LA Angels at Boston
07/28/2008 - LA Angels (64-40) at Boston (61-45) 7:05 pm EDT BOSTON (Ticker) -- Manny Ramirez became the most proficient RBI
producer from the Dominican Republic in baseball history on
Sunday. Of course, all anyone wanted to talk about where his
new home might be. With Ramirez once again feeling unappreciated and possibly on
the trading block, the Boston Red Sox begin a pivotal three-game
set against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday. On Sunday, Ramirez made headlines - as he has countless times in
recent years - by saying he would waive his limited no-trade
clause if Boston could make a deal because he was "tired" of
them and the team is tired of him. Then, in his typical fashion, he showed his employer Sunday
night why a trade may not be in their best interest, going
3-for-5 with two RBI in a 9-2 win over the New York Yankees. "We will cross that bridge when we get there," Boston third
baseman Mike Lowell 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 every time he says something, he
goes 3-for-4. So maybe we should encourage him to say something
like that. But it is a weird situation and I'm glad I'm not the
one who has to make those decisions." The RBI pushed Ramirez into sole possession of 22nd on the
all-time RBI list with 1,669, breaking his previous tie with
Sammy Sosa as the most prolific RBI producer from the Dominican
Republic. While the Red Sox handle that tenuous situation, they must also
deal with the arrival of Anaheim, which owns the best record in
the majors. Boston would like nothing more than to avenge the
Angels' three-game home sweep of it coming out of the All-Star
break. To do so, they'll turn to Daisuke Matsuzaka (11-1, 2.63 ERA),
who has been the Red Sox's best pitcher of late, going 3-0 with
a 0.88 ERA over his last five starts. The righthander notched
his second win in as many outings in Tuesday's 4-2 victory at
Seattle, allowing two runs and five hits with six strikeouts
over 7 1/3 frames. Anaheim will counter with Jered Weaver (8-8, 4.08), who will
make his 21st start of the season on Monday, six days after
leaving his last outing after 77 pitches due to back tightness.
Over three frames, the righthander two runs and three hits in
Tuesday's 3-2 win over Cleveland, failing to pitch enough
innings to qualify for the win.
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