Okay...bear with me on this one for a second. The Red Sox are on the brink of elimination and the Cleveland Indians seem to have a pretty good shot at driving the final stake through with both C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona set to take the hill over the next two playoff games.
But that's not what is the top sports story on Yahoo.com, and countless other web sites. It's Manny and his ramblings from yesterday's voluntary workout.
"Why panic?" Ramirez said. "If we don't do it, we'll come back next year and try again. If it doesn't happen, who cares? There's always next year. It's not the end of the world."
So why is it that everyone is talking about Manny and that particular comment, and his idea that a loss in tonight's Game 5 of the ALCS "isn't the end of the world." Because Manny, whether or purpose or not, is taking the pressure off teammates who are struggling and management decisions that can be filed under the heading "Dubious At Best."
No one is talking about Eric Gagne and his inability to pitch in the Fenway fishbowl....no one is mentioning that Dustin Pedroia is striking out at warp speed and has morphed back into the April shell of his feisty self during the playoffs...no is mentioning that Sox GM Theo Esptein's prime acquisitions this off-season (Julio Lugo, J.D. Drew and Daisuke Matsuzaka) are failing to deliver in the ALCS and have helped the Sox into their current lot in life down 3 games to 1...No one is talking about Sox management's ludicrous reasons for keeping Coco Crisp in the lineup in centerfield and letting a little sparkplug named Jacoby Ellsbury rot away on the bench both unused and wasted.
No one is talking about Boston's postseason ERA hovering around 7.00 and their failure to bring ace Josh Beckett on short rest. (and please don't give me the bad back spin from the Red Sox, because it is nothing but fiction until the Sox actually say the phrase "Josh Beckett's back has been bothering him." The Sox haven't uttered that phrase once and instead have let the talking heads run wild with one lone Ken Rosenthal report that his back was sore at the end of his Game 1 start.
I smell something fishy and it's not the stir fry coming from the Master Wok at the Tower City Food Court where I'm writing this from. But I digress. Back to Manny.
Manny's mini press conference has completely stolen the spotlight, in a good way, away from the Sox struggles during the ALCS and anyone who has witnessed Manny operate knows he doesn't care about the obtuse criticism or naysayers questioning his desire to compete.
And then there's also this little nugget that wasn't something could lazy media members hungry for an off-day story could easily pull out and wreak havoc with:
"[Setting a postseason home run record] is good, but if I would have known that I was going to be in the World Series and not have those records, I'd trade them in a heartbeat," Ramirez said. "Who cares about the records, man? We just want to go out, have fun and win." Oblivious Manny apparently wants to win more than he wants to set records or gloat about individual achievements.
Everyone is lambasting Manny right now: from Mike Felger; to JoJo the Anchor Boy in Chicopee (immediate apologies to any real anchor people in Chicopee named Jojo); to a sure-to-be-frothy Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.
What does all of the "sound and fury" -- as Epstein is wont to call media pile-ons -- to a team on the brink of elimination? To quote a favorite phrase from the book of Manny: "It don't matter."
Except maybe to the Sox teammates he's protecting from a firestorm of criticism and unwanted attention by simply pulling out a little "Manny Being Manny."
