Manny not just being Manny

The Boston Red Sox may be running away with the American League East title with their present 48-29 record and nine game lead over Toronto Blue Jays... however, they are doing it all without one of their main cogs not playing to their capability. There is no doubt that right fielder Manny Ramirez will some day be enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown - with 481 home runs, 1558 RBI's, 1297 runs scored and a career .313 batting average he would probably be a "no brainer" first ballot entry. For each of the past nine years, Manny has hit 33 or more homers, driven in 102 or more runs and hit .292 or higher (7 times hitting .300 or better). 2007 has been different though for Manny... a .289 batting average, only 11 homers and 42 RBI's to go with 39 runs scored through yesterday. This paces out to only 23 homers, 88 RBI's and 82 runs scored... all of which would his worst numbers since his 1994 rookie season... At 35 years of age, Manny's not getting any younger and unfortunately, this is not "Manny just being Manny." Perhaps his knees are giving out or there is some sort of other undisclosed injury causing him not to be the same old Manny that we all have been accustomed to seeing all of these years... Red Sox Nation certainly hopes the second half brings back our "normal" version of Manny...

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As for the games... well basically all of my teams lost yesterday - the aforementioned Red Sox, both L.A. teams and the Nats... actually combined they scored all of one run yesterday!!! Yes, ONE!!!

In Seattle, the Mariners got a double by Jose Lopez which scored Ichiro Suzuki as the Mariners beat the Red Sox by a 2-1 score... The Red Sox had lots of opportunities, but left 11 men on base... Similarly, my Dodgers put men on all night against Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb... they left THIRTEEN runners on base without scoring a run!!! Derek Lowe was the tough luck loser, giving up only a run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings of work in a 2-0 D-Backs win. In Anaheim, the Angels managed ten hits and a walk off of Kansas City Royals starter Jorge De La Rosa in six innings, but were also held scoreless... Jered Weaver pitched a strong seven innings, giving up only a run... that would be all the offense the Royals would need as they held on for a 1-0 win... In Atlanta, the Nats game got REALLY ugly - a 13-0 shellacking at the hands of the Atlanta Braves! 22 hits... yes, 22 hits were allowed by the Nationals pitchers... only one of those hits was by Andruw Jones so he STILL sits below the Mendoza line at .199... Actually (as I've mentioned before), I do like the Braves (and Cubs) thanks to the superstations... still it was just one heck of an UGLY game!!! I did get to see the Cubs win 6-4 earlier in the day thanks to being able to watch WGN...

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Lots of news on the golf front today... Tiger Woods has confirmed he will be playing in his tournament at Congressional Country Club next weekend in Washington, D.C. It became more clear that he would play as his first child was born to he and his wife back on June 18th. The big surprise is that world number two, Phil Mickelson has decided to play, meaning that the top four players in the world (Jim Furyk and Adam Scott) along with Vijay Singh (#6) will be playing... I am hoping to attend the third round of the tournament while I visit D.C. next weekend.

The women are playing their third major of the year this weekend... the U.S. Women's Open takes place at the Southern Pines golf course in Pine Needles, North Carolina... the favorite again would have to be world number one, Lorena Ochoa. Ochoa won again last week, and looks to add another trophy to her ever growing collection... Coverage will be as follows (all times ET):

Thursday, June 28 1st Round ESPN 2:00-6:00 p.m.
Friday, June 29 2nd Round ESPN 2:00-6:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 30 3rd Round NBC 3:00-6:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 1 4th Round NBC 3:00-6:00 p.m.

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