Just think what could have happened.
 
What if the news came down that Manny Ramirez had been suspended 50 games for using Performance Enhancing Drugs while he was still wearing a Red Sox uniform? While we witness the media buzzards circling Ramirez' legacy from across the country, how would life have unfolded in these parts if it was the Sox who had to put up a wall of press releases?
 
Fifty games without your cleanup hitter. No Jason Bay. A round of distractions that would have made last July's Manny-palooza seem tame.
 
But Manny wasn't here and his confession was somebody else's problem. It was simply another example of why the Red Sox' might be the best bullet-dodgers in the major leagues.
 
In baseball circles 'The Life of Riley' had become 'The Life of the Red Sox.' Great decisions, and equally impressive luck, have made it so.
 
"We weren't really the best of friends," said Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, prior to the Red Sox' 13-3 win over the Indians, Thursday night at Fenway Park. "He's not in our clubhouse anymore, so this is something we're not even worried about."
 
Right now, that's a nice luxury to have.
 
As far as we know, the impetus for Ramirez leaving town in favor of Bay -- who currently has the most road RBI of any player in baseball since coming to Boston -- had little to do with any Red Sox suspicions that a suspension would be in the offing.
 
The hope was: A) Ramirez would take his contractual insecurities to another clubhouse, leaving behind midseason serenity; and B) The team could achieve addition by subtraction, with an influx of Canadian power, to boot. There was no organizational anxiety when it came to Thursday's three most recognizable letters: 'hCG' (otherwise known as the women's fertility drug that is bringing down Ramirez).
 
It just worked out, as it almost always seems to for the Red Sox. The team's responsibilities simply were to oblige media queries for a single day, Thursday, instead of formulating excuses not to retire No. 24 when the time comes.
 
Yes, it's good to be the Red Sox.
 
Think about it: what could have been versus what is. It's not just about Manny.
 
Start with the team's pursuit of Alex Rodriguez, who hasn't won anything in New York while beating Ramirez to the press release-punch. If not for the Players Association nixing the deal to the Red Sox, Boston wouldn't have had Manny's production or Jon Lester, who would have been included in the trade with Texas.
 
Lester also potentially could have been lost a year later when Arizona submitted two lists of prospects, of which the Red Sox were to take two from each in order to formulate the trade for Curt Schilling. The Sox wisely stayed away from giving up on the lefty hurler, as well as Hanley Ramirez and Kelly Shoppach. 
 
They didn't get Jose Contreras. They lost out on Javier Vazquez. Carl Pavano eluded their grasp. And Roger Clemens chose to take his final act as a half-a-season mercenary to New York instead of Boston.
 
All these misses worked out pretty well for the Red Sox.
 
They were forced to take Mike Lowell in the trade for Josh Beckett. That worked out. Then they were forced to keep Mike Lowell after the failed pursuit of Mark Teixeira. Although it's only been just more than a month, that's panning out pretty well in the short term, if nothing else.
 
There are, of course, others, including the choice of David Ortiz over Brad Fullmer (who has been out of the bigs since '04) coming to mind back before the 2003 season.
 
Much of the good fortune can be attributed to the organization's decision-making acumen. It is one thing to not have to go through 50-game, women fertility drug-induced absences by your lineup's meat and potatoes, but if the Red Sox were living the Manny-less life without Bay, life -- even with the agony beset by last July's dreadlocked albatross -- wouldn't be as rosy.
 
Now, the Red Sox don't have to deal with what figures to be one of the stupidest miscalculations in recent memory. ("I don't understand why now anyone would even come close to taking anything that could remotely result in a positive test," said Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. "In the past if guys did it, they had the crutch that they weren't testing. Maybe there's some secret society that maybe I wasn't invited to. I don't get it. I don't I wish I could, but I don't.")
 
And as an added bonus, the Red Sox' reminder is a guy who just got two more hits, four more RBI, and another home run -- along with a laser-beam throw that nailed Ben Francisco trying to stretch a shot off the left field wall into a double -- in the form of Bay.
 
"What a player, all-around," said Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia of Bay. "He does things that help us win games and that's huge."
 
Yes, things just seem to work out for the Red Sox.