manny being manny

Manny Ramirez makes me laugh. Amazing baseball player. 490 career home runs. .313 career batting average. 2200 hits. 1600 RBI's. The most postseason home runs of any player in history. Amazingly powerful swing. Always wears a do-rag under his helmet to keep is dreadlocks tidy. Says pretty much whatever is on his mind, regardless of the consequences. Dude makes $17,000,000.00 a year in salary. He's possibly the best right-handed slugger in the history of the game.

But he doesn't run. He loofs around in the outfield. He never hustles. Just last night he should have scored from 2nd on a single by Mike Lowell, but he decides to slow down to take his helmet off, doesn't beat the throw, and refuses to slide into home - instead just running into the tag. Then, a few innings later, he hits (what he thinks) is a home run....decides to pretty much walk to first base....and then it hits the top of the wall and comes back into play. Could have had a triple. Ends up with a single.

Wouldn't you think if you'd hit roughly 500 home runs in your career, you would know the difference between a ball that was definitely a home-run, and one that was borderline? Come on, Manny. For $17,000,000, the least you can do is run.