Royals-Sox: Manny Being Happy

OK, there are bad pitches. And there are BAD pitches, all caps. For instance, in the fourth inning on Monday, Royals starter Brian Bannister was in a pretty good groove, and then he had three balls on Dustin Pedroia. I really like the way Bannister pitches – everything he throws seems to have a purpose. When you have spent much of your sports writing career watching Blake Stein, Ambiorix Burgos and Chris George pitch in their sort of abstract way, you appreciate a guy who is out there thinking and focusing and doing the most with his stuff.

Anyway, Bannister did not want to walk Pedroia. So he challenged him with an 87 mph high fastball, and Pedroia pulled it over the Green Monster. That was a bad pitch, but under the circumstances (I thought) understandable. Bannister is a pitcher who gets by on command, competitiveness and his wits. Every so often circumstances force him to simply throw his best and close his eyes. Pedroia got it. Tip the cap.

Two batters later, however, Bannister threw the same 87-mph meatball to Manny Ramirez, and now that was a BAD pitch. Bannister (as I knew he would) acknowledged this in his post-game comments to our own Bob Dutton: “That was a 2-1 pitch right down the middle,” he said. “That was my worst pitch of the night.”

What Manny Ramirez did with that pitch defies words. You have probably seen the highlight – he crushed the ball to center field. But "crushed" does not suffice, nor does "tattoo," "rip", "kill" or "destroy." It was, on television anyway, one of the hardest hit balls I have ever seen. In fact, I sent this email to Bill James, who was at the game:

Was that ball hit as hard as it appeared on television? I mean on TV it looked like one of the hardest hit balls I've ever seen. … Here was my favorite part, though: The camera closed in on Manny afterward, and I could have sworn I saw sort of a giggly look on his face; it was like an, "Oh my God, did I hit that ball hard or WHAT?" look. It was absolutely priceless. Maybe I just imagined it, but to me when you have Manny Ramirez – who has hit baseballs about as hard as anyone the last 25 years (or ever) – hit a ball so hard that even HE'S impressed by it, well, that's a BAD pitch.

Bill responded by saying that’s as hard as he’s ever seen Manny hit a ball – he placed it up there with homers he’s seen hit by Wily Mo Peña, Bo Jackson and one by Jose Canseco.

I can’t get that Manny look out of my mind either. Earlier in the game, Manny hit a hard line drive to right field – right at Mark Teahen – and Manny did not even take one step out of the batter’s box. Not even one step. He didn’t even PRETEND to JOG to first base. I’m really not some “these kids today need to run out ground balls” traditionalist -- I get the whole MannyBeingManny act -- but I have to say I was offended by that. I mean, make at least a token effort.

Three innings later, he hits a 973-foot rocket to center field and acts like a kid who just got away with something – pure joy, I thought. It s a crazy game. And Manny’s one crazy guy.