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Amidst trade speculation, Red Sox host Angels

Jul 28, 2008 - 1:18 PM LA Angels (64-40) at Boston (61-45) 7:05 pm EDT

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Manny Ramirez became the most proficient RBI producer from the Dominican Republic in baseball history on Sunday. Of course, all anyone wanted to talk about where his new home might be.

With Ramirez once again feeling unappreciated and possibly on the trading block, the Boston Red Sox begin a pivotal three-game set against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Monday.

On Sunday, Ramirez made headlines - as he has countless times in recent years - by saying he would waive his limited no-trade clause if Boston could make a deal because he was "tired" of them and the team is tired of him.

Then, in his typical fashion, he showed his employer Sunday night why a trade may not be in their best interest, going 3-for-5 with two RBI in a 9-2 win over the New York Yankees.

"We will cross that bridge when we get there," Boston third baseman Mike Lowell said. "Manny says a lot of things, some of them are entertaining, some of them make you roll your eyes and spin your head, but it seems every time he says something, he goes 3-for-4. So maybe we should encourage him to say something like that. But it is a weird situation and I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make those decisions."

The RBI pushed Ramirez into sole possession of 22nd on the all-time RBI list with 1,669, breaking his previous tie with Sammy Sosa as the most prolific RBI producer from the Dominican Republic.

While the Red Sox handle that tenuous situation, they must also deal with the arrival of Anaheim, which owns the best record in the majors. Boston would like nothing more than to avenge the Angels' three-game home sweep of it coming out of the All-Star break.

To do so, they'll turn to Daisuke Matsuzaka (11-1, 2.63 ERA), who has been the Red Sox's best pitcher of late, going 3-0 with a 0.88 ERA over his last five starts. The righthander notched his second win in as many outings in Tuesday's 4-2 victory at Seattle, allowing two runs and five hits with six strikeouts over 7 1/3 frames.

Anaheim will counter with Jered Weaver (8-8, 4.08), who will make his 21st start of the season on Monday, six days after leaving his last outing after 77 pitches due to back tightness. Over three frames, the righthander two runs and three hits in Tuesday's 3-2 win over Cleveland, failing to pitch enough innings to qualify for the win.