As expected, the Red Sox did deal Manny Ramirez right before the trade deadline last Thursday. What was not expected was that the Sox would lose Manny, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, and still have to pay Manny's salary. As you saw on this very blog last Wednesday, I was ready to see Manny go. However, I severely underestimated just how badly the Sox wanted to rid themselves of Ramirez. I was initially confused as to how the Sox only got Jason Bay. I had nothing against Bay, I just wanted the Sox to get a prospect or some bullpen help as well.
After the first weekend of the Jason Bay era, I can say I have a ton of Bay Pride. It is fair to say that Bay has taken Boston by storm. He has said all the right things, in that he is not trying to replace Manny, merely play left field to the best of his ability and do his part in helping bring a second straight pennant to Boston.
A recap of Bay's weekend:
Friday: goes 1-3 scoring 2 runs. Bay made a sensational diving catch to keep the game tied in the middle innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Bay lofted a high fly ball that scraped the Monster for a triple. Thats right a triple. It is very likely Manny would have gotten only a single possibly a double because of his admiration for his hit. Bay was promptly scored the game winning run on a basehit by Jed Lowrie.
Saturday: Bay goes 1-4 scoring 2 runs and knocking in three after launching his first home run as a member of the Red Sox. His shot would prove to be all the Sox needed as the bats finally came alive to mash the A's 12-2.
Sunday: Bay goes 2 for 4 scoring two more runs. He also gunned down Mark Ellis in the first inning trying to stretch a single into a double.
Not a bad way to endear yourself to a new fan base. It appears that Jason Bay is a new fan favorite in Fenway.
Jason Bay is what this team needed to save the season. Not that he will be able to put up the same numbers as ManRam, but the intanigibles he brings to this team outweigh any given run he will knock in the rest of the season. The team felt Manny could not be trusted and that he was a major distraction. With the Manny soap opera days behind us, the team can concentrate on coming to the ballpark and winning games instead of worrying about what Manny was going to do next.
I am as excited as ever to be a Red Sox fan and I truly enjoy watching Jason Bay play. Let us hope this blockbuster trade has a similiar end result as a blockbuster Theo pulled in 2004.
-Scottie
2 comments:
When the Sox make it to the playoffs and Bay strikes out a record 19 times in 4 games, while also committing three errors in left field, I will be missing the great ManRam.
Manny pulled a Heth Ledger Joker on us by asking all of his teammates and fans a simple question, "Why so serious?" When Bay is batting in the playoffs with the game on the line, Manny will be looking at me, and again will quote the Joker by saying, "You look nervous." He is absolutely right.
Earlier this week, I complained to Manny that he shouldn't have made up this huge plan to leave town so that he could make more money but rather, just shut up and play baseball. He responded by saying, "Do I really look like a man with a plan, Dan? I don't have a plan. Theo has plans, the ownership group have plans. You know what I am, Dan? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. I just do things. I'm a wrench in the gears. I hate plans. Yours, theirs, everyone's. Theo has plans. Francona has plans. Henry is trying to control their worlds. I am not a schemer. I show schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are. So when I say that what happened to you and my teammates wasn't personal, you know I'm telling the truth.
Manny continued in an almost poetic fashion, "It's a schemer who put me where I am. Theo was a schemer. He had plans. Look where it got Red Sox Nation. I just did what I do best...I took Theo's plan and turned it on itself. Look what I have done to this city with a few errors and a couple of sitouts. Nobody panics when the expected people get traded. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow Mike Lowell will sit out, or a Curt Schilling's season is over, nobody panics. But when I say one little old Manny will sit out a few games, everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, Dan? It's fair."
And so the story goes... The Red Sox are Mannyless. Jason Bay has brought the chaos to a standstill, and because of that, the Sox will not succeed.
Glad to see you are back writing Scottie.
But just like in the Batman movie, chaos will falter and organization will result in another title for the Boston Red Sox.
You heard it here first.
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