Hardball Heaven

You know, I've thought a lot lately about how easy it must be for "professional" sports media types here in Boston to do their jobs. I mean, the radio shows and columns just kind of write themselves on a daily basis, don't they? The Pats going 18-0, the Super Bowl, the Celtics with the biggest one-year turnaround in NBA history, Spygate, the renewal of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry on the big stage, Manny's 500th... and now 501 and 502... it's truly a non-stop carousel.

The latest addition to the sports news shuffle isn't a very uplifting one. Over the weekend in Baltimore, David Ortiz swung at a pitch and felt a pop in his left wrist. An MRI yesterday showed that he's got a torn tendon sheath (look it up on WebMD), and projections have him out of the lineup for at least a month. It's never good to have the big feller out of the lineup period, but this timing hurts because Big Papi was just heating up after a slow start, and he was starting to foil the right-field shift a lot of teams employ by going to the opposite field. Still, the Sox are obviously doing the right thing by proceeding with caution. They're saying surgery isn't an option, but with a guy who makes his living with some powerful flicks of his wrists, it's not the best injury to have. For the time being, we'll probably see lots of Manny at DH which allows Francona to field a better defensive outfield of Ellsbury, Drew and Crisp. Also look for a Brandon Moss call-up. Moss was getting into a groove here a while back before he had to have an emergency appendectomy. He's killing the ball again down in Pawtucket.

The Sox are finally back home tonight, with a 7:00 start time against the team they're chasing, believe it or not, the Tampa Bay Rays. Justin Masterson - who's pitched two beauties in spot duty this year - gets the ball for the Sox. Matt Garza for the Rays.