The recent Red Sox lineup shuffle is a window into the psyche and personality of a baseball player. It can be a very sensitive topic. In a competitive and transparent business, what the guys can’t say or reveal in an interview, is plain to see otherwise in their performance on the field. Despite the brave faces, some players have the makeup for the bullseye expectation of the leadoff spot, and others like Ellsbury are comfortable in a more unassuming part of the lineup. Batting fifth & sixth, Papi doesn’t seem to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, just a freer bat. Pedroia was perhaps a Most Valuable sur(P)prise at #2, but hitting #1 isn’t quite the right fit.

All kidding aside, it’s great to have Big Papi back. Whew! The nattering nabobs of negativity would have shipped him off to the Nationals weeks ago, if only to keep the Nation conversation moving along to the next commercial break. Winning breeds a certain boorishness mostly found in New York, but now increasingly on display in and around Boston, and in particular Fenway Park. Fans, too, walk a fine line between “I hope we win” & “they better win”. It’s the wanting and desiring that should continue to define the Red Sox in this new era of championships, not entitlement and expectation.

…every time the Yankees hit Jason Bay with a beanball it decreases their chances of signing him as a free agent in the off-season, good job Joba!…Fenway Park is much ritzier but quieter during games, will they have to pipe in musical applause at some point?…This weekend in Philadelphia is the World Series that almost was in 2008 :-(…PLEASE, no more potentially season-ending headfirst slides from Ellsbury, Lowell, Big Papi, etc….ahem, Yankees? Who’s your Daddy, now? P.S. In the booth, Dennis “You’re so Vain” Eckersley thinks every reference from Don Orsillo is about him, still love the hair, though…

Of all of the great players from the recent Red Sox championship teams, David Ortiz was the biggest star. Big Papi was the most important player, and certainly the most popular and iconic figure. He is the imbodiment of the glory from the spectacular and exorcising 2004 season, and the pride from the reaffirming and reassuring 2007 victory. Big Papi, more than any other Red Sox player, reversed the curse, and finally made winners of millions of New England baseball fans. Despite all of this, the end may be near for David Ortiz in the form of a trade or a demotion. No Red Sox fan wants to see him go, but the boo’s won’t stop either.

It says here that if Jacoby Ellsbury has a great season, the Red Sox will manage to win their third World Series in the last five years. What a run-dynasty-that would be. At the quarter pole of the 2009 season, the Red Sox are a deep and talented team at all positions-plenty of pitching and plenty of hitting. There is no superstar, though, which is why it may be necessary for Ellsbury to have a breakout year. Get on base often, steal often, score often and hit a few lead-off home runs. His steal of home against the Yankees, and twenty-two game hitting streak were the preview. With matinee looks to boot (and Scott Boras as an agent), this should be his year.

A year ago Curt Schilling called-out Kobe Bryant after observing him courtside in Boston during the NBA Finals. It was also evident watching Kobe on television, he was overboard-nasty, petulant and cruel. That Kobe didn’t make another appearance during the Finals, and this year his public image seems permanently changed. A lot of endorsement money may have something to do with this. Bryant already lost this once through a bad scandal several years ago-complete with a Clemens-esque lip-smacking public explanation that followed, but now Spike Lee has produced for ESPN, a somewhat fawning profile of the best-and in a way the worst-NBA player of his generation.

Why is the most promising young executive in the Red Sox organization leaving? Mike Dee, the COO and #2 under CEO Larry Lucchino should be staying, to one day take over for Lucchino who is no spring chicken ( and has nothing left to prove). Theo is important, but the Red Sox, just like the Yankees, are a business first-specifically an entertainment product-and the business side of their ledger wags the dog. 86 years without a World Series victory was largely due to cheap, lunkheaded ownership and a few heartbreaking losses. The current owners are a savvy, powerful, and experienced team. Hopefully, they are not planning on selling anytime soon-hence Dee’s departure. Here’s hoping their wealthy, restless and recently randy owner settles down with a young bride and sticks around for a few more Championships.

As curses go, the Red Sox had a pretty good run with the 86-year Curse of the Bambino. Botox-resistant insecurity is etched into the psyche of any Boston fan over the age of forty. Turnabout would be just, if not fair play. True, the Sox tried to sign Alex Rodriguez and were willing to bust their thrifty ways to do so, but alas, the Yankees landed him and recently inked several more obscene contracts. The new curse against the Yankees comes from the welter of financial obscenity punctuated this Spring with a $1.5 Billion new stadium-a sea anchor of debt. A-Rod a Yankee? Curses!

The Sox are set to music, now more than ever at Fenway Park. In addition to the plate-arrival tunes for each batter, songs for certain pitchers, and certain game situations; there is piped-in music to segue between innings and other moments of the game where there is apparently not enough ambient noise. All part of the entertainment product! Fans become more subdued though, with so much to take in and listen too-cheering and heckling have become a bit of an afterthought. Booooooo!

The dirty little secret regarding all those empty Yankee Stadium luxury seats, is that they are actually paid for, by big business and individual fat cats, but, no one in a recession wants to be caught dead sitting in them! Only in New York!! Yes, it’s just-not-smart corporate career climbing, backstabbing, etc. to be sitting in the Bob Uecker seats while the non-Tarp riff raff sit above you just a battery-throw away.