Down On Half Street: The Nats told us that Emilio Bonifacio and Alberto Gonzalez would bring speed and defense to the Washington line-up, in the apparent hope that we might thereby overlook their troubling deficiencies at the plate. No such luck. Neither Bonifacio nor Gonzalez have had consistent success in stroking the ball for singles (let alone doubles or triples) in the majors — until, that is, their arrival here. Bonifacio is hitting a stellar .294, while Gonzalez has lately been hitting well beyond his official .231. Now then, let’s talk about their “speed.” 

Both have been caught stealing once: Bonifacio in Cincinnati on Sunday (by the weak-armed David Ross) and Gonzalez (though, for some reason, the box score does not show it) on the same day. In both cases it wasn’t even close. To note the obvious — stealing bases involves more than speed and “Gonzafacio” have yet to show they have mastered the art. They had better. Barring a sudden surge of power (let’s call it a “Willie Harris moment”), the Nats will have to figure out how to come up with a 70 percent-plus success rate that makes stealing worthwhile – and that put singles hitters in a position to score. Good teams steal in excess of 90 bases each year and the really good teams have a better than 80 percent success rate. The Nats are currently at 48 stolen bases for 2008 and have been caught stealing 26 times. Not great, not good …

Deplorable.

The Nation: Manny Ramirez joins the long list of Red Sox (where hall of famers go to get traded) who just couldn’t make the grade in Boston and, alas, had to be traded away (or let go) because they just didn’t ”fit in.” Boston’s nationwide reputation as upholders of good citizenry, Puritan morality and fair play have a history of this, choosing to keep the peace, even if it means getting rid of great ballplayers. Let’s see: Tris Speaker was sold to Cleveland to teach him a lesson, Babe Ruth (who just wouldn’t behave) was sold to the Yankees because he wanted too much money, Carlton Fisk (that whiner) decided he’d rather play for the White Sox (the Bosox failed to postmark his new contract correctly), and Roger Clemens was let go to the Blue Jays because he was in his “declining years” — which lasted nine seasons.

Now, in case you haven’t noticed, Manny is being “Gammonized” — which is the attempt to scuff-up a player that you’ve been busy shining to a glowing hue for years. The Red Sox had “no choice” but to make the trade, Gammons wrote in the wake of the LA deal, “because there was no chance — none, zilch, nada — that Boston could make the playoffs with Ramirez on the team.” Okay, I get it. I mean really, how stupid can the Dodger’s be? Even Tommy Lasorda was upset.