Manny’s back at it

MLB. For the first half of this particular baseball summer in Boston, questions about a sudden power outage at the dish dogged Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez.

The batter’s box has always been a safe haven for the carefree outfielder after running into a needless out or botching a fly ball. But, the dread-headed slugger managed only 11 home runs during this season’s first half, and at times looked unfathomably uncomfortable.

Was Ramirez simply losing “it” all of a sudden at 35 years of age? Were the struggles of Ramirez and David Ortiz a byproduct of a continued lack of production from the No. 5 hole in Boston’s lineup? Why was Ramirez taking so many called third strikes at the plate? Why wasn’t he going the other way with the regular displays of opposite-field power he had always enjoyed in the past? Was Manny in danger of not making it to the 500-home run mark this year, a benchmark that required only 30 homers this season to reach?

During the first half, Ramirez wasn’t readily available to answer any of these questions about his struggles. Ramirez’s coaches and teammates weren’t exactly full of explanations, either, and simply waited for the “other Manny” to heat up and start piling on home runs and RBIs.

So what do his teammates think now that he’s stroking majestic fly balls into the right-field stands and resembling the Manny of old?

“That’s his pop,” Mike Lowell said. “[Fenway] Park isn’t all that kind when you’re hitting balls to right field and center field, but he can hit the ball out to any field in any park. When he starts hitting those three-run homers, what it does is it makes the other team not want to pitch to him so he doesn’t hurt them again. When he does that, it’s a good sign for us.”

The Sox have spied many good signs since the All-Star break as Ramirez has simply scorched the ball like he’s always done in the past. When the perennial All-Star is locked in, he’s rocking balls into the center-field bleachers and doggedly rifling outside pitches over the right-field fence.

There’s no better example of Ramirez’s pure power than the 481-foot blast Ramirez belted in Cleveland last week, a homer believed to be the most prodigious of his big-league career.
The powerful inside-out swing has allowed Ramirez to hit .388 with seven home runs and 28 RBIs in the three-week period since the All-Star break, and it helped him regain his favored status as the most dangerous right-handed hitter in the game.

“Manny is a guy that can hit the ball out to any part of the park, and when he’s staying inside the ball and hitting it out to right-center, he’s at his best,” Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan said. “You’ve got to be careful with him, too though, (if you’re a pitcher). If you try to sneak something inside, then he’s going to turn on it and hit it over the Monster.

“That’s why he’s one of the best hitters of our generation, because he can hit the ball out to all fields.”