Manny Being Manny

I love watching Manny Ramirez. I have never been as excited to see the Red Sox get a player as I was when they nabbed Manny. Sure, he’s a goof. Sure, he has an occasional mental lapse. Frankly, I just don’t care. The man can flat out hit, and now we see that he can toss around the leather too. (If we were watching, we already knew that) The enjoyment Manny brings to the game may never be topped. The sight of him giving a high-five to a fan before turning a double play is priceless. (For his sake, thank goodness he was able to turn the double play…if he throws it away after that, he’d never hear the end of it) If Manny were happy and funny, and that was it he’d still be a great member of the Red Sox. The fact that he may be the best right-handed hitter ever makes it amazing. (I said may)

Five Manny Moments I’ve particularly enjoyed:

1. Manny hitting the first pitch he saw at Fenway as a member of the Red Sox for a first inning game tying three run homer- That was a joy to watch. The new acquisition paying off immediately, and proving that he could help save the offense.

2. The early intentional walk- In a 2001 game against Oakland, Manny was walked intentionally in the bottom of the tenth inning…with nobody on base. That right, the Oakland manager put the winning run on base in extra innings in Fenway rather than pitch to Manny with nobody on. (Of course, it worked…maybe there was something to it.

3. The trade deadline RBI-Manny was publicly on the trading block on deadline day. To help him mentally, Manny was given the day off during the home game at the deadline. Deadline comes and goes, and nobody in the park knows if Manny’s still with the team. Until…Manny steps into the on-deck circle to pinch-hit to a thunderous ovation. Not willing to stop there, Manny singles up the middle to plate the eventual winning run.

4. Manny robbing Miguel Cairo- At least I think it was Cairo. On a deep drive at Yankee Stadium, Manny reaches into the crowd to pull back a home run. Cairo didn’t imagine Manny could have done this, and actually circles the bases in his home run trot. Not until he gets back to the dugout does he realize he’s been out the whole time.

5. The ALDS game winner- Manny hits a walk-off three run home run in the bottom of the ninth, and stands to celebrate. He took a little flack for his celebration, but give him a break. If you hit a home run that important, and that far, off that good of a closer, you deserve to raise your hands. My favorite part is the catcher’s reaction. I don’t even think Manny has finished his swing before the catcher gets out of his crouch and heads back to the dugout.

Naturally, there are many more. Or should it be Manny more? Any favorites?

Odds and Ends

I made my first itunes purchase this weekend. I added “I’m Shipping up to Boston” to my collection. It’s easily one of the best closer songs out there. It would be even better if it were more like a WWE entrance music, where you didn’t know Pap was on his way. Imagine being at the TokyoDome, where you can’t see the bullpens, so you don’t know for sure who’s warming up. Suddenly, the first few notes sound through the stadium, and you know it’s over. Perfect. I will say, though, that the rest of the song is just bad. I really wish the Dropkick Murphys would stop being the official band of the Red Sox. Tessie was bad enough. Now, I have to be sure and stop Shipping before the screaming starts. Oh well. Still glad to have the song.

There’s been some debate all season about the Coco/Jacoby issue. Obviously, Jacoby is very exciting, and people want him to play as often as he can. There was a stat floated about recently, that in games Jacoby starts, the Sox are scoring something like three more runs per game than in Coco starts. The airheads at EEI are using this as proof that Ellsbury should be the man. But, the stat begs the question…after 40 games, can one player make a 3 run difference? I don’t have the actual stats in front of me, but let’s try some things. Let’s say each player bats 4 times in a game they start. And, just for fun, let’s say Jacoby has a .500 OBP, and Coco’s .250. So, Jacoby reaches base twice a game, and Coco once. So, even if Jacoby then scores every time he’s on base, and Coco never does…that’s only two extra runs by Jacoby. Plus, that had more to do with the batters behind them, since it’s not Coco’s fault nobody drove him in all the time. There’s no three-run difference there. So, what if every time they’re at bat, there was a man in scoring position? (every time after the first inning, at least) Jacoby would get on base twice a game in that instance, and Coco once. So, Jacoby could drive in the man twice, and Coco once. So, that would get you the three runs. If they both came to the plate every time they could with a man in scoring position, and they had those fictitious OBP’s, and were both driven in every time they reached base, then Jacoby would account for three extra runs. Did any of that happen? Of course not.

The real explanation? Jacoby has played in more high scoring games thus far into the season. It’s as simple as that.

Red Sox: Where Have You Gone? - By Steve Buckley

This book gives insight into many former Red Sox players. Some

of them, everyone knows. Some may not be recognizable to their parents. Each one has a story to tell about their life, and how baseball played a role. Life after baseball treats everyone differently. Some are prepared for it, while some go kicking and screaming. Whether they were an all-star or a has-been, everyone has something to say.

I think I was a tad young to really enjoy this book. A vast majority of the players involved were from well before my time of true fandom. Which meant, if I had heard of the player, I probably already knew what they were up to. If I hadn’t heard of the player, I wasn’t really interested in that they had done with themselves. But, it was still nice to hear the stories.

I’d give this book 2 bases…and maybe just a fan interference double at that.

First Pitch

I’m trying to imagine what was going through the mind of Freddy Dolsi last night. He was in the bullpen, warming up to make his major league debut. Do you think he was paying attention to the batting order? Was he realizing that he was on line to face the meat of the Red Sox order? At what point did he realize that the first pitch he threw in the major leagues would be to Manny Ramirez? So, there he is on the mound. Knees probably a little wobbly, stomach a little churney, and he has to figure out how to pitch to a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. I know he was probably just thrilled to be pitching. But, you know in the back of his mind he was wishing it was Lugo at the plate, not the best right-handed hitter in a generation. Thankfully, he didn’t have to shudder for long. It was over in a second as Manny sent the first pitch of Dolsi’s career into the centerfield bleachers. Welcome to the bigs, Freddy. Do you think they got the ball back for him?

The other story of the game was the dominance of Tim Wakefield. One game after the Tigers did more walking than Nancy Sinatra, the knuckler didn’t allow a single free pass. Only two tigers were able to reach against Timmy, and only one got to second. This was just one of those nights where Wake had the feel for the ball, and could make it do whatever he wanted. Thankfully, the bats didn’t waste the effort this time. The offense has had resurgence of late. Last night started early, with three runs in the first, and Wake made it stick. Even with Coco and Cash in the line-up, the Sox won going away.

This last week, or so, the Sox have been everything we hoped they’d be. The pitching has been great. Even Dice-K was able to get the win despite a career high in walks. The offense is finally playing their part as well. Watch out American League. Going into the season, April looked scary for the Sox. The Japan Hangover was a huge fear. The schedule was inhumane, with games against NY, Cleveland, LA, and Detroit clogging it up. Add to that the fact that Lowell went down, and Papi’s been grinding and it looked pretty bleak. After all that however, here on May 7, the Sox have the best record in the league. And, it just gets easier from here.

This will be a fun season.

The more things change

…the more they stay exactly the same. Hey, it’s a cliché for a reason, right?

For the third time in two games, a Sox player hit a single with the winning run on second. Jason Andrew Varitek's single last night gave the Sox two wins in a row on the last play. Simply amazing.

There are a couple ways to look at what has happened the last couple games with the Sox. The pessimist grumbles that the Sox are getting lucky. They can’t expect to get pitching like they’ve been getting. That if they don’t score more runs than they’ve been getting, they’re in deep trouble. And, that’s probably all true.

I, on the other hand, like to look at the way things are going well. It’s great to see the pitchers carry the team a little when they need it. I can certainly imagine that the offense will save their butts later in the year. What gets lost sometimes is that averages don’t mean, “usually happens”. So, if you average 5 runs a game, you won’t score 5 runs every game. You’ll get shut out sometimes, and you’ll score ten runs sometimes. It comes with the territory. Right now, the Sox are in a stretch of scoring a run or two. It will be offset eventually with a run of double digit run totals. I don’t mind waiting until that happens. It’s the mark of how good this team is that they’re still winning during this lean stretch.

The line-up will gel soon. And, then, watch out!