Archive for July, 2008

Not gonna lie to you, when I woke up this morning I did not think this was actually going to happen.

I’m not mad at the Sox front office, they had a guy who for whatever reason did not want to be here. The thing that pisses me off is that I think they could have just told him he wasn’t going anywhere and he would have gone out and drove in runs. He may not have been happy, but he still would have produced.

Frankly I would rather have a cardboard cut-out of Manny hitting behind Ortiz than Jason Bay doing the job, but thats who we have and we need to live with it. The guy can play. I’ll give him a standing-O tomorrow night because theres nothing else you can do.

I would love to be a fly on the wall for the Manny-Nomar-Derek Lowe reuniting. We’ll trade them ‘Tek and Timlin next season.

Instead of ripping Manny for being a pain in the ass and forcing this whole situation I have decided to celebrate his time in Boston with a few of my favorite Manny pictures.

Cue up Air Supply, I’m going home to cry.

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BARDO RESPONDS

I wanted to come back swinging for the fences here, but then I thought about it and we weren’t so different with our original opinions. My panties aren’t in a bunch either; I’m not too flustered about the whole Manny Epic Saga that is perpetrated by the local media (I’m assuming from 600 miles away)… However, I am 600 miles away and unlike you, I’m not too deep into the forest to see the trees.

There are lots of people pointing to parallels between this situation and the Nomar trade deadline experiment in 2004, to show why trading Manny away for less than his equivalent value might work out. But like you, I’m not buying that… that was once in a lifetime (or once in an 86 year lifetime).

Peter Gammons notes this week how Manny’s requested days off have come against Joba, Felix Hernandez twice, Justin Verlander, and Edison Volquez. There is no doubt in the past when Manny has brought his noise to the front office, that he’s also brought the funk to the field.

But here’s the thing Mike, like Obama says, we need to recognize the change (YES WE CAN!). Different action requires different reaction. I direct you to the quotes that came out last night: “The Red Sox don’t deserve a player like me. During my years here I’ve seen how they have mistreated other great players when they didn’t want them to try to turn the fans against them. The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy. I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don’t deserve me. I’m not talking about money. Mental peace has no price and I don’t have peace here.”

This deal is going to happen. In the past Manny hasn’t been so vocal or such a blowhard, hasn’t pushed down team attendants, hasn’t totally lost support of the fans (those boos rained down last two nights as if Johnny Damon was in the house). We’ve run out of blind eyes to turn away from this conceited douche. And honestly, cut your hair. You’re not Sampson.

Who should we be expecting? The old “come through no matter what” Manny or last month’s “I’ll watch 3 straight Mariano splitters down the pike go by” Manny? With each passing day and each passing “get me outta here” quote, my faith waivers in #24.

To address some of your “astute” analysis. Saying we have an Ichiro in Ellsbury is like saying you slept with Pam Anderson because you saw her video on a boat… its not the same thing. I would expect someone in a pink Sox hat to defend Ellsbury, but not you. Ellsbury is batting .268 and in Ichiro’s worst year he batted .303. Ellsbury kinda sorta sucks (even though he looks like Bennie ‘the Jet’ Rodriguez from The Sandlot).

Ichiro wont pick up all of Manny’s RBIs but the guy gets on base and will set up more RBIs for Pedroia and Youk and Ortiz. That gap behind Ortiz will hurt, but if we’re getting more guys on base ahead of Ortiz, they will have to pitch to him. The way JD “Roy Hobbs” Drew has hit this year, I am comfortable enough with him batting 5th behind Papi. We still put your boy Lowell 6th, and then take our automatic Varitek out 7th.

Also Manny isn’t the only guy who produces in the playoffs. Check out Ichiro’s stats from his only playoff series. He batted .421 (OBP .962) in ten games, gathering a few steals, a few RBIs, and a bunch of runs. That’s a guy I’d like to see at the top of our order. Except for stolen bases, Ellsbury has disappointed since last fall.

So, do you want to bury your head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend everything is alright or accept that Jason Bay could be the one wearing #24 when you Dave and Weiner show up Friday night? Pretending everything is alright only works sometimes (and I don’t think it’s gonna work for that rash either…) and this ain’t one of them.

Hopefully none of us will have to endure a Jason Bay era. First of all, the guy’s Canadian (and we know Canadian’s cant protect anything, having driven over the border with you on the way to Montreal). How is he going to protect Big Papi in the line up? Ichiro or bust!

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by Mike Stiriti

Bardo, I’m sorry, but you’re a complete moron. We already have an Ichiro, and his name is Jacoby. And he is significantly cheaper.

I have to say that I’m surprised that this city has its collective panties in a bunch, again, because Manny is disgruntled and wants to be traded. If the world was aware of when Manny wants to be traded and everyone could count to 365 then we wouldn’t need calendars. Seriously folks, this is Boston. The leaves change every fall and Manny wants to be traded every summer. I didn’t even check the Globe this morning but I’m sure that Chicken Little Shaughnessy is trying to stir up enough controversy to put another wing on his smug mansion. If he doesn’t release a book about Manny’s turbulent stint in Boston by 2010 I would be shocked.

Listen, I am not going to make this a long drawn out argument. Manny is as irreplaceable as whatever dude Beyonce was singing about, and there is no way that Theo is dumb enough to tank a season just to relieve a headache. It would be the most costly Advil in the history of sports.

Bardo thinks we should add a 4th leadoff hitter to our team (to go along with the 3 who currently share the 9th spot as Pedroia hits first) and just ignore the gaping hole in the middle of our lineup. Bardo says that Ortiz won’t see good pitches if we get rid of Manny, and he’s right, but his solution is way off. Youk and Drew are both solid in the 2-spot and serviceable in the 5 hole, while Lowell has 6th in the order written all over him. None of these guys are cleanup hitters, and it would be like a bad Halloween costume for any of them to try and hit behind Papi.

The fact that #24 is disgruntled is not a problem, the guy goes out a produces no matter what is going on around him. Like he said, he can play in Iraq or Boston, it doesn’t matter, he will go out there and drive in runs. So what if he makes an error once in a while, he plays the monster better than anyone since the Gator (the only intelligent thing Bard said) and he is on the team for his bat.

I understand that Man-Ram just turned 37, but the discussion here is not about signing him to a 3-year extension, the discussion is about the next 3 months. So far he has played in 100 of 109 games this season, and has already matched his home run mark of last season. While we aren’t seeing the 2005 version of Manny, this model ain’t too shabby.

I know that his career numbers aren’t relevant when he steps between the lines, but I have to share my favorite Manny stat with you guys. Did you know that only 3 players in baseball history have a better batting average and more home runs than Manny Ramirez? There names are Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.

Bottom line: Unless you plan on trading him for A-Rod or Vlad Guerrero there is no way to even come close to replacing his productivity. As Manny said a week or so ago, the Red Sox aren’t stupid, they know they can’t get a return value for him.

So Boston, cool ya jets, he isn’t going anywhere.

I’m going to the game tomorrow night, sitting 6 rows up from the on-deck circle. This means 2 things: 1) You should all keep an eye out for Davo, Weiner and myself on NESN every time a lefty is up. And, 2) I will have a great seat to watch Manny drive in the game winning run and then tell Heidi Watney that he loves playing in Boston.

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by Josh Bard

Asking whether or not the Red Sox should trade Manny Ramirez is a shortsighted and incomplete question; there is no right or wrong answer. The realistic question to ask is how much do the Red Sox need to re-coop for them to give away a first ballot Hall of Famer, our 2004 World Series MVP.

Now here comes the curveball… I think there is a good option for a Manny trade, a trade we can make and still defend our World Series championship. A trade that I haven’t heard mentioned anywhere yet (as of 7:50 PM): why not trade Manny for Ichiro? Both are outfielders who are on-again off-againdisgruntled with their teams. Both are outfielders who are very highly paid. Both are outfielders who can be championship pieces (maybe not this year for the Mariners but they should be better soon). And both are outfielders who can be identified by just one name.

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This was a CNN story today. Here is the link to the video. You can’t make this shit up.

It might not be as bad as the story from a couple years ago when a woman spotted the Virgin Mary in the grease deposit of her George Foreman Grill, but it’s close.

I watched the cat video twice, and I’m not buying it. At best I can make out the Geico caveman, but even thats a stretch.

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ESPN - SportsNation (and then entire state of Georgia) has spoken. Valdosta, with its high school tradition, young but powerful Division II college football and overwhelming spirit is TitleTown USA.

Not Boston, with our 6 World Championships this decade. Not Boston, where all 4 of our major sports teams made the playoffs this past season. Not Boston, where, if you include Major League Soccer, had a team in 4 championship games in 8 months. Not Boston, where sports were being played back when Valdosta was a row of plantations. No, Boston is not Title Town USA, Valdosta is.

And you know what? I could care less. This was just another contrived stunt by ESPN to fill the slow summer months, almost as bad as Who’s Now?

Thank God its over, now we can finally get an update on this whole Brett Favre situation.

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CBC News - The makers of Scrabble have asked Facebook to remove a popular add-on to the social networking site that allows users to play an online version of the board game.

Lawyers for toy makers Hasbro and Mattel said the Scrabulous program infringes on their copyright for the word-based board game.

Scrabulous was created in July 2006 by Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla from Kolkata, India, as an online version of the game, using a colour-coded board similar to Scrabble’s.

The program’s popularity really took off when it was added as an application to Facebook in 2007. It now regularly attracts nearly 600,000 daily users and is listed as one of Facebook’s 10 most popular applications.

Hasbro owns the U.S. and Canadian rights to Scrabble, while Mattel owns the rights to the game in the rest of the world.

“Letters have been sent to Facebook in the U.S. regarding the Scrabulous application,” Mattel said in a statement.

“Mattel values its intellectual property and actively protects its brands and trademarks. As Mattel owns the rights to the Scrabble trademark outside the U.S. and Canada, we are currently reviewing our position regarding other countries.”

A spokesperson for Hasbro Canada confirmed the joint statement, calling Scrabulous “a gross copyright and trademark infringement of Hasbro’s SCRABBLE rights in the U.S. and Canada.”

It is a sad day at the office. A sad, sad day. I’m guessing that the productivity level of businesses across the Nation will see a significant spike today. I’m not sure how I’m going to cope. Thank God for Sporcle. How many Sesame Street characters can you name?

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I wouldn’t bank on another 16-0 season just yet.

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NEW YORK (AP) — 50 Cent has sued Taco Bell, claiming the fast-food restaurant chain is using his name without permission in advertising that asks him to call himself 99 Cent.

The rapper says in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that the Mexican-themed chain features him in a print ad asking him to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent. His real name is Curtis Jackson.

The rapper’s court papers say the ad is part of Taco Bell’s “Why Pay More?” campaign, which promotes items for under a dollar, including Cinnamon Twists for 79 cents, Crunchy Tacos for 89 cents and Bean Burritos for 99 cents. The papers say the Irvine, Calif.-based company sent a bogus letter requesting the name change to the news media but not to the rapper.

The rapper’s lawyer, Peter D. Raymond, said his client didn’t learn about the letter or that he was featured in the ad campaign until he saw a news report about it. Raymond said his client is seeking $4 million in damages.

Hey Fifty, how about suing the Department of Treasury first. Then you can sue the New Hampshire toll booths for plastering your awesome name everywhere. I don’t care that he has been shot 17 times, his name still sucks. Think about it, in a world with the Cash Money Millionaires and Chamillionaire how can you feel good calling yourself 50 Cent? I drop that in the cup at Dunkys and I’m a poor bastard.

Come to think of it, I’m going to sue 50 for $9.75. Yes i was one of the few who sat through Get Rich or Die Tryin and yes it was that bad.

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