Thanks Manny, but the season restarts tomorrow

The defending champs are little more than two-thirds through the long season. They stand three games behind the Rays (both teams are off tonight) and a game ahead of the Yankees and Twins for the Wild Card (both of them are losing tonight).

With the three-way trade with the Pirates and Dodgers, the Red Sox gave up future Hall of Famer Manny Ramirez, Craig Hansen, Brandon Moss and $7 million to get Jason Bay. It seems like a stiff price to dump one of the greatest sluggers in history. But I guess it's clear that Theo Epstein et al felt the playoff chances weren't good with Manny's mood dragging down the team.

I'm OK with it all. The Manny Ramirez era was fun and, of course, yielded the first two World Championships in most of our lifetimes. It's easy to forget that when things end poorly. But the team is bigger than its stars, and the new guy who'll be playing left field for the Red Sox ain't too shabby.

Jason Bay has a .890 career OPS. Yes, it's not Manny's .999, but he's seven years younger and commands less than half the pay as Manny. He will be better in the field, will be better in the clubhouse and will free up money for the Sox when assembling the roster for 2009.

But that's a ways off. We still have work to do in 2008, and I'm sure Bay is excited going from a team that's had a .438 winning percentage in his tenure to one expected to win it all. Welcome to the show.

Shhhhh: The Phillies beat the Nationals 8-4 tonight. That's five in a row for the Phillies. (I won't tell them, if you won't.) They now have a one game lead over the idle Mets. The offense was clicking - all starting position players had a hit - and Kyle Kendrick gave up two earned in 6 2/3 innings. I think Rudy Seanez - five earned in his last 7 1/3 innings over his last eight games - isn't long for this team.

With five straight against the bottom half of the division in the Braves and Nationals, the Phillies have a tougher stretch ahead - the Cardinals and Marlins, whose big pickup today was former Phillie Arthur Rhodes. Then, they host the Pirates with Moss and Hansen next weekend. Manny and the Dodgers come to Philly at the end of August, but that's the one Sunday game I have to miss this season because of a business trip.