vs. Oakland Athletics 1:35 pm Fenway Park - Boston, MA SP: Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Dallas Braden tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

For the first time in a long while, I have a total baseball hangover.

The kind of hangover you can only get after a full and satisfying weekend of baseball. One that has nothing to do with alcohol, and everything to do with the play on the diamond. One that involved a sweep of wins notched on the scoreboard, but also displayed a combination of a killer offense and a cracking defense. Pitchers spotting their locations well and throwing some gas. Hitters seeing the ball well and maximizing on-base efforts every at-bat. Web Gem-like diving catches in the outfield and beautiful double plays in the infield. Spectacular baserunning and steal attempts. OK, well except for Sunday on that last one.

Red Sox baseball seems to have had a heavy cloud hanging over it of late. A sense of drudgery, a touch of antagonism, an air of melancholy. You got the feeling, even through the TV screen, that everything was labored for the guys, heavy and difficult where it ought to be light and breezy-- weighed down by... something.

The easy way out would be to point the finger at Manny - but I think that is not only wrong, it would also be a gross oversimplification of something that's far more complex. I think though his recent behavior was a part of the malaise, he was a symptom of the problem and not the cause. The team just seemed to be in a funk that they couldn't seem to shake loose (albeit not a totally unproductive funk - it's not like they went into a '07 Mets-like losing skid). A baseball team can't always run around all "HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY" every day- this is a job, after all, and they have ups and downs like anyone else at work. But that mythical 'spark' seemed to have died out there for awhile, and the grumpiness and petulance and lethargy seemed to take off at the same time.

But that all seemed a thing of the past this weekend. Everything was fun again. And just like Manny was not the cause of all the problems before, Jason Bay was not the solution to all those problems either. But he certainly helped. I think the trade on Thursday prodded the team to stop and draw a line under what had happened in the first part of the season, and then decide to close the book on it and move forward to reclaim some of that spark back again. The clouds seemed to part over Fenway, and the heavy load seemed to lift. I'm sure a large part of it was subconscious, but the change is welcome all the same.

Maybe it's all just a happy coincidence. Or maybe it's just a mirage. Either way, I don't much care - because I'll happily suffer through a string of baseball hangovers from now until the end of October for more weekends like we just had.

Maybe it's a BAYsball BAYngover. Yeah, I'm pretty much going to keep up with as many Bay-related plays on words as I can.

vs. Kansas City Royals 8:10 pm Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City, MO SP: Clay Buchholz vs. Gil Meche tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

vs. Kansas City Royals 8:10 pm Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City, MO SP: Josh Beckett vs. Brian Bannister tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

Well, hello, there, Mr. Beckett. Nice to see you again.

It's even nicer to see this:

6.2IP 4H 2ER 0HR 2BB 7K 2.70ERA

We missed you.

Tuesday Wednesday Curveball - Week Ten The Olympics officially kick off this Friday in Beijing, and if you're anything like me, you're going to be watching 7-8 hours of coverage every day, minimum. One thing you won't be watching after this year, though, is baseball-- 2008 marks the last time baseball will be played as an Olympic event. So let's hear from you: if you were the manager of the USA Olympic baseball team, and (like with the NBA) could have your pick of MLB players, who would you select as your starting 9? This wouldn't be like the All-Star vote, tainted by nostalgia and bias -- who is the best player you'd select at each position to help America take home the gold? Obviously, no Canadians or other nationalities can be selected -- but naturalized citizens are still eligible (Papi, Manny, Pujols, etc.)

As always, you don't have to be a fan of the Red Sox to get in on the discussion. All baseball fans- even Yankee fans- are welcome.

You haven't made it in this town as a ballplayer until you've been pied in the face by Big Papi.

Welcome to Boston, Jason Bay.

vs. Kansas City Royals 8:10 pm Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City, MO SP: Tim Wakefield vs. Luke Hochevar tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

Manny's long gone out of town, living it up way on the other side of the country... and CHB is feeling the pangs of loneliness. Who will he write his inflammatory columns about? Who will he vilify? This is all a very confusing time for him.

So it's no surprise that this little hidden explosive gem showed up in his column today:

The commissioner's office is investigating the circumstances of Manny's final hours with the Red Sox. The Globe has learned (from a source with direct knowledge of the inquiry) that Bud Selig directed Major League Baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred to contact all parties for an explanation of how things unfolded around last week's trading deadline. According to the source, Manfred has yet to report back to the commissioner.

Here's why Selig's office is looking into the matter:

The Red Sox had an option to retain Ramirez in 2009 for $20 million. They had the same option for 2010. Ramirez, who will turn 37 next season, wanted to be a free agent at the end of this season. His agent wanted the same thing. Boras inherited Ramirez's old contract and stood to earn nothing until Manny signed a new one. It was in the interest of the player and the agent to have the options dropped.

Manny's only leverage was withholding services and playing at half speed. So that's what he did. Sitting out games against Seattle and the Yankees, jogging down the first base line (and maybe even looking at those three strikes against Mariano Rivera), he sent the message that he wanted out. He made sure the Sox knew he could not be trusted to play hard if they kept him until the end of the season with the options intact.

A few things strike me: (1) since when did CHB's conjecture about Manny's behavior go from opinion to accepted fact? and (2) if CHB was so confident that his source was rock-solid, why did he bury this allegation halfway down his column, and fall back on the old "the Globe has learned" schtick (rather than claiming ownership of his source)?

In the Manny Being Manny circus, nothing is too crazy or too far-fetched for me to believe. I wouldn't bat an eye if it was revealed that Manny went into Theo's office and demanded that Jed Lowrie act as his personal manservant, and follow him around at all times with a selection of sparkling waters and snacks. I'm also not a naive wide-eyed innocent who thinks every player who dons the Boston home whites is automatically a saint who can do no wrong. So while the sour turn of the Manny story in Boston is entirely plausible, I still object to the sordid need of certain people to continually shit-stir. (Or the equivalently reprehensible method of sitting on a story until the player in question is shipped out of town and therefore can't confront you -- so you can keep getting soundbites from him.)

And this sight? Yeah, still weird.

Rick and A.J. over at Deadspin asked me to be a part of their brand spankin' new roundtable feature for women sportsbloggers called "Waxing Off". I said yes, without hesitation. What could be more fun than a group of five sports-minded women digging in-depth into the various issues surrounding sports?

And then I got the topic for the inaugural post: sex at the ballpark. Hilarity ensued.

What, you're surprised CHB might have caused a scandal with a premature report impugning Manny Ramirez? No? Neither am I.

From the Los Angeles Times, a paper that, you know, talked to Bud Selig's office on the record:

The baseball commissioner's office has not launched a formal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Manny Ramirez trade and does not plan to take action against any party in the deal, his spokesman said today.

The Boston Globe reported in today's editions that Commissioner Bud Selig had ordered an investigation into "the circumstances of Manny's final hours with the Red Sox."

Pat Courtney, the spokesman for Selig, said the commissioner had asked for clarification on several issues involving the trade and did not order a formal inquiry into the matter.

"There were some follow-up calls," Courtney said. "It's closed. It's not ongoing."

Any time CHB runs to print with something like this, and if his reporting turns out to be overblown, it undermines the credibility of the other stellar reporting going on at the Globe. Sometimes I just want to holler for somebody, anybody to STOP THE CURLY-HAIRED BOYFRIEND.

Update: THE PLOT THICKENS. That LA Times article has now been revised, as it turns out the MLB spokesperson may have spoken out of turn.

The Dodgers are in no jeopardy of losing Manny Ramirez, but the baseball commissioner's office is reviewing issues surrounding the trade that brought him to Los Angeles.

Commissioner Bud Selig has asked Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, to determine the facts behind Ramirez's departure from Boston, a baseball source said today, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter had not been resolved.

Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney told The Times earlier today that Selig had asked for clarification on several issues but said no action was planned against any party in the deal.

"There were some follow-up calls," Courtney said. "It's closed. It's not ongoing."

Courtney later said his comments were premature and deferred further questions on the matter to Rich Levin, another baseball spokesman. Levin said this afternoon he had no comment.

Two things: (1) do all of these anonymous sources have secret meetings somewhere, where they show up wearing paper bags over their heads? (2) sweet lord in heaven, if CHB's muckracking on this issue actually turns out to have some substance? God help us all... there will never be an end to the avalanche of anti-Manny articles to come.

vs. Chicago White Sox 8:11 pm U.S. Cellular Field - Chicago, IL SP: Jon Lester vs. Mark Buehrle tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

vs. Chicago White Sox 7:05 pm U.S. Cellular Field - Chicago, IL SP: Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Jose Contreras tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO