Sports Commentary
Hanley Ramirez is about to be very rich, and that's a very good thing for baseball in Miami. That's where this week's Three Up, Three Down begins.
Marlins Megadeal
Talk to almost anyone in baseball about Hanley Ramirez and they will use words like “special” and talk about how he is one of the few players who can truly take over a game by himself. Just how special is he? Ramirez managed to get some money -- a lot actually -- out of the Marlins and their penny-pinching owner Jeffrey Loria.
While no one with the club will confirm it, Ramirez has reportedly agreed to the framework of a six-year, $70 million deal, with an announcement likely to come next weekend when the Marlins return to South Florida.
If that’s not proof enough, Nationals GM Jim Bowden went out of his way to congratulate Ramirez on his almost contract extension as the Marlins went through their pre-game stretches Saturday night in Washington.
Ramirez is baseball’s underappreciated superstar. Playing in a division with Jose Reyes and David Wright, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle, but Ramirez might be better than all of them. He finished one home run shy of a 30-homer, 50-steal season last year. Only two players in major league history -- Barry Bonds in 1990 and Eric Davis in 1987 -- have accomplished that feat. Ramirez is on pace to join Bonds and Davis and do a lot more this season.
“There’s nothing he can’t do on a baseball field,” gushed Bowden, who is such a big admirer of Ramirez that he has a bat autographed by the rival shortstop in his office. His 162-game career averages are spectacular: a .314 average, a .374 on-base percentage, 25 home runs, 53 steals, and 206 hits, with 79 of them going for extra bases.
Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez struggled to name other players as dynamic, as able to change the course of a game in so many different ways, as Ramirez. The names that did come out of Gonzalez’s mouth are almost all part of the canon of the modern game -- names like Jeter and A-Rod and Chipper.
“He’s a two-way player,” said Gonzalez. “He can play defensively, he can beat you that way. He can beat you offensively.”
But this is more than just an expensive footnote for the transaction ledger.
“It’ll be a good thing for the community, a good thing for us,” said Gonzalez of Ramirez’s upcoming extension. It’s easy to read too much into someone’s choice of words, but in this case it is interesting that he chose to elevate what this can do for the baseball community.
Think about it. Can you name one player you associate with the Marlins? The Diamondbacks have Randy Johnson. Even the Rockies have Todd Helton. Baseball in South Florida is synonymous with rapidly building up a winner, then tearing it down even more quickly, with shipping out elite talent once the price tag gets too steep. While that strategy might help Jeffrey Loria line his pockets every year, it’s no way to build a loyal fanbase -- just take a look at the truly hideous attendance figures over the last decade.
Ramirez might be the best talent the Marlins have ever had. Unlike almost every other All-Star they’ve groomed in their 16-year history, he’ll have a chance to actually be thought of as a Marlin, instead of merely a future Yankee or Red Sox or Tiger.
Cleveland Indians' Cliff Lee pitches against the Chicago White Sox during the second inning of a baseball game Tuesday, July 1, 2008, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
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The Minnesota Twins are in contention at midseason because of their reliable rotation which includes Glen Perkins, left, and Kevin Slowey, shown Wednesday, July 2, 2008 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
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Houston Astros starting pitcher Brandon Backe reacts to giving up a two-run single to Los Angeles Dodgers' Blake Dewitt in the first inning in a baseball game Thursday, July 3, 2008 in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
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Los Angeles Dodgers' Blake DeWitt heads toward first base on a two-run single in the first inning against the Houston Astros in a baseball game Thursday, July 3, 2008 in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
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Los Angeles Dodgers' Andre Ethier breaks his bat on his way to a ground-out to the mound in the first inning against the Houston Astros in a baseball game Thursday, July 3, 2008 in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
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Los Angeles Dodgers Chad Billingsley delivers a pitch in the second inning against the Houston Astros in a baseball game Thursday, July 3, 2008 in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
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Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya pumps his fist after Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer grounded out to end the game as the Tigers beat the Twins 5-4 in a baseball game on Monday, June 30, 2008, in Minneapolis. The Tigers' flame-thrower is back and, after a few false starts, seems to be heating up. For at least one pitch, the radar gun read 99 mph during Zumaya's 1-2-3 inning stint in Monday's win over the Minnesota Twins. It's a step in the right direction for the reliever who became one of the most popular athletes in Michigan by throwing triple-digit pitches. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
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San Francisco Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti is shown in the dugout before a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 2, 2008. Friday July 4 marks the 25th anniversary since Righetti no-hit Boston for the Yankees in 1983.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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San Francisco Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti is shown in the dugout before a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 2, 2008. Friday July 4 marks the 25th anniversary since Righetti no-hit Boston for the Yankees in 1983. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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San Francisco Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti is shown in the dugout before a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 2, 2008. Friday July 4 marks the 25th anniversary since Righetti no-hit Boston for the Yankees in 1983. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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The Marlins aren’t just investing in a Hall of Fame talent, they’re buying something two World Series titles in the span of six years couldn’t -- a small dose of credibility with the sports fans in South Florida.
Slump Busting
Is there anything more mysterious in sports than a hitting slump?
Sometimes it can be caused by a case of bad luck. Sometimes it can be purely mechanical. Sometimes, especially during a prolonged slump, it can be more of a mental struggle than anything else. Most of the time, it’s really some combination of those three factors.
Nationals star Ryan Zimmerman found himself in a nasty slump at the end of April. He was hitting .222 with just two home runs on April 27. Two days later, former Reds great, and current special adviser to the Nats, Barry Larkin swung into Washington and helped Zimmerman sort things out.
“If people are counting on you, of course you want to perform and that might lead you to try a little too much,” said Zimmerman, who believes he was pressing at the end of last month. Since April 27, he is hitting .286 with three homers, and Larkin, who Zimmerman credits as a calming force has helped him break out.
“He’s so positive,” said Zimmerman of the former shortstop.
Larkin is a bit of a hitting sage these days -- a philosopher of the bat with a zen-like approach to a very difficult game.
“Just because you’re not getting hits … doesn’t mean you’re struggling,” said Larkin during his recent trip to Washington. “I challenges these guys to win every pitch. If you win every pitch, at the end of the day you’ll be all right.”
Trouble for Toronto
The Blue Jays’ playoff hopes might have gone down with Vernon Wells, who will miss at least six weeks after fracturing his wrist making a tremendous diving catch Friday in Cleveland.
Wells is hardly worth the $126 million extension he signed in December 2006, but he is one of the few players on Toronto’s roster who can actually hit and hit for power, especially now that Frank Thomas has left the building.
Wells has nine more RBI than anyone else on the team, is leading the club in home runs and is one of only four regulars even slugging in the .400s. Considering the Jays rank 13th in the American League in runs and runs per game, Wells is one of the few players they couldn’t afford to lose.
They already had a very thin margin for error in the hotly contested AL East, but with the best pitching staff in the division, Toronto at least had a puncher’s chance. Without one of their only power hitters for more than a month, the Jays are probably going to watch the rest of the division slip away from them.
Line Drives
With a 5-1 record, Andy Sonnanstine has been a big part of Tampa Bay’s suddenly excellent starting rotation. According to Rays officials, the right-hander out of Kent State was discovered by former owner and Notre Dame alumni Vince Namioli, who watched Sonnanstine mow down his alma mater and then decided to spend a 13th round pick on him. All he’s done since then is pound the strike zone. Sonnanstine has thrown 69 percent of his pitches for strikes in 2008.
Larkin also raved about Nationals hitting coach Lenny Harris, who made a career out of being a pinch hitter. “He’s all-time,” said Larkin, who mused about whether pinch hitters belong in the Hall of Fame because of the difficulty of their job, coming off the bench cold, often times to face a flame-throwing reliever.
After a rough start to the year, Andrew Miller, one of the players Florida got this winter in exchange for Miguel Cabrera, has looked much better in his last two starts. Miller mixed in a changeup and a tilting slider in seven shutout innings against the Nationals Saturday night.
Everything’s a story in New York, including Joba Chamberlain’s fist-pumping. There’s no right way to be a Yankee and no wrong way to show emotion on the mound. He doesn’t have to be stoic and robotic just because Mariano Rivera is.
It looks more and more like prognosticators everywhere were guilty of overrating the AL Central as a whole coming into the season.
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