True value

I watched a little bit of the LA-Philly game tonight and got to hear Joe Buck and Tim McCarver prattle on about Manny Ramirez for a while. One might say the two took different approaches to LA's star hitter.

McCarver criticized Ramirez for his actions in Boston, and fairly so, as he's done in the press recently. McCarver wisely (did I just write that?) stops short of being a jerk, but doesn't go easy on the man.

Buck decided to discuss Ramirez' effect on the Dodgers in the most incorrect terms possible. Now, first, note that Fox's studio team earlier credited Joe Torre almost entirely for LA's postseason success, which is setting the silliness bar kinda high, but let's move to Buck. He starts going on about how Ramirez's locker was in the middle of the room, and how his personality caught on with the club, and how Manny kept them loose and changed their attitude and led them into the playoffs.

Joe, check it out:

1) 2nd most wins in the NL West, which LA won: 82

2) Ramirez' line with the Dodgers: .396/.489/1.232, OPS+ of 213.

Seriously, with a division that weak and a dude mashing that prolifically, Ramirez could have been the absolute worst dude ever in the clubhouse and this gang would have made the playoffs. Love him or hate him, Manny's production helps his teams win baseball games.