Good news and bad news

So what do you want first, the good news or the bad?

Don't you hate when people say that? The good news is never as good as the bad news sucks, and that's usually because the hangover of the bad news (if you choose first) or the impending doom of the bad news (if you choose second) just fucks the whole thing up.

I always ask for the bad news first, and since this is my blog and all, we'll start there. Andy Pettitte freaking stunk tonight against the Angels. I don't know what his deal is this season, but when's he's off he's really off. It seems like when he's not right on his game, the Yanks literally have no chance. Tonight, facing the best team in baseball -- and yes, the Angels are the best team in baseball -- he didn't show up.

Before you could even let the Pudge Rodriguez Era soak in, the Yanks were down six runs. After Chris Britton showed why he's been sent down four million times this season by serving up a three-run jack to Vlad, Pettitte's nightmare line read nine earned runs on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. His ERA jumped from 3.76 to 4.18. Ouch.

Pettitte's failure is especially magnified by the fact that Sidney Greenstreet and Darrell Rasner are both getting starts in this series, a sobering realization when you're facing an Angels team that went 19-6 in July and have completely wiped out the AL East superpowers the last four nights.

Meanwhile, remember that Yankees home resurgence? You can forget about it, as the Bombers have followed a 10-game winning streak at the Stadium with four out of five losses on this homestand. That ugly loss to the Orioles on Tuesday is still stinging hard. So yeah, you might want to put the children to bed early for fear of seeing the grotesque results of a Ponson-Angels showdown tomorrow.

Now ... before you start that car and close the garage door behind you, I better get to the good news. The Red Sox messed up ... bad.

How could you trade Manny Ramirez? Seriously, how could you? I know he's a freaking moron, but this was in all likelihood just another Manny phase. You're telling me they couldn't put up with his mood swings for another three months? You really had to trade him for 50 cents on the dollar?

So Jason Bay, a very good outfielder who played in the high-pressure environment of Pittsburgh, now digs in to protect Big Papi. This was a good trade for a team trying to defend a World Series championship?

In 200 games against the Yankees -- the most he's played against any team -- he has a .321 batting average, with 55 homers and 163 RBIs. He was always a ferocious presence in the lineup. I always feared him.

Do the Red Sox remember what he did in the 2007 postseason? Instead, it's just another case of Red Sox management trying to smear and kick a great player out the door before their value dries up. Is it a sound business practice ultimately? Sure. But the egos are big on Yawkey Way, and you can see the egg on Boston's face from River Avenue.