The Phoenix

And that's that.

As my fiancée and I were filling out paperwork to get a marriage license today, just around 3:58 in the afternoon, the front offices in Boston, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh were doing something similar -- shuffling sheets filled with stats and dollar figures and sending them off in flurries of transcontinental faxing.

The Red Sox were ending a marriage. It lasted seven and a half seasons. It sure did have its moments. And looking back on it now, in the immediate aftermath of the divorce, it's almost headspinning how fast it all unravelled.

Sure we'd had a lot of rough patches. They usually came around this time of year. But it wasn't that long ago at all that everything seemed totally hunky dory. This spring, Manny Ramirez was feeling groovy and talkative. Zen-like. He smiled a lot. He seemed mellow and more mature. He hit his 500th homer and we all went nuts. He said he loved us. He said he wanted to stay with us forever. Why not 600?! "I'm going to finish my career here," he said. And the hits kept coming.

But, almost before anyone realized what was happening, it all started to spin out of control. A couple ugly incidents of domestic violence. Angry and inflammatory words. One event after another, following in ever-quickening sucession.

And then, just like that, it was over.

He was awe-inspiring. He was endlessly entertaining. He was damn infuriating. And he will be missed.

But this is how baseball works.

It's still really, really weird to see him Photoshopped into that Dodger-blue uniform.

Joe Torre managing Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Lowe, and Manny Ramirez. Baseball really is a funny game.

Published Jul 31 2008, 09:14 PM by Mike Miliard

LorenzoJennifer said:

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MARRIAGE! Manny signed on in 2000 and was greeted by all as a fun-lovin' kid. A changed attitude accompanied the 2002 ownership change. While tolerant, they were serious men who put up serious money to acquire a serious World Series prize. Manny was pathetique in the 2003 ALCS and put on irrevocable waivers by GM Theo Epstein. A lengthy but failed negotiation to trade Manny to Texas followed. Manny got the message and was the MVP in getting Boston its first Series trophy in 86 years. Manny, though, kept pushing the envelope. Ownership never sanctioned or benched him as they highly valued his RBI production - - "The RBI Machine" he was called. They should have/could have put their foot down early and often but did not. Manny, like most of us, got away with whatever he could. While Manny may have pulled the last straw in 2008, the team may have felt that they by then had enough offensive firepower to trade him. To make Manny the only bad guy is unfair. The team that allowed him to romp at will and took no series of progressive steps to adjust his attitude shares the blame. Many teams, corporations and other entities have a "Manny" in their midst - - a productive, top-shelf highly valued employee who continually brings troubling and disruptive personality characteristics to the workplace. Usually these folks get dumped not when management has had enough but when management thinks they can continue to succeed without them around.

Will be interesting to see which Manny emerges in Dodgerland. Should the present pattern persist, wonder how Joe Torre - - hardly a softie - - manages "Manny being Manny."

August 3, 2008 8:55 AM