The Boston Red Sox have now lost 10 of their last 12 road games, and the road doesn’t get much easier as they travel to Safeco Field to take on the lowly Seattle Mariners. Granted, Seattle has the worst record in the AL, but the way the Red Sox have been playing, more specifically on the road, it won’t be a surprise if Seattle musters 2 of the 3 games.

Dominant at home(36-11) and atrocious on the road(21-32), it sums up the Sox’ season thus far. The Los Angeles Angels are 5-1 against the Red Sox this year, easily the only team that has dominated the Red Sox this year. Last night the Angles capped off the sweep with a 5-3 victory. Casey Kotchman’s two-run double off Manny Delcarmen put the Angles up for good. In comes Francisco Rodriguez, notching his 40th save of the year(fastest to reach 40 saves), see ya, ball-game.

The offense has been on tilt recently. Michael Silverman of the Boston Globe points out that the Red Sox were out-hit 30-19 over the weekend, with 7 of those 19 hits coming from Dustin Pedroia.

Combine the mediocrity of the offense with the untidy ability of the bullpen to get outs…could the “Dog Days of Summer” be upon us?

Not if David Ortiz has something to do with it.

A bright spot for the Sox is Ortiz will be returning this week — Friday is the most likely day for a return. Papi looked good for Pawtucket over the weekend, homering in three straight games. Let’s face it, the Red Sox are a completely different team without Ortiz.

The Red Sox players haven’t been able to come up with those clutch hits to put their team on top, David Ortiz is the most clutch player in baseball. Ortiz provides protection for Manny Ramirez. Ortiz brings a glow to the Sox’ clubhouse.

The Sox need Ortiz, and they need him badly.

The Sox now stand 1.5 games back from the Rays. The Yankees, injuries and all, are starting to creep up from third-place. They are just 4.5 games back of the Rays for first place in the wild AL East.

The Sox need to make a stand tonight.

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In other news, Hall of Famer and current Red Sox analyst, Dennis Eckersley, finally spoke out against the antics of Manny Ramirez.

“It’s upsetting to me, I mean, as an ex-player, and watching this from afar. You know, I’ve had guys who used to talk about their contracts all the time….Rickey Henderson, and it was bothersome. I know even when I was there. And now I’m not there. I don’t know the temperature of what’s happening over there. But I’ve watched what’s been going down, and nobody, at home, I mean their’s people scuffling not making very much money. This guy’s dropping a $20 million bomb like “it’s no big deal, I’m in the driver’s seat”, this and that…that’s bothersome, you know, to me. To watch this go on like that with Manny. I respect the guy, he’s one of the greatest players ever, but this is tiring, to me. I mean, the players put up with it because the have to. I don’t have to. I can come on this show and tell you, I don’t like it. And I don’t like the way Manny plays this game. You know, not so much the way he “plays” it, but the way he’s playing this act with his contract. I don’t want to hear about it, to be honest with you. He’s making a lot of money. He’s been making a lot of money a long, long, time, for 8 years. And all of a sudden he starts chirping about the last year, because all of a sudden it’s “money time” again. So, that’s about all I can say about that right now because I don’t want to go too far.”

It’s nice to see somebody step up and speak the truth. Especially coming from a Hall of Famer, a class act, a guy everyone respects.

Eck’s rant occurred before Manny’s tumultuous defensive fart, in which he crawled and rolled onto the ball out in left field. Terry Francona wasn’t smiling, management wasn’t smiling, the players sure weren’t smiling. Who was smiling? Manny Ramirez.