Sports Redux: The Beginning of the End Has Begun

Losing two to the Rays hurt. Getting pronounced dead by Shaughnessy hurt more. And now the lowly Orioles are dancing around near the freshly-dug grave of the 2010 Boston Red Sox. Now all we need is for Manny Ramirez to come into Fenway and hit six home runs this weekend to make our indignity complete.

Josh Beckett continued his frustrating season with a frustrating outing. He scattered seven hits over seven innings, but was more the victim of anemic offense and a key throwing error by Marco Scutaro than of his own inconsistency. We may never know, though; he joined the postgame stampede out of the clubhouse without answering questions. Hard to blame him; there's only so much you can say. Only Jed Lowrie's homer off Brian Matusz in the fifth kept it from being a shutout, and it finished 5-2 Baltimore, giving the miserable O's a winning record in August. Glad the Sox could liven somebody's day.

They did make one roster move yesterday, sending Manny Delcarmen to the Rockies for a minor leaguer and a couple of Denver omelets. Delcarmen's numbers were never horrible, but he got himself into more than his fair share of trouble on the mound over the years and Terry Francona kept starting and stopping showing enough confidence to put the kid into close games. Robert Manuel was called up from Pawtucket to fill the slot in the bullpen.

We know you've been wondering what Chad Ochocinco has in store for Week One of the NFL season in Foxboro. At least, we know the media has been wondering, since Ochocinco's good for a higher press-release-ink-spilled to actual-accomplishment ratio than anyone this side of PETA. Well, the wait is over; Chad Tweeted that he "will be taking the minute men rifle and firing as they do when the PATS score". He'll do well to save one bullet for Terrell Owens, who will probably be griping by then about not being thrown the ball.

It was a busy day for the Pats, who made the grim announcement that CB Leigh Bodden is gone for the year, leaving the shaky defense even more shaky. And rookie Brandon Spikes could be in a little hot water after some webcam indiscretions. Great, another Patriots videotape scandal.