaining that he rejected he All Star game to stay in shape for the important baseball!

Sammy Sosa just hit his 600th HR

Sammy Sosa just hit his 600th HR, and I'm fine with that. I've been pondering this whole steroid issue for some time now, and I think I'm ready to comment.

It boils down to a few issues for me.

1) What happens to the record books (did ya hear? Bonds is about to break Aaron's record!) when a player who is suspected or even proven to have used steroids prior to the current testing and penalty program breaks a record? In the case of Sosa, the question is "Does he belong in the company with Aaron, Mantle, and Ruth?"

2) Why do we care whether professional athletes "use steroids" under the guidance of well-trained professionals?

Let's start with the second issue. This is really a no-brainer. We don't want professional athletes/role models setting the example for younger generations that steroids are the answer to hitting the big-time. Although I believe that the use of steroid-products can be beneficial in some applications, by and large these applications have not been seen in professional sports.

Now, on to the number one question on everyone's mind these days (what, you thought Iraq & Afghanistan were important? we have steroids and Paris to worry about!). Some time in the next 2 months, Barry Bonds will hit home run number 756 to become (without any ambiguity) THE MAN to have hit more home runs during his professional MLB baseball career than any other, surpassing Hank Aaron. Notice how loaded that sentence is with qualifiers?

The question is, do we give this the Roger Maris treatment? (That one is agreed by MANY to have been wrong!) My answer is, we do not, and here is my reasoning.

Actually, I will take this one step further. I think that the witch hunt should end! I am saddened that George Mitchell would let this go on as long as it has on his watch.

Exhibit Number One: Why is Mitchell only speaking with hitters, even though about half of the players suspended under the new rules have been pitchers?

Exhibit Number Two: The home run race between McGwire and Sosa brought baseball back to life, and there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that the ownership side of the business knew nothing about it. Who is chairing their "witch hunt?"

I don't believe that any other argument holds water in light of those two items. The current witch hunt is another case of those in power trying to make scapegoats of those they are in power of. Regardless of how much money the players make, at the end of the day, the owners are the bosses. Congress (what? speaking for all us little men?) has decided that someone "needs to pay," and of course, no one on the ownership side knew about steroids until the early part of this decade (or at least, there's no proof they did!) Wait, what's that about there not being any proof?

Here's the bottom line for me. A baseball player should not be penalized in the history books for playing (at his time in history) on the same "playing field" as his peers. I think that enough pitchers have tested positive for steroids to negate any cheating advantage that some may claims Bonds had.

How do you know when you are getting old?

Everyone has a different way of measuring how old they feel. I imagine that the birth of the first grandchild makes most people feel like they're getting up there in age. Others may realize they are getting old when a musician or actor they idolized as a teenager dies of natural causes (pretty sure the members of Poison, Bon Jovi, and Def Leppard as well as the cast of The Breakfast Club are all still alive and kicking).

I remember marking the death of the first Star Trek original castmember (James Doohan as Scotty) in July 2005 as a possible sign that I was getting up there in age. Actually, I clearly remember commenting once or twice between 2000 and 2005 that the death of the first Star Trek original would be a clear sign for me. It was not.

On another occassion, I thought I would be safe until my childhood sports stars started passing away. Then again, Roger Clemens is still pitching (WE HOPE!)! Is that possible? More than 2 decades ago, I sat on a school bus on the way to high school listening to the radio announce that The Rocket had struck out 20 Mariners on a cold, damp April day.

But today I decided that when guys two years younger than me start retiring (and I mean, for example, guys with nearly 150 career wins, not guys with 64 career homers!) then I might be getting old.

mikelowelldoesntsuck.blogspot.com

According to the "owner" of mikelowellsucks.blogspot.com, Mike Lowell is terrible. I am here to say that if "terrible" means that your streak of a major-league-leading 8 hits for doubles ends when you hit a homerun off Mike Mussina, I welcome "terrible" to the Boston Red Sox.

Presently, Lowell is competing with Shea Hillenbrand, Casey Blake, and Hank Blalock for the best 3B in the AL. Anyone think I should open up mikelowellforAL3Ballstar.blogspot.com?

Is Crisp checking out Lil' Pap's ass?

I figured I would give our MFY fan friends some ammunition!

Red Sox beat the Yankees

I've been playing that Da Vinci Code Google contest, and one of the puzzle types requires searching Google Video for a clip of the movie on which to answer questions.

So, I decided to try searching Google Video for Red Sox, and this was the very first hit I got.

Red Sox fans celebrate on the Green Line T (subway) in Boston after the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the 2004 playoffs.


And this one brought tears to my eyes!

It's real simple, Sox fans

Would you rather lose one game 15 - 3 or three games 5 - 1? (or five games 3 - 3/5, not sure how a team can score 3/5 of a point, but leave it to the Sox! Maybe some funky Manny Ramirez baserunning mistake that causes a run to lose 2/5 of it's value?)

Let's all just remember that the season is still in its infancy. We've got a solid team, with Crisp coming back in a few weeks.

A little more fodder for Beth's fantasies

Chris Snow wrote a piece in the Globe today about how well Foulke is pitching left-handed hitters this year. Here's an excerpt.

The Sox, meanwhile, began last night without a lefthander in the bullpen.

But the club has discovered a pitcher suited for the role, even if he throws with his right hand.

"[Keith] Foulke's been our lefty, and he's been a pretty good one," manager Terry Francona said before last night's game. "You're dying for that left-on-left guy. He's actually one of the better ones in the game."

The manager and the captain each offered different opinions as to why Foulkie has had so much success against left-handed hitters this season (They're hitting a mere .190 vs .231 for the righties). Francona said:

"Any [pitcher] with a split like [Jonathan] Papelbon or a changeup like Foulke usually has better success against lefthanders . . . Anybody with good offspeed pitches can get lefties out."

Meanwhile, Varitek has a different explanation, offered as a "caveat" by Snow:

Foulke's ability to precisely locate his fastball to both sides of the plate prevents lefties from sitting on his changeup.