Wash, Rinse, Repeat - II

Shank loves recycling. How can you tell, other than the fact that he works for the Boston Globe? Look no further than today's column. The first five or six paragraphs are a rehash of any of his previous dozen Red Sox columns.

Two days after that, Terry Francona - growing in popularity by the hour...

Nice - insert a completely self-serving sentence, in order to help you boost the sales from a book Shank's helping Francona to write.

Whoa. Sorry to be so negative.

And I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell...

And now, for the obligatory "beat up on ownership" section of the column:

Speaking of Sox ownership, a ball club spokesperson said principal owner John Henry will be at the game. We were a little worried about this because Liverpool is playing a big match Saturday and the British tabloids are full of “sacking’’ stories regarding Henry’s futbol club.

Which happens with every English Premier League team as the season winds down, making that point, well, pointless.

Too bad. Henry could do himself a lot of good if he grabbed a microphone during the pregame ceremony and told fans, “We appreciate your loyalty. We’re sorry about all this and we pledge do better.’’

If Shank wasn't already persona non grata with Red Sox ownership, you think his writing a book with Francona helps him in any way, besides the royalties? To me, it will only reinforce this point - that ownership, through Larry Lucchino, will use Shank as an outlet for bad stories, rumors and innuendo, like when Valentine will be blamed for everything if the Sox go on to have a bad season. And that point is - Shank is a tool.