Jon Lester is a wuss

It's hard for me to say that about our beloved cancer conqueror and World Series hero, but I think I can be critical of a fellow newly minted first-time father:

In the real world, a first-time father returns to work after a day or two off and eases back into the routine while showing everybody photos of his pride and joy.

Jon Lester's task last night was to climb the mound at Fenway Park in drenching humidity and to try and pump pitches past the Cleveland Indians.

Sleep had come sparingly since the arrival of his son Hudson on Saturday and after a few innings his left hamstring started to ache. Errors, a passed ball, and the other residue of a season going steadily awry only made things worse.

“He'd had a long three or four days," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

OK, I took off four days (not including the weekend) and I returned to work in a climate-controlled building. But...

I'm just glad that Lester didn't become the 16th Red Sox to be DL'd after hearing last night that the trainer made a couple of visits to the mound.

Tonight's games: Kevin Youkilis' injured thumb will cost him the rest of the season, but the gimpy Sox forged ahead. Daisuke Matsuzaka went 8 strong innings (?!?!?), and the Sox lead the Indians 6-2 in the 9th. ... Roy Oswalt pitched much better than in his debut and left with a 2-0 lead in the 7th, but J.C. Romero allowed the runners he inherited to score and the Phillies trail the Marlins 4-2 in the 9th. They might be attempting a comeback now with two on base and no one out.

15 X 2 = Lots of injured SoxandPhils

Yesterday, Todd Zolecki noted that Ryan Howard is the 15th Phillie to land on the DL. Today, Amalie Benjamin noted that Kevin Youkilis is the 15th Red Sox to make this dubious list.

Thirty injured SoxandPhils. You could literally make a team of gimpy 2010 injured SoxandPhils.

Peter Abraham noted that 10 Red Sox have made it unscathed from Opening Day. That's out of the 48 who have been on the big league roster so far.

Meanwhile, the Phillies traded for Ken Griffey Jr.'s friend, Mike Sweeney, because of Howard's injury.

Today's games: Jon Lester stunk up the joint. In the 9th, Indians 9, Red Sox 1. Phillies lead the Marlins 5-2 in the 7th. There was a rain delay.

Mike Lowell almost was the next Mike Stanley

Good news: Mike Lowell is in the starting lineup, which means he wasn't traded to the Yankees.

Bad news: Mike Lowell is in the starting lineup, which means Kevin Youkilis is on the DL.

The last time the Yankees and Red Sox swapped players, Mike Stanley was traded back to the empire and we got Tony Armas Jr., who was included with Carl Pavano in the Pedro Martinez deal. So I guess dealing with the devil isn't necessary all that bad.

Joining Youkilis on the DL is his fellow SoxandPhils first baseman, Ryan Howard. Unbelievable.

Tonight's games, aces up: Roy Halladay and the Phillies lead the Marlins 6-1 in the 8th, and Josh Beckett has the Red Sox ahead of the Indians 3-1 in the 7th.

A pair of injured All-Star first basemen

No teams have been depleted by injury this year like the SoxandPhils. They've even seemed to be matching each other position by position.

So, should we be surprised that the day after Ryan Howard left a game with injury, that Kevin Youkilis followed suit tonight? They're optimistic that Howard won't be DL'd; it's too soon for Youk's prognosis.

Mike Cameron is also headed back to the DL.

Today, the Phillies are off. The Red Sox trail the Indians 6-2 in the 7th. And Tim Wakefield turned 44.

Unexpected

When we posted last night, the Phillies were losing to the Indians and the Red Sox were getting shut down by Ubaldo Jimenez. But then, the Phillies won a dramatic game, keyed by Jimmy Rollins' first career walkoff home run, and then the Red Sox beat around Cy Jimenez but lost the game when Jonathan Papelbon blew it in the 9th, giving up three runs on two home runs.

Baseball's like life - you never know what's going to happen until it happens.

Today, Joe Blanton pitched 7 2/3 strong innings as the Phillies routed the Indians 12-3. {The rain delay probably kept him from pitching a complete game. By the way, Greg and I are watching the game replay right now. Given our luck over the past few years with bad weather at Phillies games, we're shocked we didn't have tickets to today's matchup.} With the sweep, the Phillies are now 8-7 this year in interleague play with just one series left - the "road" games in Philly against the Blue Jays. Nelson Figueroa's back on the roster, replacing the injured Chad Durbin.

The Red Sox and Rockies just started. Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose return to the roster meant a trip to the DL for Mike Lowell, put them in a hole already. It's 2-0 in the 3rd. Dice threw 37 pitches in the 1st inning.

Tidbits

1. Greg Dobbs cleared waivers and will report to AAA on Friday. I'm sure we'll see him up in the majors again before the year is over. Paul Hagen muses that the Phillies may make other unexpected roster moves to shake things up and get this team going.

2. Red Sox prospect Ryan Westmoreland, who underwent brain surgery earlier this year, seems to be recovering well. Who knows if he'll play baseball again, but it's good to hear that he's doing better.

3. Darren Daulton will be enshrined on the Phillies Wall of Fame in August. Like many other women in the Delaware Valley, my mom had such a crush on him in 1993. Greg and I had a Phillies TV program on over at her house a few weeks ago, and she couldn't believe what he looks like now. (Side note: I can't believe that the 1993 season was 17 years ago. I'm old.)

4. Mike Lowell doesn't seem to be long for the Red Sox, and the Sox roster seems to be in flux.

5. It's pretty much a lock that, for the first time in a long time, no Red Sox position player will be starting in the All-Star game. Chase Utley will start from the Phillies, but Placido Polanco's spot is in danger. I was so disappointed on Saturday to find out that the paper ballots are no longer available at the ballpark - voting is online only at this point of the process.

6. The Phillies stink. More specifically, Kyle Kendrick stinks, especially at home. How bad does he stink? Shin-Soo Choo has two home runs tonight. (Another tangent: When we did vote for All-Stars earlier this season, I kept voting for Choo. If he has to go back to South Korea for military service after this season, I thought that an All-Star appearance would be a nice going-away present.) In the 7th, Indians 5, Phillies 4.

7. Red Sox lost to the Rockies 2-1 last night. Tonight, they face Ubaldo Jimenez. Not fun. In the 3rd, Rockies 2, Red Sox 0.

8. The Phillies have a day game tomorrow. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Boo to the businessperson's special. All they do is screw over the workers who can't watch the game on the job.

9. I didn't have time to write about it tonight, but I'll tell you soon about our six degrees of separation with Major League Baseball.

J-Roll and Fattie whack Dobbs

The other day, when we wrote about the surprise recall of Scott Mathieson, whose return to the big leagues lasted one game, we remembered to check on the progress of Mike Zagurski, who we affectionately call Fattie. "He's pitching well in AAA, so maybe we'll see him join Mathieson again," I wrote last week. I was half right. Fattie's in the bigs, but Mathieson is back in AAA.

Also making his return to the Phillies is a forgotten infielder, Jimmy Rollins. To make room for them, the Phillies DL'd Carlos Ruiz - not a surprise because he was hit in the head by a broken bat on Friday - and designated Greg Dobbs for assignment. That's a bit of a surprise because he was so good as a pinch-hitter in 2008, but hasn't done squat since. Ruben Amaro didn't make the move lightly:

"Dobber has been a very, very productive player for us over the last several years," Amaro said. "He helped us win a World Series and he helped us get back to the World Series and it's hard. That role is not an easy role and it's a bit of a rollercoaster ride. I've lived it myself, so I have some empathy about how difficult that job is."

For the record, in 128 games in 2008, Dobbs hit .301/.333/.491, and in 139 games in 2009 and 2010, he hit .218/.274/.341. Does anyone need a crappy pinch-hitter, or is Dobbs going to be an IronPig?

Tonight's games: Jamie Moyer had another good start and has just about supplanted Roy Halladay as the Phillies' ace. Tonight, the old man went eight innings, giving up a run on just two hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Unfortunately, he needed 107 pitches (his season high is 111), so he had to yield to the bullpen.

J.C. Romero started the 9th (platoon splits) and got one out, but then put two men on, creating an awkward save situation for Brad Lidge, who hasn't been lights out lately. But he was tonight, striking out two to earn the save in a 2-1 win over the Indians. That's win No. 266 for J-Moy.

The Red Sox returned to the scene of their last World Series victory. Jon Lester pitched the 2007 clincher in Colorado, and he's opening tonight's series against the Rockies. So far, it's 0-0 in the 3rd.

East Coast bias

Baseball will never catch up to football in popularity if it keeps using a marketing strategy that relies on focusing on one team and alienating fans of every other.

Yes, fans of the Red Sox and Phillies are getting hosed once again to the big-city flavor-of-the-month. The finale of this weekend's SoxandPhils series was supposed to be on national TV, but it got the boot so baseball could once again use a marquee broadcast to feature the Washington Nationals and Stephen Strasburg on TBS:

TBS announced today that it has switched its Sunday telecast away from the Phillies-Red Sox game, to a Nationals-Indians game it would have absolutely no interest in if not for Strasburg.

I'll turn off the sarcasm now, especially because tonight's games would throw a serious monkey wrench into my little tongue-in-cheek argument. The Phillies were supposed to be tonight's MLB Network game, but because local broadcasts pre-empt MLB Network, we got the Red Sox game as a bonus.

Phillies: Any thoughts of perfection in the much-anticipated rematch of Josh Johnson and Roy Halladay ended in the first inning for each pitcher, but they locked horns in a good one. Each pitcher went eight innings; Halladay gave up a run in the 1st inning, Johnson gave up none. Johnson's line: three hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Doc's: one run, six hits, one walk and eight strikeouts.

You have to love when a pitching duel lives up to the hype, although Christine will disagree tonight because the Marlins beat the Phillies 2-0.

Red Sox: Jon Lester didn't have it tonight, giving up six runs in six innings. In the 8th, Indians 6, Red Sox 5.

Rain forces our attention elsewhere

The Phillies and Marlins were rained out long before the game was supposed to start, postponing the perfect rematch of Josh Johnson and Roy Halladay.

That's OK, because it will allow us to focus on hockey to see whether the Flyers can avoid elimination and force a Game 7 in Chicago. (Full disclosure: I've been more interested in hockey than ever before, but I still feel like I'm listening to another language when I try to watch a game. Christine's interest is legit.)

Even if the Phillies were playing, our attention might have been a bit diverted, and Charlie Manuel might have blamed our lack of focus on the fact that it's our contract year, like he did with Jayson Werth. This incident is going to cause some hard feelings. It's hard for me to take a side, so I'll just blame it on Reggie Jackson.

Without the game, we can take a moment to salute Tim Wakefield for pushing Roger Clemens out of the Red Sox record books for most innings pitched. Congrats to Mr. 2777.

We also have the opportunity to look ahead to this weekend's rematch of the Red Sox and Phillies - this time in Fenway.

It has always seemed like the Red Sox have had the Phillies' number despite a fair number of close, spirited games. The stats backed up my hunch. All time, the Red Sox have a 24-16 record against the Phillies in interleague play. (That doesn't include the 1915 World Series in which the Sox beat the Phils 4-1.) But if you look at the run differential, the Red Sox edge is a bit closer, 223-206. That equates to a .539 winning percentage, not the .600 winning percentage they have had against the Phillies.

A Phillies sweep this weekend would go a long way toward evening up the series. I think the pitching matchups will be Jamie Moyer against John Lackey, Joe Blanton against Daisuke Matsuzaka and Cole Hamels against Tim Wakefield. That's not official yet, so don't be surprised if something changes.

It's too bad that the old guys will miss each other and that three of our team's aces (Roy Halladay, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz) probably won't pitch.

Tonight's game: We were missing a good one in Cleveland that pitted Clay Buchholz against former Red Sox Justin Masterson, who has fallen on some hard times since being traded for Victor Martinez. But he seemed on tonight, two hits and two walks with six strikeouts in eight shutout innings. Clay pitched well too, just not as good - three runs on three hits and four walks in seven innings.

But then Boof Bonser made his Red Sox debut. It didn't go well. It's now 11-0 Indians in the 8th.

Hockey: Flyers and Blackhawks are tied 2-2 in the 2nd period.

Drafting a core

OK, I didn't want to get sucked into the hype, but man, Stephen Strasburg's pitches have some movement to them. I don't think Christine is going to like watching him square off against the Phillies for the next decade.

But it's nice to see the Nationals have some real hope for the first time in a long time. Because the Red Sox and Phillies continue to be successful, they won't have the chance for such a highly touted draft pick as Strasburg, but they each seemed to do well with their first pitching pick last night.

With the 27th pick, the Phillies took a local kid, Jesse Biddle, who is excited to be a Phillie and is being compared by scouting director Marti Wolever to the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw:

"They're about the same size. Jesse's arm might work a little easier, quite frankly, than Clayton's did. But I think ceiling-wise and stuff-wise they're very comparable. We think Jesse has a chance to be that guy in the big leagues."

With the 39th pick, their third of the draft, the Red Sox took a moose of a pitcher, a Jersey guy, Anthony Ranaudo. That was after they selected and have nearly signed two decent bats:

"That was as excited as we've been in the draft room since I got here," general manager Theo Epstein said. "We felt the draft broke our way. Hopefully in five years we can look back and still feel as good about this draft."

This is from a guy who in 2005 drafted Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury and Michael Bowden.

While we wait for this year's crop of draft picks to hit the bigs, here's how the current big leaguers are doing:

Red Sox: Behind a good Tim Wakefield (Pirates draft of '88), the Red Sox lead the Indians 3-2 in the 8th.

Phillies: Kyle Kendrick (Phillies draft of '03) struggled, but the bats are actually battling tonight and lead the Marlins 7-6 in the 7th. For the first time in weeks, the Phillies have multiple home runs - Shane Victorino (Dodgers draft of '99) and Ryan Howard (Phillies draft of '01).

Strasburg: Wow. The phenom (Nationals draft of '09) lived up to the hype tonight - seven innings, two runs, four hits, no walks and 14 strikeouts. Oh, and he needed just 94 pitches to accomplish that gaudy line. Thanks to homers by Ryan Zimmerman (Nationals draft of '05), Adam Dunn (Reds draft of '98) and Josh Willingham (Marlins draft of '00), he left with a 4-2 lead.

Not everyone gets dealt a winner

Crazier than a Red Sox fan who was raised a Yankees fan and is now married to a Phillies fan is the fact that we have a friend who is a Nationals fan despite no connections to Montreal or Washington.

This week, as he often claims, is the highlight of his time as a Nats/Expos fan. The Nats drafted Bryce Harper tonight, and tomorrow, their uber draft pick from last year, Stephen Strasburg, makes his much anticipated debut.

When your teams have been as good as the Red Sox and Phillies in recent years, sometimes you forget what it's like to scrap for any sort of moral victory, such as the hope of draft picks or a 4-3 11-inning win over a vaunted division foe. Nick Cafardo reminded us of that in writing about how Sunday's win was so important for the Orioles:

In the grand scheme of things, what did yesterday's 4-3 loss to the Orioles mean to the Red Sox? Nothing more than one loss to a bad team snapping a 10-game losing streak, giving their new manager his first win. It didn't mean a darn thing to the people who follow the Red Sox, except those who feel they should clobber the Orioles every time they play them.

To the Orioles, it was more than that. It was a day when self-respect came back. Maybe it's fleeting because after the Sox left town, the Yankees are paying a visit starting tomorrow.

This was a great snapshot of the psychology of sport. The Orioles are a downtrodden team that had been buried the last two weeks, and been clobbered, 19-2, in the first two games against the Red Sox. They have been made fun of, called horrible things, and ridiculed. But yesterday, under very tough conditions — rain, heat, humidity — Juan Samuel's troops hung in there enough and beat one of the best teams in baseball in 11 innings.

I love that dig at Red Sox fans who act like Yankees fans and expect to go 173-0 every year.

Sometimes, as John Lackey pointed out, the cliche is true: It doesn't matter whether you win or lose, it's more important how you play the game:

And yet the Sox couldn't pull it out, ending a seven-game road winning streak. Not that anyone in the visitors' clubhouse was concerned. It was one loss in a long season.

"I don't think it's a big deal," Lackey said. "It's always disappointing to lose a game, but we're playing good baseball and we played good baseball today. Just came up a little bit short."

That's right. Just make sure that one game doesn't become more tonight (joking).

Happy Birthday: Officially sponsored SoxandPhil Heathcliff Slocumb turned 44 today. In honor of the occasion, and because the Red Sox and Phillies square off this weekend, I thought I'd post his numbers as a Phillie against the Red Sox and vice versa, but his Phillies tenure ended two years before interleague play was created in 1997. He was still a Red Sox for half of that season, but did not appear in the inaugural SoxandPhils series.

Tonight's games: The Red Sox lead the Indians 4-1 in the 9th. Has Daisuke Matsuzaka (no runs, four hits, two walks and five strikeouts) turned a corner? ... Cole Hamels took a no-hitter into the 7th, but lost it on back-to-back homers. The Phillies bats wasted his eight-inning, two-run, three-hit, two-walk, six-strikeout performance in the 3-1 loss to the Padres.

Yo Christine! I did it!

So the Phillies lost to the Marlins 4-3 today, but with the Cardinals loss to the Brewers, the Phils have cinched the second seed in the playoffs and home-field advantage in the first round. But they cannot win the top slot because they have 92 wins and whichever team wins the NL West will have at least 94.

The Red Sox have come back to lead the Indians 8-4 in the 2nd inning despite Josh Beckett's struggles.

But the only baseball we "saw" today were a couple innings on the radio during the ride home from Ocean City after I completed my 50-mile ride.

I pedaled for roughly 900 miles this summer, but I still was concerned about the two bridges leading to Ocean City. They were killers last year when I did only a 25-mile route. Their incline seemed vertical, not sloped.

They beat me up pretty good last year. This year, however, I won. I scaled the first without struggle. The larger one was a little difficult, but I put my head down and plowed through. I pretended like I was a team down 0-3 in a seven game series - taking it one inning or pedal at a time. After the apex, I was flying high for the last couple miles until I hit the finish line where Christine and the rest of my family waited for me.

I'm still on a high.

Back to basics, err, baseball tomorrow.

Last day

Yes, there are two more games left (not counting the playoffs), but with my bike ride tomorrow and tickets for Sunday, tonight was the last time we could watch a regular-season game.

We didn't get to see much, however, with the last-minute preparation for tomorrow. Please, please, please let me avoid rain.

We didn't miss much. Joe Blanton stunk, and the Marlins won 7-2. The Cardinals are losing, and the Dodgers just started. If the Cardinals come back, they will be tied with the Phils with the second-best record in the league, but the Phillies hold that tiebreaker. If the Dodgers win, the best the Phillies can do is tie them, but the Dodgers have that tiebreaker.

In a completely meaningless game, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched well, and Billy Wagner pitched in his second consecutive game. The Red Sox beat the Indians 6-2.

In memoriam: We lost a great Phillies fan - hope he has a good seat and the radio turned on to Harry Kalas.

Somber pause

We take a moment from the feelings of joy, pride and relief that our teams are headed to the playoffs for the third straight year to remember two of our loyal and aged soldiers who won't be seeing action in October and maybe never again: Tim Wakefield and Jamie Moyer.

They've combined for 40 seasons, more than 1,000 starts and 440 wins.

They were drafted when we were still in grade school.

They are consummate pros who played vital, at times under-appreciated roles in our championships.

They aren't the splashiest players and probably never the most important member of the team, but I can't picture the SoxandPhils without them, but for the next month, because of different injuries, their roles will be ours: cheerleader.

Last night, Christine noted that we haven't heard much from J-Moy since he was dumped to the bullpen. He spoke yesterday and sounded like the old Moyer, not the guy who was bitter about the demotion:

"You know what? You deal with it. That's life, and you roll with the punches. I'm not going to complain about it. I had a good run here. My time isn't over here. I'm going to enjoy it, make the best of it, and be a cheerleader."

While Moyer says he will be back, sadly, Eric Wilbur isn't so sure that Wakefield will be:

It's been so long since we've seen a season without Tim Wakefield, and nobody is exactly looking forward to one. But maybe it's time.

Then again, after that awful parting gift last night, the Red Sox should feel obliged to pick up the $4 million for next season, so just Wakefield can get a proper goodbye. I fear though that sometime in November, we'll get a press conference instead. The highlight reel is going to be a cool one.

Tonight's games: The Red Sox beat the Indians 3-0 in an irrelevant game except that Jon Lester pitched really well in his first appearance since taking a liner off his knee last week: two hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 shutout innings.

Former Phil prospect Carlos Carrasco started for the Tribe, but had to leave in the 3rd inning after he took a liner off the knee.

In a game that matters only for playoff positioning, the Phillies lost to the Astros 5-3. They are now a game ahead of the Cardinals and one behind the Dodgers, so there is some intrigue left as to whether they will be the first, second or third seed.

Season goes on

With yesterday's shaming of David Ortiz, I had forgotten that today was the trade deadline until I heard Mike & Mike talking about it.

I started wondering what former roider, like Eric Gagne, Theo Epstein might pick up this year.

OK, that's not fair to last year's acquisition of Jason Bay, but I was still bummed about Papi. I still am. By the afternoon I was starting to get over it, especially because, as Christine predicted when Lou Marson went to the Tribe, the Red Sox got Victor Martinez. They did so without losing Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard or Michael Bowden, but they did give up Justin Masterson, Bryan Price and Nick Hagadone. They also flipped the recently acquired and suddenly extraneous Adam LaRoce to the Braves for Casey Kotchman.

Despite having Jason Varitek, I've long coveted V-Mart because of his hitting. Reading the first reports of his arrival, I think I'm going to like his attitude - sentimental yet focused on winning. I just hope he does it cleanly:

Upon learning of the deal, Martinez admitted it was difficult to leave the only organization he had played for since entering professional baseball in 1996.

"It's tough," Martinez told The Associated Press. "This is my house. This is my home."

According to the report, Martinez fought back tears as he sat in front of his locker, hugging son Victor Jr. Earlier in the day, the young boy asked his dad, "Are we still an Indian?"

But he later added that Red Sox fans unfamiliar with him will soon find out what he's all about.

"Everybody knows I play to win," said Martinez. I love this game and I'll go there and do the same thing. As soon as I cross the line, I'm all about winning."

Masterson also sounded the right tone - I'm going to miss him, and I think he's going to be a real good pitcher. Hopefully he needs some days off whenever we play Cleveland:

"It will be nice when we get to Cleveland, but it's unfortunate to have to leave a great organization like the Red Sox, but I've heard nothing but good things about Cleveland, so I'll be excited to get up there."

So the 2009 trading deadline has passed. The top names moved came from Cleveland and landed with the SoxandPhils. The Red Sox have struggled, but I think the Papi revelation will be cathartic and Martinez will spark them past this slump and back to the top of the American League. The Phillies look to be a slam dunk to repeat at least as division champions and are probably favorites to repeat as World Champions.

Tonight, their new acquisition, Cliff Lee, debuts in San Francisco. Hopefully, I'll be able to stay up past his first inning - probably not.

John Smoltz gave up five runs in six innings, but the Red Sox won a back-and-forth affair in Baltimore 6-5.

Phils land Cy Young pitcher; questions still abound

While still contemplating the Phillies big trade for reigning AL Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee, I heard a radio caller put it in perspective. Most of the talk show scene was anti-Cliff Lee because he's not the big name - Roy Halladay - they had been clamoring for.

"Doesn't anyone remember the days of Hard Hittin' Mark Whiten or Gregg Jefferies?" the caller said. "We won the World Series last year and just got an ace. Sure, he's not the ace, but he's an ace."

Damn straight.

I hope the Phillies didn't give up too much - Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, Jason Knapp and Jason Donald are going to the Indians for Lee and Ben Francisco. Those are some of their top prospects, but not the big ones they didn't want to give up for Halladay.

Christine didn't want to give up a large haul for Halladay - the Phils were good enough to win it all without him last year and have as good of a shot as anyone to win it all again this year without mortgaging their future. She feels a bit bad for J.A. Happ, the likely candidate to get sent back to the bullpen, but pitching depth is fleeting, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him get some more starts even after Pedro Martinez and Cliff Lee arrive.

Heck, a few weeks ago, the Red Sox were seen as having an embarrassment of riches with their starting pitching, and now some think they need to get Halladay.

Todd Zolecki has a nice post on why the deal makes so much sense for the Phillies.

We've been upset with the way the Phillie players have been outspoken in their yen for Roy Halladay. I am concerned that they don't believe they can win without him. Hopefully, Clifton proves them wrong. He's looking forward to the opportunity:

I'm going to the defending World Champions, that's a good thing ... I'm anxious and excited to get there. ... It's the National League. I'm going to have to figure out how to get a bunt down more consistently.

This being SoxandPhils, we have to speculate what this trade means for the Red Sox deals. Will they pull the trigger on Roy? Or, since the Indians acquired Marson, does that mean Victor Martinez is coming to Fenway? We have less than 48 hours to find out. Until then, we'll think about the possibility of the World Series opening in Fenway: Lee vs. Halladay.

Today's games: After the Red Sox blew a three-run lead in the 9th last night, that World Series fantasy is starting to look like a pipe dream. They're trailing the A's again tonight, 5-3 in the 5th.

The Phillies won 4-3 last night as Brad Lidge turned a comfortable Cole Hamels performance into a squeaker against one of the worst teams in baseball, the Diamondbacks. They end the series late again tonight.

Disappointing

If we ranked the roiders, the fourth biggest name on the list would be the newest addition: Manny Ramirez.

Unreal.

I first heard it from a Yankees fan. He was laughing and surprised that I wasn't. Then I heard about it from a Red Sox fan who was ecstatic and couldn't understand why I wasn't sharing in his joy.

The reason is simple. Bob Ryan nailed it:

If Manny is lying, and we discover that he's been juiced for a long time, the ramifications for Boston and the Red Sox are enormous. He was a major part of what went on in 2004 and 2007. He was, after all, the MVP of the 2004 World Series. Any implication that a juiced Manny helped end the 86 years of misery and trauma would not be good.

For some time, Christine has been convinced that one or more significant contributors of the 2004 World Champion Red Sox would turn out to be roider. Rationally, I've known it's possible, if not probable, that our championships are tainted. Emotionally, I still hope it's not true.

When it comes to roiders, the truth has been elusive. Especially with Manny's idiosyncrasies, I expect the same twists we've seen with Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. We may have seen one already in this Deadspin story that tracked drugs shipped to a Manny Ramirez in Massachusetts, but maybe not the Manny Ramirez.

If it were anybody else, I'd call it coincidence because in this climate who would be stupid enough to have drugs shipped using his real name? Perhaps Manny.

Today's games: The hopefully clean Red Sox beat the Indians 13-3 behind a good start by Tim Wakefield and a 12-run 6th inning. The hopefully clean Phillies lost their second straight game to the Mets, 7-5. J.A. Happ pitched well in relief after an early departure from Jamie Moyer. Christine got mad when I suggested he replace the old guy in his next start.

Unexpected

Any Phillies fan would have love it if I had guaranteed that the Phillies would give up just one run in tonight's game started by the struggling Chan Ho Park. And that's what happened as Park pitched six scoreless innings before Scott Eyre and Chad Durbin yielded an unearned run.

Unfortunately, Johan Santana was a tick better, pitching seven dominant innings and winning 1-0.

And if I had predicted there would be just one unearned run for both teams, who would have guessed it was caused by an error by Pedro Feliz and a misplay by Jayson Werth?

It wasn't the greatest start for the Phils in new Ebbets Field, but if it gets Park on track, I'll take it.

Red Sox: They got whupped by Carl Pavano and the Indians tonight, 9-2. Maybe they're just saddened by the news about Jerry Remy, who announced he has lung cancer. “I hope that disclosing my bout with cancer will reinforce the dangers of smoking to every member of Red Sox Nation, especially children,” Remy said.

A Red Sox fan 23 years and counting

Christine and I celebrated the 23rd anniversary of my becoming a Red Sox fan (and my birthday) with a fine dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Among my goodies was one of the recent Roger Clemens biographies, which is appropriate since he's the reason I got hooked on the Sox in the first place.

She also said I can pick out a scrubby SoxandPhils player to sponsor on baseball-reference.com. I see that Mike Benjamin is available, but I want to see who else is out there before committing.

The Phillies couldn't win on my birthday, losing 4-1 to the Nationals. Stupid Julian Tavarez (Orange Julius, as I used to call him) got his first save since 2006.

The Red Sox bailed out Jon Lester's subpar performance (five runs in six innings) and are tied 5-5 with the Indians in the 9th inning.

Painful night

The 76ers pre-empted the Phillies again, so we watched the Phillies-Nationals game on the radio. Things were going well until the 5th inning when Joel Lannan bunted one back to Cole Hamels who twisted his ankle.

He left the game with a sprain. What's the over/under on five wins for the playoff MVP?

He was pitching pretty well, too: no runs, four hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. He lowered his ERA to 7.27. I keep thinking of Josh Beckett's struggles in 2008 after he pretty much single-handedly pitched the Red Sox to a championship in 2007.

The Phillies - riding a five-game winning streak - were tied for first for a few minutes until the Marlins finished off the Mets.

Red Sox: Brad Penny coughed up a 7-3 lead against the Indians in the third inning, hence the "painful night." It was tied at 7 when I started writing, but the red-hot Red Sox scored another in the 7th to reclaim the lead. If it holds, that would be 12 straight - their longest streak since June 2006 when they swept series against the Braves, Phillies, Nationals and Mets. I was convinced they were romping toward another World Series, but they wound up missing the playoffs.