Days after the Providence Journal’s Sean McAdam suggested that Manny Ramirez wanted to take himself out of the lineup over a dispute with the official scorer, the Boston Herald’s Tony Massarotti reported that David Ortiz visted Mass. General during last weekend’s series against the Yankees, but played in all 5 games nonetheless.

The Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy is almost beside himself with hero worship.

His repeated references to being “stressed” surprised those of us who see him on a semi-regular basis. No Sox player carries himself with more joy or appears more relaxed than David Ortiz. It’s hard to imagine him feeling any pressure. He delivers almost every day and we never think of him as a guy who smashes helmets and/or takes the game home with him. But he acknowledged the Yankee series got to him on the same level that tortures a lot of Sox fans.

And the legend grows. Now the Nation has even more reason to love Big Papi. He leads the majors in home runs, RBIs, and good will. Turns out he cares as much as you care. He put himself in the damn hospital he cares so much.

Or maybe he just ate something bad. It’s happened to me.

Sighing that “Maybe (Coco Crisp) really is the worst centerfielder in the league,”, ‘Feeding The Monster”s Seth Mnookin describes a particularly embarrassing moment from Boston’s 6-0 loss to the Angels last night.

In the bottom of the fifth, with Schilling dealing and Yuniesky Betancourt on first, Willie Bloomquist hit what should have been a bloop single into center field¦except Coco decided he was going to be a hero and bellyflopped about ten feet short of the ball, allowing Betancourt to score and giftwrapping a triple for Bloomquist. The last time a person made that kind of decision ” needlessly diving for a ball when the benefit of a catch would be far outweighed by the danger of letting the ball get by you ” Adam Stern ended up with a highlight reel, along with a stern lecture. (I™ll be here all week, folks.)

I think we’re all relieved to know that Steely Dan have bigger fish to fry than Owen Wilson.

I’m sure there’s an effective way to pitch to Ryan Howard with the bases loaded — an intentional pass, perhaps? Oliver Perez, making his Mets debut, opted for Meatball City, and Howard hit the ball so hard, even Bill Giles didn’t think he was being helpful. Philadelphia is clinging to a 5-4 lead, with Carlos Delgado’s 2-run HR in the last of the 6th narrowing the gap.

ESPN’s Buster Olney points out “the breakdowns of Francisco Liriano and Brad Radke have made Johan Santana’s starts almost must-win affairs for the Twins, and every time, he seems to win.” He’s got some margin for error early tonight at the Cell, as Minnesota’s knocked out Jose Contreras (2.2 IP, 7 hits, 5 earned runs) as the Twins lead the White Sox, 5-1 in the fourth.