The Fenway Faithful again ovated their one-time sweetheart, after the Sox played a hilarious montage of Petey’s great moments with the team, set to the tune of Evita’s “You Must Love Me” as performed by Madonna. (Incidentally, don’t you feel like Madge and Senor Ponchado would get along like a house on fire? I do.) Where are you when we need you, YouTube??

And then, much to the delight of said Faithful, the Red Sox proceeded to score 8 runs off a hapless Martinez. Sox announcer Jerry Remy speculated that Pedro’s head wasn’t in the right place—and Pedro himself admitted that he was a tad emotional.

But Pedro refused to let his parade be rained upon (and for once, it was dry in the Fens), saying “It’s not disappointing at all. The reception I got, I will always remember that as one of the best moments of my life.”

Awww Petey. We must love you!And we must also love Lastings Milledge of the Mets, btw, who turned a can of corn into two Red Sox runs for the second time in as many nights. Lastings, you can Milledge our left field on as many opposing teams as you want.

One other note for you numerology fans. Boston has won 11 in a row for the first time in 11 years on the same night that Mark Loretta extended his hitting streak to 11 games. WoooOOOOoooooOOOooo! Freaky.

Also, for the record, I can’t stand this guy, even though I essentially agree with him. What is it with the Boston Globe sportswriters lately? They sound like the pompous-yet-clueless principle from some 80s TV show. Okay, FINE I won’t boo Pedro and I’m sorry I booed Johnny Damon (not really, I had my fingers crossed when I said that) and I really regret becoming addicted to caffeine pills—but I was just so….so…..so scared!

Lucky Ozzie Guillen. Now he’s getting some unsolicited advice from Dallas Maverick’s owner Mark Cuban.

In case you missed it, Guillen has been in hot water recently after calling Chicago Sun-Times columnist and ESPN talking head Jay Mariotti a piece of s— and a f—— fag.

Now Cuban is riding in on his white horse to defend the beleaguered manager. In the latest post on his personal blog, Cuban chastises the MSM for what he considers to be “tabloid journalism” when it comes to covering goofs like him, or dare I say, Ozzie.

Thats what I dont understand. If I shouldnt be the story, why are you making it the story ? Can you not come up with something better ? There are a million stories surrounding every game/series/season. How in the world can you not come up with something better ?

Im sure Ozzie Guillen is feeling the same way right about now.

he is probably thinking to himself…. I want to be left alone. I want to do my job. I want to win another championship. You wont leave me alone, i got mad. i made a stupid comment. i really didnt meant it as anything more than a baselevel derogatory comment, but in this PC world, we have to be incredibly careful what we say, which i recognize. So i apologized. next time i will come up with a better derogatory adjective that wont freak everyone out.

Ozzie, I recommend Jagoff. Its what im going to use from now on. Just call the people you dont like Jagoffs.

Its a word that we used to use in Pittsburgh when I was growing up. I didnt know what it meant then. Still dont. But it works extremely well because no one else does either.

C’mon, Mark, don’t be coy now. I know, you know, that we know, that you know what jagoff means.

And about that whole Marriotti-Guillen thing (read after the jump).

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What was the original name of Wrigley Field?

ANSWER: Weeghman Park

People give a lot of reasons why steroids are bad. It’s cheating. It’s dishonest. It’s bad for you. Steroids will give you back acne and can lead to cancer and shrunken balls and yak, yak, yak.

But I’ll give you one more reason steroids are bad: they’re killing my fantasy team.

Now, I know that some of the guys in my fantasy league will read this and chuckle, because it will seem like I’m looking for excuses, grasping at straws for a reason that my fantasy team is, yet AGAIN, mired at the bottom of the standings. But that’s not the case. Not entirely.

Steroids haven’t made my players ineffective. But they have made it harder for me to decide just what’s wrong with my players. Take Mark Teixeira, for example. I picked him with my first draft pick. It seemed at the time like an extremely safe choice. Last year Tex hit .301 with 43 HRs and 144 RBIs. The year before he hit .281 with 38 HRs and 112 RBIs. In other words, Teixeira is proven. He’s young. He’s healthy. He is a sure thing.

Except, so far this year, his numbers are down. We’re nearly at the midpoint of the season and currently he’s hitting .282 with 8 HRs and 44 RBIs. That projects to 17 HRs and 93 RBIs. And that’s fine, if he’s just some guy on my roster. But he’s not just some guy. He’s my first pick. My big gun. Every team needs a big gun. An Albert Pujols or Manny Ramirez or Alex Rodriguez. Somebody to drive in buckets and buckets of runs. Mine was supposed to be Teixiera.

So what’s wrong with Tex? In the past I would always weigh several factors. Is it just a slump? Is he playing through an injury? Is he playing in a different league or a different park? But now there’s one more thing to consider. Now that we know about steroids and, more importantly, now that we have steroid testing, I have to ask myself: has Tex gone off the juice?

Of course, there’s no way to know. If he was playing through an injury, I’d probably hang on to him, figuring he’d heal eventually. If it was just a slump, I’d hang on to him, figuring the law of averages would kick in and he’d go on a tear eventually. But if it’s steroids – or, more accurately, a lack of roids – that’s the problem…then what? You trade him, that’s what. But how can I know?

I’m sure I’m not the only manager in my league with this dilemma. But of all the disappointing players this year so far, has any been more disappointing than Tex?

The New York Times has a rather fawning article today about Pedro Martinez’s return to Fenway with the Mets this week.

Even though Martínez spurned the Red Sox, at least he spurned them for another team that hates the Yankees. No matter what happened in the 1986 World Series, the Mets and the Red Sox are related in some distant way, bound by a common enemy. “I hope the people here are nice to him,” Ortiz said recently. “I really think they will be.”

I certainly wished for as much in my last Metro column. Still, I hope my boys in red can hand him an L tomorrow night.

Cue music.

The Washington Nationals are looking more and more like they will trade Alfonso Soriano sometime before the trade deadline. From Today’s Wapo:

Nationals scouting director Dana Brown and player personnel director Bob Boone have both seen New York Yankees Class AA affiliate Trenton over the past two weeks, an indication of the Nationals’ hope that the Yankees might eventually be willing to deal hard-throwing right-hander Philip Hughes as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. Hughes, the youngest player in the Class AA Eastern League at 20, is 4-3 with a 3.18 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings, and some Nationals executives believe he’s no worse than a No. 3 starter in the majors, “and he could be a [No.] 1,” one executive said.

Not every player can handle the stress of playing in New York, but Soriano thrived in pinstripes, hitting .290, 38 HRs and 91 RBIs in 2003, the last last of his five seasons in the big apple. Of course, this time around, Soriano would be playing the outfield instead of manning second base. And if you’re a Yankees fan who believes that defense wins championships, the idea of Soriano chasing fly balls in left probably makes you a little nervous. Then again, the Yanks won with Soriano dropping balls at second, so logic would suggest that they can win with him dropping them in left, too.

Somebody please explain this to me:

Jered Weaver went 4-0 with an 1.37 ERA in four games for the Angels. So what do the Angels do? They send him to the minors, choosing instead to keep his staggeringly inconsistent brother Jeff in the starting rotation. Rumor is that Jeff is on the trading block, so maybe the Angels are just trying to prevent his stock from dropping, which it would almost certainly do if he were shifted to the bullpen. But it’s hard to give the fans and the team the impression that management is committed to winning when you aren’t willing to keep the team’s best pitcher on the team.

Lastings Milledge is hitting .271 with 2 HR and 11 RBIs in 19 games. What’s more, he’s a fantastic outfielder and has infused the Mets clubhouse with an energy and excitement that it was previously lacking. So what are the Mets doing? They’re going to send him back to the minors as soon as Cliff “Over the Hill” Floyd comes off the DL. Floyd used to be a for real hitter, but is currently batting .238 with 19 RBIs in 51 games. Plus he’s a lousy fielder and quite possibly the slowest guy in baseball, next to Sal Fasano.

Seriously, what are these GMs thinking?

The Washington Post is reporting that the Baltimore Orioles may be interested in trading Miguel Tejada if the team doesn’t improve it’s standing in the AL East in the next few weeks (it won’t).

BALTIMORE, June 22 — Though it was reported in several Los Angeles area newspapers that the Angels could have an interest in Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada, the two teams have not had any talks recently, according to an Orioles source. That may change, however, if the Orioles continue to slide in the standings.

The source did not deny the team would listen to offers for the superstar shortstop if Baltimore plays poorly in the weeks leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.

If the Orioles put Tejada on the trading block, there likely would be no shortage of suitors. The Angels, who have been looking for a power bat, seem like a perfect fit since they have a surplus of young talent in their minor league system. The Tigers or White Sox could also be possibilities.

Tejada, who entered Thursday’s game hitting .321 with 16 home runs, is not expected to come cheap. . . .

The Angels have got to be the scariest last place team in baseball. Can you picture them in 2007 with Tejada and Vladimir Guerero knocking in runs, Chone Figgins setting the table, Colon and Jered Weaver leading the rotation and K-Rod closing out games? They’d have some big-time names and be a real threat to make a worst-to-first run.
On the other hand, if the White Sox or Tigers end up with Tejada, they’d be pretty good RIGHT NOW.

20 was the magic number for the White Sox. That’s how many runs they scored last night against the Cardinals. That’s how many games over .500 they now sit.

The Sox had 24 hits, 20 runs, 0 errors and 4 homers (including 2 by Joe Crede). Crede had a big night, with four hits in five at bats and three runs scored. And his team won by 14 runs. Good for him. Good for them.

Then there’s the Philadelphia Phillies, who played the Yankees last night and were led by Ryan Howard’s 7 RBIs. That’s right, SEVEN. Of course, Howard plays for the pitching -starved Phillies, so his big night was eventually squandered by Arthur Rhodes and the Phils bullpen.

Howard, like Crede, also hit two homers. One of them traveled 461 feet and was the first ball to ever hit off the third deck in right field at Citizen’s Bank Park.
Howard is now hitting .298 with 25 homers, 66 RBIs, and an OBP of .365. He would be a legit MVP candidate if he didn’t play for the Phillies, who are now 9.5 games behind the Mets in the NL East. But he does play for the Phillies. So he’s screwed.

With all that run-scoring in Chicago, I figured it was time for my very own Trivia Time!
What was the most runs scored by a team in a regular season game?

ANSWER: 29, by the White Sox and Tigers.