Bringing Out the Best in People
Part of me wonders what it’d be like to have a player that makes people across the country go completely insane. I mean, they just lose their minds.
Starting one month before being traded to the Dodgers, Manny Ramirez started hitting like crazy. National sportswriters took this to mean that Manny hates the Red Sox and has been “phoning it in” for six years. They also missed the month he was with the Red Sox and dominating pitchers.
A few days ago, Manny Ramirez scored from first on a double. This sparked Tim McCarver and others to call his behavior despicable – after all, he must never have done this for the Red Sox; he never ran hard! Obviously, he’s trying harder for the Dodgers than he ever did for the Red Sox. (This ignores, of course, the fact that Manny has scored from first on a double 50% of the time over the course of his career, including 1-2 for the Red Sox in 2008 and 1-2 for the Dodgers in 2008.)
Then, Manny drove in a run with a double off the top of the wall in center field. It was a blast that looked like it could have made it out, and Manny stood for a fraction of a second to admire a possible homer. Upon noticing that it might not leave the park, Manny ran. Meanwhile, Victorino played the ball extremely well in center and got the ball back to the infield. Manny was safe and second, and nobody should be under the impression that he’s fast enough to hit triples to center on any kind of regular basis. But … by pausing for a fraction of a second he “cost the Dodgers a run” in that inning. Somehow.
Then Manny failed to score from first on a double. He sprinted (possibly faster than I’ve ever seen Manny run) all the way from first to third, rounded third hard, and listened to the third base coach who was putting up the stop sign. Victorino played the ball off the wall and got it back to the infield, and Manny would have been out by a mile if he’d gone, despite the fact that he ran at top speed the whole way. Of course, that doesn’t stop people from saying he cost the Dodgers a run in that inning. Somehow.
Then Bill Plaschke decides that he can trump everyone. He’s a great writer, and he’s out to prove it. What’s the one thing last night’s loss to the Phillies proves?
That Manny Ramirez isn’t worth whatever contract he’s going to get.
He went 2-2 with a double, an RBI, and 3 walks (two intentional). That’s the mark of a ridiculously good hitter who’s clearly gotten into the heads of his opponents. A guy you’d want on your team, no doubt.
Meanwhile, one of the premier bullpens in baseball, which had been successful all season, had a rare bad night. Therefore, according to Plaschke, the Dodgers should spend $100 million on the bullpen, to replace the “young and inexperienced” bullpen with old guys who require expensive long term contracts and will be over the hill long before their contracts expire. This ignores the fact that fully half the Dodgers’ excellent bullpen are experienced veterans, and the other half are extremely promising young hurlers. The bullpen may be the one aspect of the Dodgers team that doesn’t need work this offseason.
But Bill Plaschke knows what he’s talking about. Clearly. He’s jumped on the “Manny Sucks” bandwagon. And stayed true to the mantra of said bandwagon: Manny sucks solely because of how consistently productive he is.
Something about Manny just brings out the best in people.
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Manny is a great hitter. That’s all he is.
He is inconsistant in every other aspect of his game. His hitting is good enough to get him a huge contract. I hope it’s in the National League, so we don’t have to deal with the hype as often.
Consistently inconsistent, perhaps? Because his antics occur pretty consistently.
I continue to be unable to see what the big problem is. He’s a great hitter who cares about winning games. He’s a goofball in the clubhouse whom all the other players love as long as they’re not huge assholes (see: Kevin “The Biggest Douchebag in Baseball” Youkilis; also see Mike Lowell, Jacoby Ellsbury, Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, and Curt Schilling. It’s no wonder Manny didn’t like being in Boston).
The Dodgers got eliminated from the playoffs, and people have the gall to blame Manny and his attitude for it. Come on. He dominated in that series, even more transcendently than he did in the previous series, and over the course of the entire time since he escaped from Boston. The reason the Dodgers lost was because of too much Juan Pierre, Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent, Blake DeWitt, and Joe Torre.
Since when do people care more about what happens off the field — when the entire reason they know or care about these players is because OF the field? Why doesn’t “being one of the best hitters of all time, and working extremely hard to become such” earn him any respect?
I’m guessing its because of ratings. People like antics, they like having someone to cheer for AND against.
and that someone is Manny because he makes it look so easy. People see him slugging away with (seemingly) no effort and think “Jeez, he isn’t even trying. If I was paid millions of dollars, I would try” What they don’t get is sportscenter decides to show the one time a month he dogs it down first or in the field. But guess what? its a long season, if manny sprints to first on every routine grounder to the shortstop in April and May his legs won’t work come september. Its called playing the game for the long haul. You have to in baseball, there are just too many games.
By the same token, they don’t show Manny’s batting practice sessions on television. Instead, they give the impression that he spends his day lighting two pound blunts with parking tickets and hundred dollar bills and then shows up to the game 3 minutes before it starts, at which point he decides if he feels like playing or not.
Journalists seem to react incredulously when managers say stuff like “Manny’s always the first person here, and he’s always in the batting cage” and “He works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen” — so it’s no wonder that people do also.
By the way, playing for the long haul … at what point does Morneau learn that lesson? I really respect the fact that he played every day. But there’s a reason that he’s the first person to bat cleanup in 163 games in a season. And that someone’s only batted cleanup 162 games five times ever. That reason? Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken are rare. The fact that Morneau isn’t them is nothing to criticize him for. So give him an occasional day off, and maybe he’ll keep mashing in September and October.
at least now we don’t have to deal with “Manny vs. the Red Sox” world series subplots. Although “JD Drew vs. the philly fans and their batteries” is much more fun in my opinion.
It might just be that the Boston/National media doesn’t cover Philadelphia, but I’m really not aware of any hard feelings between JD Drew and the Phillies fans.
Oh yeah, and the LAST thing I want to hear is a bunch of crap about how the Red Sox were able to get to the World Series even without Manny.
The Rays had better get it together, quick.
j.d. drew and scott boras didn’t want to sign with philly when they drafted him back in 97 or 98. So he played in an independent league for a year and then was drafted and signed by the cardinals. That’s why he’s loathed in philly
I knew Drew screwed them, I just hadn’t heard much about the loathing part.
Man I hate Boras.
He played for the mighty Saint Paul Saints for a year. And owned everybody. His first game back in Philly people threw batteries at him. But Philly fans don’t need much of a reason to hate someone. At an eagles game they booed Santa. Santa!