On a gorgeous night at Fenway, the home team was able to knock off the Twins in convincing fashion, 6-2. Overshadowing the game, of course, was another twist in the Manny Ramirez saga, as Manny was a late scratch, replaced in the lineup by John Olerud. More on Manny later.

July 30th also signaled the return of Gabe Kapler to Boston. Kapler starter in RF, was introduced in his first at-bat to a thunderous ovation, and promptly ripped a hard single up the middle. Kapler ended up 2-4 and looked solid, save for an arguably misplayed ball in the 8th inning (from my perspective, it looked like Kapler took 2 or 3 steps in before realizing the liner was headed over his head — but Kapler’s outfield instincts have always been a little suspect).

David Wells pitched a marvelously efficient 7 innings, only running into trouble in the 8th when he gave up three hits to start the inning and was pulled. Wells received an ovation rivaling Kapler’s and doffed his cap to acknowledge the crowd. Mike Myers and Chad Bradford pitched a perfect 2 innings to finish the game out.

The Sox offense was powered by single bases - 6 walks, 12 singles. Only Bill Mueller (a triple) and Johnny Damon (a double) had extra base hits, Mueller’s triple scoring Tony Graffanino in the 3rd.

The big story was the Manny story though, and Chris Snow does a good job of recapping it into today’s Globe article. The jist: Terry Francona could see that Manny was a bit on edge with everything that has gone on over the past couple of days, and decided to give him a day off (and probably a second day off this afternoon) to clear his head. Is it a smokescreen to keep Manny off the field until they can consummate a trade? That’s a distinct possibility, but one hopes that everyone is able to just get through this situation and start August off with one of the best hitters in baseball in the cleanup spot of the lineup. If Manny’s not batting 4th for the Sox, David Ortiz is going to see a lot of nights like last night, walking 4 times in 5 at-bats.

The Sox also acquired Jose Cruz, Jr. from Arizona last night in exchange for minor leaguers Kenny Perez and Kyle Bono. Perez has been an organizational soldier, playing 2B and SS well and hitting enough to probably be a decent utility guy when he finally catches a break. Bono is a relief pitcher who’d been pitching decently in high A.

Cruz comes in to platoon with Kapler until Nixon is healthy. He’s a great pickup, if heathly, as he’s one of the best RF in baseball and has a cannon for an arm. Chris Smith was removed from the 40 man roster to make room for Cruz, but there has yet to be a corresponding move on the 25 man roster. It’s possible that Cruz remains off the active roster until tomorrow, allowing the Sox to try to trade Adam Stern before having to return him to the Braves to clear a roster spot.