On the same day in which Manny told ESPN Deportes that the he loved Boston fans but that “the Red Sox do not deserve a player like me”, the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Florida Marlins worked tirelessly on a blockbuster trade. The move would send Jason Bay to Boston, Manny to Florida, and Marlins’ outfielder Jeremy Hermida to the Pirates. Bay’s solid numbers would certainly help to fill the hole in the lineup that Manny would leave.

The trade would also include a number of prospects, and possibly cash, so it is nowhere near a done deal yet.  A Sox official confirmed that the deal is in the works, but that “This is anything but done”. Manny did not seem optimistic that the trade would be finished.

“If something happens, it will not be tonight,” said Ramirez yesterday. “And frankly, I don’t think that will ever happen. Let’s wait if something happens before 4 p.m. Thursday.”

Even without Manny Ramirez in their lineup, the Florida Marlins are still making noise in the NL East and with the MLB trade deadline approaching, their 7-5 victory over the New York Mets Wednesday night pulls the division race even tighter.

On a day when the main baseball talks revolved around the Boston Red Sox left fielder, the Marlins capitalized on 11 hits and a five run fourth inning to lift them to their 24th win of the season against an NL East opponent, the most from within the division.

Josh Johnson won for the first time in almost two years pitching 6 2/3 solid innings allowing four earned runs on eight hits. The starter who had reconstructive elbow surgery in August of 2007 had not won a game since Aug. 28 2006. With the win, the Marlins are also now 4-0 on his four starts this season.

“Two years, wow,” Johnson said when a reporter told him. “Time flies, I guess.”

For the Mets, it was their first loss in a game that Mike Pelfrey started since June 11th. They had won nine consecutive times with him on the hill, and he had picked up eight wins during that span. Pelfrey was only able to throw 4 innings in this one, allowing five earned runs on eight hits before he was pulled from the game. His display equaled his shortest outing on the season.

With the loss, the Mets drop out of first place in the NL East and find themselves a half game behind the Philadelphia Phillies who beat the Washington Nationals 8-5 yesterday. The win for the Marlins pulls them only 1 game behind New York and 1 ½ games behind the Phils for the division lead.

Members of the Marlins were excited about the win but with trade talks in the air some are also uncertain about their future with the team. Josh Willingham and Jeremy Hermida, both brought up as part of a possible trade, had two hits apiece for Florida.

“You put that aside when you step between the white lines,” Hermida said. “I’ve still got a Marlins jersey on. It didn’t affect me whatsoever.”

If a trade were to take place, and under the collective bargaining agreement with the players union, Ramirez would have to approve any deal before it were to happen but with his recent comments and antics on the field, he may approve anything proposed just to get out of Boston.

The Marlins will now welcome the Colorado Rockies into town for a four game series while the Mets will travel to Houston to take on the Astros for a three game set starting tomorrow.

In a deal that pretty much came out of nowhere, the Chicago White Sox acquired Ken Griffey Jr. In return, the Reds get Danny Richar, Nick Masset and possibly $1 Million in cash considerations. With Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin doing a solid job at the corner outfield spots, and the DH spot taken by Jim Thome, Griffey’s place in the lineup is not immediately clear. Keep your eyes peeled for the AL Central-leading Pale Hose to make another deal today.

Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye in the corners and Jim Thome at DH

It was a good day for the New York Yankees. Not only did they break their three game losing streak but the Yanks also got some major help behind the plate with the addition of Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez. Pudge came over late today in a trade with the Detroit Tigers for reliever Kyle Farnsworth. The Yankees announced the news after handily defeating the Baltimore Orioles 13-3 in a day game at the Stadium.

The Yankees offense got the ball rolling for them in the 1st inning when walks by Jeter and Abreu led to quick runs after an Alex Rodriguez single. Abreu followed Jeter home on the play when the throw to the plate sailed over the catcher’s head. A-Rod scored the third run when he came home on a passed ball.

Abreu would go on to add 2 homeruns and 3 RBI while A-Rod added a homer of his own and finished the day with 2 RBI. Joba Chamberlain got the win for the Yankees for his first back to back wins as a starter. Joba went 6 innings, striking out 6 and giving up just 1 run.

The win was key for the Yankees who are in a tight race in the AL East with the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays. They Yankees now trail the 2nd place Red Sox by 1.5 games and the 1st place Rays by 4 games.  Things won’t get any easier for the Yankees this week as the MLB’s best team, the Los Angeles Angels come to New York for a four game series.

Yankees Tickets are still available for all four games with the Angels.

With the NFL’s 2008 Summer training sessions underway in Patriots country, the defending AFC Champions are already starting to set some goals for the upcoming season, but for the most part they are doing what every team in the NFL is doing at these camps, getting in game shape for the 17 week grind they are about to take head on.

Looking at some of the new individuals at Pats camp, rookie Terrence Wheatley and veteran Fernando Bryant, both CB’s, are trying to learn the new defensive system that held opponents to only 274 points total during the 2007-2008 regular season (17.25 per game) which was an NFL best.

The two are trying to fill the shoes of form Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel who left for the big bucks to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles.

“We’re definitely in the same boat,” said Wheatley, a second-round draft choice from Colorado.

With Samuel out of town and Ellis Hobbs not fully recovered from off-season surgery, the Patriots are still trying to find out who will get the majority of the playing time there this season during these camps. Both Bryant and Wheatley are doing their best so that they win some time in that spot.

Another rookie that has been working hard at camp was fourth round draft pick Jonathan Wilhite, another cornerback out of Auburn. Wilhite and Wheatley have both looked sharp thus far in the workouts and the two are hoping they can both find their way onto the opening game day roster. In fact, the two often share notes are the end of practice because they are roommates.

“We definitely compare notes after the end of practice,” Wheatley said Tuesday.  ‘You see what Randy [Moss] did that play and how close I was,’ but yet I really wasn’t that close. … When you get up in the morning you’re like, ‘man, do your legs hurt as much as mine?’At this point the veteran Bryant, who is entering his 10th season in the league, has the upper hand on the rookies but that doesn’t mean he’s not working hard and trying to improve his own game everyday.

“There’s a lot of expectations on the outside and you can’t really listen to that,” Bryant said. “It’s what we do here. From the outside looking in, you’re looking at Sunday’s game and you think everything is great…The coaching staff is pretty upfront about everything and the best player’s going to play,” Bryant said. “That was one of the reasons I came here. It doesn’t matter about age. It doesn’t matter about years or Pro Bowls or anything like that. The bottom line is this organization is about winning.”

The secondary continues to work together and its starting to show on some of the downfield patterns that Tom Brady and company have been running on them throughout the camps.

“The secondary is a close-knit group so we talk about everything,” Bryant said. He and Wheatley “sit by each other in the meetings. If he has some things he has questions about I try to talk to him about them. The biggest thing (is) I just tell him to take it slow. Everything’s going to come at him quick, but anytime you can slow it down on and off the field you’re going to have a better shot.”

That is unless they are trying to keep up with wide receivers like Randy Moss.

“There were a few times where I just told him [Wilhite], ’I saw you when you took off deep. You didn’t even look for the ball. You just put your head down and ran,’ ” Wheatley said. “I had to do that (too). I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t the only one out there doing it.”

Patriots pre-season games are right around the corner so make sure to get your tickets today, many are still available!

Fenway Park almost witnessed its second no hitter of the season but this time on the other team’s side. John Lackey took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before Dustin Pedroia singled with one out to end the bid, followed by a Kevin Youkilis two-run homer to erase the shutout, but the Los Angeles Angels still came out victorious with a 6-2 win over the struggling Boston Red Sox.

“A no-hitter would have been nice,” Lackey said. “You know what’s going on, but it wasn’t affecting me. I just wanted to win the game.”

The win improves Lackey’s overall record on the season to 9-2 but the story of the day for Los Angeles was not his pitching performance but a trade that was made prior to the start of the game. LA packaged up 1B Casey Kotchman and pitching prospect Steve Marek to the Atlanta Braves in return for 1B Mark Teixeira.

On the season Teixeira had been hitting .283 with 20 HR’s and 78 RBI’s in the National League and is considered to be a big defensive upgrade from Kotchman at first. The move comes one day after Kotchman had belted his 12th homer of the season off of Red Sox starting pitcher Dice-K Matsuzaka to lead the Angels to their six run sixth inning of their 7-5 win.

The loss for Boston guarantees their second consecutive home series loss, the first time this has happened all season. Since the All-Star break Boston is only 4-7 and now finds themselves 2 games behind the division leading Rays.

Clay Buchholtz suffered his fourth consecutive decision for a loss and falls to 2-6 on the season. He can only recall his no-hitter from last September after almost having one thrown against him yesterday evening.

“I was more aware actually of him throwing it than I was when I was out there,” Buchholz said. “It’s something special to watch. It’s a lot more fun when it’s one of us.”

Buchholtz allowed six runs (five earned) over 6 1/3 innings of work while striking out five. He allowed two runs in the third, fourth and seventh innings before he was pulled from the game.

Tonight in the series finale, Boston will be looking to Josh Beckett to avoid a rare sweep at home. Last Friday he came up on the short side of a 1-0 loss to NY but pitched well enough to win. He’ll be pitching against Joe Saunders who’s 13 wins is tied for the second most in all of MLB. In two starts this season against Boston Saunders is 1-0 with a 3.55 ERA.

The Sox have tomorrow off and then will welcome Oakland into two for a three game series over the weekend. Tickets are still available for all three games!

The Boston Red Sox have had no problem winning playoff games against the Los Angeles Angels, in fact they’ve won their last six against the reigning Western Division champions. Too bad that the Angels have no problem winning against the Sox in the regular season and with last nights 7-5 victory, have now won their last six meetings dating back to April 23rd.

Casey Kotchman and Torii Hunter both homered in a six run sixth inning to lead LA to their eighth win in ten games. Despite allowing a ninth inning homerun to Manny Ramirez, Francisco Rodriguez recorded his major league leading 44th save.

“I don’t know if there’s any rhyme or reason to some of the streaks,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said, “but we’ve been playing more consistent baseball this season on the road and at home.”

The win improves the Angels road record to 34-19, by far the best in all of MLB. With the loss, the Red Sox home record drops to 37-14, still an AL Best, even having lost three of the past four games.

“They might be the class of the American League right now,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said after the opener of the three-game series. “They have tremendous starting pitching, a very good bullpen, a lot of speed. They catch the ball very well. I could name a lot of things. Hopefully, tomorrow I won’t be naming those things and we’ll end up winning.”

Sox started Dice-K Matsuzaka looked great through the first five innings allowing only one run on three hits. He ran into trouble in the sixth allowing the leadoff runner in Chone Figgins to reach via a walk. Kotchman followed up with a two-run bomb to right field and it didn’t stop there. Three consecutive hits followed, the big blow coming on Hunter’s 16th homer of the year, a three run shot that knocked Dice-K out of the game.

“This guy gave up three runs in the last five starts and, pow, you hit a homer,” Hunter said. “I know he’s a good pitcher and I had to let that go and just swing hard just in case you hit it.”

Prior to the sixth inning, Matsuzaka had not allowed a homerun in his previous five starts, and only one in the prior eight.

“When I’m facing a good team like the Angels, I need to mix up my pitches a little bit more,” Matsuzaka said.

Offensively the Sox were able to string together an 11 hit performance, but could never muster up a big inning to break the game open early. David Ortiz continues to hit well since his return from the DL going 2-4 and it also clear that Manny Ramirez doesn’t mind his teammates protection in the order because he went 2-5 last night with three RBI’s.

Combined since Ortiz’s return the two are hitting .400 (12-30) with 9 RBI’s and 7 runs scored. The numbers are great, the only problem is that Sox are 1-3 over those four games.

The Sox will try to even the series tonight by sending Clay Buchholtz to the hill. The rookie has not won since May 2nd and lost to LA earlier this season in an 11-3 defeat out in California.

LA will counter with John Lackey who beat Boston on July 18th, his only win of the month thus far. Lifetime vs. the Red Sox Lackey has not put up very impressive numbers. His career record is 2-6 with a 6.01 ERA in 12 starts but looks to improve those tonight at Fenway Park.

Tickets are still available for tonight and tomorrow’s Red Sox vs. Angels match ups!

The dynamic musical duo known as Gnarls Barkley will play Boston’s cozy Wilbur Theatre on August 6th. Gnarls Barkley is best known for the infectious hit ‘Crazy’ off their 2006 album ‘St. Elsewhere’.  Not to be forgotten however is the remaining two albums worth of material that Gnarls has released since 2006. Their current tour is in support of the 2008 album, ‘The Odd Couple’.

In their short touring career, Gnarls Barkley has gained a reputation for high energy live shows that often feature the duo in odd costumes. Their upcoming Boston show at the Wilbur Theatre should be another great live performance. Gnarls Barkley tickets are general admission for this theatre show and are currently $49 each.

Buy Gnarls Barkley tickets now.

The New York Yankees will have to maintain their second half surge without starting catcher Jorge Posada who opted to have season ending surgery on his ailing shoulder. Posada has only played in 51 games in this 2008 season due to the injury and has been mainly ineffective especially in throwing runners out. Posada was debating on whether or not to delay surgery and play injured for the remainder of the year either as DH or at 1st Base. The Yankees however have an abundance of 1st Base/DH help on their bench with the recent additions of Richie Sexson and OF Xavier Nady.

The surgery will sideline Posada for at least six months and may delay his Spring Training work as pitchers and catchers report to camp in February. New York catcher Jose Molina has filled in nicely for Posada and will continue to be in the starting lineup behind the plate.

Just when it seemed like the Boston Red Sox bats had gone dormant, they came to life Sunday night in a 15-hit barrage against the New York Yankees in Boston’s 9-2 win. The win prevented New York from sweeping the three game weekend series and leaves Boston two games ahead of the Bronx Bombers in the standings, and one game behind Tampa Bay for the AL East Division lead.

In Friday night’s game, New York received a near flawless pitching performance by rookie Joba Chamberlain. In seven innings of work, Chamberlin allowed only 3 hits while striking out nine Red Sox batters and surrendered no runs. Mariano Rivera worked the final five outs to preserve New York’s 1-0 win. Their lone run off of Josh Beckett came in the 4th inning on an RBI infield single from Jason Giambi.

“I’ve had quality starts against everybody,” Chamberlain said. “You understand it’s going to be a tough game. He (Beckett) is an unbelievable pitcher. He battles and claws.”

Saturday in a pitching match up between two veterans it was Andy Pettitte and the Yankees who got the upper hand of Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball in New York’s 10-3 win. Boston jumped out early and grabbed a pair of runs in the first inning on an RBI single by David Ortiz followed by a Manny Ramirez RBI ground out. After that, it was pretty much all New York.

The Yankees connected for 13 hits total, eight off of Wakefield in his 5 1/3 innings of work. Heading into the 6th inning and the score still close at 3-2 NY, Wakefield struggled to get outs, the Yanks put four more runs on the board and knocked him out of the game. The win was Pettitte’s 12th on the season and the Yankees were 8-0 in eight games after the All Star break.

“Our pitching has been really good all year,” manager Joe Girardi said. “That’s what’s kept us afloat. And now we’re starting to hit better. We’re starting to score runs. It’s a good combination to have.”

After falling twice, the Sox sent Jon Lester to the mound to try and stop the bleeding and that he did. Once again, the young southpaw was able to pick up a victory by tossing seven innings and allowing only two earned runs on nine hits while striking out eight batters along the way.

“Luckily, we get some runs early and I held it.” Lester said. “It definitely felt like a different atmosphere in the dugout tonight. Guys were laughing, having fun, seemed like they were going up to the plate more relaxed.”

The Sox were able to score three runs in the first, a run in the second and third inning and then two more runs in the fourth which came on Ortiz’s first homerun since returning from his wrist injury. On the series, Ortiz went 5-12 with a HR and four RBI’s.

Manny Ramirez also had a stellar game going 3-5 at the plate with two RBI’s and two runs scored. This came after he made a few typical Manny-esk remarks before the game began that created a little buzz in the media room, but did not really surprise anyone. In the past, the eight year Sox veteran has demanded trades during the 2005 and 2006 off-season. Ramirez originally told ESPNdeportes.com on Sunday that he wouldn’t object to a trade if the Red Sox are better without him.

Later, in the clubhouse, he said, “What I said was, if the Red Sox think they can find a trade that’s going to make their team better and both sides are going to be happy, I’m going to agree. But they cannot find a trade. It’s something simple. It’s no big deal.”

Mike Lowell may have put it best when after the game he said, “Manny says a lot of things. Some of them are entertaining. Some of them make you roll your eyes and spin your head. But it seems like every time after he says something he goes 3-for-4 so maybe we should encourage him to say something like that.”

Ramirez’s RBI double in the first inning gave him 1,668 on his career and puts him in the 23rd spot for all-time, surpassing Sammy Sosa whom he had been tied with prior to the game.

Tonight, the Red Sox welcome the Los Angeles Angels to town. The Sox whom boast the best home record in baseball at 37-13 know that the Angels will be another tough test because they come in with the best road record in baseball at 33-19. Back in April the Angels took two of three from Boston so the Sox look to turn the tables on their West Coast foes.

Dice-K Matsuzaka (11-1, 2.85 ERA) looks to pick up his 12th victory on the season and will have to do so against the Angels Jered Weaver (8-8, 4.08 ERA). Weaver is 0-2 lifetime against Boston and in his only outing against them this season pitched five innings and allowed five runs on 10 hits in a game on April 22nd at Fenway.

Matsuzaka has only faced LA once in his short MLB career and allowed three earned runs in only 4 2/3 innings of work last season in Game 2 of the ALDS Playoff series, a game the Sox would win 6-3.

Tickets are still available for the remainder of the Angels series!