Monday, August 01, 2005

Deadline passes "quietly", Sox sweep Twinkies

As much as most of us are disappointed in "Manny being Manny", we got quite the dose of reality when the proposed trade with the Mets was floated out there. Despite his many flaws, we wouldn't get back anything close to his production levels. The Sox certainly wouldn't have been better off this year - maybe long term in terms of financial flexibility. Without a stud pitcher in return, you could have kissed any playoff success goodbye.

The players in the clubhouse know they need him especially in Oct, but we hope its not to the point where they get so frustrated that they'd rather try it without him anyway. The thing is, Manny doesn't believe he's done anything wrong - or maybe doesn't care. At least he knows he pissed everyone off, and hopefully he falls into line for at least a while. Thanks to Millar for doing some damage control by throwing Manny in front of the media...

Congrats to Papelbon on an outstanding MLB debut. What a fastball this kid has. When he is able to get his off speed stuff under control, he could be a legitimate #1. He made a lot of hitters look awful yesterday. Nice to see the farm system finally paying some dividends. Delcarmen is still getting his feet wet but did a good job in his first pressure situation in the bigs.

Sox look to extend winning streak tomorrow against a mightily struggling Royals team. Should be able to extend the 2 1/2 game lead especially since Yanks did virtually nothing at deadline. And yes, that includes Chacon - despite a good first outing. The guys they've taken off the scrap heap have been pretty much 1 and done. Maybe Cashman can pick up a different starter every week to keep it going?

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