Big Papi celebrates Bay's 4 hits

Damn that wall!

There's a teeny little wall in the outfield in Kansas City that is getting the best of Jason Bay. When you are used to seeing the Green Monster out there, the Royals' little fence looks like a little league fence. It looks like it'd be easy to hit a ball over it. But somehow Jason Bay managed to hit 2 balls off the wall rather than over it. Just when I started cursing the little wall, this happened:

Video courtesy of FSN KC
It was reminiscent of Johnny Damon's near catch at Yankee Stadium early this year. Then a Kevin Youkilis would-be homer was knocked out of Damon's glove and perch on the top of the wall. This play was even more unlikely as the ball, while rolling along the top of the wall, was knocked down by the left fielder and put back into play, robbing Jason Bay of a homerun. The Sox went on to score all those runs on a Jed Lowrie base clearing triple, so no damage done!

It's official: I love Jason Bay

I went out of my way to watch some Manny-wood clips. They made me miss him. Then this happened.... Manny who?

Now that just looks weird...

Manny in a dodgers uniform. Messed up... It'll look even more messed up when he cuts his hair! No wonder Manny had last minute second thoughts ;) BTW, while Jason Bay hit a clutch triple last night, Manny hit into a clutch double play....

That ain't Manny

'nuff said

Bay's Welcome

Jason Bay was greeted with a standing O in his first at bat in Fenway park. The way the Sox fans treated the left field replacement makes me proud to call myself a sox fan....

Bay walked and went on to score the Sox first run of the game.

Born Into It... Your Left Fielder, #44 Jason Bay

Jason Bay has arrived in the Bay State. He addressed the media this afternoon and said he grew up in BC wearing a Red Sox onsie. Last night I was sad, but after reading that the veterans met with Theo before trade day and encouraged him to make a move, I'm getting more and more excited for the post-Manny era...


Love his comments on playing the wall -- he's looking forward to a lot less running ;) Sidenote, Jason Bay looks much cuter in red! =)

Bittersweet goodbye

Last night was, unimpressively, Manny's last night as a Boston Red Sox. If you had told me a month ago that the Sox would trade the slugger by the trade deadline, I would have undoubtedly been angry and horrified. But considering how ugly things have become over the past week, I find myself relieved and excited by the new guy, Jason Bay. I don't know a thing about him, other than this season's numbers are comparable to Manny's but I'm willing to go out on a limb and guess that he's probably easier to deal with than Manny. I mean, he looks like a guy that might even run down the first base line. I came across this nice blog about the fellow. Apparently he's Canadian and he's getting to big for the Pirates who won't be able to afford him next year. I also came across this and freaked out a little because he looks like Canadian version of Manny. I wonder if he has hair? Will he grow dreads?

And then I came across a quote in which he's less than kind about the Pirates management and I started to freak out again. But then I saw this:

"Whether you're playing chess, checkers or major league baseball, no one likes to lose," Bay said. "When you lose over and over, it's very frustrating. You want to win, but there's a lot of ways that people can help you do that."

Aha!! The man wants to win. Halle-freaking-lujah! I like him already even if he isn't the polar opposite of Manny Ramirez, but then again, we already have JD Drew ;)

On a sad and surprising note, we do say goodbye to Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss. It sure did take a lot to trade Manny, huh? Both Moss and Hansen have had moments of bright promise. But I've never really seen an upcoming hole in the Sox lineup that would create room for Moss, and I never really thought poor Hansen would learn to deal with the pressure of the pen. I hope each find much more success elsewhere, just like Eric Hinske did.