My Manny Crush

As you may have noticed from my sidebar, I'm a big Manny Ramirez fan...I know some fans can't stand him...the inconsistent attitude and effort, the spaciness in the field and on the base paths...trade me, don't trade me, trade me, I love Boston...blah blah blah...we all know that Manny is a character, however positively or negatively you want to spin that description is up to the beholder...but I love watching him play, and I have since he got here...he's my favorite current player in MLB and has been since Pedro began his decline and then was let go...and he is that for much the same reason Pedro was when he first arrived in Boston...hope...Pedro was hope, and Manny was (and is) hope...as much as any one player in the ultimate team sport can be, Manny represented the chance to believe in the Red Sox back when there wasn't much in which we could believe...it seems strange to think that now with all of the recent success we've had, but you have to remember what we were before Manny and Pedro to really appreciate that feeling...

When Pedro Martinez first strutted into Fenway, carrying his Cy Young award, a noticeable swagger and of course a hefty new contract, the Red Sox fans' collective heart began to beat again...we had been suffering for several interminable years of mediocrity...the Sox were pretty solid in the late 80s, winning division titles in 1986, 1988 and 1990...but then it was 5 long years before another playoff berth, followed by the Roger Clemens departure (which sucked at the time, all around...also seems funny now) and then a truly craptastic 1997...we were lost, but then before the 1998 season Dan Duquette won the Pedro sweepstakes, paying a small fortune in what was (sorry Dan) a no-brainer signing...suddenly, we had "that guy" in the rotation...a difference maker...a savior...our offense was still dreadful, as the list of washed up vets and untalented youngsters that wore Sox colors grew longer, but every 5th day we got to watch Pedro throw, and that meant hope...with Pedro, ANYTHING seemed possible...just get to the playoffs, we thought, and he'd work magic...and truly, he did all one starter could do, willing us to the playoffs his first two seasons and working miracles in the process...but those teams were too offensively flawed to do any real damage, which is why we only remember Pedro from those playoff appearances...so, why all of the Pedro talk you ask? Simple, because Manny coming to Boston in 2001 was the offensive equivalent of Pedro coming in 1998, and if you don't believe that or remember it, then you weren't a Red Sox fan between 1990 and 2001. Here is the Red Sox starting lineup in 2000, the year before Manny was signed. Tek, Brian Daubach, Jose Offerman, Wilton Veras, Nomar, Troy O'Leary, Carl Everett, Trot Nixon and Dante Bichette...that's it...those were your 2000 Boston Red Sox. Trying not to be totally cruel, Nomar, Trot and Dante were good enough, as was Everett when he was on his meds, but really, look at that lineup. I mean it, read it again...it's almost laughable...there's certainly not much to fear in there...

But if there's a right-handed hitter to fear in the American League, it is Manny Ramirez...I don't need to wax poetic about his stats, you can look them up, but the truth is that any lineup, no matter how awful, gets a lot better when you plug Manny into the 3 or 4 hole...and when we signed him to that ludicrously huge contract (talent wise, another no-brainer, and does anyone remember that the big debate that winter was whether to go after Mussina or Manny...dear lord, thank you for small miracles) we had "that guy" playing every day too, a legitimate super duper star to hit just for us...and just like every Pedro start generated an energy around it, something bigger than the event itself, so did Manny's at-bats...every time he stepped to the plate, the unmistakable Fenway buzz would begin...if it was a big spot the chants of "Man-ny, Man-ny, Man-ny" would start quietly and reach a crescendo just before the pitcher released his offering...and the amazing thing about Manny is (and I'll always remember this) is that while with most Sox players you'd expect failure, with Manny you'd expect success, and he usually delivered (people don't remember this now because of Papi's heroics, but before that shadow overcame him Manny was pretty clutch...and still is...check that out for yourself sometime)...and while it took another few years for us to put together the right lineup to complement him, and while, yes, pitching wins championships, there's no discounting the effect that watching Manny's titanic homers, incredible plate discipline and infections joie-de-vie attitude had on the Boston Red Sox, and for that, that feeling of hope, of the chance to believe in the impossible, it's for that that I will be forever grateful, and it's the reason that I'll always be a fan of Manny Ramirez...and it's because of that hope, that undying anticipation that he created, that I own only one Boston Red Sox jersey with a number on it, number 24...

It seemed like an appropriate time to show some Manny love since he single-handedly knocked out the Yanks in the Bronx the other night...for some reason, even after blowing a game by pitching to him with 1st base empty just a few short days ago, Mike Mussina (again, I love that our options in 2001 were Manny or Mussina...baseball is nuts) decided that it was a good idea to pitch to Manny after falling behind 3-0...so what happened, 3-1 (prototypical Manny) then HR (prototypical Manny)...and a bomb too...just a little while later Mussina decided he'd pitch to Manny again...another bomb...this being Manny's 3rd HR off of Mussina this season I'm assuming that either Mussina will just walk him intentionally from now on or simple pitch to him underhanded so that we don't waste time with the formality of a pre-HR count...Mike, a word from EVERY Yanks fan, DO NOT PITCH TO MANNY RAMIREZ...we Sox fans, we're cool with it...after that, with Beckett on the hill, this one was all but over...not much else of note, the Yanks scraped 3 runs off of Beckett and Pap wasn't the sharpest, but the Sox held off the Bombers, 7-5 to stay ahead in the AL East and in the season series, 3-2...more battles to come, but for now the day (and the rivalry) belongs to Manny and the Sox...

Last night we whipped up on the Rangers 11-3...the Rangers are pretty awful so this one wasn't much of a surprise with Dice "I'll at least limit the damage" - K on the mound...the only things of note are that Papi got a big hit, an early Grand Slam to get him off the snide at Fenway and to grab a lead for Dice and that this is another instance of the inconsistent phenomenon that is the Dice himself...still not able to get through the 6th with a decent pitch count...he's perplexing...but more on that another time...pretty blah game, especially after the Yanks and there's another going on right now...so far Lester is super wild and the Sox trail 3-2...it's early though...plenty of time for the Sox to take it or the Rangers to give it away...

GO SAWX!!!