Red Sox Welcome Back Manny With A Broom

Not many outside the Red Sox clubhouse and front office had the outright confidence that the Boston Red Sox offense would be as lethal as it has been so far in 2010. It is simply hands down the best in all of baseball right now – and I expected them to be towards the lower end of a top five offensive team in 2010. The team numbers themselves are staggering.

Through June 21, the Sox ranked first not just in the American League but in all of baseball in eight offensive categories: at bats, runs, slugging percentage, hits, doubles, total bases, RBIs, and OPS. And they are second in the game in batting average, on-base percentage and home runs.

Scarier for opponents is that given the fact that Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron and Mike Lowell have yet to contribute significantly to the Sox success so far this year, Boston’s offense could stay just as strong or get even more dynamic if and when they all get into the everyday lineup as the season rolls on. In Lowell’s case, he just needs to get a decent amount of at bats under his belt, as he has only 12 so far in June. The man has the patience of a saint and I commend him for that as he waits for either more playing time, to be released or traded. He is certainly not rooting for injuries to the offensive stars of recent weeks that take up his spot in the lineup, third baseman Adrian Beltre and DH David Ortiz.

The Sox clearly have long forgotten about the absence of three-time all-star leftfielder Jason Bay from the everyday lineup. And it’s a good thing, as the New York Mets corner outfielder is underperforming offensively, with only four homers and 27 RBI in 2010. But one player no one in Boston will ever forget about is the notorious leftfielder/DH he was traded for July 31, 2008 in a three-team deal: Manny Ramirez.

Read the full article, first posted at Blogcritics Magazine via this cool link.

Boston Is "Riding The Nava Wave"

This week in Dead Red: Tim Wakefield passed a milestone, Dustin Pedroia is hitting again, the Sox unveiled a statue of Red Sox legends outside Fenway Park, and Sox catcher Victor Martinez remained hot at the plate. But first, following in the footsteps of Darnell “Mac” McDonald, another Triple-A call-up made an unexpected but explosive debut over the weekend.

I say Daniel Nava. You say, "who?" Here’s a kid who was told he’d never make it to pro ball. He was cut as a walk-on from his original college team at Santa Clara University, then resorted to being the team’s equipment manager. After graduation, he went undrafted and still trying to live the dream, played with the Chico Outlaws from the independent Golden Baseball League. He was cut after a tryout but then later made it to fill a roster spot.

In 2007, after finally getting a chance to play, he batted .371, hit 12 homers and had a whopping 1.100 OPS. This earned him the distinction of being named the independent league’s #1 prospect as rated by Baseball America. Seeing that, Red Sox assistant director of professional scouting Jared Porter signed him for a $1 with the promise to pay the Outlaws $1,500 if the Sox kept him after spring training in 2008.

In his short, four-year minor and independent league career, the 27-year-old switch-hitter (and natural lefty with good patience at the plate) batted .342 and hit well everywhere the Sox organization sent him, most recently in Pawtucket where he was hitting .294, with a .364 OBP, 8 HR and 38 RBI. And with Adrian Beltre not only rupturing opposing pitching but crushing teammates’ ribs (via freak on-field collisions, first Jacoby Ellsbury and now Jeremy Hermida, who is on the DL until late June), Francona needed to call up an (unknown) outfielder from the PawSox, and Nava was the lucky one to get that call over this past weekend.

For full post of this week's column at Blogcritics Magazine (where it was first posted earlier tonight), please click and read here.