Stay

Like my colleague, I spent the afternoon refreshing website after website in search of some news, any news regarding the Sox' trade deadline activities with a strong sense of ambivalence. While I believe that the Sox won't be able to pitch well enough down the stretch to be a real contender, none of the deals floated around gave me any warm, fuzzy feelings. I didn't want to see Mike Lowell go anywhere, even as his recent 2nd-half stats stare uncomfortably from the page - and the silly pick he just made against Andy Marte reinforces that emotion. I wanted no part of Julio Lugo in a Sox uniform, and Kip Wells smacked of nothing as much as desperation. Even the reported Andruw Jones deal seemed to cost too much, if the reports that it would have cost Lester and Hansen are to be believed.

So I sit here now, watching David Wells get battered by the Indians, scratching my head to figure out how I feel. I think that the Sox just became the 2nd-best team in the division, but I'm sure that I didn't want to see any of their chips traded in on the players that were reportedly available. Jason Varitek just left tonight's game with a leg injury, right after the announcement that Trot Nixon's been placed on the 15-day DL. (Though the freaking bomb that Wily Mo Pena just hit salves that pain for a moment.) Neither of those things portend anything good, even as Nixon's posting his worst power numbers in years and Varitek's defined mediocre for most of the season. Y'see - I can't make up my mind one way or the other.

Roll 'em out, hitch 'em up, and play the next 59 games, I guess. Me, I'm gonna sit here with a bemused look of my face, dumb as ever, and try to figure out what the hell I'm talking about.