“Everyone in the clubhouse knows the names. Joba Chamberlain (twice), Felix Hernandez (twice), Edinson Volquez, Justin Verlander—pitchers that Manny Ramirez didn’t feel quite right to face, be it a knee, a hamstring, his contract or the pitcher’s velocity, and those he left for someone else in the Red Sox “family” to face.”

“Oh, we all hear the analysis of how much the Red Sox need him. That is, if he doesn’t bag it, which he was willing to do until John Henry and Tom Werner joined with Theo Epstein and Terry Francona on Friday, enraged at him for skipping Chamberlain, and forced him to take an MRI for the knee affliction known as Felix-Joba-itis.”