Low & Outside: AL Notes

Once again, Yankees manager Joe Girardi is complaining about peripheral stuff during a game his team lost.

Last month, it had to do with four Seattle fans, including a streaker, who ran onto Safeco Field during yet another loss to the Mariners. He told reporters that the fans should be punished. "The penalties have to be severe," he said.

This time, Girardi did not like the way Boston slugger David Ortiz flipped his bat after admiring a monster home run Tuesday night that turned out to be the game-winner for the hard-charging Red Sox.

"I didn't really care for it," he said, then went on and on about why showing that kind of swagger was bad for baseball. What did Big Papi think?

"Yeah, that was one of the Papi good ones," said Ortiz, showing the kind of swagger that goes hand-in-hand with referring to yourself in the third person. "That's Papi style. You saw that before."

Well, we've said this before: Girardi's got bigger things to think about than antics: namely, holding off a team that started the season with a 2-10 record.

$103 million gets you 49 wins in five years

Now that Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is on his way to having Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right elbow, we're taking time to review Boston's investment in the man they call Dice-K.

At first blush, investing $103 million on Matsuzaka doesn't look like something to crow about.

Boston paid $51.1 million in February 2007 for negotiating rights to the Seibu Lions ace, then signed him to a six-year contract for $52 million. After going 31-15 with a 3.72 ERA in his first two seasons, Matsuzaka was 16-15 with a 5.03 ERA the last three years and had four stints on the disabled list.

In eight appearances this year, including seven starts, he is 3-3 with a 5.30 ERA. In his career with Boston, he is 49-30 with a 4.25 ERA.

Guillen's latest tweets

The White Sox passed on drafting manager Ozzie Guillen's youngest son, Ozney, a freshman infielder at Miami Dade Junior College, who had reentered the draft after Chicago selected him in the 22d round last year.

It wasn't long before Ozzie tweeted his disappointment and asked for wide berth: "I am in very very bad mood stay away from me the most you can . . ."

Sensible advice. Will do.