Manny Ramirez

Call me soft but I am really getting tired of the all-forgiving, Mannywood-worshiping, sissymary “baseball realists” infecting the airwaves and newspapers of late. Earlier today, Jon Heyman of si.com published an article measuring the merits, Hall of Fame credentials and perspective eligibility of such noted sleazebags as ARoid, Manny, Barry and (God-help-us-all) Roger Clemens. He created his own convenient and self-righteous gauge, judging players on the extent and longevity of actualized or alleged sleaziness. Luckily, I wasn’t the only reader with a “what the deuce!?” reaction. As mole57 from New Jersey points out, it shouldn't matter when or for how long a player used steroids:

Continue reading "Rumblings on Steroids, Sissymary's and Moles..."

Steroids has officially gone postal.

The list of all-star players who have been revealed to be using steroids: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Alex Rodriguez, now.......MANNY RAMIREZ.

Continue reading "Manny being Manny: The Latest twist ..."

I beg for forgiveness from those who checked in with any regularity this last week only to find the cupboard was left barren of fresh and delicious trinkets of wisdom, and all that remained was the discarded old, moldy and previously read blogs. The monotony of life reigned this past seven days along with additional hours at work which left me without the proper amount of time to coherently compose a posting and now even today’s blog is late, very late. Dismay no more, in a football-centric version of The Sports Don’s Sunday Musings, I have returned to writing incessantly and without any recognition of a word limit. I appreciate your patience.

Continue reading "The Sports Don's Sunday Musings: Volume IV"

Some playoff thoughts to chew on as we wait for the playoffs to start late enough on Wednesday that it's almost Thursday ...

I am hoping I can keep my eyelids open to the final pitch, but given the way playoff baseball goes - you know, with the commercials and the pitching changes and the commercials and the mound meetings and the commercials and the stategy and the commercials - I'm not so confident I'll make it through. Besides, I'm reminded of the last time I stuck out a 10 p.m. start to the finish. It was the first game of the ALDS in Oakland in 2003, and I fought sleepiness and ruined any chance of being productive the following day only to see Derek Lowe give up a walk-off bunt single in extras. I'm not sure I can take that again.

Continue reading "After my bedtime"

Can I stop listening to Curt Schilling now? Please?

Is it alright with Red Sox Nation if we all stop listening to Big Schill? Does anything he says really matter anymore? I mean, the guy has sounded off on Barry Bonds, Kobe Bryant, steroids, Roger Clemens ... and during that time he's thrown exactly zero pitches. So why are we paying attention?

Continue reading "Is there a public appearance DL?"

circa April 2008
CF - Jacoby Ellsbury
2B - Dustin Pedroia
DH - David Ortiz
LF - Manny Ramirez
3B - Mike Lowell
RF - JD Drew
1B - Kevin Youkilis
C - Jason Varitek

Continue reading "Law and Order"

If you told me the following facts before the season began - that Jon Lester would be the Red Sox' best pitcher, that the starting staff would receive critical contributions from Bartolo Colon and Paul Byrd (potentially two of the ugliest pitchers ever to don a Sox uniform, as an aside), that Jed Lowrie would have more RBI than Julio Lugo, that Manny would take his Manny show to the left coast, that Jason Varitek would be struggling to hit .220, that Kevin Youkilis would be the team's most feared power hitter, and that David Ortiz would miss the bulk of the first half with an injury - I'd probably have predicted that the Sox would finish fourth in the American League East.

Continue reading "Not Exactly How They Drew It Up - ..."

Last night's ninth inning was almost an afterthought, what with the ejection of both Dustin Pedroia and an irate Orioles fan within about 10 minutes of each other. In fact, the eighth featured the home plate umpire barking into the Sox dugout, Pedroia chirping at both the first base and home umpire, Pedroia getting tossed and the Orioles fan jabbing back and forth with Coco Crisp before battles with two ushers and a pair of Red Sox fans on the way out of the stadium.

Continue reading "The Manny we still have"

As the ever-observant KC fans reminded us tonight, Jason Bay is not Manny Ramirez. But he's a very good hitter and he plays the game the right way. Manny Ramirez is 36 and is on the downside of a Hall of Fame career. Unless he starts taking Barry Bonds Rejuvenation Cream (TM), he's not going to get any better than he is right now. While he's still a dangerous hitter, he's not worth the headache he's inevitably going to provide teams in the offseason. On the other hand, Bay is 29, making considerably less money, and in a talent-laden lineup, has his best years ahead of him. The Sox can sign him for reasonable money and he will continue to produce for several years. Consider me a Jason Bay fan.

Continue reading "Thoughts while watching the game..."

Everybody has there own opinion about Manny being traded, especially people here in Boston. The bottom line is he is gone, and I for one am happy. Forget about the fact he was a great hitter, a pain in the neck, and that he was basicly dumped and not traded. Lets look at the rest of the season for the sox.

Continue reading "Enough About Manny !"

It was disheartening. But it was time. And finally, citing irreconcilable differences, Manny Ramirez and the Boston Red Sox officially separated July 31, 2008.

  It was your classic on-again, off-again relationship. There were moments were it looked all but over – the Joe Kerrigan era, trading deadline ’05, the last few weeks of the 2006 season. But just when one of them was about to pack their bags and leave a tearful note on the kitchen table, peace was miraculously found and tender hugs smoothed things over for a little while.

Continue reading "The Break Up"

used to fancy, separated us from the heart-less Yankees; all this came as the result of exchanging Manny Ramirez for Jason Bay. 

The Sox are no longer a collection of talented ballplay

Continue reading "Manny Trade Restores Team Concept"

Last week I droned on about the mind-numbing dullness of baseball’s mid-season. This week I’m eating my words.

Lets break down the two biggest deals:

Teixeira to the Halos: Braves trade Teixeira, who will become a free agent after this season, for Casey Kotchman (he of the .280 batting average, 12 dingers and 55 RBI). How did the Braves get fleeced here? They get a legitimate, starting first baseman who is excited about playing in Atlanta and who should hang round for a while. In return, they surrender a three-month rental player. Immediate advantage: Halos. Long-term advantage: Braves.

Continue reading "Trade Notes"

y, millions of dollars in worker unproductivity were lost yesterday as we all monitored the ongoing Manny Ramirez saga.

It was one of those days where you had an open document on your computer - maybe a PowerPoint presentation, a prospectus, an advertisement, or something else to give the impression that you were doing work. You knew you weren't fooling anybody. You were on boston.com, ESPN.com, SI.com, or some other sports site, waiting with baited breath to see where our enigmatic slugger was headed.

Continue reading "Manny feeling blue: The end of an era"

Imagine my surprise when it was revealed during one recent Red Sox telecast that the Sox are in the top 10 in the Major Leagues in stolen bases. Wait, what? I nearly demanded a recount. For a moment I thought they meant bases that had literally been stolen, as in removed from the premises. I figured the Sox were so abysmal on the road they were leaving other team's stadiums with whatever they could stuff in their gym bags, just to prove they had indeed shown up.

Continue reading "Stop Sign"

As any card-carrying member of Red Sox Nation will tell you, it's not summer until Manny Ramirez finds a way to feel slighted by the team's ever-tolerant ownership and management and demand a trade.

Continue reading "The obligatory Manny Ramirez apology..."

We all saw Coco Crisp soar through the air and crash into the centerfield wall in Anaheim the other day. We were all in awe of the catch he made - the latest in a long line of remarkable highlights - and we all shouted out loud in our living room even though nobody but family members and perhaps a dog or two were present. (It's OK to admit it. You know you did it).

Continue reading "Serving Coco at The Trading Deadline"

unity, so here it goes...

I'd like to ramble, if I could (please do!), for a few paragraphs about Manny Ramirez.  Since joining the Red Sox in 2001, there has not been a more controversial or utterly bizarre sports figure in Boston.  Not Pedro, not Schilling, not Pierce, Belichick, Randy Moss or anyone else can even come close to Manny.  If you don't believe me, you just don't learn (I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you all, especially Benny, that it is a tall order to argue with me about Boston sports teams, figures or events that have happened within my lifetime).

Continue reading "Just Hit"

Manny Ramirez’s shenanigans, I have recently determined, have lost their cheekiness. They have, to quote Super Troopers, become “cruel and tragic”, which, to continue quoting, “makes them not shenanigans at all, really.”

Continue reading "Manny's Shenanigans No Longer Cheeky"

At the mid-point of the '08 season, when many players are being lauded for their first-half accomplishments, I think it would be a disservice to the deserving fumblers around the league not to recognize their remarkable level of ineptitude.

Continue reading "Baseball's All-Underachieving Squad"

So can we please talk about Jason Giambi's mustache for a second? First the guy admits to wearing a gold thong when he needs to break out of a slump (it's hard to imagine that's all he's "breaking out of" in that kind of attire). And now he goes ahead and grows a full-out, mid-80s, Magnum PI mustache. Add these two nuggets to the fact that he's one of the 3 sweatiest humans on the planet, and that he's a New York Yankee, and you have the grossest person in America. Ever. Period.

Continue reading "Now playing first base for the New ..."

Continuing through the American League outfield we meet the curious case of Manny Ramirez. When not swatting teammates or traveling secretaries, Ramirez has put together another solid, Manny-being-Manny kind of season. He’s batting .286 with 16 homeruns and 52 RBI. But Manny’s seen his share of all-star games (he’s bootlegged his share as well, but that’s a story for another time). Why not give Manny’s teammate JD Drew his spot in the sun? Drew has been an offensive catalyst for the Sox this year, batting .303 with 16 homers and a .577 slugging percentage. Let Manny attend to his ailing grandmother and let Drew patrol the outer pastures at Yankee Stadium on July 15th.

Continue reading "All-Star foppery"

So apparently leaving Houston wasn't the cure for what's ailing the Red Sox. All that's happened since they headed to Tampa is back-to-back silent offensive showings (at least through eight innings tonight). In fact, the biggest hit in the series is the one Manny delivered to a club official. Baseball is a funny game. You're going to have stumbles like this during the season, but as a fan they become downright maddening. It's hard to keep perspective that these are just four games out of 162 when JD Drew takes three straight pitches for strikes with a key runner on base in the eighth inning. Swing, JD, swing!

Continue reading "When do we finish Intraleague play?"

OK, show of hands - who hasn't enjoyed the Kevin-Youkilis-in-goggles era? Manning first behind those fancy specs while sporting a monster shiner, he looks like he's getting ready to play Laser Tag. Since it gives him something of a tough appearance, we don't have to tell anyone it's all because he couldn't handle a warm-up throw. Maybe he can make the goggles a signature thing, like Rip Hamilton of the Pistons and his goofy plastic mask. Hey, if Youk can make the Chia pet goatee work, he can certainly pull off a pair of glasses. It made me start thinking of former players who wore the glasses. Chris Sabo was the first that came to mind. But how about Luis Rivera, former light-hitting shortstop in Beantown, he of the tiny, whispy mustache and glasses complete with that thing that connects around your neck to keep them on. Classic.

Continue reading "Channeling Chris Sabo"

 But I'd like to say kudos to Manny Ramirez for hitting his 500th dinger the other day against the Orioles, this landmark is just another reminder that Manny is among the top right handed hitters of this or any other generation of baseball players.  Do what you do, Manny boy!

Continue reading "Get Psyched!!!!!!!"

If your going to wait nearly 5 months for opening day, and have to get up at 6am to watch Dice K turn into Nuke LaLoosh, you better win the game. Well, thanks to the Manny/Moss combo, the Boston Red sox eked out a 6-5 win over the Oakland Athletics. 

Continue reading "Breakfast With The Bo Sox"

arrived at camp on time (fact) and he showed up looking to be in great shape (figure). I love Manny Ramirez for many reasons, aside from that dreadlock tangled mane thing that he somehow stuffs under his hat.  But other than that, there's nothing else about

Continue reading "Manny May Be Out in Left Field...But ..."