Dustin Pedroia #15 of the Boston Red Sox walks back into position in the fourth inning after a run scored against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park on September 9, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Color me shocked that Boston Red Sox skipper Bobby Valentine wasn’t fired yesterday. It was the perfect time to do it.

There’s no way he’s going to be back next season so with the Red Sox off yesterday before the New York Yankees come to town, it was a good time to do it. But nope, it DID NOT happen.

It makes you wonder what kind of dirt that Valentine has on the Red Sox ownership group/front office. There’s no reason for him to be at the helm anymore.

Everytime you see him, he looks defeated like a child when he/she loses his/her favorite stuffed animal. The words that come out of his mouth in his pre and post-game press conferences don’t make sense. Whether jokingly or not, last week he threatened to punch Glenn Ordway of WEEI’s “The Big Show” in the mouth for a question he asked.

It’s time for him to go.

The Red Sox do have the opportunity to play spoiler as 18 of their final 21 games come against their AL East brethren that are involved in the playoff race (Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays). But with the way they’ve looked lately, it’s unlikely that’ll happen.

I do hope it does because it’s way past not being fun to watch these guys play.

We’ll be back later with today’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. So for now, let’s take at look at the overnight links from the media by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

Slumping Sox may find pick-me-up in pinstripes [boston globe]

Fenway Park brings out best in Podsednik [boston globe]

Spoiler alert: Yankees in peril [boston herald]

Rebuilding of rotation atop Red Sox’ to-do list [boston herald]

Hiroki Kuroda’s one that got away [boston herald]

Where has all the power gone? [boston herald]

MLB investigating Sox waiver wire leaks [rob bradford – weei.com]

You think the Sox are innocent? [csn new england]

Brentz, Hazelbaker thrown into the fire [espn boston]

Taking the measure of a man, not the job [espn boston]

Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester talks about life without Josh Beckett [espn boston]

Castiglione advances in Frick Award voting [extra bases]

Potential Red Sox first-round 2013 draftees: Arkansas pitcher Ryne Stanek [full count]

Ryan Lavarnway Stresses Importance of Building Relationships With Red Sox Pitchers (Video) [nesn.com]

David Ortiz Hopes Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection Helps Heal Injured Achilles [nesn.com]

Fading Red Sox don’t even look much like spoilers [projo sox blog]

A Series Matter: PawSox Style! [projo sox blog]

Ticket prices plunge for Sox-Yanks at Fenway [projo sox blog]

PawSox reliever Fields picks perfect time for breakout season [projo sox blog]

Chance to play spoiler could energize Red Sox [redsox.com]

Regrouping Red Sox can focus on development [redsox.com]

A new wrinkle in the rivalry: How Red Sox are trying to be like the Yankees [alex speier – weei.com]

For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSN New EnglandESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.

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photo credit: getty images