THE RED SOX PAID WAY TOO MUCH TO END THE MANNY RAMIREZ ERA:

What a sad and ugly end to a fascinating 8 years together.  Tally it up people; the Red Sox wanted Manny gone so badly, that they gave up not just his last 2 months and any post-season performance in 2008, but also 2 legit major league ready players in Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss, in addition to the 2 top draft picks they would have gotten for compensation when Manny left as a free agent. 

All that, plus they're paying the rest of the salary. For Jason Bay, who strikes zero fear into the hearts of Joe Girardi or any other manager in the American League?  They should have toughed out the relationship for one more playoff push.

THE DODGERS WILL HAVE THE MOST EXPENSIVE OUTFIELD RESERVES IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL:

Manny has to play left, Matt Kemp better be playing right, and Andre Ethier really ought to be playing center for Joe Torre.  That makes Andruw Jones a $14 million dollar pinch hitter, and Juan Pierre an $8 million dollar pinch runner.

It'll be fascinating to see Joe Torre and his bad cop Larry Bowa try to manage Manny, and the rest of those entitled veterans mixed in with the precocious kids.  I set the over/under on a Jeff Kent-Manny Ramirez dugout dust-up at September 5^th.

ROGER GOODELL SUSPENDS BASED ON HIS INTERNAL JAMOKE-OMETER:

There will be no suspension for Marshawn Lynch, stemming from his late night hit and run, and a week of failing to come forward.  There has been no suspension for Matt Jones, stemming from his being caught doing blow in his car in a parking lot.

But yesterday cam 4 games for Chris Henry, who had the most recent charges against him dropped last month.  Yes, this is Henry's 5^th arrest, and sure, he's a first class jamoke.  But for our own edification, don't look to hard evidence and factual backup to explain Goodell's suspension patterns.  He's got instinct brewing.  Kind of refreshing, actually, but it comes off a bit inconsistent. 

YAO MING AND RON ARTEST WILL MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC TOGETHER:

Yesterday we had the cage-rattling from Yao Ming...hoping his new teammate Artest won't be "going after a guy in the stands."  Then we had Artest responding that Yao had never played with "a black player that represented his culture" as much as Artest does.  Today we have apologies and conciliatory remarks all around, and the men talked on the phone in a respectful and loving way.  Sweet.

This is a great trade for the Rockets, and as a 1 year experiment, they'll play nice together.  Beautiful music I'm telling you...Artest will play some bass, Yao has a lovely singing voice, and Tracy McGrady will shred the guitar solos.   I can't wait to see the Rockets battle the elite in the Western Conference.

THE CUBS PILLAGED MILWAUKEE FOR ALL THAT IT HAD:

They came to town, brought their own fans, and smacked the red-hot Brewers around for 4 straight games.  They pitched well, scored a ton of runs, and played great defense.  They raided the Brewers' refrigerator.  They threw their dirty sox and underwear around, left them on the floor.  They slept with the Brewers' wives.  They went for joyrides in the Brewers players' cars.  They charged thousands of dollars to the Brewers' credit cards for phone sex and online poker.  They stripped, bound and gagged Bernie Brewer, tying him to his barrel above left field.   They rented 5 movies on the Brewers Netflix account and will never send them back.

It was a huge statement from the Cubs, who have the psychological upper hand for the remainder of the season.  See these two for 6 games in the seasons final 2 weeks, when both ought to be battling for the division and/or the wild card.  Good stuff.