TO: Terry Francona, Manager, Boston Red Sox

FROM: The Great White Shank

RE: Red Sox Lineup

First of all let me state that I was in complete agreement with your desire to personally help punch Manny Ramirez’ ticket out of Boston. No one ever said the dude couldn’t hit - as always, the question was just how much crap you and the head honchos on Yawkey Way were willing to put up with over the course of a season. Without a doubt, you were doing a Batusi with the devil, and after two World Series titles it was time to give the devil his due and allow him to take his stage and screen act to La-la Land. And I know you as well as I and most of (if not all) Red Sox Nation wishes Manny well and thanks him for all the good times over the past 7+ years - after all, there’s no way we in in 2004 and 2007 without him.

That being said, let’s talk lineup. And I mean permanent lineup - at least as permanent as any baseball lineup can be this time of year just before the pennant race kicks into it’s September high gear. I know you know that the post-Manny craze had to be allowed to run its course. And I know you know it made no sense to make certain changes that would set unfair expectations of anyone on the team to try and replace Manny - after all, you don’t replace a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer just like that. But I also think you know that the lineups you’ve been sending out these last few days fly in the face of what you know you ultimately have to do.

So let me be the one to tell you what you already know you need to do. We can keep it just between you and me, and when it’s wildly successful feel free to take all the credit. Frankly, I don’t need it. I just want the experience the enjoyment of sitting back and listen to the sound of that engine hum when all the pieces are finally put in their right places.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury
2. Dustin Pedroia
3. Kevin Youkilis
4. David Ortiz
5. Jason Bay
6. J.D. Drew
7. Mike Lowell
8. Jason Varitek
9. Jed Lowrie

Why this line-up, you ask? For the following reasons:

One, Ellsbury needs to be up at the top. Period. Whether he’s going good or going bad, he needs to stop thinking about his swing or whether or not he’s Johnny Damon incarnate and just get on base. There’s no pressure on him - with Pedroia and Youkilis following him and Lowrie just behind him there’ll be plenty of opportunities for baserunners by the time Big Papi comes up. So he can relax and simply become boy wonder.

Two, The Manny Era is over and it’s time for Big Papi to realize he’s now The Big Stick around which the rest of the line-up will function. He’ll have plenty of protection around him - Youkilis is an animal in the third spot and Bay is already showing he’s got one quick bat. Between those two, he’ll get plenty of good pitches to hit.

Three: Mike Lowell is NOT a clean-up hitter, he’s a doubles machine. And I want that lower third of the line-up to start making a little more noise and spreading the hitters around, which is what hitting Lowell seventh and Lowrie ninth do. You have to assume you’re not gonna get anything more out of Jason (.219) Varitek than you’ve already been getting, so you need to surround him with some bats to avoid those dreaded quick innings.

Four: Whether Lowrie is a long-term solution at shortstop or not is not the question right now. The fact is, the guy fields his position well and dude knows how to hit with men on base. Putting him at the bottom of the order will also take a little pressure off Ellsbury at the top.

So there you have it. This is a lineup that works and will work well. Use it, and prepare for the rest of the American League to be the lawn and your team, the World Champion Boston Red Sox, to be the John Deere X700. You’ll be mowing and mulching like you never dreamed possible with what’s-his-name gone. Take my word for it.

Regards,
The Great White Shank

Oh, and P.S. - if Julio Lugo’s name ever graces this line-up for more than a cup of coffee the rest of the way, be assured our relationship will be terminated.

Up first is Marble Junior. She’s almost nine, so, like our vet says, she’s playing with the house’s money. Born in our guest bedroom in Kentucky as one of seven siblings to Marble and Pepper (mother and father), when she was very young her sole goal in life seemed to be to destroy every carpet and baseboard she could get her teeth on, ultimately running up about $1,500 in damage at our apartment. Hard to believe she was the runt of the litter and kinda sickly in her first few weeks, for not only has she outlived her mom and dad, but probably every other one of her siblings as well.

Favorite things in life: Naps and Nibble Rings

Most hated thing in life: Trips to the vet.

Next up is She’s-Just-A-Little-Half-Pint, a.k.a., Half Pint. Half Pint came to us three years ago as a 1-year old rabbit from a family who thought a rabbit would be a cute and cuddly playmate for their kids only to soon realize, as cute and lovable as they are, just how much work rabbits can be. Half Pint is what they call a Mini-Lop and has a very sweet disposition. Freed from her neglected, laundry room prison, Half Pint now occupies a two-story condo with a nice view of a lime tree in our east yard.

Favorite thing in life: Being vacuumed (seriously - whenever Tracey vacuums, she uses the little brush attachment to vacuum the beast. And she’s in bunny heaven!)

Most hated thing in life: Nothing. I don’t think Half Pint is capable of hating anything.

Next up is Cosmopolitan, a.k.a. Cosmo. We named him that because of his pink ears which are the color of Tracey’s favorite cocktail. We got him last year as a 1-1.5 year old from the Arizona Humane Society. He’s a gentle beast who simply can’t tolerate being caged during the day, even though his accommodations are top-notch. Once it gets light, he slides open his cahe door and heads for the dining room, where he’ll spend the day under a corner cocktail table until it starts getting dark. Whereupon, he’ll head back to his cage and veg out for the night.

Favorite thing in life: Freedom to go where he pleases, when he pleases.

Most hated thing in life: Peanut (see below)

Last up is “That Little Bitch, Where The #@$! Has She Gone To Now?”, a.k.a., Peanut. Peanut came to us from the wild just a little more than a month ago. In rabbit years, she’s probably 4-6 months old - which means she’s the equivalent of a 2-year old child with ADHD. Everything is new and exciting and must be investigated at all cost! A couple of weeks ago Tracey found her inside our couch. Not underneath. Not behind. Inside. And that was two weeks after she was found inside her dresser. Needless to say, the other rabbits are not impressed with this young up-and-comer. When rabbits are this young you just have to tell yourself that adolescence is not far behind, and if you can make it through the first 12-15 months they kind of settle in to their routine. You just forget how frisky young rabbits can be.

Favorite thing in life: Eating. Chewing. Investigating everything.

Most hated thing in life: Not being able to eat. Or chew. Or investigate everything.

“I went through the city, realizing for the first time in my life how good are all the people in the world and how much value they have in the sight of God” — Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas, p. 92

“The Lord looks down from heaven upon us all to see if there is any who are wise, if there are any who seek after God. Every one has proved faithless, all alike have turned bad; there is none who does good, no, not one. — Psalm 14: 1-3

This is my little prayer grove where I sometimes say my morning office. In the quiet corner beside some big and beautiful bougainvillea (quiet, at least, when the A/C unit on the other side of the wall is not running) there is a beauty and tranquility of God’s creation that expresses itself whenever a welcome breeze stirs its branches or the trees nearby, or bird sounds fill the air. Today I found myself contemplating the state of the world, with these competing views of humankind occupying my thoughts. So which is it, I thought - Merton’s positive sentiments from his street corner experience, or the faithless, wicked, and perverse world as expressed by the Psalmist? Or is this a question without an answer?

Perhaps it’s a question of whether one sees the glass as half full or half empty?

Me, I think I used to be a half-full glass kind of guy who saw the world as everyone’s oyster, that if one worked long enough and hard enough goodness would always triumph over evil. But I don’t think that way so much any more. Now it seems to me more than anything else that the ones who get ahead are the ones who have perfected the art of kissing ass, or bullshitting, or sucking up, or those who talk in big flowery phrases but never really say anything, or those who can “stay on message”, or those for whom the only thing that matters is the bottom line. And I think everyone of us knows someone who fits that characterization.

And then, Merton’s words aside, the fact is that there are people in the world who are truly evil - those with no redeeming value whatsoever, those who seemingly only exist to make others’ lives miserable, or to damage or destroy people physically, psychologically, or spiritually. I think of my former brother-in law who has spun a web of deceit and psychological and physical abuse around my sister-in-law from which she’ll never escape. Or Islamic fundamentalists who strap on bomb vests and detonate themselves in crowded marketplaces or on buses, or kill innocents simply to make a political statement. I think of people who celebrate when conservative columnist Robert Novak announces his retirement due to a brain tumor. Or people who take advantage of the elderly or the sick or the less-than-well-to-do, or who prey upon the vulnerable. Sure, people have been bemoaning the state of things since the beginning of time (I mean, look at the Psalmist’s words) but there’s something else going on here - a darkness that seems to be encroaching upon everything that truly makes me fear for this country and the world. I mourn the loss of this country’s soul and the increasing vulgarity, mean-spiritedness, and coarseness of our culture. Not to mention the devaluation of human life seemingly everywhere in the world.

And yet, you can see good in the smallest of ways - you just have to be awake to it and respond to it whenever you see it. I think of this one elderly gentleman who works down at the local Fry’s. Like many of the stores nowadays you have a greeter who stands at the door to say hello or “thanks for shopping with us”, or to check your sales slip if the transporter thing you walk through engages and threatens to ship you off to some unknown latitude and longitude. This particular Fry’s has several people on this task, but it’s only this one gentleman who’s always smiling, who always recognizes you when you walk in, who always says “Have a great day!” as if he means it no matter how many people are coming and going at the time. He’s not a “HEY HOW ARE YA!” kind of a guy; he does it quietly, often wordlessly - but he always makes you feel good.

So I don’t know. People like him seem to be few and far between. I guess that’s one of the reasons why I’ve gone back to church, and a church where the sacramental Presence of Our Lord is so central to worship. Even though I don’t receive communion, to simply be in the Lord’s Presence and cross myself with a little holy water helps, I think, to infuse my soul with the sacred armor of grace and help keep the inner and outer demons if not away, at least at a fairly safe distance.

NEWS ITEM: Michelle Wie misses another cut at a PGA Tour men’s event:

“I think if I played a couple (PGA events) in a row, it would be a different story,” [Wie] said. “It’s just hard to play one and then one maybe a year later,” she said. “I think if I played eight in a row and I missed all eight, that would be a different story.”

Yeah, that’s right Michelle, your problem is not that you play crappy golf, it’s that you need more opportunities to play crappy golf, then maybe you’d make a cut. Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

NEWS ITEM: “Democratic platform embraces Obama’s change theme“:

The committee charged with updating the platform agreed to include suggestions from Clinton, whose campaign emphasized universal health care. Obama also campaigned on improved access to health care, although the two candidates often sparred over how to make it happen and whether it should be mandated.

In a draft of the platform, the party described health care as “a shared responsibility between employers, workers, insurers, providers and government. All Americans should have coverage they can afford.”

Am I missing something here? Like, this is news? Now if the headline said something like “Democratic platform embraces McCain’s general themes”, that would be news. How the AP comes up with stories like this is amazing to me. I call it “Well, duh! journalism”. Which, actually, isn’t journalism at all…

NEWS ITEM: “Lax oversight risks millions of Medicare dollars”:

The government is putting millions of Medicare dollars at risk by authorizing fictitious sellers of wheelchairs, prosthetics and other medical supplies to submit reimbursement claims with only limited review, congressional investigators say.

The study by the Government Accountability Office obtained by The Associated Press sought to follow up on oversight gaps that have plagued the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services since at least 2005. Roughly $1 billion of the $10 billion in annual Medicare payments the government makes for medical equipment are later deemed improper.

And these are the same people the Democrats want to put in charge of our health care system (see above). Yeah, right. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

NEWS ITEM: Al-Qaida mastermind of the U.S.S. Cole attack dies a violent death from a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan, and - surprise! - innocent victims may have been taken along with him (my boldings):

Al-Qaida confirmed Sunday the death of a top commander accused of training the suicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole eight years ago.

Abu Khabab al-Masri, who had a $5 million bounty on his head from the United States, is believed to have been killed in an airstrike apparently launched by the U.S. in Pakistan last week.

An al-Qaida statement posted on the Internet said al-Masri and three other top figures were killed and warned of vengeance for their deaths. It did not say when, where or how they died but said some of their children were killed along with them.

Leave it to the AP to include the fact that children were killed in the airstrike. I don’t feel sorry for terrorists who meet violent deaths. The sad truth is that people like al-Masri choose their despicable ways, and bad things happen to people who surround themselves in violence. The fact that more innocent lives are taken as a result of those choices should come as a surprise to no one.

I attended Holy Cross Church today and don’t see it as a good fit as a place I can worship God on a regular basis. This may sound harsh, but it has as much to do with the architecture and demographics as anything else. Was the Mass well done? Yes. Was the music suitable for the occasion (i.e., tasteful, without being overwhelming and distracting)? Absolutely. The priest’s sermon? Excellent, I thought. But if you don’t mind me saying, given the low ceiling, the rec hall feel to the worship space, and the large elderly population in attendence (in this way the parish website certainly wasn’t kidding!), I couldn’t help but feel I was attending Wednesday night Bingo in some central Florida location. When the priest mentioned during his comments the rash of funerals he had officiated at lately, I looked around me and wasn’t surprised - I’m 52 and felt like I was the youngest one there!

I’ll say this for St. Anne Catholic Church - I appreciate the diversity of the congregation and the large number of young families that worship there. And I love the modern technology they have employed there. I like not having to use a book and see what we are singing projected on the walls in front of us. It’s cool. It’s convenient. It’s hip. And more than anything else, it allows one to simply sing! from one’s heart instead of flipping through a book, looking for the correct page. Once you’ve worshipped without having to use a book it’s hard to go back - if you know what I mean.

I’ll say one thing about Holy Cross Church that I will never forget - by attending a completely different church from St. Anne I came to realize how much I have come to love and appreciate the Roman Catholic form of worship, and I can never see myself ever going back to an Episcopal Church for regular worship ever again. If not in formal standing, I know in my heart that I am a Roman Catholic and proud to be one. Whenever the time and spirit come to make it official, it will just be a formality.

1. St. Anne Catholic Church - if it wasn’t for the new wacko music director there I’d be pretty happy, content to practice my budding Roman Catholicism there. Whether or not I return to worship God regularly there is still very much up in the air, but we’ll just have to see how my parish search turns out.

2. Holy Cross Church - looks like this parish is approx. a 30 minutes drive from my house - very much to the east. Whenever a parish website tells you it’s predominently elderly or retired - I’m sorry, but that’s a warning sign to me. I’m willing to give it a try; we’ll just have to see how it goes.

3. St. Mary Catholic Church in Chandler - the Mass times are at 4:30 PM but I kinda like the idea of staying south of U.S. 60 - it always makes me feel like I’m hangin’ ’round my neighborhood, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.

4. St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church - this is a church that doesn’t yet have a building. Masses are at 4:30 PM, but given that they’re just starting out on the ground floor, this is something I would be very interested in, as growing churches from the ground floor has always been something close and deep to my heart.

Four churches, one pilgrim on a spiritual journey. Who will win out? I guess we’ll just have to see.

First, this rather sentimental commentary by one Wolfe Coleman, a commenter at the Boston Dirt Dogs website:

“Given the recent trend of success that we in Red Sox Nation have been blessed with, I hope we do not all forget the journey we have taken to get here, and specifically, the role of Manny Ramirez in that journey.

“He came to us at the last second, when we had missed out on Mussina and needed to make a splash. The kid from Cleveland with the picture perfect swing, who smiled like a Little Leaguer when he played. That was our Manny. We embraced him, we cheered for him, we placed our hopes for the future in his able hands. And he delivered for us, time and time again. In the wake of all that has happened, let us not forget that Manny gave us hope when there little to be had. When a history of near misses and complete failures weighed so heavy on us that we thought we were destined for a lifetime of misery. When the Yankees were an unstoppable force that could not be reckoned with. In the face of all these things, we had Manny. Suddenly, nothing was impossible. We had Manny. There was possibility! Because we had Manny, there was always a chance.

“True, he has not always played the game the right way, and it can be argued that his attitude was sometimes less than helpful to the team chemistry, but through all the drama he never lost that swing. It remained a thing of grace of beauty to be admired and copied by a generation of young fans. And he never lost the enjoyment of the game. While he may have been dissatisfied with the front office or the management, he never stopped loving the game. There were always moments when you could see in Manny the same kid that hauled tires up hills in Washington Heights, building his core strength so he could drive the ball 420ft. to the opposite field.

“When he watched his home run off K-Rod in the 2007 post season, arms raised in triumph, we saw that same Manny that we fell in love with. Now that his time has come to move on, for whatever reason, I hope that we do not lose sight of everything he has done for us, and when we speak of him and his time in Boston, I hope we all realize what we owe to him. For the home runs, the laughs, the championships, the intangible sense of excitement that happened every time he came to bat in the late innings at Fenway; we owe him more than to think back fondly on his time here, we owe him our hearts.”

Of course, there were always two sides to the Manny coin, and the the Providence Journal’s Sean McAdam offers this sobering assessment of what the Red Sox ended up having to do to bring the Manny era in Boston to a close:

In order to trade a future Hall of Famer and acquire a player in return, the Red Sox had to agree to pay his remaining salary and include two young players.

That should tell you all you all you need to know about Manny Ramirez’s value around the game and exactly how desperate the Red Sox were to rid themselves of his presence by yesterday’s non-waiver trading deadline.

After 18 hours worth of talks involving the Florida Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates proved futile, the Red Sox scrambled to assemble another swap at the 11th hour and finally found a willing partner in the Los Angeles Dodgers.

General manager Theo Epstein was working with a mandate from within his own clubhouse. Following his team’s dispiriting loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Wednesday night, Epstein met with a handful of Red Sox veterans, all of whom delivered the same message: Manny had to go.

If his antics weren’t directly responsible for the team’s slide - the Sox have lost five of six on the current homestand, their worst stretch of play at Fenway all season - they were certainly serving as a distraction.

Worse, the players feared that if Ramirez remained with the Sox for the remainder of the season, he couldn’t be counted upon in the middle of a pennant race. In their minds, there were no guarantees that Ramirez wouldn’t engage in further petulant displays that could sidetrack the team’s playoff push.

In the past, teammates had advised against just such a deal, reminding management that, whatever his faults, Ramirez’s skill as a run producer were too valuable. But in the last week or so, Ramirez lost the clubhouse and the equation was turned on its head: no matter how good he was as a hitter, it wasn’t enough to outweigh the negatives.

They were tired of answering questions about him, tired of rationalizing his selfish behavior, and frankly, tired of him.

Read the whole thing.

So now it’s back to business for the stumbling Sox. They can’t look or play any worse than they did against the L.A. Angels of Anaheim, and now with manny in La-La Land they certainly have no one else to blame their on-field performances on than themselves.

If they needed a wake-up call, the Ramirez trade certainly took care of that.

Of course, if that doesn’t work, then this wonderful post from Red at Surviving Grady ought to be required reading for everyone on the team. The language is a little harsh, but no one says it better than Red. It’s a scream - literally!

STOP! Do NOT click away from this post!! I guarantee it won’t cost you anything (unless, of course, the spirit moves you…)

First of all: Project HARAMBEE helps people in sub-Saharan Africa affected by HIV. There’s a number of ways you can help, but we’ve found the best way to help is to donate a goat or chickens for one of the communities there. How does it work? Check out this lovely letter we got from a co-worker of Tracey’s, who is passionately involved with this wonderful organization. Here’s just a piece of her letter (my boldings). It truly is amazing…

Dear Tracey -
Finally, goat news!

I hope these pictures of your goat are satisfactory (yes, she sent us pictures, and yes, we’re talking bonafide goat here). I can tell you that your compassion and generosity have made a tremendous impact on more than one family in Africa. It’s not only the goat and that wonderful rich milk (and now cheese) that are making a difference. The knowledge that total strangers across the ocean care enough to give them something this precious - sight unseen - has given Kenyans something also equally valuable: hope for their children and grandchildren.

Your goat was donated to Nyumbani Village, where 26 grandmothers and one grandfather are living in community together and raising more than 100 of their grandchildren orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In the photo (she sent us several) some of the grandmothers are busy weaving baskets from sisal and wool, which they sell. Nyumbani Village was the idea of Father Angelo D’Agostino, a Jesuit priest (gotta love those Jesuits!) who served in Africa for many years, and someone I am blessed to have known as a friend.

The website has more information about this wonderful project and the selfless people who have made it their own special ministry. I invite you to check it out.

Another charity near and dear to my heart is the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, dedicated to treating children with cancer. August is the month of the big WEEI / NESN Jimmy Fund Telethon that supports this wonderful place and the service these incredibly compassionate and dedicated people do day in and day out. As you can see by the link, this event is scheduled for August 14 & 15. I’ve supported the telethon for several years - not with a lot of dough-re-mi, but of course every little bit helps.

I know everyone is cutting back with the cost of gas and everything, but if you have a few extra sheckels in your pocketbook, please consider supporting one or both of these wonderful organizations. Even if you can’t donate, please keep them and their fine work in your thoughts and prayers.

…and now back to our regular programming.

Oh, before I go, here’s the goat we donated to Project HARAMBEE. He (she) doesn’t know it, but we named him (her?) Bill Buckner (get it - goat?) :

It is the proud that have to be burned and devoured by the horrible humility of hell… but as long as we are in this life, even that burning anguish can be turned into a grace, and a cause for joy.” — Thomas Merton, “The Seven Storey Mountain”, p. 295

As I’ve mentioned in these spaces previously, one of the best things about attending St. Anne Catholic Church (besides it’s nearby locale and convenient 4 PM Saturday Mass time) has been its music. Not only because it was very well done, but - just as importantly - the music complemented what Mass should be all about: worship, humility, praise, and prayer in the sacramental Presence of Our Lord. The music was primarily performed on piano and guitar, with an occasional appearance by a bass player or another guitarist. And it was all done in excellent taste and performance, played loud enough to sing to but not take over the proceedings.

My how things have changed! Three or four weeks ago, the music director left and was replaced by what I can only describe as an obnoxious egomaniacal woman who thinks everything has to be a production, and the Mass saturated with music at every possible opportunity. Not only has the piano and guitar now been augmented with bass, additional guitar and drums, but several choral singers as well. And even though much of the music at Mass is the same from week to week, this woman has to make sure everyone knows the music is under her complete direction: hand waves indicating when the band is to start and stop, and, five minutes before Mass, instruction to the congregation on how the music that day should be sung.

(Note #1: Keep in mind that modern church music - especially the kind played at Catholic masses - hardly requires the vocal equivalent of a Ph.D to sing. Not only is it fairly simplistic, but at most the congreagation only has to sing two verses with chorus. We’re not talking Handel or R. Vaughan Williams here, by any stretch of the imagination.)

(Note #2: And if it were a male music director instead of a woman I’d feel the same way, so please, no sexist accusations.)

To me, it’s all just too much. Even the Psalm of the day, which used to be sung simply and beautifully by a cantor to piano, now gets the Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” treatment - choral harmonies and full band participation, including drums. Were it just the processional and recessional that were getting the full band I would have no problem with it, but this woman is so full of herself and determined to turn Mass into her show that it is a complete turn-off. Since I don’t receive communion, I used that time for contemplation to the soft music and meditating upon the priest’s voice repeating over and over, “The Body of Christ”, “The Body of Christ”, “the Body of Christ”… and feeling immersed in holiness and sanctity.

No more. Now communion simply provides this music director more opportunities to show off her and her musicians not-insignificant musical chops. But to me it’s completely out of place and ruins the entire proceedings. I don’t think I’m alone, as I’ve noticed more people heading directly for the doors after they receive communion than is normal. And I can’t blame them - they come for Mass, not a concert and musical onslaught.

So for me it’s adios! to St. Anne Catholic Church. While I wish it weren’t so, it’s not something that devastating - I never considered SACC my spiritual home, but attending Mass there was convenient and the axis around which my weekly prayer life revolved. And I’ll always remember it fondly for being the place where I first began attending Mass regularly - something I thank God for revealing to me in all His Goodness and Mercy. So it looks like I’m church-shopping again. Where I’ll end up is anyone’s guess; we’ll just have to see how it all turns out.