Common sense often is the first victim when winning is at stake in major college and professional sports.

Yet, here are the Boston Red Sox, intent on winning another World Series, and along the way, the Red Sox displayed a great deal of common sense.

On, July 31, the Red Sox got rid of a star player, Manny Ramirez. They showed it is never the wrong time to do the right thing.

Other teams should take note.

With two full months left in a pennant race, the Red Sox sent packing a player who was hitting .299 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI. They were so happy to see Ramirez go, they agreed to pay the rest of his salary for the 2008 season.

The result? The Red Sox open the American League Championship Series tonight at the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays are the best story in baseball. They have moved from a downtrodden, perennially mismanaged team to the American League East champions, hoping for their first World Series appearance.

But the Red Sox deserve credit for sending Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers with a playoff spot at stake.

Boston is not some backwater franchise, flying under the radar.

The curse of the Bambino is broken. The Red Sox are at the top and expect to stay there.

Strategy helps teams win games. But the most important factor in winning is having talented players.

Ramirez is one of the most talented players in baseball. Even when he was accused of dogging it in Boston, he was putting up numbers that every team would like to have.

Everything else about Ramirez was bad. He bad-mouthed management. He pouted and sulked about his contract. He said he was injured, but it wasn't clear if he actually was injured.

He added tension to a team that already was under pressure to catch Tampa Bay and stay ahead of the New York Yankees.

Still, it is difficult to part with .299, 20 home runs and 68 RBI, with two full months of a pennant race left.

Most teams would have set their jaws and hoped to avoid an implosion before October. Putting up with a jerk is worth it, if it gets you to the World Series. No pain, no gain.

Instead, the Red Sox rid themselves of Ramirez, then made the playoffs.

The Dodgers got Ramirez, who has been on a torrid hitting streak, and made the playoffs.

Everybody wins.

However, the Dodgers' success comes with a caveat. Players such as Ramirez always wear out their welcomes.

They get disgruntled about contracts or playing time or the post-game buffet. . It's always something. They never are happy for long.

Then, the decision has to be made on whether to put up with the foolishness and take the production or practice addition by subtraction.

Teams rarely think a talented player is more trouble than he is worth. Instead, everyone puts on a happy face and hopes for the best.

That's an expensive waste of time, a cause of excess stomach acid and stirs discontent in locker rooms and clubhouses.

The mystery isn't that addition by subtraction works. The mystery is that so many teams are afraid to put the theory into action.
Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or pwoody@timesdispatch.com.