We were appropriately nervous when Manny Ramirez sustained the left oblique strain. Our concern came partly due to the fact that we wanted one of the Red Sox big bats to deliver during the home stretch. But it was mostly because we worried that Manny would once again have us where it feels like he always wants us: freaking out over a gap in both offense and outfield defense, hoping and pleading with him to come back and wondering whether he is going to phone in the rest of the season or not. He's done it before, the little cynic in the back of our minds heckled, why wouldn't he do it again?

But, and we know we're facing the possibility of scorn here, we're actually really digging our Manny-free lineup. Why? We've got our ace in the hole: Jacoby! With Jacoby Ellsbury in left field and Coco Crisp in center, we can almost forget that J.D. Drew continues to make us nervous in right. Heck, if a ball gets enough air heading out to right, Coco could call Drew off and make a brilliant catch. Who needs Number 7 when we have two of MLB's speediest outfielders?

Apparently unsatisfied with a home run and brilliant diving catch during Sunday's meetup with Baltimore, Ellsbury unleashed offense on Tuesday night that would make Manny envious, making it that much easier for Josh Beckett to win his duel against Toronto's Roy Halladay, 5-3, at Fenway. Ellsbury provided the Sox a homer, a triple, and a single. Add it all up and Young Jacoby has gone 8-12 since joining the Sox on Sept. 1 and has made Terry Francona one happy manager. As Tito put it on Tuesday night, "Every game (Ellsbury's) played, it's not only exciting, it's very beneficial to us winning."

Many of the on-air sports radio experts, and many of those would-be experts who call in, remarked during August's dog days that the Sox needed a spark in order to make it through this last month of regular season play. Clay Buchholz (the new AL Player of the Week and now a Sox bullpen guy) provided an explosion with his Saturday no-no and Ellsbury (partnered on this one by Mike Lowell) is keeping that going. We respectfully request that Manny takes his sweet time coming back - making sure to stretch a lot! - and maybe even take a few notes from the young kid who is currently making one heck of a statement here in Boston.

-- At least no one can say that Rodney Harrison was sneaky while purchasing the HGH that got him banned for the first four games of the season. The man did nothing to conceal his identity when purchasing the banned substances online - he provided his actual name, real address...only a fake prescription.

Photo of Young Jacoby by flickr user Larry Coor