Has Manny been benched or suspended? Ramirez is not in the lineup tonight. Both Grady and Theo say Ramirez is not being punished; rather having him on the bench "gives [the Sox] the best chance to win." Do they think we are stupid or are they going with the hot hands from yesterday?

Ramirez met with Enrique Wilson (not Willie Randolph (who denied the initial stories)) last Saturday night and then missed an 11am doctor's appointment Sunday morning. Manny took BP with the team in Philadelphia, but said several times during the game he didn't feel up to pinch-hitting. Theo, while offering no comment on Manny, said: "We really appreciate the way Johnny Damon sucked it up and got in the lineup. That's the kind of effort we need..." Karen Guregian said Manny needs to clear the air. ... Out of town coverage: New York Post, New York Daily News, Newsday and Toronto Star. The Daily News quotes Wilson extensively.

Scott Sauerbeck is supposed to get lefties out. But on Monday, he walked both Bobby Abreu (.730 OPS v LHP/.955 v RHP) and Jim Thome (.735 v LHP/1.025 v RHP); in 17 appearances with Boston, Sauerbeck has allowed 24 baserunners in 9.1 innings. It's a bad sign that he was Grady's first choice out of the pen yesterday. ... Call-ups Bill Haselman, Brandon Lyon, Casey Fossum and Todd Jones should be in Chicago. Other players will arrive once Pawtucket's postseason ends. ... "Confessions of a Random Ballplayer" ... "As Pedro's World Turns" ... Anyone who catches a home run ball and throws it back is a moron.

On this date two years ago, Carl Everett ended Mike Mussina's bid for a perfect game with a 2-out, 2-strike, 9th-inning single. And on September 2, 1996, Mike Greenwell drove in all nine runs in Boston's 10-inning, 9-8 win over the Mariners. No other player has ever driven in nine or more runs for his team's total score.

Off the Diamond: Because of the US's use of chemical weapons (depleted-uranium) in Iraq, radiation levels in parts of Baghdad have been measured at 1,000-1,900 times higher than normal. ... The Bush Administration has begun hiring Saddam Hussein's former security forces to restore order in Iraq. These are the same murderers Bush vowed to get rid of to save the Iraqi people. These men have also reopened Iraq's most notorious prison, Abu Ghraib, and are quickly filling it with Iraqis seized from their homes or plucked off the street. Without a hint of irony, the Washington Post calls the arrangement an unusual compromise.