Monday, May 19 2008 -- There were a couple of records on offer during the Boston Red Sox/Milwaukee Brewers game of May 18, 2008, which the Sox won at home, 11-7.

Manny Ramirez is going for his 500th homerun - he's stuck on 498 right now. He'll be only the 24th player in the history of the game to reach that 500 plateau. Special baseballs have been prepared for the occasion and were in use each time Manny batted... unfortunately it was Big Papi and Dustin Pedroia who had the big blasts, not Manny.

Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury came up during the last month of last year's season and started off his career in fine style with 9 straight steals without being caught.

He continued that successful trend this year, with 16 straight successful stolen bases - setting a Red Sox club record of 25 for 25 steals.

He was trying to catch Tim Raines, who in his rookie season set a record of 27 steals without being tagged out.

Unfortunately, Ellsbury guessed wrong on a pitch out in the fourth inning, and his streak came to an end. But... he had gotten on base with a game-tying two-run single, so he was still the hero of the game until David Ortiz broke it open with his home run in the fifth.

Ichiro Suzuki holds the record for the most consecutive successful steals at 45 (over the course of two seasons). Rickey Henderson holds the modern-game record of most steals in a season with 130.

With Ellsbury's speed and aggressive running style...and the latitude that gives Terry Francona who no longer is simply counting on the long ball to win games, excitement at every Red Sox game will remain high.