I know it is blasphemous among Red Sox supporters to blast Tim Wakefield.

The guy takes the ball every fifth day and never complains.

The guy does whatever the team needs him to do, whether it be start or come out of the bullpen.

The guy is even a philanthropist, spending much of his time and energy supporting great causes and visiting sick children.

But nonetheless, Tim Wakefield is the most frustrating athlete of my lifetime.

Believe me, I have been a supporter of many a frustrating athlete. Antoine Walker hoists up threes like they are going out of style. The next time Manny Ramirez hustles down the line at first base will also be the first time. And Drew Bledsoe was a statue in the pocket, getting sacked more than participants in a potato sack race.

Tim Wakefield is the most frustrating of the bunch and here is why....

Imagine, for a second that your favorite basketball team just picked up a new shooting guard, let's call him Smith. Smith is a three point specialist. However, Smith does not shoot threes facing the basket. Instead he hoists his three pointers backwards and over his head.

Amazingly enough, however, Smith is fairly accurate shooting threes backwards and over his head. He goes 7-8 from three point land in his first game and you don't know how he does it. But in his second game he is 0-10 from three.

At that point, every fan is asking, why on Earth are we employing a freakin' shooting guard who tosses up three pointers backwards and over his head.

This fictitious shooting guard, ladies and gentlemen, is Tim Wakefield. He tosses up a trick pitch to the plate and when he is on, you wonder how in the world Major League hitters are missing the ball.

But when he is tossing up lobs and players are hitting balls all over the park, any Sox fan asks why in the world we are employing a pitcher who can't throw a ball faster than some of the kids at the Little League World Series.

When Josh Beckett has an off-game, an observant fan may notice that he is not snapping his breaking pitches as per usual. Or he is throwing too many fastballs. We can rationalize why he isn't himself.

With Wakefield, all we hear about is dancing. Is his knuckler dancing? I, for one, am sick of dancing.

The Sox have talented arms in the minor leagues in the persons of Jon Lester and Clay Bucholz. I am not suggesting that we get rid of Wake this season, but I think this should be the beginning of the end for the longest tenured member of the Red Sox.

He has frustrated us long enough.

RED SOX RAMBLINGS:

The Yanks are Coming

Don't look now Sox fans but the Yanks are only 8 games out, 7 back in the loss column. And Sox fans seem to forget that the Yankees still have a suspended game to complete where they were ahead by two runs in the 8th inning. There is certainly at least a 90% chance that they emerge victorious that game.

With the return of Philip Hughes (and Jeff Karstens to a lesser extent), and the soft second half schedule for the Evil Empire, the Yankees may not be out of this yet.

I predict that this race comes down to the wire, but the Sox hold on to their division lead by a hair.

Unimpressed with Lopez

While the Red Sox bullpen has certainly emerged this year, one guy who has disappointed me is lefty Javier Lopez.

Lopez has a penchant for letting inherited runners score (see Timlin, Mike) and does not command his pitches very well. His lack of control makes him less than reliable against opposing teams' best left handed hitters.

I would have rather seen JC Romero stick around the Sox pen a bit longer.

Back up Manny:

While Mr. Ramirez has been picking it up with his bat since the All-Star break, his play in left field has been confounding to the average fan.

If Manny got any closer to Julio Lugo in the field, they could star in a male adult video.

Yesterday, Billy Butler hit a key double that hit the warning track in left field just in front of the Green Monster. If Manny plays at the depth of a normal left fielder, that is an easy catch. The same thing happened in the Toronto series on a ball hit by Alex Rios.

Manny's shallow play in left field has served him well in the past, but I think he is taking it to a ridiculous level this year. Back up 10-15 feet and it will make a world of difference.