Manny Being Manny, Part Deux

Well, do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that Manny Ramirez might not have been faking an injury to get out of going to the Yawn-Star Game.

The bad news is that Manny might actually be injured.

David Ortiz, designated hitter and designated explainer of all things Ramirez, defended Manny to the Boston Globe, citing the knee problem, which has kept Ramirez out of some games. “You know Manny has been having a problem with his knee,” he said. “Manny’s not a baby anymore, so he needs time off. I think three days will be good for him to shut it down, especially after those long games in Chicago.” This can be pretty easily shrugged off—Papi and Manny always have each other’s backs (see photo).

But then Will Carroll at Baseball Prospectus got specific:

The top vote getter is taking a disproportionate amount of heat for missing the game, even getting openly questioned on yesterday’s Fox telecast. Tim McCarver said the worst thing about his knee injury was “remembering which leg to limp with.” It’s easy to say that Ramirez is faking an injury, but almost as easy to actually check on the injury. Ramirez is suffering from a small tear in the medial meniscus of his right knee. It’s an injury he can play with, but one that can “grind,” a bone-on-bone situation that is unpredictable and painful. The decision was made a while ago by the Red Sox to keep Manny on the field as much as possible. One possible solution that’s been mentioned is using Ramirez at DH more often, moving Kevin Youkilis to LF and David Ortiz to 1B. There’s some defensive penalty to be paid, but it keeps the best bats in the lineup.

Dear God, do not let this come to pass. No one wants to see David at first. I implore You. These games are family viewing! Please…think of the children.

After the jump–meniscus?!?!?

Okay, sportsfans, this is a meniscus:

Just in case you were thinking of this, instead:

‘Cause I know that’s what I was thinking of.