Hardball Heaven

Well, after about five or six cocktails last night, I finally found a TV. Five minutes of watching gave me all I really needed to see - the Sox had runners on base in every inning and just couldn't get it done. In the end, they lost their second straight game to Detroit, 3-2, in 13 innings.

This whole series has had a 'mailing it in' feeling to me. Guys are banged up. The all-star break is coming. To be fair, looking at the pitching matchups, I felt one out of three this weekend would be acceptable. Tavarez and Gabbard started the first two games, and while Tavarez stunk Gabbard gave a performance that is going to help him stick around for a while. Today was the one I thought they'd get, with Matsuzaka going against Nate Robertson. Now we hear that our erstwhile slugger with no pop, Manuel Ramirez, is going to sit this one out today due to what Terry Francona called 'internal turmoil.' Interesting phrase, but we think he means that Manny's got an upset stomach. This news came out three hours before gametime, which is plenty of time to send a clubhouse kid to CVS to get some Pepto-Bismol. The only thing I can take from this - with the facts currently on the table - is that Manny is pulling some of his typical horseshit here. Let's hope not. It will be very interesting to see if Manny finds his way to San Francisco for the all-star game on Tuesday.