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May 21, 2008
Manny Ramirez has now gone 29 at-bats since his last home run, and he has just two home runs in the last month of baseball. Since April 22, he's seen his batting average fall 50 points, from .342 to .292, and he's struck out 24 times in 25 games. All this has some folks wondering: Is the pressure getting to Manny? (Click the link here to vote.)
Steve Krasner explored the subject today in his Inside the Game column.
"He doesn't look the least bit settled in the batter's box," Krasner writes. "He's jumping at pitches and when he hits them, he isn't consistently driving them. He's even uncharacteristically chasing pitches out of the strike zone."
No question Ramirez was doing that last night against Kansas City, when he was a strikout victim three times.
Here's what Sean McAdam had to say on today's edition of Projo SoxTalk: "He had made a big deal about wanting to get there [500 home runs] before the end of April, which seems a long time ago now, and seemed to be cognizant about that and wanting to get this done and get this taken care of. How many times do you see Manny Ramirez strike out three times in four at-bats in one night and not look very good doing it either? So, it could be that he's pressing. He's been stuck in the high 490s for quite some time now, and I'm sure he looks out there and sees that number 498 hanging above the Green Monster; he certainly knows that the milestone is within reach, and it does seem like of late that he's been trying a little too hard to get there."
Interesting, the same was said last year of Alex Rodriguez as he neared number 500.
Perhaps Manny won't get number 500 at Fenway, but instead that he'll do it when the Red Sox head out for the West Coast later that week. I can't find the Lynn Item column that Nick Cafardo mentions today in the Globe's Extra Bases blog, so I'll link to Cafardo himself. Ramirez told the Item's Maureen Mullen over the weekend, according to Cafardo, that he in fact is not excited about reaching 500, that 600 is really his goal, and he predicts that number 500 will come out West.
Ron Chimelis, writing in the Springfield Republican, said Monday that the extended wait gives us a chance to reflect on the fact that Manny seems "destined to wind up, not just with great numbers, but on the good side of public opinion. This is both because fans like him, and because his name has not been tarnished by baseball's steroid problem.
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 3:16 PM to Projo Mannybeingmanny
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