Manny Ramirez wants to know what you're so worried about.

(Photo from Boston.com)

Look, it's a little early for a "Come to Jesus" talk with this team just yet, don't you think? It's two games into the season and Rich Harden was freakin' masterful yesterday (two days ago? tomorrow?) in Game Two of the Japan series. He just was, no getting around that. And while Tek's 0-fer is slightly worrying and Papi's inability to make anything happen could reasonably scare us, let's all just take a deep breath here and realize IT'S TWO GAMES.

Plus, y'all? Manny looks to be fun to watch this season. Between the home runs and the winning the games and the quest for 500 and, in an interview with a NESN reporter, talking about his "agent, Alex Cora" and how he and Cora are looking for "four year deals, you know, to play in Tokyo," Manny's in a good mood. Which can only mean good things for the rest of us.

And now we're going back to exhibition games for a couple of days because, I don't know, that was fake opening day or something? The consensus among those I've talked to seems to be that those games didn't feel real, despite the fact that they'll count in the final standings because baseball is such a game of rhythm - between players and fans and geography and planning - and this series was certainly not part of the familiar rhythm of a baseball season. So I guess we can just call it an international experiment and get on with the season and the Opening Day at Fenway and the Ring Ceremony and the rhythm of baseball we all know and love? There's something to be said for shaking things up, surely, but in a baseball season - which, we all know, is more a marathon than a sprint - some familiarity is good.

So, who's excited about Manny's resurgence? Obviously he's a bad man if we can call last year a "down year." And the Rise of Jacoby? And Tek's robo-knees? And JD Drew's back stiffness? Except, you know, that last one. The more things change, right?