Things are not going very happily for the Boston Red Sox. They're perilously close to last place in the AL East, an unthinkable place for the 2004 and 2007 World Series Champions, and they're going into a series with the Seattle Mariners riding a six-game losing streak -- that's despite a massive roster shakeup which saw $262 million worth of players dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers for prospects.

Apparently, that poor form has been enough to get the personal attention of general manager Ben Cherington and owner John Henry, who are flying into the Northwest to watch the team, according to an article on NESN.com. And definitely not fire manage Bobby Valentine:

But Red Sox owner John Henry and general manager Ben Cherington have denied that their arrivals on the West Coast signal doom for manager Bobby Valentine, who has shown less spunk during the latest slide.

"Nothing going on other than a bad losing streak," Cherington told Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com via email.

Henry confirmed he is not in Seattle to fire Valentine, giving an emphatic "No!" in an email answering Edes' question of whether Valentine was finished.

Step two, I suppose, is the dreaded 'vote of confidence', and step three means no more Valentine. After the year that Boston have had, would anyone be at all surprised?