Mike Cameron Traded To Marlins For Manager Jack McKeon's Used Diaper

Well the Boston Red Sox have officially gotten rid of Mike Cameron (I wish I could say the same about J.D. Drew or John Lackey but I digress).

Somehow the Florida Marlins deemed Cammy worthy of a player to be named later or cash considerations. Boston will also pay $3.0 of the $3.5 million dollars remaining on Cameron's contract and for that, Florida will throw in a couple of manager Jack McKeon's game-used depends diapers (cause you know, he's old).

Cameron is 38 and he was designated for assignment by the Red Sox on June 30. He appeared in 33 games this season, batting .149 with three homers, two doubles, nine RBIs, nine runs and eight walks.

The former Gold Glover and veteran outfielder was signed by the Red Sox on Dec. 16, 2009. He spent the majority of last season with a groin/hernia injury and needed season-ending surgery last September.

He is a .249 career hitter with 272 home runs, 950 RBIs and 296 stolen bases. The Marlins will be his eighth team and it sounds like he'll get some playing time since Chris Coghlan has fallen off a cliff and Dewayne Wise is currently playing center field.

If Cameron succeeds at all, it's further proof that the National League is a joke overall and any stiff that fails in the American League can extend his career by going to the NL. Something to keep in mind while we never have to think about this bum again.

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Is it time for the All-Star break yet?

Yikes, this is getting ugly. With the Triple A lineups the Red Sox are forced to trot out each night, they have no chance against anyone, particularly a good team like the Rays. Boston's hand is forced too because they don't really have many trade chips and not to mention there have so many needs (middle of the lineup bat, relievers) to fill.

Last night, Tampa Bay (51-33) swept the Sox (49-36) 6-4 at Tropicana Field as David Price became the first 12-game winner in the AL (probably solidifying that he'll start the All-Star game next week).

Price (12-4) went 7.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts.

Tim Wakefield fell to 3-7, lasting 5.2 innings but allowing six earned runs on four hits with six walks and three strikeouts.

Mercifully the Red Sox have an off-day today and then a three-game series in Toronto before they can regroup and hopefully return somebody next week when they start back up.

This was actually a game that Boston deserved to win but unfortunately they got in way too big a hole early. The Rays went up 2-0 in the fourth on Evan Longoria's solo homer and B.J. Upton's infield single. Tampa added three more in the fifth: Kelly Shoppach scored on a passed ball, Carlos Pena had an RBI single and a run scored on Sean Rodriguez's groundout.

David Ortiz started the ill-fated Sox comeback with an RBI double in the sixth. Carl Crawford answered with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth which turned out to be the deciding run.

Mike Cameron (3 hits) hit a solo homer in the seventh then a sacrifice fly in the ninth. That wacky Joe Maddon even had Matt Garza close out the Sox (since Rafael Soriano had worked four games in a row) and he nearly gave it away as Darnell McDonald (3 hits) hit an RBI double and Ortiz walked before Kevin Youkilis flew out to center to end it.

The Red Sox promise to make this summer slightly more memorable

While it's not exactly time for a rolling rally and a ring ceremony quite yet, I will admit that the Boston Red Sox are starting to play some baseball.

After a pathetic April, they wrapped up an 18-11 May with an 8-1 win over the Royals yesterday afternoon at Fenway.

Jon Lester (6-2) won his sixth straight start and David Ortiz continued his torrid stretch with his 10th home run of the month. It added up to only a split with Kansas City (21-30) but after losing the first two games, what can you do?

It shows how good Lester has become when he goes seven innings, allowing one run on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts and right away people say, well he didn't have his best stuff. Is it too early to start the Cy Young campaign? Not only is Lester the best left-handed pitcher in MLB, he might be the AL's best (Justin Verlander, C.C. Sabathia being his biggest competition).

And just as we were too quick to bury the Sox (29-23), we also shouldn't have been dancing on Ortiz's grave so fast. Back in his old No. 3 spot, he is crushing the ball. He had a sacrifice fly in the third to tie it and then a two-run bomb to center to put Boston up 4-1.

Mike Cameron (2 hits, 2 RBIs, 3 runs) and Marco Scutaro (3 hits, 2 RBIs) tacked on an RBI double and RBI single respectively in the sixth before Jason Varitek (2 hits, 2 runs) hit his seventh homer, a solo shot, in the eighth.

With the calendar turning to June tomorrow, Boston's schedule takes an easy turn with the AL West leading A's coming to town, followed by trips to Baltimore and Cleveland.

Nobody except pink hats and old people are really following the Sox yet, since the Celtics are in the NBA Finals, but once they're done, we might actually have a baseball team to devote way too much time to this season.

Welcome back baseball

Like always, the baseball offseason flew by and before we knew it, Opening Day (or Night) was here.

Last night, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees opened the 2010 MLB season with a thrilling 9-7 comeback win by the Sox at Fenway Park.

Since the Sox only made one great move, signing Jon Lackey, and didn't resign Jason Bay, I came into this season with too many questions surrounding their shaky lineup.

For one night at least, the new trio of shortstop Marco Scutaro (2 hits, run, RBI, walk), center fielder Mike Cameron (2 hits, run, walk) and third baseman Adrian Beltre (1 hit, 2 RBIs) proved that they know how to do more than just play defense. However, if I hear the words run prevention one more time, I might puke up a couple Fenway franks.

With Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia on the mound, a pitcher's duel appeared likely but in reality, how many times does that happen with these two teams?

Beckett signed a four-year extension today but he didn't look anything like a guy that deserved that last night as he lasted only 4.2 innings, giving up five earned runs on eight hits with three walks and a strikeout. He had no feel for his off-speed pitches, so the World Series champs just sat on his fastball and teed off.

Sabathia looked much better, cruising into the fifth inning with a 5-1 lead and sixth up 5-2 but he couldn't hold it. He went 5.1 innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Neither ace earned a decision.

In the second inning, Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson opened the scoring with back-to-back homers in the second off Beckett. Posada's was a rocket off Pesky's Pole in right and Granderson crushed one to deep right center.

In the bottom of the second, after a double by Kevin Youkilis (3 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBIs), who moved to third on a groundout by David Ortiz (get used to that), Beltre drove in Youk with a deep sacrifice fly to center (that Granderson made a nice leaping catch on). It was 2-1 Yankees (0-1).

New York scored three more in the fourth as Brett Gardner (2 hits) knocked in Robinson Cano with an RBI single. Derek Jeter singled in Nick Swisher then the Bombers successfully pulled off a double steal with Gardner stealing home and Jeter stealing second, 5-1 Yanks.

Scutaro's RBI single in the fifth cut it to 5-2 Yankees and Youk's two-run triple in the sixth (helped out by Swisher's terrible route to the ball) made it a one-run game (5-4 New York). Beltre tied it with an RBI single later in the inning that scored Youk.

After Beckett departed, Scott Schoeneweis pitched a scoreless inning but Ramon Ramirez gave up two runs to the Yankees in the seventh. Mark Teixeira scored on a Robinson Cano groundout and Posada's RBI single made it 7-5.

Surprisingly, the Red Sox (1-0) offense kept rallying and Dustin Pedroia tied it with a two-run bomb over the Monster in the seventh off Chan Ho Park. Youk scored later in the seventh on a passed ball and Boston added an insurance run in the eighth with a Pedroia single scoring Cameron.

Boston's top three relievers all did their jobs as Hideki Okajima pitched a scoreless seventh (with a hit and a walk), Daniel Bard, the closer in waiting, pitched a scoreless eighth (with a walk) and Jonathan Papelbon looked nothing like the closer that imploded against the Angels in game 3 of the playoffs last October, getting three outs for his first save of the 2010 season.

With the usual pomp and circumstance of Opening Day (for the first time ever starting at night) and then multiplied times ten since it was the Yankees and a nationally-televised ESPN Sunday Night game, it was nice to see the Sox remember there was baseball to be played.

The teams have today off before getting back at it tomorrow night with A.J. Burnett vs. Jon Lester. The summer temperatures will stick around for a few more days but hopefully the D-list celebs and frauds will be less of a presence tomorrow night at Fenway.