The Rays have their Manny

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 21, 2007 1:41 PM EST

From the St. Pete Times baseball column

Iwamura doesn't just wear No. 1, he is obsessed with it, starting his preseason workouts in Japan on 1/11 at 11:11:11. "I like No. 1 and wanted to start at all ones," he told the 30 or so reporters watching. And he said he may use a glove made in part out of alligator skin.

So basically between the whole '1' superstition, his weekly hair dying, smoking a pack a day, perhaps wearing alligator skinned gloves, and being described as a 'frat boy', all of this out of a 5'9, 180 or so Japanese import. I sent that tidbit to one of my Braves friends, his reply, "No offense, but he sounds like a nut."

And so why is it that I'm seemingly thrilled by these revelations? Because no matter what this guy does in the field, there's no doubt that he's going to at least be a star off the field. I'm hesitant to say he's the Rays' Manny since, well, we haven't found out if he likes lollipops and coloring books just yet, but this can definitely lead to some very promising jokes.

So this post is for you Ak1, on Sunday January 21st, the 1st month of the year, at 1:40 p.m., get it? Get it? 1? He likes 1? Oh sorry, I was beginning to forget what site I was on.

So basically do you think Aki becoming a 'Manny' figure is good for the Rays (and their bloggers) or bad for the Rays since it causes off field distractions?

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Comments

Does it really matter? :)

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 21, 2007 4:38 PM EST reply actions

Re: The Rays have their Manny

Did you just say "Get it?"

Are you high? :-D

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 21, 2007 6:57 PM EST reply actions

Re: The Rays have their Manny

Somebody didn't 'get it'...GET IT?

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 21, 2007 8:33 PM EST reply actions

What I'm wondering is....

How is Iwamura going to cause off-the-field distractions? Unless I'm wrong, Aki's english is as good as my japanese.

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 21, 2007 10:43 PM EST reply actions

Re: What I'm wondering is....

You've obviously never seen Rumble in the Bronx...

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 21, 2007 10:59 PM EST up reply actions

Re: The Rays have their Manny

Would you rather the off-field distractions come from Dukes, Upton, Delmon...

by das411 on Jan 22, 2007 1:02 AM EST reply actions

Delmon?

I've never seen him having "off-field" problems, looks like he's getting grouped for no reason.

Hell, Upton is basically the 1 DUI.

Dukes is "Mr. Off-field Distraction," if there ever was one.

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 22, 2007 7:19 AM EST up reply actions

Re: Delmon?

I was not the first to group those three:

http://tinyurl.com/q5c3v

And I suppose this could be considered an on-field distraction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW0tuz3_Hgc

Alls I am saying is that it sounds like Iwamura will give the Rays the kind of attention they want, as opposed to the kind of attention they have been getting.

by das411 on Jan 23, 2007 1:23 AM EST up reply actions

Re: Delmon?

They just wanted their promotions, since Del has became a choir boy...

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 23, 2007 3:13 PM EST up reply actions

Too bad

Only 1 of them truly deserved one, being Delmon, and the other 2 just felt that they were every bit as good as him.

by Jacob Larsen on Jan 24, 2007 9:01 AM EST up reply actions

If Dukes had not been suspended

He would have clearly deserved a promotion, especially with Gomes sidelined. His statistics were far better than that of Delmon, or anyone on the team not named Kevin Witt.

With Upton, leaving him down in Triple A further was not an option, you can't leave him to self-destruct in an environment he hates. He clearly mastered the Triple A hitting level as his stats from years past indicate, and what defensively was he to do down in Durham that he couldn't do in the majors, with regards to instruction? You had to give Upton the call, there was nothing to gain from him staying in Durham any longer.

by Patrick L. Kennedy on Jan 24, 2007 2:08 PM EST up reply actions