(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez was showering when Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins hit a double to win Game 4 of the NLCS 5-4 Monday at Dodger Stadium.
“I was taking a shower,” said Ramirez, 37, a 12-time All-Star selection and nine-time Silver Slugger Award winner. “I came out and saw it on television. Then everybody started coming in and they turned the television off.”
Dodgers manager Joe Torre decided to remove Ramirez from the outfield for defensive replacement Juan Pierre in the ninth inning.
Torre, who has inexplicably become friendly with his star hitter, admitted that Ramirez should not have deserted his teammates in such a crucial moment of the season.
“It probably doesn’t look good,” Torre said.
Manny Ramirez is one of the greatest hitters in the history of the sport of baseball.
He is a career .313 hitter and has amassed 546 home runs and 1,788 RBI since he made his major league debut in September 1993 for the Cleveland Indians.
Additionally, Ramirez helped the Boston Red Sox win two World Series championships in 2004 and 2007.
In the Red Sox's 2004 triumph over the St. Louis Cardinals, Ramirez was deservedly granted the World Series MVP Award.
However, despite his litany of accomplishments on the diamond, Manny Ramirez is a pathetic teammate and epitomizes everything that is wrong with sports today.
Ramirez’s poor actions have been well documented and are often excused as simply “Manny Being Manny.”
Within the past year-and-a-half alone, Ramirez assaulted the Red Sox traveling secretary, Jack McCormick, 64, over a large game-day request for tickets. He also slapped his former Boston teammate, Kevin Youkilis, during a heated exchange in the dugout.
After those classy incidents, Ramirez flatly quit on the Red Sox, a team he signed an eight-year contract worth $160 million with in December 2000.
Boston’s hierarchy rightly shipped the cancerous clubhouse presence to the Dodgers in a three-team trade last July.
The Dodgers brass then ignorantly determined this past March that they would sign Ramirez to a two-year contract worth $45 million.
Two months later, Ramirez received a 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s Performance Enhancing Drug policy.
Manny Ramirez is a bully.
Manny Ramirez is a quitter.
Manny Ramirez is a bad teammate.
Many Ramirez is a cheater.
One thing Manny Ramirez should not be, despite his overwhelming statistics, is a Hall of Famer.
If Manny Ramirez is one day awarded a plaque in Cooperstown, the entire village will plummet in market value.
Hopefully, for the good of the game of baseball, Ramirez will soon retire and “Manny Moments” will be a thing of the past.
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