Complaint by Numbers

Manny can be Manny somewhere else

I know Manny did amazing things for the Red Sox organization, and I’d be willing to bet that management had it out for him this year, but really, when you look back on this season, can you blame them? So many times this past month or so, Manny’s been up to the plate, and there has been a collective holding-of-breath in Fenway, accompanied by one universal thought: What’s he going to do now?

And what did he do? Strike out looking (looking!) against the Yankees, repeatedly hit balls into double plays, or right into the infield, take himself out of games, take many days off, and just generally play the game with a complete lack of effort. At least that’s how it looked from the broadcast. So, no matter what Garciaparra or Ramirez say, it wasn’t the management, or the press that called attention to Manny’s lackadaisical game play approach: it was Manny.

That being said, I wish the best for him with the Dodgers, and simply look forward to the coming season being as drama-free as possible. Bay has already improved his average, added 3 RBI’s to his total and stuck another HR on to his season total. I realize Manny has done virtually the exact same thing, but really, he didn’t seem to want to do so for the Sox, so it does no good to even think about. All I’m doing right now is looking forward to once again having a reasonably stable batting lineup, a unified team, and perhaps a little hope for the future. After all, if last night’s first inning is any indication of how things will start to go (Youks and Bay both hitting great runs to take the lead from the A’s and bring the score to 5-2, before there was even one out), I think it’s going to be a great second half of the season.

I’ll be watching (and probably commenting on) the game later today.