Ramirez was a topic on The Big Show yesterday when Peter Gammons made his weekly appearance. He noted the “complete disappearance” of Ramirez “as a real player”. He went on to say that David Ortiz, not Ramirez, is the dominant force in the Red Sox lineup. Michael Felger questioned whether he was saying that just because Manny was struggling right now. Gammons answered with a force and anger in his voice not heard previously. He told Felger “Michael, watch the games” and said that Ortiz has been the better hitter for two years. Felger responded by saying that all he hears about is Manny being the best right handed hitter in the game. Gammons exploded again. Demanding twice to know “who said that??” dismissing that claim as not even worthy of discussion and asking Felger if he had ever heard of Albert Pujols. The whole incident was pretty odd.
What’s also odd is that as recently as six months ago, Gammons was saying those things about Manny. On
December 23, 2004 Gammons wrote:
Take Manny Ramirez. He is the classic "bad contract." He cleared waivers a year ago and nearly got traded to the Mets. He also happens to be close to the best right-handed hitter in the game, he is a very nice person without any evil intent, he has the right priorities (a World Series ring and the Hall of Fame over the MVP) and by and large played very hard.
There are other references in the ESPN archives where Gammons makes similar claims. I don’t like bringing that quote up, because I have huge respect for Gammons. (This week I’ve had to disagree publicly with two of the people I respect the most in the media, Bob Ryan, and now Gammons.) Now yes, Manny has been pretty bad this year, but for Gammons to completely dismiss Felger’s statements as not worthy of discussion…when he himself made that statement six months ago is curious. Did Felger get under his skin by challenging him? Not many people challenge Gammons on anything…even if they disagree. Ordway and Buckley expressed that they didn’t totally agree with his assessments of Manny…but after Gammons left the air.