Major League Baseball announced the All-Star coaching staffs as selected Terry Francona and Clint Hurdle today. Assisting Francona with the AL squad will be Tigers manager Jim Leyland and Yankees manager Joe Girardi, in addition to the rest of his Red Sox staff, while Hurdle picked Padres manager Bud Black and Mets manager Willie Randolph, in addition to his Rockies staff, to help with the NL.

The selections seem completely arbitrary: as my collegue Pat Lackey pointed out over email, it seems odd that Black is getting the honor given that San Diego currently has the worst record in baseball and completely collapsed down the stretch last year. The selection of Leyland is equally confusing given Detroit's slow start.

Manny Ramirez needs just two more home runs to have 500 for his career. He knows that's a pretty nice milestone, which is why he's enlisted the help of some friends, including Alex Rodriguez, to celebrate. From George A. King III of the New York Post:

"Manny wanted four people to make a video for him, and I was one of them," Rodriguez said. "I filmed it last week."

What does Rodriguez say to his friend upon entering the fraternity Rodriguez joined last year?

"I said, 'Manny, I am going to make this brief because I am going to get booed. Congratulations and many more.' "

A-Rod is referring to the fans at Fenway Park, but I'm guessing more than a few of the regulars at Yankee Stadium will have something to say about that, too. That's what makes it so funny to me -- it's like A-Rod knows that he'll never be able to win the fans over so he completely quit trying. Good for him.

A cursory look at Hideki Okajima's statistics would lead you to believe that the Boston lefty has been lights-out this season. He's given up runs in just two of his 18 appearances and has held opposing hitters to a 539 OPS. All's well in Beantown, then, right?

As Jay Payton's grand slam on Wednesday made clear, it isn't. Okajima's allowed 11 of the 14 runners he's inherited to cross home plate so far this season. That's not good for a guy who the Sox are counting on in high-leverage situations. Jonathan Papelbon played good teammate and stuck up for his bullpen mate.

"You have to admit, Okie has come in in some unbelievably difficult situations. You can throw out those numbers all you want, but you can't deny that the situations he's been in this year have been really, really tough."

They have been tough but, then, that's the nature of the beast. In the same role, Okajima allowed only four of 28 inherited runners to score last season. It's still early in the season but not so early that it can be totally written off. What's causing the problem?

The most likely answer is that time has given hitters more of an idea of when and where Okajima will throw certain pitches. It's probably time for him to spend less time mastering craps and more time figuring out a new wrinkle to throw hitters off the scent.

Update: Video added. Much better this way.

Lots of people like to (or used to like to) get really mad at Manny Ramirez. He was aloof, goofy, and weird, and he still is all of those things, but it's much harder to criticize the man now that he has two rings in Boston. Beyond that, though, people seem to have "gotten" Manny in the past few years. Boston fans are like parents that have to admit to themselves that their kid would much rather listen to death metal than go out for football. He is what he is, and you must love him all the same.

As Manny showed today during this play, what he is is effing awesome. Making an extended catch -- which wouldn't have been extended if Manny weren't so defensively challenged -- and then using your momentum to high-five a fan, and then rifling the ball into the infield and getting the double play? That is, in so many words, the essence of Mannyness: success, almost in spite of himself.

Yes, it's Manny being Manny. Or as my compatriot PostmanR said: Manny fiving fanny.

Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.

Just when you think Manny Ramirez can't do something any more bizarre then, oh I don't know, relieving himself in the Green Monster or cutting off a throw from Johnny Damon in left field, he goes and proves everyone wrong. The Red Sox fell to Baltimore today, wrapping up an ugly 4-6 road trip, but it was Ramirez who provided the unforgettable memory, and it had nothing to do with his ongoing chase for 500 home runs.

Ramirez went back on a sharp line drive by Kevin Millar in the third inning and made a running catch in the gap. Then the fun began. In full stride, Ramirez leaped against the left field wall, high-fived a fan in the stands and then twirled and fired the ball back to Dustin Pedroia, who relayed the ball to first to double off Aubrey Huff. Too hard to follow? Watch the video evidence here.

I caught up with Ramirez after the game to ask him about his catch. "I just got a bad jump, but I never give up and I got there," he said of the grab. When another reporter pressed him on the high five Ramirez explained "it's something that came out."

Ever the showman, Manny joked (or at least I think he was joking) about the play. "It was fun. I love it. I think, you know, that's how you get your All-Star vote. I'm pretty sure that guy's gonna vote for me," said Ramirez. "It's one at a time, you know. Get your votes one at a time."

Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.

Do you think the Red Sox are ready to go back to Fenway Park? They haven't had an off day this month (they'll have one tomorrow) and they're finishing up a 10-game road trip, on which they'll finish no better than .500. Oh yeah, they've also lost starting shortstop Julio Lugo to a concussion, starting right fielder J.D. Drew to a hyper-extended wrist and had to put promising young pitcher Clay Buchholz on the 15-day DL with, of all things, a torn fingernail.

So that explains, at least partly, why Josh Beckett went all Ozzie Guillen last night. It also helps explain why David Ortiz was still smarting this morning after he was ejected by umprie Laz Diaz for arguing a very controversial check swing third strike call. Diaz called the third strike on Ortiz without checking with the third base umpire and it appeared that the only reason Ortiz came close to breaking his wrists on the swing was to duck an up and in pitch.

Big Papi complained about Diaz's fairness last night and this morning talked about the state of umpiring in general. Ortiz and a few of his teammates (Kevin Youkilis in particular) often let an umpire know when they think he's made a bad call, but he was quick to point out the downside of criticizing the guys who call balls and strikes. One reporter asked him if he meant getting fined.

"Fine?" lamented Ortiz. "You get [expletive] on the field."

You can't fault Josh Beckett for having a low self esteem or low expectations: he knows exactly how good he is and holds himself accountable when he doesn't come through, as was the case Tuesday night against the Orioles. From Tony Massarotti of the Boston Herald:

"It's (expletive) horrible. That's the only (expletive) word for it," Beckett said last night at Camden Yards, where the Red Sox [team stats] dropped a 5-4 decision to the Baltimore Orioles. "You can't give up as many hits as you get outs when you have my (expletive) stuff. (Expletive) terrible.

"I think everybody in this room holds me to the standard (he holds himself to). I think they're all shocked how (expletive) (expletive) I can be at times. I think everybody in here knows I should be able to get more than 17 (expletive) outs in a game."

Somewhere, Ozzie Guillen is blushing. Beckett has good reason to be frustrated: after giving up five runs in 5 2/3 innings Tuesday night, he's currently sporting a 4.21 ERA, which isn't bad if all you're trying to be is a league average pitcher, but is far short of Beckett's ability. After posting a 3.27 ERA last year, he hasn't had his ERA below 3.70 all year.

It's pretty amazing that for all the time spent discussing pitch counts, mechanics and proper rest between outings something simple like a broken nail can throw the best laid plans off track. That's what happened to Clay Buchholz who went onto the disabled list today with that very injury. It's the middle finger of his right hand and contributed mightily to his struggles in Minnesota on Monday night.

The team recalled outfielder Jonathan Van Every to take Buchholz's place because the pitcher isn't the only guy ailing right now. J.D. Drew sprained his wrist on a dive in the field last night and Coco Crisp was felled by an upset stomach during the game as well. Drew didn't break anything and Crisp should be okay but the team needs an extra player just to be on the safe side.

To top it all off, Terry Francona missed last night's game and will miss this afternoon's contest with Baltimore because of his mother-in-law's death. This recent spell of bad luck, and concurrent three game losing skid, finds the Sox a half-game behind the Rays in the AL East. Nothing too drastic has gone wrong, of course, but the team could use a good outing from Jon Lester to help clear the black cloud from above their head.

Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.

Manny Ramirez and the sluggish Boston Red Sox arrived in Baltimore very early this morning at the tail end of a tough 10-game road trip. Ramirez sits just two home runs away from the 500th of his career, but he doesn't appear to be letting Boston's 6 AM arrival here in the Charm City slow him down.

As Manny departed the clubhouse for a pre-game workout he pointed to Josh Beckett, the Red Sox starter tonight, and told him he was going to get to 500 homers in the next two days. Ramirez doesn't have a home run against either of the Baltimore starters in this abbreviated series -- Jeremy Guthrie and Daniel Cabrera -- but if Manny feels good, I'm not sure it even matters. He is, after all, one of the top right-handed hitters of this generation.

The other major news to report is that Boston manager Terry Francona has left the team because of a death in the family. His wife's mother passed away last night during the Red Sox's game against the Twins and Francona found out following the game. He could return to the team as early as Thursday, Boston's first off day this month. The Red Sox face the Brewers Friday at Fenway Park to open interleague play.

Brad Mills will take over the managing duties in the meantime, but he doesn't expect much to change. "This is a veteran team, the dynamics are going to stay the same," he said during his pre-game meeting with the press. Mills has been Francona's bench coach since he took over as manager in 2004, and he may eventually have a future as a manager himself, but he isn't thinking about that today. "Not under these circumstances," said Mills.

That's Jonathan Papelbon teaching Hideki Okajima how to play craps, complete with a makeshift craps table drawn in the dirt, courtesy of Texas Girl from Center Field. (The "table" is a little hard to see from the video, but if you can see some up close pictures if you click through.) It's worth mentioning that Comerica Park is a stone's throw from three downtown Detroit casinos, not to mention another one across the river in Windsor -- I'm guessing Boston's bullpen took a little field trip during last week's four-game stay in Detroit. (via Deadspin)