Manny: “If it doesn’t happen, who cares?”
By Punch N. Judy
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news
There may never have been a better instance of Manny being Manny than the interview he gave the other day in which Ramirez said, “If it doesn’t happen who cares?” In a city like Boston where every comment real or imagined (remember Gary Thorne and Doug Mirabelli here) gets picked over with the finest of tooth combs, you’d think such a statement of treason would be met with a harsh chorus of boos tonight.
Just don’t bet on it.
On the meter of the absurd, this one ranks far below LeBron James donning a Yankee cap and throwing out the first pitch at Jacobs Field. The whole MBM phrase was started four years ago by the Red Sox clubhouse spokesman Kevin Millar, who in attempting to provide a buffer between the rabid local media and its erstwhile slugger, created what he thought would be a disclaimer for all the moronic things Manny said and did.
And the idea was brilliant. Look there’s Manny with liter of bottled water in his back pocket while playing the field during a national game of the week! Oh that’s MBM. OK ,the new pitcher has completed his warm-ups and is ready to go . . . where’s Manny? Well he’s relieving himself behind the Green Monster of course. Oh that Manny. You see when perceived as being a few sandwiches short of a picnic you’ll get cut that slack in Boston. And let’s face it here, if he wasn’t booed for being sighted at a restaurant with then Yankee Enrique Wilson during a pennant drive in which he missed time with a mysterious upper body ailment that wasn’t even diagnosed, something tells me he’ll get a pass this time as well. But then again maybe it’s the .429 batting average and the four dingers this post season that’ll get him off the hook.
The decision to start Tim Wakefield the other night is still a hot topic in the Hub, as many believe the nod should have went to Josh Beckett. Because of the quirky TV schedule which gave the teams a day off while in same city I tend to agree. But in hindsight I’m sorry to say folks it didn’t matter. The Red Sox just aren’t hitting and the Tribe as the rest of baseball knows is really that good. Forget the payroll discrepancy, at this time of year it’s the team with the best pitching and guts that prevail.
That said, should the Sox come all the way back, a game seven with Matsuzaka on the mound could get a little bit Dicey . . .
Clown of the Week - Detroit Sports Radio. An already shoddy job of covering the post season got worse the other day when neither station even acknowledged the on going post-season on my 20 minute morning drive to work. I really could care less what these jocks ate for dinner last night or thought of network TV’s fall lineup. Sheesh!
Quote of the Week – “A guy who throws what he intends to throw - that’s the definition of a good pitcher.” – Sandy Koufax, LA Dodgers.
Editor’s note - Baseball and Eggs will appear every Thursday, and serves as a form of self–therapy for this clinically insane baseball fan. The baseball part is self–explanatory. The eggs however, could pertain to just about anything on Punch’s mind from Thursday to Thursday.