Manny Ramirez Bats Cleanup Behind A-Rod: A Pitchers Worst Nightmare!

Ok. Let us start by throwing ethics and expectations of a mans personal actions out the window for just a little while. This way a picture can be painted, a portrait of a unthinkable fantasy world, a world where only a mans talent with a bat and a glove are what moves us.  The rest is just details in this world. 

Let us indulge this fantasy for just a short while.

Say sometime this off-season the Yankees happen to lure Manny Ramirez back home to New York City, back home to the Bronx to be specific. They talk him into a shave and a cut and offer him a few bucks to bring his services to our aid. 

What if one of the most difficult decisions Joe Girardi had to make this off-season was which order to bat him in? What a grand problem to have.

As a Yankee fan you must remember 1984. Ahhh yes, the post-pre glory years of recent memory.  Bathed in less than stellar memories compared to those we had seen a few years before and a decade or so there after.

Remember our Captain, Donnie Baseball battling with Dave Winfield down the final days of the season?  Don captured the batting title, besting Dave by a few days worth of superior batting prowess. 

There are always the World Series years, of course. I tend to remember things like the race for the batting title of '84 as great memories too. No rings to speak of or brag about but great memories none-the-less.

Last year Alex and Manny were two home runs removed from each other (Manny:37-Alex: 35) for total home runs for the entire year. In the AL these numbers were very close to the top of the food chain. 

Manny carried a much better batting average, .332 vs. .302 but then again Manny had a bit more motivation than Alex did this year.

Think for a moment of the possibilities for the races, home runs especially, that could take place between these two. Not only in the spirit of winning but just fueling each other by competition to out-do each other.

These are two of the biggest head cases in all of baseball, imagine if they could get each other focused by sheer competitive spirit. They both are monsters in the box, and one could only imagine the energy they could produce in friendly competition between each other. Especially considering the protection provided by each other to fuel that success. 

In his own words "Gas is up and so am I". While that may be true, anyone who understands Manny, who really does, knows when motivated he is a force to be reckoned with to say the least.

No one can doubt what Alex Rodriguez is capable of. While at times his expectations far exceed his actions, he never disappoints, unless your using a dollar symbol as a gauge. A motivated A-Rod is a dangerous and successful A-Rod, one must admit.

So on with the point. 

Imagine this lineup for a moment. Only the first four are listed as this is the point of the article.

Lead off though cleanup.

Damon or Gardner (CF)

Jeter (SS)

A-Rod (3rd)

Man-Ram (LF)

Ouch, say it again louder, OUCH!

For the first two innings there is a strong possibility of scoring runs with this lineup. No pitcher in their right minds would want to tangle with this crew. 

Its obvious Damon and Jeter would get a ton of great pitches to look at, increasing the chance for base hits. They can really distract a pitcher once on putting more odds in the favor of the two beasts to follow. 

What better recipe for success than a speedster on base with an ogre or two to follow, all the while the frustration of knowing about the speed on base and the fear of pitching to two lock hall of fame batters.

A pitcher might just wet himself before he finished the second inning. 

Back to the men themselves. Think realistically here. Manny Ramirez is a New York Yankee. He is bold, he is talented, he is historic, he just hasn't realized it yet. He even has a ton of drama to feed the masses, all while not giving a damn about what people think. 

Reggie Jackson anyone?

Right or wrong, ethical or not, Manny wants to punish the Red Sox a little bit. What better stage to do that on than on a suffering Yankee team, in a new Yankee Stadium, with a clean slate?

Alex Rodriguez has more distractions than than a child at the County Fair. Money, booing fans, media expectation and scrutiny, his wife or ex-wife, his mistresses, Madonna, the list is endless. They, we, all want a piece of him. 

Remember last year? A-Rod did a little spring cleaning of the closet before spring training. He had a career year afterwards. No pressure, no distractions, just pure A-Rod.

Imagine what a circus act like Manny might do to relieve some of that pressure. The expectations and focus would now shift to Manny, who handles it all quite well one might add. A-Rod could kick back and be A-Rod, all the while with Manny being Manny.

This is recipe for success of epic proportions.  Success on a historical scale, success to rival the idea of what the Yankees have become known for in their time.  The Bronx Bombers.  These are two B-52s with weapons of mass destruction in the cargo bay, waiting to drop their payload on the victims who happen to be scheduled against them. 

There is a lot that can be said against this argument, there are a ton of reasons not to make this work. There is bound to be a plethora of response to this position and that is expected, welcome, and exciting to think about all the opinions that will generate around this topic. 

But remember, right now we are in fantasy land, allowing for only a mans talent to motivate our ideas. The luggage was left at the door, and maybe  it should just stay there.

Remember baseball though when you judge, remember how fun it is to watch two guys go at it with all the glory that goes along with the competition between all star caliber players. Rarely do you see two phenomenal talents with so much to offer standing side by side, pushing each other to succeed. 

It may just be the type of thing this new Yankee Stadium needs to get a little loyalty behind it. Maybe just maybe these two could start the new legacy, a new legacy that has some extremely bottomless shoes to fill. 

This would be a nice start to that quest.

A-Rod and Manny fight for the home run title on their way to the first American League Pennant and the first World Series at the new Yankee Stadium.

It has a nice ring, doesn't it? Unless your from Boston. Then it just might give you a very real chill down your spine.