The Dodgers have made some interesting trades. Some of the most exciting I've seen in my time as a fan. First, I must say Marie...you are right about Casey Blake. He is terrific!!!
The other trade, of course, was acquiring Manny Ramirez. There had been a lot of trouble lately regarding Manny. I don't know how much I buy, but I wasn't exactly excited when I heard the news. Surprised, yes. We hardly needed an outfielder, but boy did we need a bat...so I've chosen to look at it positively. I really don't believe we can lose on this one. After all, we only gave up a couple of redundant minor leaguers (we were already strong in relief pitching and catching) and we're not even paying his salary. The Red Sox are (I love the all-inclusive "we" of fandom. As if I am actually put out if "we" DID pay his salary)
Ramirez has two months left on his contract. He will be a free agent and so will be on his best behavior and also really motivated to play. He told ESPN Deportes that the Red Sox have a tendency to villify anyone that they are trying to get rid of, and that is very true. All of a sudden when they had the possibility of getting A-Rod, Nomar, who has been nothing but a joy for the team (well, aside from injuries) and always eager to please went from an angel to a jerk. And so have other players. Even when Manny was, well, being Manny -- I still remember Dan Patrick and Rob Dibble laughing and assuring people that Manny didn't have a bad bone in his body...a flaky one, yes...but not a bad one.
So I'm willing to give him a chance. I like what I see so far. Fox Sports had him holding a stack of signs at the beginning of the game last night saying "Hi, I'm Manny Ramirez....I'm the newest Dodger....Lets have some fun!!" It really isn't often that you hear the Dodgers saying "Let's have some fun." They really are a 'down to business' team (though not like the Yankees). I have to say I like the charisma. I even like the dredlocks and the Dodger Do-Rag.
He's saying how much he loves it and he wants to stay-- the weather and the atmosphere...he went out to dinner last night and no one bothered him. People are used to celebrity. He even said "I've already made $160 million. I want to be here, so the Dodgers can make me an offer and we'll see what we can work out."
(We'll see...he still does have Scott Boras as an agent. He doesn't take lightly to "giving discounts.")
A little impetuous after one night, but he is Manny. I'm not ready to say "lets keep him." But I do hope he motivates Andrew Jones. I do hope this is what we've needed to make a good run into the playoffs and beyond . No matter what, I do think the next couple of months are going to be some interesting baseball.
3 comments:
ditto on the "not exactly excited... surprised, yes..." comment. but I am excited about his helping us get back to .500 with that shot last night - so I'm looking forward to seeing him in person at Busch Stadium this Wednesday... Joel Pinero is scheduled to pitch for the Cards, and he's not exactly had the best stuff lately. If my figures are right, he's facing another former Boston player - Derek Lowe
I think the odds are good that this will be very good...at least for this season. Heck, with Nomar, we've gone from a team that is mostly ex-Giants last year to a team that is mostly ex-Red Sox this year. But these guys got rings together (well, Nomar was traded JUST before)
I hope your luck is better than ours (especially against the Cards). Whenever we see them on the road, they always lose :P
I remember about 7 years ago, Ross Porter (moment of silence for the unjustly eliminated) stated the record of Cardinals vs. Dodgers and it was dead even. Ever since then, they have done nothing but wollop on us!!!! Believe me, I know. My kids' godmom is a Cardinals fan.
All the same, I'm envious!!
8 for 13! wow.
actually, we had almost as many Sox last year, but replaced the coach with Torre (and Mattingly, my favorite hitter when I was growing up.) And on top of that, I don't remember the last time we had such a great set of home-grown youngsters.
I've been pretty fortunate at Busch... our boys in blue won in 2000, 2001, and I think 2002... then a really bad stretch from 2003-06 (but the Cards did have two world series teams in that stretch. The 2006 game was especially exciting, went 14 innings until Albert Pujols hit it out of the new stadium.) Dodgers won again last year - and it was cards t-shirt day, which came in handy as a homer hankie when Matt Kemp hit it out.
I saw the Dodgers play at Anaheim (first year of interleague - won), Candlestick (won) and at Wrigley (TERRIBLE clobbering - Cubs scored 8 in the 7th and 8 in the 8th...)
our eldest's godfather is the biggest Giant's fan on the Ft. Wayne campus - Fickenscher. When my daughter saw the Cards play SF on tv earlier this year, she said, "Go Giants!" I'm thinking there have been a few extra prayers being said by her godfather.
our oldest son's godparents are my sister and her husband - who is a big Padres fan. I was kinda surprised by how much he hates the Dodgers.
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