My personal theory on Manny Ramirez is he is the ultimate non-thinker in baseball, and that’s partly why he’s so good. When I used to play baseball and bat, all I did was go up there and overthink things; Ramirez isn’t capable of such a thing. So getting him to move his feet a little bit gets him to think, and that’s his Kryptonite. In my opinion.

I expect that Farnsworth meant to brush him back, and simply lost control of the pitch.

If he had good control, he wouldn’t be Farnsworth, he’d be a pretty decent reliever.

No need to head hunt, but getting him to move his feet is critical. I think Manny is as comfortable at the plate as any hitter in the history of the game. He was less comfortable after getting pushed back. Remember his reaction a few years back when Roger threw one up and, just a hair, inside? He was rattled.

On another note, if Giambi was hitting his weight, we’d be in first place by a game or two right now. I know Cano is struggling some and Damon hasn’ gotten it going full tilt either, but Giambi is killing us. At some point, Girardi has to say “Enough! Have a seat.” Otherwise… Meet the new Joe, same as the old Joe. B-U-Y-O-U-T time. Bring me Shelly. Doubt he could do worse and he might do a lot better. I hear all the feel good chatter…”He’s just missing.” “He’s just finding fielder’s gloves”. “He’s getting good swings.” BS. He continues to barrel-hook a high percentage pitches, leading to predictable ground balls, right into the teeth of the shift. He can’t handle fastballs up, and he’s a sucker for the change up.

Not that this adds to the discussion or proves anything, but it’s funny to note that Manny has eight at-bats and one hit off of Farns (a double) and Ortiz is oh-for-seven with four Ks. So while Farnsworth has had his struggles, at least he can claim to get out the two guys that have pounded the Yankee pitchers over the years.

Raf, it most certainly was a problem during the Torre era. The Yankees were hit way too often, and retaliation, when it did occur, was too mild.
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It didn’t show in the standings nor the season series.

Raf, it most certainly was a problem during the Torre era. The Yankees were hit way too often, and retaliation, when it did occur, was too mild.

And Mussina is a clown for pitching to Manny.

If Farnsworth has turned a corner, and is going to become an effective reliever with the Yanks, because he decided to pitch inside, I’ll believe it when I see it. Hope he does, as it means good things for the Yanks

As for Manny, 16 seasons in the bigs trumps one at-bat against Farnsworth (or even the handful of HTH at-bats they’ve had)

I guess there’s some confusion here as to whether Farns was brushing him back or retaliating for A-Rod getting hit the night before. I forgot all about A-Rod getting hit, so I didn’t even connect the two. But I think Rich and Pete are right, and Farnsworth’s comments after the game seem to back it up. He mentioned A-Rod getting hit — and so did Manny, by the way.

“Brushing him back, drilling him, whatever, isn’t going to do squat.”

You sure about that? He seemed pretty uncomfortable after that ball almost hit him, and Farnsworth did get him out. And, funny enough, the guys that came up after him looked pretty uncomfortable too. Pitchers have said forever you have to make a batter uncomfortable and come inside (not hit them, but put it in their minds). A lot of the great modern pitchers have pitched inside. And it’s true that a guy as great as Manny is going to get his hits regardless, but only pitching to one side of the plate almost seems like guaranteeing he will pound you. The game is built toward offense nowadays and these pitches have to take every advantage they have — including making a hitter like Manny think about getting hit in the face with a 95 mph fastball. Maybe that split-second hesitation keeps a ball in the yard.

Youkalis and Drew for the most part will not take you deep like Manny will. I would much rather pitch to them and give up bleeding singles.

I don’t think you should be pitching to Manny at all right now, ESPECIALLY if your name is Mussina. I agree if Mussina threw inside on him then it wouldn’t do squat but Mussina should be pitching around him, end of story.

Kyle may be a meathead, but he isn’t stupid.

Manny Ramirez, over his career has hit Yankee pitching to the tune of .322-.409-.623 (1.032 OPS)

Brushing him back, drilling him, whatever, isn’t going to do squat. ESPECIALLY if the starting pitcher leaves a couple of fat fastballs over the plate. What do you expect Ramirez to do with them?

We have seen enough of Farnsworth here to know that he isn’t as good as he should be. We know that he cannot afford to put extra runners on, because they seem to usually come around and score.