In Other News…Top Five Reasons to Hate Manny Ramirez

For those of you who do not know me… I really hate Manny.  These are the top five reasons I hate him.

5. He doesn’t run out ground balls.  This isn’t a big deal, but it makes fans and players alike unhappy.  When you do run out a ground ball, it is one of the many small things you can do that people recognize you for.  It gains respect.

4. His hair.  It’s crazy, it gets in the way, and he didn’t do what Torre asked him to do with it.  It is just another little thing that shows how little respect for the game he has.

3. Claims that he is injured.  My favorite example; when he "injured" one knee, but hobbled on the other.  You play, and you play hard for your team, no matter how little you like the team, Baseball is about trying to do better everyday, as a team, as a community, and by yourself.  Pretending to be injured is just about the worst thing you can do in America’s pastime.

2. His poor relations with teammates.  You cannot ever mouth off to a teammate.  If I was a manager, and one of my players mouthed off to another, no matter how good they are, I would make them sit.  But then, Manny went on and threw a punch.  That is unacceptable, no matter the circumstances.

1. His, well being Manny!  His show-offyness, his mouthing off to other players, the high-fives, the pushing a secretary over, and taking cell phone calls during the game. These things are all unacceptable and show that Manny really doesn’t have any respect. 

Although, him doing these things gives me things to write about! 

The high-fives are kind of an exception.  His first one against the O’s was not okay because he had a runner to throw out, but when not in a situation where you could throw out the runner, high-fives are fine.

Here’s a story.  Remember in ALCS Game 5, 2007, first inning, two outs, Ramirez on second. Ball is hit softly to right. Ramirez rounds third, takes time to flip off his helmet (is this Little League?) and decides not to slide at home plate, easily tagged out ... standing up. And by the way, the throw was high and on the third-base side, meaning a slide actually might have scored a run

So, you pick.  Would you have Manny on you’re team?  Here’s one last story to leave you with:

July 24, 2006.  Adrian Beltre steps up.  He belts a ball high and deep.  Manny gives chase.  it bounces off a screen towards Ramirez.  He gives it a look, and then tells Coco Crisp, the center fielder, to get the ball.  Coco runs to pick it up, but before it even leaves his hand, Beltre gets a Homer.  Manny could have easily made it a triple.