Red Sox Win First...More Manny

The Boston Red Sox finally earned their first 2011 victory with a 9-6 win over the NY Yankees. John Lackey started for Boston and was, well, Lackey-like to a tee. He surrendered six (!) earned runs on seven hits over five long innings. The bullpen was used the exact way it was set up before the season started and it was perfect with Aceves, Jenks, Bard and Papelbon putting one inning each of goose eggs on the board and restoring some faith to all those who are members of Red Sox Nation. What a refreshing change! A win!! Here's Pedey Pedroia. He kick started his team to victory with three hits including an early solo home run into the wall seats...

"I just came in here thinking, 'We need to find a way to win. I don't care how we do it. I don't care if it's the ugliest win of all time. We need that win but we played great, man. It seems like guys were calm, weren't jumping at the ball. This is our park. We were on the road six days and we didn't get comfortable."

Today at 1pm EDT the two teams go at it again with Nova ready to face Buchholz. Another win would be sweet indeed. I also wanted to spend a minute or two typing about Manny Ramirez, cheater and quitter that he is. Confirmedly so. Anthony Castrovince, a columnist for mlb dot com, spoke of his Hall of Fame chances, among other things. Here's part of what he had to say...

"Perhaps it had to end this way. A bizarre capper to a career that, even in its low points, never lacked for intrigue. The Green Monster bathroom break, the faux pharyngitis, the uncashed checks stashed in his locker, the time he confused O.J. Simpson for Chad Ogea, the greatest catch of his career coming on an unwanted cutoff, the press conference in Espanol when everybody knows he speaks English ... these are the "Manny Being Manny" moments that combine with the numbers to make Ramirez one of baseball's most captivating figures. But Ramirez likely won't be a Hall of Famer. Because as he proved time and again, he played the game of baseball and the game of life by his own rules. And Manny's rules didn't always mesh with reality."

No, they sure didn't. Manny frittered away his chances to join the elite Hall of Famers. Hey, it was HIS choice, wasn't it. He was off to a slow start and maybe that's why he decided to go the PED route. Maybe he's been on them the entire off season. I'm just glad he was caught. That decision was pretty stupid Manny, wasn't it? But you've been making those kind of decisions your whole life. The Boston Red Sox did the smartest thing they could at the time when they jettisoned you from their ranks. Manny, you can't diss the owner of the ball club and quit on your team, all in a matter of days, and expect to remain unscathed or employed. Stay retired. Please. PLEASE!

Thank you once again for stopping in to my little corner of the blue nowhere. I appreciate every one of you and I invite you to click on this post's title for more on Mr. Ramirez courtesy of Yahoo sports dot com. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the 1pm game. We're going for two straight. CC goes tomorrow so today's contest is an important game to tuck away into the win column. As always, BE WELL