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July 26, 2007
Manny Ramirez didn't do much to help Coco Crisp last night, as Crisp tried to score from second on David Ortiz's ground ball single against the Indians' shift. Ramirez, the on-deck hitter, didn't close enough to the play to tell Crisp whether or not to slide, something that may or may not have contributed to Crisp's slowing down as he approached catcher Victor Martinez at the plate. Manager Terry Francona was quick to credit Martinez for doing a good job of blocking the plate, and Crisp -- as has frequently been his tendency lately -- went out of his way to avoid reporters after the game.
Francona doesn't blame new hitting coach Dave Magadan for any drop-off in offensive production this year from Ramirez.
The Columbus Dispatch points to one at-bat in the fourth last night, when Fausto Carmona struck out Ramirez, as exhibit 1 that Carmona has become a true ace. After just missing with a sinking fastball, he threw a harder fastball to get strike three. By the way, Carmona shouldn't take the strike-three-that-wasn't personally; I increasingly feel like I have no idea what they're going to call a ball and what they're going to call a strike these days.
Cheap shot of the day: In the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, writer Kevin Clark says that Miami Dolphins rookie Lorenzo Booker yesterday "looked like Manny Ramirez in pads" while attempting to field punts at Dolphins camp in Davie, Fla.: "A number of times Booker dropped punts, including one poorly timed fair-catch attempt. One arm was still waving as the ball fell in front of him, bouncing off his free hand."
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 1:32 PM to Projo Mannybeingmanny
| Permalink
Fred T. | July 26, 2007 3:32 PM link
I cannot agree more with Manny's being responsible (in part at least) for Coco not scoring. Coco did slow down a bit only to kick it up again as he approached the plate. Replays showed Manny still in the on deck circle swinging a bat as Victor Martinez was applying the tag. I know Tito does not publically criticize his players (which I agree with) but I hope Manny got a bigtime butt chewing behind closed doors. That is a mental error that is inexcusable.