oh no...that's depressing. Both Manny and Papelbon are out for the
season. :( I hope Manny gets better real soon!

Krista






--- In mannyacs@yahoogroups.com, "Lynne" <lynne@...> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> Manny out for the rest of the season? This is so sad. I know he needs
> to get well but I'll miss him on the field. The games haven't been the
> same without number 24.
>
> Have a good weekend,
>
> Lynne
>
> =0=0=0=0=0=0=0=
>
> BALTIMORE -- Red Sox manager Terry Francona said after a closed-door
> meeting with Manny Ramírez yesterday that "there's a chance" Ramírez,
> who has been diagnosed with patellar tendinitis in his right knee,
> will not play the rest of the season.
>
> "He wants to play," Francona said before the Sox beat the Baltimore
> Orioles, 6-5, last night, "but he can't."
> "
> Francona said he had spoken with Thomas Gill, the team's medical
> director, before determining that Ramírez would be unavailable to play
> this weekend against the Yankees, who took control of the American
> League East race when they swept five games from the Sox in Fenway
> Park last month, and can clinch their ninth straight division title
> during a four-game series that opens tonight in Yankee Stadium.
>
> "As much as we don't want to hear it, rest is probably what he
> needs," Francona said.
>
> The Yankees reduced their magic number to clinch to six by beating the
> Devil Rays, 7-4, last night, and Sox second baseman Mark Loretta kept
> it from shrinking further by singling home the tying run in the eighth
> and the winning run in the ninth, with Mike Timlin inducing Ramon
> Hernandez to roll into a game-ending double play with the tying run at
> third for the save.
>
> "You can't run from guys, nor will we -- if we're going to win games,
> we need him, whether it's the seventh, eighth, or ninth," Francona
> said of turning to Timlin.
>
> In the ninth, Timlin gave up a leadoff double to Melvin Mora, leading
> Francona to gamble on an intentional walk to Miguel Tejada with one
> out , before Timlin got Hernandez to hit a ground ball to shortstop
> Alex Cora.
>
> "It's not fun," Francona said of putting the potential winning run on
> base. "The percentages are not in your favor."
>
> The odds of seeing Ramírez also seem greatly reduced after his meeting
> with Francona, which came at the manager's request. Since taking
> himself out of the last game of the Yankee series Aug. 21 with a sore
> hamstring, Ramírez has appeared in eight games, batting .091 (2 for
> 22). In the first four games of the Yankee series, he went 8 for 11
> with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, and 7 RBIs while walking seven times.
>
> Last night was the 14th game he has missed since then.
>
> "I don't know that that's going to happen," Francona said of shutting
> down Ramírez the rest of the way. "I do think it's a possibility. If
> he sits another week, we try to balance winning every game you can and
> using common sense. We just talked about it a little bit.
>
> "He said not only when he runs, but when he tries to get into his
> balance point hitting, it's when it's kind of, I shouldn't say it's
> grinding, but it's not feeling a lot better yet. In talking to Dr.
> Gill, the one thing he needs is rest, and if he plays, that's not
> rest. [Ramírez] was very open, and I was appreciative. He's been like
> that all year. We'll do the best we can, like we do with everybody."
>
> Because it is Ramírez, who has a history of citing hamstring injuries
> under dubious circumstances, questions have been raised about this
> latest injury, especially after a report in the Providence Journal
> during the Yankee series that Ramírez had to be talked into playing
> one game because he was miffed about a scorer's ruling. Ramírez, who
> does not speak with the Boston print media, has never responded to
> that allegation, but while on the West Coast last month, general
> manager Theo Epstein alluded to Ramírez's problem as a "legitimate
> injury."
>
> David Ortiz has defended Ramírez, saying his knee has been bothering
> him for some time, and on Wednesday night, another Sox veteran said he
> was convinced Ramírez was injured, that Ramírez had expressed
> frustration to him about his inability to play on the West Coast swing
> and his awareness of how much the team needed him.
>
> Third baseman Mike Lowell also had addressed the subject of Ramírez's
> health when he first went down with the injury .
>
> "Since this is my first year of playing with Manny, I don't know how
> things were dealt with," Lowell said at the time. "He's obviously a
> different personality and I have to give him the benefit of the doubt
> because we ran him out there every day, he played every day. So if he
> says he can't play, I've got to believe he can't play."
>
> Ramírez is batting .318 with 34 home runs and 101 RBIs. He is second
> in the AL in on-base percentage at .436 and fourth in slugging
> percentage at .612. Earlier this season, he had a career-best 27-game
> hitting streak.
>
> Without Ramírez in the lineup last night , Ortiz walked four times,
> including once to load the bases in the eighth, when the Sox rallied
> to tie the score on three singles. Ortiz fouled out to third with the
> bases loaded in the ninth, ending the series 0 for 10 with five walks.
> He is hitting just .167 (9 for 54) against the Orioles, his worst
> average against any team this season.
>
> Source: Gordon Edes / bostonglobe.com
>