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Baseball Today: Thursday, August 16

DEVIL OF A TIME: It was just one game but, as Sean McAdam writes, it was symptomatic of a concern the Red Sox have had all year and is becoming particularly worrisome now that the season is rounding the back turn and heading down the stretch. To wit: The offense, or lack thereof. Sox hitters did nothing at all against Tampa Bay meatball artist Andy Sonnanstine (6.35 ERA entering the game) for six innings; then, after finally coming to life, their 1-2-3-4 hitters couldn't get the tying run home from second -- in fact, couldn't even advance him to third -- with no outs in the ninth. The result was a frustrating 6-5 loss, eased only somewhat by the fact it didn't cost them anything in the standings. (At right, Kevin Youkilis reacts to striking out for the second out of the ninth; Journal photo by Bob Breidenbach)

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? That's what the good folks at Sons of Sam Horn are trying to figure out, with opinions ranging from "The offense will sink them" to "Well, it's not as good as the Yankees' or the Tigers' offenses, but it's still good enough to win." Manny Ramirez is a sub-topic, and old friend Smiling Joe Hesketh trots out some sobering statistics: ''According to [Baseball-Reference.com's] close and late stat, Manny is hitting .151/.274/.283 for an OPS of .557 in those situations this year. That's in 62 plate appearances. He's got 2 HR and only FOUR RBIs in those plate appearances.'' (Ramirez, incidentally, struck out to end the game.) His conclusion is just as sobering: ''I have been a Manny defender for years, but as we see him obvious in his decline phase it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore the atrocious fielding (particularly on the road), the mental errors, the egregious baserunning mistakes, and the lack of hitting in big situations. His sideshows were cute when he was routinely putting up 35 HR/125 RBI seasons; they're not so cute when he's currently at 19 and 75.''

I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT: The Devil Rays built a 6-0 lead off Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Joe McDonald reports Dice-K calls himself ''disappointed, even sorry, that I put a stop to [the] momentum'' (the team had built with its walkoff win Tuesday night). (projo.com)

SO CAN I: Kevin Youkilis is struggling, too. (Boston Herald)

PRICE-K: If you want Matsuzaka's autograph, incidentally, be prepared to pony up. (aol.com)

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, PART ONE: The resurgence of Julio Lugo continues, as Steven Krasner chronicles in Inside The Game.

THE BRIGHT SIDE, PART TWO: Seth Mnookin was looking forward to a nice, quiet September, but it doesn't look like the Red Sox will be having one of those. So, to make himself feel better, he looks for positive things to take out of the weekend debacle in Baltimore. (sethmnookin.com)

TWIN SURPRISE: It looks like the Red Sox' starting pitchers in Friday's day-night doubleheader against the Angels will be Clay Buchholz and Julian Tavarez. (projo.com)

BEYOND BASEBALL: Mike Lowell's game-tying home run Tuesday night was another gift to the Butcher family, whom Lowell has been helping deal with the pain of their daughter's death. (Boston Herald)

EVEN STEVEN: Tim Marchman of the New York Sun says the Red Sox-Marlins trade of November 2005, in which the Sox received Josh Beckett but gave up Hanley Ramirez, has been a wash.

O BOY! The Orioles, who haven't won a season series from the Yankees in 10 years, improved to 8-4 against New York in 2007 with an improbable 6-3, 10-inning win (Baltimore Sun), scoring three runs off Mariano Rivera in the 10th after Shelley Duncan had tied it with a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. (New York Daily News) The Orioles also said their hitting of Derek Jeter in the first wasn't in retaliation for two of their players being hit Tuesday night. (Baltimore Sun)

GOTTA WORRY ABOUT MO: Rivera says there's nothing wrong with his arm even though he's pitched poorly the last three times out (LoHud Yankees blog). But Bill Madden of the Daily News worries about what will happen to the Yankees when Mo isn't Mo anymore, and the Post's Joel Sherman says Joe Torre has to decrease Rivera's workload.

BE CAREFUL: Howard Megdal of the New York Observer says the Yankees are taking a risk by putting Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT WHEN I SAID IT EARLIER. . . On the eve of the Tigers' visit to Yankee Stadium, Gary Sheffield repeats his charge that Joe Torre treats black players differently than he treats white players (New York Times).

TOGETHER AGAIN: The Tigers and Indians are once more tied for the A.L. Central lead after Cleveland's win last night (Akron Beacon Journal).

SIMPLE ENOUGH: The reason the Blue Jays didn't trade Troy Glaus to a contender? Nobody asked about him, says Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi (Los Angeles Times).

SIDETRACKED: Dave Veres' goal of becoming the first player to pitch in the major leagues with an artificial hip won't be achieved with the Rockies; they've released him. (Denver Post)

QUICKLY: Bob Brenly says he'd be interested in the Reds' managing job (Cincinnati Enquirer) . . . The Tigers may move Carlos Guillen to first base permanently (Detroit Free Press) . . . The Rockies' Willy Tavares may be headed back to the disabled list (Rocky Mountain News) . . . The struggling Horacio Ramirez may be removed from the Mariners' starting rotation (Seattle Times) . . . The Cubs are saying, publicly and privately, that there's nothing physically wrong with Carlos Zambrano (Chicago Sun-Times).

OLD FRIENDS: The Red Sox are stunned that ex-teammate Jose Offerman attacked two players with a bat (Boston Herald) . . . Derek Lowe doesn't think the Dodgers should begin a youth movement (Los Angeles Times).

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:49 AM | Permalink