Slacker

Watched last nights Marlins game in which Hanley Ramirez misplayed a Tony Abreu popup and accidentally kicked it about 100 feet toward the left-field corner... then leisurely jogged after it... while two runners scored and Abreu made his was to third-base. It was an ugly play. It's the worst example of "dogging-it" that I can recall seeing on a major league baseball field. UGLY.

I've seen it compared to a Jimmy Rollins episode from a while back in which he popped up and then jogged down to first... only to have the ball dropped. He was barely safe on the play, and then was pulled from the game. Rollins was wrong to not run it out... I guess. I mean, the ball ~could~ be dropped. It's extremely rare, but it is possible. So even though Rollins plays every day... he should go ahead and run out the 90 feet on the off chance the ball is dropped. Of course, he was SAFE on the play... so he did run fast enough to reach. So, he didn't cost his team.

Ramirez's play on the other hand, there was no "rarely" or "maybe" about it. He had kicked a live ball 100 feet away and without any question runners were circling the bases. And had he hustled after the ball, there is ~no question~ in my mind that at the very least Abreu would have stayed at second base. Instead, he jogged.... and by that I mean ~my fat ass~ could have ran faster~... and allowed the runner to reach third base. It was a long jog too... 100 feet... not just a few slacking steps here.

Now, Ramirez is claiming that he was hurt and that was as fast as he could run. He is a liar. If you watch the play before he kicks the ball... he is moving fast and fine. Then, during the jog there is no limp or anything like that. Had he been trying to leg out an infield hit... he would have gone faster.

At the very-very best, Ramirez is guilty of not being honest about how badly he was hurting. I don't at all believe that is what is happened. Heck, beyond that excuse Ramirez later said, "We've got a lot of guys dogging it after ground balls. They don't apologize." So which is it... you were hurt and that was the best you could do -or- lots of guys on the team also dog it??

He also said, "It's his (manager Fredi Gonzalez's) team, he can do whatever he fucking wants"... and... "That's OK. He doesn't understand that. He never played in the big league." Absurd. Hanley Ramirez has never managed at any level, so he's even with Gonzalez there. And, Gonzalez wasn't on the field when Ramirez was loafing... his teammates (especially the pitcher) were.

He's on my fantasy team... and a big part of it... but... I'd like to see Ramirez sit until he sincerely apologizes for what he did. If that takes several games, so be it. He's digging his heals in, but... it seems he is getting ZERO support... so we'll see how it plays out. Fredi Gonzalez has my support though.