Bad News Comes in Threes - Sox Lose, Ortiz to DL (Maybe Longer), Bye-Bye Hazel Mae

Hideki Okajima couldn't bare to watch his disastrous eight inning either. (AP Photo)

Things were looking good for the Red Sox last night as Manny hit number 502 (another opposite field job), and the Red Sox rallied to a 3-2 lead over the O's. However right after Alex Cora grounded into that double play in the top of the eight with ducks on the pond I got a pretty bad feeling. And to prove my feeling right, Hideki Okajima came into the game, and for all intents and purposes, blew the game.

Okajima went 0.2 IP giving up 4 ER and a BB with no K's. This is the second outing in a row now that Wakefield has pitched very effectively in but didn't pick up the win. Expecting to sweep a four game set on the road shouldn't be expected, but losing in this fashion certainly took some wind out of the sails, and was a little tougher to take. And this by far, isn't even the worst of it for the Red Sox and their fans.

David Ortiz and his hand injury just took a turn for the worst as it's now revealed by Terry Francona that Big Papi has a partially torn tendon in his left wrist. Surgery apparently is a very likely possibility and this just isn't too good news for Red Sox Nation. All I have to say is our bats will get A LOT weaker without Papi in the lineup, however we'll now probably have the best defensive outfield in MLB with Jacoby, Coco, and Drew. Thank God Theo didn't pull the trigger on getting rid of Coco in Spring Training or earlier in the year. Papi may still come back, but I just have a bad feeling about this one. More to come later.

To top off the bad news train, it's been announced that Red Sox fan favorite and heart throb, Hazel Mae, will be leaving NESN at the end of the month. Now this is truly sad news. Hazel's been with NESN for four years and seen two Red Sox World Series championships in her time in Boston. Does this mean the Red Sox and their fans are losing their muse? Most likely not, but it is sad news for the nation, and I'm sure my friend Adam is in some of the most hard mourning he's been through in awhile.

All I have to say is that Heidi Watney (pictured above) has some pretty big shoes to fill. Who know knows, maybe there's some scandelrific story behind all this with Heidi pushing Hazel out over the love of Tom Caron. Hmmmmm....I smell NESN original movie!

Comments

[Sean a.k.a Shizz]

I think it may be time for Junior Seau to call Mike Piazza. He'd be a perfect fit (along with Sean Casey) to fill in for Ortiz. The other option that COULD be a plus to David being out (if it is one) is that you can give Youk/Manny a blow in the field and put them in at DH a bit more.

[Derek Hixon]

This may be a little bit of over simplification, but the answer may be in AAA in Brandon Moss as another fill-in/OF help.

[Melissa]

redsox.com says that they will probably call Moss up and utilize Crisp, Jacoby, Drew more.Which that is a pretty damn good outfield with those 3 and Manny being a DH every few days.If and that's a big IF, nobody else gets hurt, we should be OK, even though taking Ortiz's bat out of the line up is going to hurt us, he has been hitting better before he got hurt.

Now Hazel leaving NESN sucks!!!!I love Hazel, she's a very good sports commentator. She will be missed.

And to Hideki, WTF!!!!!

[Sean a.k.a Shizz]

Sox just brought up Chris Carter (who we got in the Wily Mo deal), who is all bat, no defense. I have heard great things about this guy's swing, hopefully he can provide a spark.

[RationalSoxFan]

I was surprised when I heard Carter was the guy. But, it makes sense. They have 4 outfielders, Brandon Moss would have made it 5. That's too much, wheras Carter is nothing more than a big bat - perfect!

I do hope they use Manny at DH more often and add speed to the outfield. That would be exciting.

[Derek Hixon]

Wow, I'm really suprised about Chris Carter being called up. I guess they wanted more pinch-hitter pop then everyday hitter/player. This way Brandon Moss can still get his AB's in AAA, and the Sox semi/sorta/not-really make up for the loss of Papi.

Again though, our outfield should be pretty fun to watch, and if we can get on base the speed will be something us Sox fans aren't used to seeing.