Manny Tarnishing the Game

Hero? Really?

The only thing this disease we call “Manny Being Manny” is a hero for is creating aches in the stomachs of diehard baseball fans.

The latest edition of a nauseating “Manny Being Manny” episode took place Tuesday when the Dodgers took on the just-as-nauseating Mets.

Ramirez, upset about a called third strike, tossed his batting gear all over the field, sparking a classic toss-out arm flail from home base umpire John Hirschbeck. Who, by the way, has one of the best in the game.

Nevermind the selfishness of getting tossed out while your team needs you, how about the inconsideration of making the ball boy run all over the place picking up your batting gear?

While tough-nosed dedicated baseball players like Orlando Hudson and Clayton Kershaw played great, who did all the highlights and headlines go to?

You guessed, our buddy Manny.

That wasn’t all.

In the postgame conference, when asked about the incident, Manny said, “Doesn’t really matter, I go out in the fifth anyway.”

When manager Joe Torre was asked if he was going to take Manny out in the fifth, Torre seemed puzzled.

Never mind Manny’s consistent butchering of the English language, we’re over that. But when does a player decide when he is to play and not play? That’s not baseball.

We all know Ramirez is an exceptional player, but aren’t there dozens of other players who are just as good, if not better. Albert Pujols would never have the nerve to tell Tony LaRussa it was time for him to sit the bench.

Torre is a politician, he just wants to avoid trouble in the sparkling lights of Hollywood. But, isn’t it time for some one to stand up to Manny?

Someone needs to tell Manny, face to face, how selfish the slugger is being and how disgusting it is that he feels all the rules, spoken and unspoken, of baseball don’t apply to him.

Let me or scores of other baseball lovers have a word with Manny.

Maybe then, Manny won’t be so Manny.