G103: Red Sox 6, Twins 2

Just when I'm starting to warm up to David Wells (who posted a nice 7-7-2-0-3 line last night and retired 13 batters at one point), actually looking forward to his starts, he has to go and remind me what an annoying blowhard he is. Bottoms up, Orson!

Wells after the game:

I didn't know until we hit in the bottom of the inning and there's no Manny. The guy's messing with my cake. I want to try to get a ring, man. If he's not out there, that creates a problem. And I don't know the situation. Whatever it is, he better have a great excuse because we need Manny Ramirez in the lineup. I don't care what's going on. This team needs him.

If he's going to come out and say he needs another day off, that's not going to sit well with a lot of guys. There's no question. ... It's selfish for him not to step up. Listen, we've got a couple guys hurt. We need you in there. His impact in that is tremendous. The [opposing] pitchers are going, 'Oh boy. What do we throw this guy?' He's hitting everything. For Manny not to step up, I think that was selfish on his part. ... He's a great guy. I mean the guys like him, very fun in the clubhouse. I think the world of him. But what he's doing is starting to reflect on these guys and he's going to get a lot of negative feedback if he continues to do what he's doing.

So, David, you admit right off the bat that you "don't know the situation". So why do you have to keep running your big mouth? And this comes only a few days after Francona apologized to Lou Piniella for Wells's comments about the Rays manager. Plus, Tito told Wells through the media to cut the crap. ... By the way, you are in the dugout, where the lineup card is, waiting to take the field; presumably, you look at your fielders from the mound; how don't you know that Manny is not in left field in the top of the first?

I was hoping to see Manny Delcarmen in the ninth inning of one of the last two games. On Friday, Boston led 8-3, and last night the Sox were up 6-2. Why not let the kid debut at home with a decent lead rather than trotting out Myers, Schilling and Bradford yet again?