MANY RBI FOR MANNY

Coming into this game Manny was 2 for 11 with RISP and had not hit a homerun. He only had 4 RBI coming into this game. He aboslutely exploded against the D-Rays and knocked in all 6 of Boston's runs. Backed by Manny's bat and a fine performance by Matt Clement in his Fenway debut, the Red Sox cruised to a nice 6-2 victory.

Manny is obviously the Man of the Game. He was 2 for 3 with a 2 run homer and a Grand Slam, his 18th career Grand Slam. He is the active leader in Grand Slams and is 3rd all-time.

The Sox go for the sweep tommorrow.

Pedro helped the Mets beat the Marlins today. He got a no decision but struck out 9. He has struck out 30 batters and leads the majors in strikeouts.

The Yankees lost to the Orioles 7-6. New York has lost 4 of 5 but their savior Kevin Brown is slated to come off the DL Sunday. (Sarcasm) Baltimore looks pretty good this year and considering the trouble we had with them last year, they will play us very tough.

More Renovations to Fenway
So the Red Sox are going to add 2,500 more seats to Fenway Park within the next 3 years. Will you be able to afford any of them? Probably not. That's right, more $250 tickets for corporate guys to use to butter up potential clients and for John Kerry to cheer for Manny Ortez.

Okay, I'm glad the Red Sox finally made a commitment as to whether or not to stay at Fenway, and I think the renovations they've done to the ballpark are very nice and don't take away from the ambience of the park. However, what are fans like me supposed to do? I know, I'm being selfish, but I'm just a college student and there are plenty of other people out there who face financial difficulties going to games. You want to go to the game with your spouse and 2 kids? At least $80 for tickets unless you mind standing. For 4 hot dogs and 4 sodas, that's another $30. And I hope you live within walking distance of the ballpark, otherwise you'll have to pay $20+ for parking or stand shoulder to shoulder with strangers in a sweaty subway.

What would be my plan? How about playing at a modified Gillette Stadium for a year or so with a few games in the Dominican Republic and Japan? Then you could completely renovate Fenway. Replace every single 1934 seat with a seat from this century. Build an upper deck for people who aren't wealthy to enjoy the game. You can even build the ultimate lucrative stadium asset: luxury boxes. Hell, advance sales on luxury boxes alone would finance much of the project and with the demand for seats so astronomically high, the Sox could easily draw 50,000 fans on average. The Sox could still play in Fenway, make more money, compete with New York, and allow more fans to enjoy the team.