Letters

Maddening Manny

Manny Ramirez may be the greatest hitter of this era and solely responsible for resurrecting the Dodgers' season, but his dogging it to get out of his contract in Boston puts him at the bottom of the pile. He's worse than a cheat, he's a bum. Manny was out for Manny. He deliberately tanked it and let his teammates down, and that stinks.

John Leidecker, Cranston, R.I.

Manny Ramirez sat out two games in July with a sore knee (Manny in La La Land, Oct. 13). In the 11 games before that he hit .487. In his second game back he hit two doubles against the Yankees and ran through a stop sign at third to score. We should all loaf like Manny. Red Sox management bad-mouthed him publicly before and after the trade to cover their own indecisiveness.

Jack O'Rourke, Narragansett, R.I.

Bay Watch

Compare the numbers of Jason Bay (And They All Lived Happily Ever After, Oct. 13) since he was traded to the Red Sox on July 31 to those of Manny Ramirez before he was dealt to the Dodgers. You'll see that Bay averaged more runs per month, more hits, more doubles, more triples, more RBIs, more stolen bases and had a higher slugging percentage. Sure, Manny did better in home runs and batting average (and these both could have been even higher had he remembered to take the bat off his shoulder when he faced Mariano Rivera earlier in the season). But I'll take a posttrade Bay over a pretrade Manny any day.

Dave Shea, South Boston, Mass.

Your article on Jason Bay would have been more appropriately titled, And They All Lived Happily Ever After . . . Except for the Pirates.

Chris Saunders South Richmond Hill, N.Y.