AP Photo/Ed Zurga

Jason Bay is just one Red Sox hitter now charged with protecting David Ortiz in the Boston lineup.

MISSING MANNY

By Rick Sutcliffe, ESPN

WEDNESDAY NIGHT BASEBALL

• Yankees at Rangers, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN

In 1987, Pedro Guerrero hit .338 with 27 homers and 89 RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers -- good numbers for 21 years ago. But after playing only 59 games in 1988, Guerrero was traded in August to the St. Louis Cardinals. Though the Dodgers traded their best offensive player -- just like what the Red Sox did with Manny Ramirez at this year's trade deadline -- it was addition by subtraction because Guerrero had become a huge problem in the clubhouse. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series in 1988.

I'm not saying the Red Sox will repeat as World Series champions, but Ramirez had to go.

Twenty years from now, Ramirez and David Ortiz will be compared with the greatest back-to-back hitters in baseball history. Ortiz benefited from having Ramirez behind him in the lineup. However, he also changed as a hitter when he came to Boston in 2003 and stopped swinging at the fastball off the inside half of the plate. And with Ramirez hitting behind him, he saw a lot more strikes. Ortiz isn't close to 100 percent right now, but once he's healthy, teams aren't going to let Ortiz beat them. He's 2-for-20 with two RBIs in the five games since Ramirez was dealt. In the first six games after he came off the disabled list, which were also the last games before Manny was traded, Oritz hit .423 with four RBIs. It's going to be up to players hitting behind Ortiz (Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Bay) to produce, otherwise the pitch selection is going to be much different for Ortiz and he's not going to get as many pitches to hit without Manny hitting behind him.

As for Bay, he'll make a difference in this lineup. I saw Bay when he was with the Padres, and their hitting coach at the time, Wally Joyner, talked about how the ball would come off Bay's bat and how he had great bat speed. This is the first time he's playing on a winning team and in a hitter's ballpark. That's only going to make him better.

For me, the real test for the Red Sox will be their four-game series this weekend in Chicago against the White Sox. It's the first good team the new-look Red Sox will play. I applaud the Red Sox front office for trading Ramirez, but Ortiz -- if and when he gets healthy -- will not see nearly as many hittable pitches until the hitters behind him in the lineup show they can consistently produce.

Past Baseball Tonight Clubhouses: Aug. 4 | Aug. 3 | July 31 | July 30 | July 29 | July 28

FORWARD THINKING: WEDNESDAY

• Padres at Mets, 7:10 p.m. ET: Pedro Martinez (3-2, 6.16 ERA) has strung together three strong, if a bit short, outings in a row. He has not given up more than three runs in any of the game, but also not gone longer than 5 1/3 innings. Cha Seung Baek (3-6, 5.22 ERA) has struggled away from home. Opponents are hitting .310 against him when he pitches on the road, compared to .233 at Petco Park.

• Yankees at Rangers, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN: With Joba Chamberlain headed to Dr. James Andrews for evaluation, Sidney Ponson's role in the Yankees' push for the postseason becomes larger. Ponson (6-2, 4.23 ERA) is 2-1 with a 4.81 ERA with the Yankees. Tommy Hunter (0-0, 10.80 ERA) will be making his second career start. He was tagged for six runs in five innings last time out against Toronto.

• Dodgers at Cardinals, 8:15 p.m. ET: Derek Lowe (8-9, 3.70 ERA) has given up one total run over his past two starts, a stretch of 14 1/3 innings. Joel Pineiro (3-5, 5.04 ERA) has given up five home runs over his past three starts.

• Complete list of pitching probables for Wednesday's games

TOUCH 'EM ALL

Who went deep? Keep track of all the home runs hit each day on Baseball Tonight and on the Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page.

Click here to find out who hit the longest home run. For more, check out the Home Run Tracker page.

NAME	HR	OPP	PITCHER	SITUATION
T. Wigginton, Hou	11	ChC	Harden	Top 5: 2-1, 0 Outs. None on.
G. Blum, Hou	10	ChC	Harden	Top 6: 0-0, 1 Outs. 1 on.
C. Lee, Hou	26	ChC	Howry	Top 7: 0-0, 2 Outs. 1 on.
A. Soriano, ChC	20	Hou	Brocail	Bot 7: 1-2, 2 Outs. 2 on.
J. Peralta, Cle	18	TB	Jackson	Top 3: 0-0, 1 Outs. 1 on.
K. Kouzmanoff, SD	16	NYM	Pelfrey	Top 4: 1-1, 2 Outs. None on.
F. Tatis, NYM	8	SD	Young	Bot 4: 1-0, 2 Outs. None on.
P. Polanco, Det	5	CWS	Floyd	Top 1: 3-1, 0 Outs. 1 on.
J. Hamilton, Tex	27	NYY	Pettitte	Bot 1: 3-2, 2 Outs. 1 on.
A. Gonzalez, SD	27	NYM	Pelfrey	Top 6: 1-0, 1 Outs. None on.
F. Tatis, NYM	9	SD	Adams	Bot 6: 2-2, 1 Outs. 2 on.
P. Fielder, Mil	26	Cin	Masset	Top 7: 3-1, 2 Outs. 1 on.
C. Granderson, Det	13	CWS	Floyd	Top 5: 1-2, 0 Outs. 1 on.
S. Victorino, Phi	11	Fla	Pinto	Bot 7: 2-2, 2 Outs. 1 on.
J. Gerut, SD	8	NYM	Heilman	Top 9: 1-1, 1 Outs. 2 on.
C. Young, Ari	15	Pit	Duke	Bot 3: 1-2, 2 Outs. 1 on.
E. Longoria, TB	22	Cle	Betancourt	Bot 7: 2-2, 1 Outs. 1 on.
C. Floyd, TB	8	Cle	Betancourt	Bot 7: 2-1, 2 Outs. None on.
D. Navarro, TB	5	Cle	Rincon	Bot 7: 2-1, 2 Outs. None on.
P. Konerko, CWS	11	Det	Robertson	Bot 6: 1-1, 0 Outs. 1 on.
C. Quentin, CWS	29	Det	Lopez	Bot 7: 0-2, 2 Outs. None on.
I. Stewart, Col	5	Was	Lannan	Bot 7: 1-0, 2 Outs. 1 on.
R. Ibanez, Sea	17	Min	Baker	Bot 3: 0-0, 0 Outs. 2 on.
R. Sexson, NYY	12	Tex	Wilson	Top 8: 0-1, 1 Outs. Gr. Slam.
A. Pujols, StL	22	LAD	Park	Bot 7: 1-0, 0 Outs. 1 on.
A. Ramirez, CWS	10	Det	Farnsworth	Bot 8: 1-1, 2 Outs. None on.
A. Jones, LAD	3	StL	Villone	Top 9: 1-0, 0 Outs. None on.
J. Kubel, Min	15	Sea	Dickey	Top 6: 3-2, 0 Outs. None on.
L. Scott, Bal	19	LAA	Garland	Top 7: 3-1, 2 Outs. None on.
F. Lewis, SF	8	Atl	Hampton	Bot 7: 2-2, 0 Outs. None on.
R. Ludwick, StL	28	LAD	Johnson	Bot 11: 2-1, 1 Outs. 1 on.
J. Kubel, Min	16	Sea	Jimenez	Top 8: 2-0, 1 Outs. 1 on.
P. Polanco, Det	6	CWS	Thornton	Top 14: 0-0, 1 Outs. 1 on.
N. Swisher, CWS	16	Det	Zumaya	Bot 14: 2-1, 2 Outs. 2 on.