## The Red Sox won yesterday, but somehow most of the story had to do with Bobby Valentine. The latest story element has to do with Carl Crawford.
Crawford has a bad elbow and -- here is the first quandry -- he is on a four-day program. What's that mean? He plays four days in a row and then has one day off. We think. Valentine says he knew about it but played Crawford six days in a row anyway, a mistake he says he won't make again. Crawford says he knows nothing about a four-game mandate. The medical says it was only a "suggestion." Crawford says he will need Tommy John surgery on his elbow; the Boston front office says he doesn't need surgery. Valentine said that Carl will "play thru the pain." Sure, it's not his elbow.
Guess who showed up in the Red Sox clubhouse? Why, it was former manager Terry Francona. Invited by Dustin Pedroia to sit down at his locker, Francona was soon surrounded by his former players and coaches. Which leads us to the 2nd quandry: what was that all about? It couldn't make Valentine happy to see that. Carl Crawford, who didn't get along with Francona, wasn't too pleased either. When he entered the clubhouse and saw Francona, he did an immediate about face.
In the 8th inning, Mark Teixeira hit a game-tying 2-run homer off his mortal enemy, Vincente Padilla. Because these two have quite a history, and Teixeira hits him pretty well, Valentine was asked why he left Padilla in there to face Tex. Ever the genius, Valentine responded, "Well, he's gotten him out more times than Teixeira has homered off him." If he continues to allow that matchup, those numbers might even out a little more.
The Sox beat the Yanks 8-6, and even Valentine had to admit, "We were good, but we were lucky." Granderson totally misplayed a fly ball in the ninth that was scored a triple, but they had to call it a hit since Grandy never touched it. I haven't seen a ball misplayed that badly since Melky Cabrera's first game in the majors against these same Red Sox back in 2005. Rubber game of the series tonight on ESPN. Maybe we'll find out what happened in the clubhouse with Francona.
## The Miami Marlins built a new stadium, designed to attract their heavily Cuban demographics. They went out and spent a fortune on free agents, expecting to get into the World Series and fill the new stadium every night. They hired a manager, Ozzie Guillen, who is more mouth than ability, expecting him to detract the focus of the media, after their "occasional" losses. None of this worked and they are dismantling the team after only four months. How wonderful for the fans - as few of them that there are.
## I really meant to write about this a week ago. One of my favorite personalities, Bob Ryan, is retiring after the Olympics. He wrote a sports column for the Boston Globe, beginning in 1969, covering mostly professional basketball, but he was well versed in all sports. He was a very good writer, opinionated and out-spoken, but always knowledgeable. He appeared on many sports programs on ESPN and I always got a kick out of his "I'm shocked! Shocked!" trademark. I will miss him.
## The American Beach Volleyball players, Kerry Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor, won their first match. Their "uniforms" were very, er, brief. If they win the gold, it will be interesting to see if their medals are stuffed into their bikini-bottoms instead of hung around their necks.
***THEY SAID IT***
--From Dwight Perry's column:
"Marylou Cunningham Belles, of Bethel, CT died July 13th, 2012, after giving cancer the finger for 27 years," began the obituary in the Massena (N.Y.) Daily Courier-Observer. "... She was also a lifelong NY Mets fan though surprisingly, that wasn't what killed her."
"U.S. Olympic beach volleyballer Kerri Walsh says she finds their bikinis empowering. So I'm not the only one." -- RJ Currie
"Bloody shame that baseball has been dropped from this year’s Olympics: Otherwise Chicago Cubs would have had a great chance to win as the world’s best amateur team." -- Janice Hough
"Hundreds of fans were refused entrance to the Olympic archery venue Friday because they'd purchased counterfeit tickets. Moral of the story: It pays to deal with straight-arrows" -- Dwight Perry
"Britain's royals will be out and about during the Olympics, with Prince Harry down to attend beach volleyball matches. Of course he will,There wasn't much chance the married prince would get that 'assignment.' " -- Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune (Thanks, Dwight)
"The Olympic opening ceremonies took place on Friday. Thw highlight occurred when Kenyan marathon runners were awarded the gold medals after organizers determined that it wasn't necessary to run the races. -- Brad Dickson
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"Olympics can inspire American kids to get active. Or it can inspire American kids to sit on the couch and watch the Olympics." -- Conan O'Brien
"The Olympics begin. The games symbolize world peace, understanding, and cooperation. Security will be tight because quite a few countries really don’t like each other." -- Alan Ray
"Sir Roger Bannister will be honored at the London Olympics. In Britain, some of the top distant runners are called "Sir." That's opposed to the U.S., where our top distance runners are called "Who?" -- Brad Dickson
"Scotland announced that it will legalize gay marriage. I don't know what's bigger news, that Scotland did that or that a country where guys wear plaid skirts didn't already have gay marriage." -- Jimmy Fallon
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