The divorce. It was inevitable, after weeks of torture and pain for both parties. It was sad, gazing back through the photo album of memories the two sides created together – two World Series championships, numerous All-Star games, and countless humorous vignettes. It was disheartening. But it was time. And finally, citing irreconcilable differences, Manny Ramirez and the Boston Red Sox officially separated July 31, 2008.

  It was your classic on-again, off-again relationship. There were moments were it looked all but over – the Joe Kerrigan era, trading deadline ’05, the last few weeks of the 2006 season. But just when one of them was about to pack their bags and leave a tearful note on the kitchen table, peace was miraculously found and tender hugs smoothed things over for a little while.

Continue reading "The Break Up"

Trust me, it's only a matter of time before the above title becomes the "literary work" of a Boston Red Sox beat writer.

Allow me to set the scene: "The smell of steamed hot dogs and cheap beer wafts playfully through the air, and the distant ringing of a bullpen phone can be heard in the background. But my focus is singular: Only the man in front of me matters. Encased in a green cell twice as long as it is wide, surrounded by a gang of amateur musicians banging out tunes on water bottles and cleat picks, I hear only the pop of my catcher's mitt. I glare into the eyes of the focused closer as he prepares to fire another critical warm-up pitch my way ..."

It's not as outrageous as you may think. For among the most maddening of the residual effects of the Red Sox becoming a world-wide phenomenon is the glut of crappy works churned out by the horde that follows the team on a daily basis. Take a stroll through the sports library at your local Borders and you'll be bombarded by no fewer than 10 titles by previously unknown writers attached to the BoSox.

Continue reading "My Life Behind a Tiny Green Wall: Memoirs of a Bullpen Catcher"

Last night's ninth inning was almost an afterthought, what with the ejection of both Dustin Pedroia and an irate Orioles fan within about 10 minutes of each other. In fact, the eighth featured the home plate umpire barking into the Sox dugout, Pedroia chirping at both the first base and home umpire, Pedroia getting tossed and the Orioles fan jabbing back and forth with Coco Crisp before battles with two ushers and a pair of Red Sox fans on the way out of the stadium.

As Don Orsillo sarcastically quipped, "Have a nice night."

But after the chaos, something crucial and almost silent took place. Manny Delcarmen shut the door.

It's not exactly cause to hang "We love Manny" banners off the Zakim Bridge. Obviously, it wasn't a pressure-packed situation, and it wasn't a 1-2-3 inning. But it does matter. The night before Delcarmen had what pitching coach John Farrell called "dominant stuff" and yet he issued two walks that almost cost the Sox the game. This, unfortunately, has become the new definition in Beantown of "Manny being Manny."

Continue reading "The Manny we still have"

If you told me the following facts before the season began - that Jon Lester would be the Red Sox' best pitcher, that the starting staff would receive critical contributions from Bartolo Colon and Paul Byrd (potentially two of the ugliest pitchers ever to don a Sox uniform, as an aside), that Jed Lowrie would have more RBI than Julio Lugo, that Manny would take his Manny show to the left coast, that Jason Varitek would be struggling to hit .220, that Kevin Youkilis would be the team's most feared power hitter, and that David Ortiz would miss the bulk of the first half with an injury - I'd probably have predicted that the Sox would finish fourth in the American League East.

Right in front of Tampa Bay.

And yet here we are with September on the horizon, with the Rays comfortably in first place and the Red Sox - despite all of the above - still in the hunt for the division and in the lead for the Wild Card.

Continue reading "Not Exactly How They Drew It Up - But They'll Take It"