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With John Kerry, nothing is ever as effortless as it should be. So whose idea was it to wheel Kerry out for the first pitch of Sunday's Red Sox-Yankees game, in front of ESPN's largest baseball audience in five years? Kerry -- a self-described card-carrying member of Red Sox Nation, who recently referred to Manny Ramirez as Manny Ortiz -- bounced his shot-putt toss, Rick Vaughn-like, meekly into the Fenway Park dirt and received nearly as many boos as he did cheers from the hometown faithful. You have to give it to the guy, he tries. Of course, it won't go down as a Howard Dean-YeeeeeeHAA! moment, but it probably won't win Kerry any votes either.

Last weekend Fenway Park resembled the C-SPAN green room more than the backdrop for baseball's best rivalry. (Among the Washington bigwigs schmoozing were John Glenn, Joe Biden and Bob Kerrey. On Saturday, CNN's Jeff Greenfield and Wolf Blitzer were keeping score in the press box, while also reading up on Barack Obama.)

There was a noticeable absence of buzz going into the series. On Friday at 6 p.m., a pair of bleacher seats for any of the three games were about as sought after as tickets to Catwoman.

In the Boston locker room after the first game of a doubleheader with the Orioles on Thursday, the mood was worse -- the Sox had lost their second straight to Baltimore and had fallen nine back of the Yankees. Centerfielder Johnny Damon even suggested his team might be dismantled if they were swept by the Yankees over the weekend. "The bottom line is we've got to start doing something about [losing] if we want to stay together," said Damon, who looks like a Fabio makeover gone horribly wrong. "We had confidence in each other last year and in spring training this year. We don't want to be sellers. Not yet."

The series, of course, turned out to be one of baseball's best of the year, and should be the spark the Sox need to get to October. Saturday's game was an instant classic, one that sportswriters will inevitably refer to as a turning point in Boston's season, if in fact another postseason comes to Fenway this fall.

So in honor of ESPN's never-ending Top 25 lists -- last night I swear they did the Top 25 Trey Wingo moments -- here are The Blog's Top 5 most memorable games of 2004:

1. Red Sox 11, Yankees 10. Saturday, July 24. A national TV audience, a brawl, a walk-off home run, Wolf Blitzer in the press box. Does it get any better?

2. D-backs 2, Braves 0. Tuesday, May 18. Randy Johnson throws a perfect game in the most startling individual performance of the year, just above Geoff Jenkins striking out six times on June 8.

3. Rangers 16, Tigers 15. Saturday, May 8. The two teams combined for an absurd 18 runs in the fifth inning, and the Rangers came back from a 14-4 deficit.

4. Yankees 5, Red Sox 4 in 13 innings. Thursday, July 1. Like it or not, you'll be watching clips for years to come of Derek Jeter diving into the stands and emerging with a bloodied chin.

5. Astros 10, Giants 1. Wednesday, April 7. In his first game in Houston pinstripes, the Rocket goes seven, gives up a hit, strikes out Barry Bonds looking twice on 94 mph heaters and writes the perfect opening chapter to his much-ballyhooed homecoming. ...

Is Kris Benson this year's version of Sidney Ponson? The Twins, who look close to acquiring the hard-throwing righty in a package that would send Doug Mientkiewicz to Pittsburgh, hope not. Benson has never won more than 11 games in a year during his career, but he will have much more of an impact than Ponson had for the Giants last year. Benson has ace-like stuff and is on a nice roll right now, 4-2 with a 2.56 ERA since June 17. ...

The July 31 trade deadline is three days away, but several baseball execs predict there will be more trade activity in August than there will have been in July. ...

These 51-50 Indians are looking more and more like last year's Marlins, with the young coming of age at the top of the pitching rotation (C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Jake Westbrook are the real deal), the numerous tough outs in their lineup and their energetic, frat-like atmosphere in the clubhouse. (In a ritual before every home game, the Indians watch a silly clip from Slap Shot to get them going.) The Indians, 5 1/2 games out in the AL Central, are not playoff bound, but they will surely be a serious force in '05 and a trendy pick to win the AL Central in your preview magazines next spring.

Cleveland first baseman Travis Hafner is a future star who in his second full season is putting up some sick numbers (.324 BA, .589 slugging, 1.008 OPS). And Hafner, who spends his off days playing up to eight hours straight of Madden NFL Football, might also have the best nickname in the majors: "Pronk." A "Vote Pronk" campaign was started to get Hafner into the All-Star game (it failed), a campaign endorsed by North Dakota governor John Hoeven. Let Hafner explain where "Pronk" comes from: "When I was on the Rangers, Bill Selby [on the Indians at the time] saw me in a minor league game and turned to someone and said, 'He looks like a good project.' So when I was traded to the Indians they started calling me Project. I was like, what the heck does Project mean? Then some other guys started calling me Donkey. Don't ask. Guys then got a little confused and didn't know what the heck to call me, so I just told them to call me Pronk, a combination of Project and Donkey. I have this thing of combining two words into one." ...

Fantasy tips of the week: 1) If you're looking to pick up some steals fast, get Jose Reyes -- nine steals in his last seven games. He's proven that health isn't an issue.

2) Go get Rich Harden, who is starting to realize his immense potential. He's been terrific since the All-Star break (four runs allowed in his three second-half starts), and the A's need him with Barry Zito reeling. ...

On the subject of those ESPN Top 25 lists, Finding Forrester is No. 19 on the list for Best 25 sports movies. That writer kid sinks a couple of clutch free throws, and Finding Forrester is a sports movie? Hoosiers is No. 1, as it should be; Major League, ranked 14th, needs to be in the Top 5; Hoop Dreams, probably one of the top 10 movies of any genre from the '90s, is nowhere to be found, while everlasting classics like Bend It Like Beckham (No. 22) make the list; Tin Cup, appallingly, comes in at No. 15. No movie with Don Johnson in an actual supporting role should ever make any Top 25 list. ...

Until next time ...