Manny Ramirez will no more be playing in the Red Sox colors this season as he has been traded to the Dodgers team and the man who will be replacing this hefty hard hitter will be the outfielder Jason bay of the Pittsburgh Pirates. All the remaining dues to Ramirez as per the contract will be paid to him by the red Sox. It is expected that the six years younger Jason will be doing a good job for the Red Sox for the remainder of this season. Jason Bay will be retained in the Red Sox squad for the next year as well. The Red Sox fans will be rushing to buy their tickets to the upcoming Sox games as they will want to get a glimpse of the baseball skills of newly acquired Jason.

The Red Sox made a great comeback after their losing streak by winning against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first game at Fenway Park on Saturday. Brewers were playing their first match in 11 years at Fenway and lost the match for 5-3.  With this win Daisuke Matsuzaka, the starter of Boston Red Sox, became the seventh player to reach seven wins without any loss so far in the season. He improved his position to 7-0 with an ERA 2.15. He played 6 2/3 innings and gave up two unearned runs in seven hits. Though Dice –K was not at his best on Saturday, he was able to satisfy the Red Sox fans.     

The Boston Red Sox team is currently on a form slump and this was clearly evident from the way they played in the 5-4 loss to the Orioles last Tuesday night. The defeat at the hands of Orioles meant that the Red Sox have dropped out of its first place for the first time since May 1st. None of the top Red sox players were able to play their natural aggressive game against the Orioles and Ramirez could not add to his tally of 498 career home runs. The Red Sox have now lost five of their last seven games and will need to come up with an appealing good game next time around in a bid to satisfy their die-hard fans.

 Jonathan Papelbon the closer of Red Sox was very effective in winning matches when ever he made the pitches. But the Red Sox fans were disappointed when he missed a save in the match against the Tigers at the Comerica Park. The Red Sox were four runs down and twice made attempts to come back to the game. They made lead in the eighth inning but couldn’t finish it.

In the later half of ninth inning Papelbon missed two unearned runs and Tigers won the game 10-9. Papelbon had his last blown save at the Yankee Stadium on September 14^th 2007. Papelbon was dejected by his own performance and said that it is difficult o defend some of the hits in baseball. After the fifth inning the score was 8-4 and Mike Lowell made three run in the seventh inning to tie the game. But their efforts were failed as Julio Lugo made the winning run for the tigers.

The Red Sox fans will not be able to see designated hitter David Ortiz for sometime as he bruised his right knee diving into the first base last Friday night and he was sidelined for the next two games that his team played. The Red Sox manager Terry Francona said that Ortiz is recovering well and feels good in spite of his knee being a bit sore. Francona, who also had similar bruises in his playing days, said that the bruised knee often is painful when a person tries to move.

Terry said that the Red Sox team is ready to wait for David to return and have assigned Ramirez the responsibility of taking up the designated hitter job. The Red Sox team is at present suffering from plenty of injuries and sickness to its key players and fans will be seeing their key player Ramirez playing from the left field.

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?

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.

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!

The injury to key pitchers Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling and the form that Lester showed in the recently concluded match against the Mets is a good sign for Lester as he will probably make it to the starting line up for the Red Sox team on their opening day. Lester said that he does not look at it as a different role, and if it is there to be taken he will try to make best use of this opportunity to show that he is right there among the greats. The first game for the Red Sox is on March 25 against the A’s and Schilling who is nursing a tendon tear and Beckett who is suffering from back spasms in his lower back will not be ready by then.

The other pitcher Matsuzaka’s wife is due to deliver their baby on March 19 and hence in all probability and by default Jon Lester will be ace pitcher for the Red Sox against the A’s. Lester who played in his third start against the Mets in the grapefruit league impressed one and all in that game with his pitching and he hopes to carry on with this form in the next matches as well.

Fenway Park isn’t getting any younger and that will not help the Red Sox compete on the revenue front with the Yankees and Mets in the years to come. The final payroll information regarding last season was released by Major League Baseball yesterday and it showed the Red Sox spent the second-highest amount. The Dodgers  were third in spending, followed by the Mets and Cubs.The Yankees have had the highest payroll nine years running.