What the Heck Is Wrong With Papi?

The injury David Ortiz suffered is a tear of the Extensor Carpi Ulnaris Sheath.

Put Very Simply:


See the little tendon on the left that says EXT CARPI ULNARIS? That's it. Some digging around on the web produces phrases like "career threatening injury" associated with this; or at the very least a loud and painful pop when the tendon is movied.

Remember the power outage Nomar had after his wrist injury? That was the same injury Ortiz is now facing. This is a rather grim prognosis, but thankfully the Sox are somewhat in the clear in the short run. 9 of the next 24 Sox games are in NL parks, which usually means sitting David Ortiz anyway. The longer term solution is to have an Ellbury/Crisp/Drew outfield and use Manny Ramirez as a DH.

Mr. 499

On September 2nd, 1993, Manny Ramirez made his major league debut. The next day, against the New York Yankees, Ramirez hit the first (and second) home run of his career. 15 seasons later Ramirez is poised to hit the 500th homer of his career.

Courtesy of Baseball-Reference is a complete list of every Manny Ramirez home run, including the pitcher that gave it up, the score of the game, and if anyone else scored. The sheer number of pitchers and games involved in this is mindblowing.

Your 2008 AL East Champs, The Tampa Bay Rays

If there's anything worse than that sting you feel seeing Tampa Bay in first place, it's that video.

After my initial heart attacks, reason came back to me and I remember the track record of young, previous cellar-dweller teams in recent years. Best recent example being the Brewers - an early tear followed by big drop off. While the Rays '08 squad is very impressive, they do not seem to have the veteran presence that held the Marlins together in their 2 Series runs.

For Sox fans, this means that if Boston can get its act together and if Tampa falls off, Boston might have not any other AL East teams nipping at its heels.

Return of the Ridiculous Sox Player Commercials

First up is Dustin Pedroia. This commercial keeps up the grand tradition of awkwardness and whimsy that we expect from Sullivan Tire Sox-player ads. "I can't believe it, it's Jim Rice" may be the "It's like a baby New York" of '08 (close second - "My job is NUTTY").



Jonathan Papelbon with another slam dunk commercial. This one also gets many bonus points for awkwardness, and keeps up the grand tradition of people drinking out of the corner of their mouths in Dunkin' Donuts commercials.

We are truly blessed by the strange athlete tie-in commercials that grace the breaks between the innings... but I really miss this guy:

Master-Ful

The Red Sox have been hit pretty hard with the flu. Both Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka missed starts due to the illness. Captain Jason Varitek also missed playing time. Filling in Beckett's start was David Pauley, best known for his stellar start at Yankee Stadium in 2006. Pauley gave up 5 runs through 4.1 innings, but that was enough to keep the Sox in the game.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was scheduled to pitch the next day, but was also scratched with the flu. Jon Lester pitched on 3 days rest for the first time in his career, and gave up 4 through 5 innings. The bullpen and the bats couldn't get it going, and the Sox win streak was snapped.

Filling in Lester's spot today was Justin Masterson, making his major league debut. Masterson went 6 innings, giving up one run, two hits, and four walks while fanning 4. This bodes well for the Sox, as it never hurts to have too many effective young relievers. Unfortunately for Masterson, the bullpen could not hold the lead. He'll have to wait until his next start to get a chance at a win.

4/11 Clay Buchholz vs Chien-Ming Wang

In what looks to be a very soggy series, the olde towne team plays their first game against the Yankees of '08 at Fenway tonight. Buchholz had a rough first start, getting touched for 4 runs in 5 innings of work. Wang, the Yanks' ace, won both of his starts this year. Wang has held opponents to only two runs through 13 innings, looking very strong so far.

Mike Lowell is headed to the DL after spraining his thumb in Wednesday night's game against the Tigers. Youkilis is moving across the diamond to cover him at third, and "The Mayor" Sean Casey will be filling in at first base. Infield prospect Jed Lowrie has been called up to fill Lowell's roster spot.

Derek Jeter is out of the Yanks lineup, with the possibility of A-Rod moving to short if the problem proves to be a long-term one. Dealing with an ailing Jeter and Posada has made the Yankees jumble around the lineup-Hideki Matsui got his first start in right field since 2005 last night, and Jorge Posada got the start at DH.

Tonight's Attendance... C. 39,988

Fenway park got a mini facelift in the offseason. Previous years saw the creation of the Right Field Roof Deck, the Green Monster Seats, the highly underrated Pavilion box/club areas... and this year is no different. The Coca-Cola corner section adds more seating where the boxy left field luxury suites used to reside. In addition, the old bleacher seats have been torn out and replaced with new, more comfortable ones. An added bonus is that these new bleachers will allow for more seats in general in the section.

Again, the Sox have done a terrific job adding new things to the park and making them look like they were always there.

First pitch at the Rogers Centre is at 7:05pm tonight.