Posts Tagged ‘Operation Shutdown’

Ramirez, Sox End Volatile Relationship: Latest “Manny Being Manny” Antics Swelled Into Selfish Discontent, Forcing Boston To Make A Move Posted by Brian Filipiak in Boston Red Sox, Front Page News August 4th, 2008

And just like that, he’s gone.

After 1,083 regular season games played, 274 home runs launched into the ether, and 868 runs driven in, Manny Ramirez will no longer stand before the Monster in left field wearing home whites with red embroidery. No longer will he bat behind David Ortiz, forming one of the most prolific offensive combos in the history of the game. And no longer will he stir that fickle cauldron mixed with absolute indignation and pure jubilation.

Just like that. Like so many of the baseballs that effortlessly smacked off the barrel of his bat. Gone. Long gone, in fact.

With just minutes, if not seconds, to go before the clock struck four on Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox sent the disgruntled Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers via the Pittsburgh Pirates in a three-way deal that landed All-Star outfielder Jason Bay—quite fittingly—in the Bay State.

In a move similar to the Nomar Garciaparra trade of 2004—and for largely the same reasons and under eerily equal circumstances—the player, teammates, manager, and front office all agreed: a point of no return had been reached, and Ramirez had to go; and what better place than Frank McCourt’s SoCal Red Sox Retirement Home. Read more