It was not a very productive weekend for the Red Sox. Au contraire, the Boston Red Sox had their pride severely wounded after losing to Tampa Bay throughout the tumultuous weekend. Tampa Bay was never a threat to them but apparently they were a force to be reckoned with during last weekend. And that’s not all, things are not looking too sunny for most of the team members in terms of their wellbeing.

First, it was David Ortiz who was benched and barred from the last two battles against Tampa Bay. Ortiz was considered one of the greatest sluggers but that changed after he bruised his knee from sliding into first base last Friday. Misfortune continued to dog the Red Sox when during the same game, Sean Casey was afflicted with a right hip flexor strain as he was running the bases. He too, skipped the game the following day and was put to rest. Mike Lowell, third baseman for the Red Sox, has been put to the disabled list due to a sprained digit. Infielder Alex Cora was also missing in action due to a bad elbow. Will the Red Sox ever break the injury streak soon?

Manny Ramirez one the most prolific hitters in the Red Sox camp proved it once again as he claimed career high 496^th homer last Saturday night in his team 5-3 win over the Rangers at the Fenway Park. The amazing power of Ramirez was there to see for everyone fan at Fenway Park as his magnificent two run homer may have crossed the Cask n Flagon on Lansdowne Street if it had not hit the light tower.

Ramirez later said that he wants to keep playing like this in the future as well and with every match that he is playing he seems to be building more and more confidence in himself and his hitting powers. Manny Ramirez has now mustered 9 go ahead RBIs and also has a record of six game winning RBIs. Ramirez is pretty confident of keeping this rich vein of form going for a longer period of time.

Red Sox fans feared the worst when they saw how the team’s best hitter Manny Ramirez was shown the door during the second inning. He was ejected after his first at-bat because he dared question a called third strike by plate umpire Paul Emmel. A heated exchange of words took place right before his ejection. Fans started praying for a miracle and sure enough, the Red Sox wrestled the game back from the Texas Rangers to beat them with a final score of 6-5.

They first kept fans at the edge of their seats with a 5-0 deficit but finally managed to overcome all odds to win for the eighth time out of nine games that they played. First baseman Sean Casey was quick to comment that they can still win the game because they have ample talents. He also added that he is proud of the team’s overall perseverance and never-say-die attitude. He could be referring to Joe Thurston who came into the field as Ramirez’s replacement. To date, the Red Sox kept a great game momentum this season to secure five or more runs in the last eight games they played in.

Curt Schilling, the right hand player of the Red Sox is waiting for the green signal from the trainers to start throwing. Curt Schilling is of opinion that his rehabilitation program is going on very well and is expecting to start throwing within the next two weeks. The Red Sox manager, Terry Francona said that the trainers do not want Schilling to rush  to the throw and he has to pass certain milestones in his recovery to be ready for throw, which he has not attained yet.

Curt said that he has gained a lot of strength by weight training of his shoulders and he is completely out of pain now. Schilling was unable to throw from this January because of intense pain in the shoulders. The exact condition of his shoulders will be known only when he starts throwing baseball again. So, it seems the Red Sox fans will have to wait for some more days to see Schilling in action.

All eyes were on Terry Francona as he checked his mobile phone. He hesitates, then re-checks the message again: “David Ortiz wanted in” he declared.

Although he suffered a bad start in his current career, Ortiz is now back in the starting Red Sox lineup Monday night against the Cleveland Indians. Previously he sat out a game against the New York Yankees to clear his head and regain his excellent batting stroke.

Ortiz, or more fondly known as Big Papi and Senor Papi, previously played for the Minnesota Twins team. He has also been known to play in a grand total of four All Star games. Most notably, he was the major driving force behind the Red Sox’s victory in the 2007 season, helping them obtain their seventh World Series title. He managed to do so even when he is suffering from a torn meniscus in his right knee on top of existing injuries to his shoulder and quadriceps.

A construction worker, who was also a Red Sox fan, decided to use his vast superstitious know-how to jinx the Yanks when he was found burying a Red Sox shirt deep in the recesses of the concrete foundation of the new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium. The news was revealed when two construction workers at the new visitors’ clubhouse told the public regarding the stint on the condition that they were to remain anonymous.

In his exact words, one of the construction workers said: “In August, a Red Sox shirt was poured in a slab in the visitors’ clubhouse. It’s the curse of the Yankee. Nobody knows about it. It’s in the floors, it’s buried.”

The second worker revealed his fear that the Yankees would be jinxed and that he did not want to be held responsible for causing the downfall of the franchise. However, the Red Sox team declined to confirm the allegations and instead told the public that this was just a mere April Fool’s joke!

Craig Shipley, the Red Sox Vice president for international scouting and Jon Deeble the Pacific Rim coordinator together announced that the team has signed Terumasa Matsuo, a free agent from Shikoku Island league in Japan. Matsuo is aright handed pitcher and was the most valuable player of Shikoku Island league in 2007. He made 15 wins and 159 strike outs in the league. He has earned a run average of 1.72 and has permitted only 85 hits from 152.0 innings with 30 starts.

In Shikoku Islands Best Nine team he was selected as the pitcher. The Red Sox fans can expect that their team is getting a good pitcher and it will strengthen the team. Matsuo is anticipated by the team officials at the Fort Meyers spring training camp by early this week. He has made a good record with 11-2 in 2006. He made 134 strike outs and 98 hits from 138.0 innings.