The last second trade which sent Manny Ramirez to Los Angeles and delivered Jason Bay to Boston will go down in Sox history as one of the biggest. Certainly one of the top ten. Ramirez was an iconic figure in Boston, albeit a rather self-absorbed, self-centered, selfish and wacky one. Sort of like Tom Cruise with a bat.
It's already been touted as a top niner by the Boston Herald, so I must be right.
Anyway, the sweet irony to the whole situation is this:
In their respective debuts, Jason Bay scored both runs for the Red Sox which gave them a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics and Manny Ramirez grounded into a double play in the bottom of the ninth to set the stage for Los Angeles' 2-1 loss to the Diamondbacks.
2-1.
On one team, the new guy was the difference-maker. On the other team, the new guy was the yawn-maker.
Manny had two hits in four at bats - neither of them productive.
Jason had one hit in five at bats, two walks and was hit by a pitch. His one hit was a triple, and he brought home the winning run on a Jed Lowrie infield single.
This isn't to infer that the debuts are some sort of harbinger of things to come. (Or are they?)
But look at it from this point of view. Manny bats clean up for the Dodgers, drives in no runs, gets no runs. Jason Bay bats fifth for the Sox, gets on with a walk in his first at bat, goes to third on a JD Drew double and comes home on a sac fly by Lowrie in the second inning. Then in the 12th, he hits a triple and is brought home, once again, by Lowrie, winning the game.
Teamwork. Pure and simple. Setting up scenarios to provide the opportunity for the team to score.
We will miss the Ramirez home run explosions - no doubt about that. But Jason Bay has returned a vital element to the Red Sox, the sense of team.
And it could make all the difference in the world.
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