Manny Delcarmen just pitched an excellent inning and a third tonight in the Sox game against the Tigers (2-2 in the top of the 10th as I write this). It seems Manny has finally discovered the confidence in his outstanding stuff that has allowed him to start to be the other late inning go to guy they have been looking for. A combination of Delcarmen, if he can keep this up, and Okajima as the bridge from the starter to Papelbon in the 9th could be very powerful for the Sox as they head into the 2nd half of the season.

It's also really great to see products of the Red Sox farm system start to become a significant part of the team. Papelbon, Youk, Pedrioa and now Delcarmen all were drafted by the Sox. How many products of the Sox system have contributed to the team in the last decade, other than Nomar? I can't think of too many off the top of my head. And the Sox have guys like Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buckholz and Jon Lester waiting in the wings, so there are more on the way. This could be the best period for the Sox farm system since the core of the 1986 team played(Boggs, Rice, Clemens, Hurst, Oil Can, Gedman).