Yanks and Sox Game 1

So it begins...

This will just be my quick thoughts on the first rivalry game of the year and if you watched the game you will now why I want to keep them brief. The Red Sox took the first of the season series and I'm not that surprised. Phil Hughes looked bad in his first start of the season and downright atrocious today. I wasn't expecting the implosion John Lackey was lucky enough in that regard to pick up the win.

I think that both teams have somewhat identified who they will be this season. Both will hit a ton, but they each lack rotation depth. This is likely to be one ugly summer of baseball if neither team makes moves for stronger starters.

In other news it seems Manny Ramirez is throwing in the towel. I can only go by what I've heard on the radio waves, but it seems he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs for the second time and rather than face a 100 game suspension he said screw you and walked away. He probably did the Rays a favor anyway since he was hitting a minuscule .056 in a super small sample size of just 17 plate appearances and he hasn't looked good since his first half year with the Dodgers.

It's an inauspicious end to a brilliant career. Manny will go down as one of the greatest righ-handed hitters of all time, but I doubt he hoped to go out like this. Though, part of me thinks Manny being Manny doesn't give a crap.

Say it Ain't So Papi

Well it looks like were gonna see all those names eventually. First up, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

Manny Joins A-Rod

This just in from the LA Times.

You can check it on SportsCenter too.

Update: Manny is claiming the positive result is from a prescription he received from his doctor. I'm inclined to not believe any excuse by any player nowadays and I'm sure this wasn't the first time Manny used. I know some players were clean during that era of baseball but this just solidifies the fact that even the best of the best were probably juicing.

At least this takes some heat off of A-Rod as he returns tomorrow. Many of those national media guys will have their hands tied with Manny stories. I'm sure they will still come after him but the more names that come out the more the heat on A-Rod will come down.

Update: Seems like Manny may not have used steroids or HGH but a sexual performance enhancer. I don't know what he would prefer we thought about him: cheater or ...you know. Embarrassing.

Manny gets exactly what he wants, right?

So Manny finally agrees to a practically identical offer to the one the Dodgers extended him in November or so. So instead of two years and $40 million from Boston, he will get two years $45 million from Los Angeles. And it only took Scott Boras five months to get that deal done. What a savvy agent! It's a 10% raise for Manny, yes, but it's nowhere near what they were seeking. What does five mil really mean to Manny anyway? At least Boras will get his cut of this contract. Thank blog for that!

Sox in Trouble

Now I'm not trying to gloat here (don't worry I am still taking pleasure in the anxiety of Sox fans) but the Red Sox look like they are in a world of trouble. Don't get me wrong, they can definitely still dig themselves out of this hole and make a run at the Rays - we've seen it happen before.

This time though, things are different. This is a Red Sox team that is hurting. Papi has only one wrist, Beckett has no velocity, Drew's back is as stiff as a board, Mike Lowell has no hip and even the always reliable Jon Lester has began to show signs that he is human after jumping from 183 total innings last year to 230 this year.

The other big thing you've probably already heard is that this team has no Manny Ramirez and people are right to point it out. This lineup is not nearly as intimidating without Manny. Even Papi is feeling it. Sure he is hurt, but pitchers don't have to fear pitching around him as much. Kevin Youkilis has been great as his protector since Manny left, but he just can't get out of Manny's shadow. If you think I'm being hard on Youk look at his line this series: .429/.429/.786. Those are very good numbers, especially considering how well the Rays staff has pitched this series (with the glaring exception of Scott Kazmir). Now you may not have seen what Manny has done to Philly this series since you're trying to forget Manny like an ex-girlfriend, but here is his line: .500/.667/.917.

Those numbers are simply inhuman. The most telling stat Manny has is six walks to zero for Youk. Six walks in four games means you're pretty damn intimidating. 

Aside from Manny being on the other side of the continent, the Sox are also looking at two big reasons that they should be worried. The first is that unlike last year against Cleveland, they don't have home field advantage. Games six and seven will be played to the irritating din of cowbells in the Trop. Florida hasn't been kind to the Nation this year and things could get ugly down there.

Second is Josh Beckett. He is simply not the same pitcher as last year and it looks very unlikely that he will be anytime soon. Without him Boston needs to consider the idea of moving Jon Lester up one start to game six to either save them for a game seven or to polish off the Rays.

Tonight will give us a better idea of how in trouble the Red Sox are. Wakefield has been great against the Rays during his long career but he hasn't been able to handle them this year. His record against the 2008 Rays is 0-2 with a ERA sitting at a rather bloated 5.87. 

This could get messy pretty fast.

Was Manny being Manny his fault?

It is a beast of an article but if you have some time check out Bill Simmons' article about the end of Manny in Boston. He has a lot of interesting thoughts about who was to blame for the divorce.