Gary Benz of the Cleveland Fan wrote in a recent article that there are times when you just know what will happen, when you realize that something is completely inevitable.
Entering the 9th inning last night, the Indians held a tight 4-3 lead. This meant, for whatever purpose it still serves, that the closer must come into the game. I still hate this idea, but nonetheless it is how modern baseball operates.
For the Indians, that means Joe Borowski and his 83 MPH fastball. Also, due up for the Red Sox was their 9-1-2 hitters, Lugo, Crisp and Pedroia. Ok, not too bad, but as a fan of the Indians you pray not one of those batters reach base because the fourth and fifth hitters due up were David Ortiz and our old pal Manny Ramirez.
That is what I was telling myself. Not one batter, please. I knew what was to avail if one got on. And then, almost immediately, Lugo doubles.
Yikes.
I knew we were toast then and there, but maybe we could just get out of it with a tie since Ortiz was struggling. Though, in the back of your mind, you wait for Ortiz to break out of it against the Indians. Players always seem to do so.
From there, Crisp bunted Lugo to third and Pedroia hit a sac fly for the second out. OK. Two out and nobody on for the struggling Ortiz. We might make it.
Ortiz deposited a weak bloop into short left in front of a deep David Dellucci. Well, you can guess my thoughts now. Manny Ramirez was stepping to the dish against arguably the weakest closer in the game.
I knew what was to happen, I've seen it many times. Manny was about to do something special. Like the time he hit the game winning home run off of Dennis Eckersley against Oakland, forcing Eck to scream "WOW" as the camera caught him.
Sure enough, Manny's sweet swing crushed one into the left field bleachers, in essence killing the Indians for that night, and hopefully Joe Borowski's closing career.
I am in the minority of Indians fans when it comes to Manny; he was and will always be my favorite player. I always cheer for him as he climbs the ladder of HR/RBI leaders in his chase for Cooperstown. I will be able to tell my kids that he was once an Indian, and my favorite player.
I don't care if he left for the big contract in Boston. Looking back, it was best for the Indians and Manny. He was destined to be a star on a big stage and Cleveland was needing to rebuild at that time.
If the Indians had resigned him, who knows how much longer he would have been around anyway. They would have needed to trade the contract to rebuild the franchise sooner or later.
Indians fans need to get over his leaving, just as they need to get over Thome leaving. We were fortunate enough to have Hall-of-Fame worthy players for a lengthy stretch of time. We enjoyed it, and now we have another batch of great players.
That's how it works nowadays.
I will always remember Manny as the greatest hitter I have ever seen. He does so many things well: hits for power, hits to the opposite field, hits with two strikes, you name it and he can do it.
And as I stated at the beginning, there are times when you just know when he is about to do something special. It is a truth that you can't escape. Joe Borowski found out the hard way.
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4 months ago
MANNY ROCKS!!!
4 months ago
manny and david ortiz both rock :) everyone on the boston red soxs rocks....but manny and big papi are my two favorites :)
4 months ago
What I want to know is why in the hell was Eric Wedge playing the no doubles defense with Ortiz up and two outs. That was plain stupid.
I think it is obvious now. Joe Borowski is not right. As in, I think he is hurt because he does not throw hard, but this is just ridiculous.
from 4 months ago
I agree, I don't understand why Dellucci was so deep. Nobody was on base to cut down a ball in the gap for.
Anyway, I think you could tell when Wedge came out, that he is having enough. It was a quick run out to the mound to get him. Somebody needs to step up, either Joe or someone in the organization and say thats it with him. It's obvious that he can't do this job for a pennant contending team.
4 months ago
A lovely blog, Michael Taylor, worthy of you and Manny Ramirez.
This devoted Boston fan will always appreciate that Manny played in Cleveland, too, for what those years contributed to his development.
4 months ago
Man, I feel for Cleveland fans. As soon as they trotted Joe Borowski out there, the one run deficit felt like a one run lead. He's insanely bad. Reminds me of 2003, when the Sox tried to get by with BK Kim for most of the season....
4 months ago
100% not joking... I seriously turned my TV off when I saw Borowski enter the game. I've hated the guy since the day they signed him. Worst decision to keep him. They should have terminated his contract or traded him.
The Indians should have gone for Francisco Cordero.
from 4 months ago
I agree that the Indians probably overvalued Borowski after his lucky run of 45 saves a year ago and probably should have cut before the real numbers showed that forced him out of Chicago and many others organizations before the Tribe.
Though at the same time, this is Cleveland and they can't spend the big bucks on a closer like Cincy made the mistake of. They would never have been able to afford Cordero and still be able to resign other key guys in the near future.
I think Betancourt or Perez will be the closer at the end of the year. Both are tremendous and cheaper options than a free agent such as Cordero. Thanks for reading!
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