MVN - Most Valuable Network

Twins find out why Red Sox love their Manny

Manny Ramirez is an odd character, but the Red Sox put up with him because of what he does for the team.

He hurt the Twins for the last two nights. On Monday night, his RBI single won the game, 1-0. Last night, he hit a two-run home run off Twins reliever Matt Guerrier to tie the game at 5 in the eighth inning.

The game-tying home run was the turning point of this game because it set the stage for Boston to win the game again last night at Fenway Park. Kevin Youkilis hit a double, and then Brandon Moss’ RBI single drove Youkilis home, which gave the Red Sox a 6-5 victory over the Twins.

After the game Monday night, Ron Gardenhire asked a writer about Ramirez’s average as of late when the Twins manager was asked about why he did not walk Ramirez.

Gardenhire should know better. Ramirez may be struggling, but he is dangerous every time he has a bat at the plate. After what he did to the Twins in this series, Gardenhire probably learned his lesson about asking how the Red Sox is hitting these days.

Ramirez is a first ballot Hall-of-Famer as soon as he is in the ballot. Talk about his behavior all you want, but the guy can play. He is one of the big reasons why the Red Sox won couple of championships. He is one of Dan Duquette’s shining moments when Red Sox fans ponder the great things that Duquette has done as the Red Sox general manager from 1994 to 2002.

This guy knows how to come through in big moments. How many times has he done that over the years? He has been a highlight figure for the Red Sox the way Derek Jeter has been for the Yankees.

He has such a sweet swing. The minute Ramirez hit Guerrier’s pitch, the fans at Fenway knew it was gone. There was no looking back by the Twins outfielders in that one. No one can teach that.

People think of him as a home run hitter, but he can hit for base hits too.

Critics talk about Ramirez’s defense over the years, but he makes good plays when he has to.

He gets better with age as he gets older.

To think the Red Sox put him on waivers several years ago yet no team picked him up because they did not want to deal with his nonsense.

Boston should be thankful that it never happened, and it’s moments like the last two nights that make Boston tolerate Manny being Manny.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 4:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.