I was having a conversation with my boy Ryan the other day and like we always do, the topic of baseball came up. The question that was thrown out there: If you had one at-bat to win a game, what current player would you want at the plate?

My Response: This is a no brainer, Manny Ramirez every day of the week and two times on Sunday. Say what you want about Manny being Manny, the stories are well documented. The bottom line is Manny Ramirez is the best right handed hitter in the game today and there are four reasons why:

1. Career Numbers: .314 AVG, 527 HRs, 2300 Hits and 1700 RBIs. Bottom line, he’s a first ballot Hall of Fame Player.
2. He’s Mr. Clutch: Numbers with RISP w/2 outs: .315 AVG, 71 HRs, 300 Hits and 484 RBIs. If that is not coming through in the clutch then what about my next point…
3. Career Post Season Numbers: .282 AVG., 27 HRs, 106 Hits and 73 RBIs in 102 post season games.
4. Intangibles: Manny makes players around him better. Perfect example David Ortiz. Did anyone know who Ortiz was before he came to Boston and hit in front of Manny? Is it a coincidence that now that Manny is gone Ortiz can’t get a hit this post season?

Tags: Manny Ramirez

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.