Sports Redux: Manny Plays, But It Doesn't Help

We don't want to write any more about Manny Ramirez, any more than you want to read it. He played, under thinly-veiled threats of suspension, and he was awful. Which makes him an official member in good standing of this weekend's Red Sox.

Because the Sox did it again yesterday, losing 10-3 to the Yankees. The Yanks unloaded on Tim Wakefield, Justin Masterson and Craig Hansen, while the Sox "hitters" let Andy Pettitte off the hook early and allowed him to cruise to his 12th win. Manny, back in the lineup after a few days of the kind of stupid soap opera that kind of makes us wish we still had Carl Everett, was 0-for-4 and fell below .300. The Sox, taking a cue from their inconsistent slugger, fell to two behind Tampa Bay and lead the Yankees by only one for the wild card.

The good news, if you're Harry Doyle at least, is that Sox pitchers hit three Yankees. Better news would have been Youkilis and company rising as one and beating the hell out of Joba Chamberlain Friday night, but we guess we'll take the snippy comments and impotent rage if that's all we can get.

Of course, because the Yankees and Red Sox are such riveting TV, we have to wait around until tonight before the series finale. Jon Lester will pitch. Who will hit, we guess we just have to wait and see.

Photo by Flickr's atomicjeep, and used under a Creative Commons license.