Hey, let’s replay the game where Matt Clement got hit in the head!

It’s Monday night and there is no Bruins game on, which means we get "Walk Off Sox" on NESN.  Tonight’s game?  The Sox versus the Devil Rays from 2005 where the Sox win after Matt Clement gets hit in the head with a Carl Crawford line drive. 

Now, technically, this isn’t a ‘walk-off’ game.  It happened in Florida.  It’s an ‘extra innings win’.  But that’s nitpicking.  It actually was a good game.  I listed it at number five in a post I brilliantly titled "The Five Best things about 2005", so I can understand what NESN was thinking, wanting to reshow it.  (Although, ironically, this is also the game when Don Orsillo and  Jerry Remy began talking about the "Manny wants to be traded" rumors that got started by a Tom Verducci piece – timely, no?)

So I’m watching the first hour of this and then it’s on to "24" (Maybe.  I just might dvr "24" and watch it later).

In more Manny-related news, I had a very interesting email conversation with Gordon Edes today.  I won’t beat a dead horse and get into specifics, but suffice it to say that, unlike his contemporaries Mr. Shaughnessy and Ms. MacMullan, Mr. Edes seems to take the opinions and concerns of the fans pretty seriously.  Serious enough to respond with well-though out, meaningful ideas instead of a pat "it’s only baseball’ or "let’s agree to disagree".  I might not agree with everything Edes has had to say about Manny lately, but at least he’s respectful enough to discuss it.

The issue for me was the relaying of an  ‘incident’ between MacMullan and Manny this morning.  As Edes reported it:

Boston Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan was leaning near Manny Ramirez’s locker when he arrived this morning.

“Can you give me a little space please?,” Ramirez said sharply to MacMullan.

Now, here’s the same interaction as reported by the Associated Press:

"Please move," he told a reporter politely. "I need some space."  (Interestingly enough, the AP has removed this entire part of the story from the afternoon/evening versions of the piece.)

There is quite the difference between saying something "sharply" and saying something "politely", no?  Edes told me that he relayed the story the way MacMullan told it to him (which brings up another issue of Edes reporting things as if he’s witnessing them first person and then, in two instances today, telling me that they were told to him by someone else).  In a late-afternoon chat, MacMullan, apparently, reiterated that Manny wasn’t polite (I’ve yet to read the transcript).  She did relay one piece of information that Edes left out (or wasn’t told).  Next to MacMullan was Dan Shaughnessy.  So if, in fact, MacMullan’s version is true and the AP’s version is cleaned up, one can understand if Manny was ‘sharp’.  I truly have a very difficult time imagining Manny speaking ‘sharply’ to anyone.  But what do I know, I wasn’t there.

(Trot Nixon just got hurt at his at-bat.  I had forgotten that.  Adam Hyzdu is batting for him.  Oh how we  miss you ‘what-nuts’ – as he strikes out…)

It is becoming very obvious that many in the Boston sports media absolutely hate the fact that the fans can ‘forgive’ Manny’s ‘transgressions’.  I’m pretty sure if you ask any Red Sox fan about Manny, ALL of them will tell you that at one time or another one of Manny’s ‘Mannyisms’ have irritated them.  But it seems more fans just look at it and say "In the long run, as long as he performs, who cares?".  That isn’t to say that there aren’t fans out there who want to wash their hands of Ramirez…but those fans aren’t as numerous as the Boston sports writers would like – and it’s blatant in a lot of the writings of late.

(Matt Clement just got hit in the head.  I have to admit, I got the same sick feeling I did the first time it happened.  This is basically the point where I ‘adopted’ Clement as one of the players I try not to pick on.  I like him, I think he works hard and I want nothing more than to see him shut up all the naysayers and pitch well – at some point – this year.  Thankfully, NESN didn’t show this in it’s entirety.  He got hit and now he’s on the stretcher…the time in between those two moments seemed to be unending in real time.  Oh, yay, Chad Bradford is on the mound…and I flash back to those feelings of nausea I had throughout the rest of this game.)

I don’t expect sports writers to be homers.  I don’t expect them to not point out shortcomings in the players.  What I do expect is a little bit of decorum.  Today, WBZs Jonny Miller asked Manny’s agents questions I felt crossed the line.  In one he referred to Manny as a 12 year-old and in another he referred to Manny as the agents’ "meal ticket".  Both unnecessary, personal shots.  Obviously Miller has a problem with Manny, those questions were biting, but it’s Manny so the writers feel like everything is fair game.

The writers whined today that Manny didn’t talk to them last year.  Not entirely true, when he showed up at Spring Training last year, he spoke with the media.  And then he didn’t for the rest of the season. 

If you ask me, they get what they deserve from Manny.  I just wish other players would follow his lead.  Sports writers, especially those covering Boston sports, seem to have this ‘entitled’ attitude, thinking they should be privy to every aspect of a player’s life.  I don’t agree.  I might not be a member of the local media, but I have plenty of ‘contacts’ and have had personal information passed along to me many times (as a matter of fact, thanks to one of the sistahs with some inside info, I knew Manny was in Ft Myers last night).  Most of it I choose not to write about because, even as a lowly blogger, I don’t think it’s my place to pass along gossip or just write something for the sake of grinding an axe.

There are so many stories they could focus on.  But they choose to focus on the negative.  Whether it is CHB bashing Curt or whichever player earns his ire this week, or the incessant Manny-bashing.

When are they going to get that the fans have had enough?  I’d rather watch a rerun of a two year-old baseball game than read what most of these folks have to write.

(pictures lifted from Yahoo and the Boston Herald because I realized this post is quite long and figured you all could use something to break it up!)