Manny Ramirez

onal League as of a week ago, Ethier is the most feared hitter in the Dodger lineup (even more than Manny Ramirez), but will spend at least the next couple weeks on the Disabled List with a broken bone in his pinky finger.  His injury is bad news for the Dodgers.

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; in 1999 and 2000.  In those years, Garciaparra also set career OPS highs at 1.022 (second to Manny Ramirez in the AL) and 1.033.  In seven postseason series, he hit .321 with seven home runs.  Nomar guaranteed himself a spot in the record books on May 10, 1999, when he became the 11th player in major league history to hit two grand slams in a single game.

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on to cleanup man Albert Belle, the Cleveland lineup featured the likes of Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and then-future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.  Meanwhile, Braves hitters were only able to put a single run on the board in the bottom of the sixth, leaving Glavine with no margin for error.  Among his lesser-known achievements, Glavine allowed just one grand slam in 682 games – all starts – over his 22-year major league career.  Finally, at the time of his retirement, he was second only to Omar Vizquel in sacrifice bunts among active players, with 216.  (The next-closest – pitcher or position player – is longtime teammate John Smoltz, with 136.)

Continue reading "Two more great careers reach the end of the line"

an League won yet another All-Star Game – by a single run for the fourth year in a row.  Manny Ramirez returned from his 50-game suspension.  The Nationals fired manager Manny Acta.  Jonathan Sanchez threw the season’s first no-hitter.  The Braves gave up on underachieving hometown boy Jeff Francouer, and traded him to the Mets for Ryan Church, who hit the foul ball I caught at RFK in 2007.  The most exciting news, however, took place the day I returned from my voyage: Mark Buerhle of the White Sox threw a perfect game.  The following day, the A’s traded slugger Matt Holliday to the Cardinals, who now have protection for Albert Pujols.

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Big Unit wins a big game

Randy Johnson won his 300th career game Thursday against the Nationals.  In a dominant performance, Johnson surrendered two hits, two walks and an unearned run, and needed just 78 pitches to get through six innings.  At the age of 45, the Big Unit became the second-oldest – and at 6’10” without a doubt the tallest – pitcher to reach the milestone.  Congratulations, Mr. Johnson.

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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.

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s have really been making themselves look bad as of late.  There have been varied reactions to Manny Ramirez’s 50-game suspension without pay for using Performance-Enhancing Drugs, b

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Most of them are selected by the fans, with the expected popularity-contest results. Manny Ramirez is starting in left field, instead of Carlos Quentin (who is younger, a better defender and having a season that's as good as, if not better, than Manny's). Josh Hamilton (with superior offensive numbers) is in center, over the better defender (Grady Sizemore, with only slightly inferior offensive numbers). Jeter’s the starter at short, in spite of being as poor a defender as ever, with Mike Young (better on both sides of the ball) on the bench. Would you take Kevin Youlikis at first over Justin Morneau? Perhaps, or perhaps not—but Terry Francona must, because The Fans Said So.

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Drew moved both over with a groundout, and Manny Ramirez walked to load the bases. After Lowell drove in Ellsbury with a sac fly to short left, the Yankees looked like they might escape without further damage, if they could only get one more out.

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there, I'm going to commit the ultimate fan heresy and argue against ARod, and in favor of Boston's Manny Ramirez, as the greatest hitter in the game today. He doesn't have anywhere near the defensive value that ARod does, and he's more of a clubhouse canker (I won't say "cancer" as he's more annoying than destructive) but he gets my nod for a consistently good eye, consistent power, and postseason performance. 

Continue reading "Manny Ramirez: Baseball's Best Active Hitter"

uding one last night where he moved into scoring position with two outs in the ninth inning, giving Manny Ramirez the opportunity to tie the game up with a mere single. Julio Lugo also has 5 steals and even the self-proclaimed lead footed Dustin Pedroia has contributed 4 steals. In total, 7 different Boston players have successfully swiped a base so far this season.

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rfield job and now Boston seems content to hold onto him until it gets blown away by a trade offer. Manny Ramirez, who has started slowly the last couple of seasons, is also on fire and leading the team in RBI’s and coming through with a big hit almost every time the Red Sox need one, none bigger than his ninth inning home run last night in Cleveland to put the Red Sox ahead 6-4. Dustin Pedroia is also beginning to sting the ball around the field with more authority and sooner or later Mike Lowell will come off the disabled list and David Ortiz will snap out of his funk and the offense will be back to hitting on all cylinders.

Continue reading "Red Sox Should Feel Good About The Season So Far"

n the Major Leagues where pitchers are supremely adept at keeping hitters off balance and guessing. Manny Ramirez does not just roll out of bed and hit .300. He spends hours hitting in the cages, taking soft toss, and hitting off a tee to get his rhythm down and fine tune his swing. Batters constantly watch video looking for the slightest glitch that could be the difference between a week ground out to second base or a frozen rope hit into the gap. So when players are taken out of their routine and not given a chance to find their rhythm at the plate, even the best will struggle to get hits.

Continue reading "Red Sox Hitters Just Need to Find Their Rhythm"