Manny being Manny... FINALLY

Cliches are an unfortunate way of life for most people who spend time writing about sports. After all, how many games have been played over the course of the last 100+ years? How many angles have been taken to find originality in sports journalism? It boggles the mind...

"Manny being Manny" is a cliche that means Manny things to Manny people (pun DEFINITELY intended). In the off season it centers around a seemingly non-stop barrage of mostly unsubstantiated newspaper articles and radio commentary regarding Manny Ramirez's desire to be traded out of Beantown - rubbish I've always said, but then he DID grow up in the Bronx as a yankees fan and has always destroyed yankee pitching in the house that Ruth built. During the season the phrase often refers to his nonchalant playing style - primarily on defense or on the basepaths. Actually, his baserunning in general is excellent although his occasional lope to first on a routine ground ball has irked many a dyed-in-the-wool "baseball is all about hustle" pundits, of which I lean towards agreement with more often than not. And then comes the ultimate "Manny being Manny"-ism: his hitting. Gosh can that guy knock the snot out of Mr. Spaulding! Tonight he homered DEEP to left with an absolutely ferocious headwind whose absence almost certainly would have spelled Mass Turnpike for that little white sphere - as it turned out it ONLY made it three rows deep into the Monster seats. Wimp. And then in the 8th inning when it looked like Dice-K's sloppy walk-laden start would doom us once again, Manny drove a 2-out fastball on a 3-2 count over the bullpens and into the right field bleachers (a shot whose location and timing he predicted to Wily Mo Pena in the dugout minutes before it happened) to complete the scoring in a thrilling 8-7 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Notes: Manny's second dinger of the game gave him 4 on the year, and it was the 4th time that his homer was directly instrumental in winning a game.

#1: tied the game on April 19th in Toronto at 3-3. Boston wins 5-3.
#2: the first of the historic back-to-back-to-back-to-back HRs versus the yankees at Fenway on April 22nd that turned a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 lead in a span of 10 pitches.
#3: gave the Red Sox a 7-3 lead in the April 29th game in the Bronx. Boston wins 7-4.

Manny being Manny.... yeah, I'll take that when the game is on the line.