Ortiz Feels Sorry For Manny

David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez seemed inseperable during their time together as teammates with the Boston Red Sox. Ortiz and Ramirez might have been the most dyanamic one-two punch in Major League Baseball during their time in the same lineup. They were best friends and you could tell by the way they interacted with each other.

That's probably why Ortiz said that he is "shocked and disappointed" by Ramirez's recent actions. If you remember, Ramirez was suspended for 100 games for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy a second time. Ramirez abruptly retired five games into the season on April 8. Ramirez was recently arrested for domestic violence.

Just like any other professional athlete faced with a life of normalcy, if you can call it that, Ramirez doesn't know what to do with himself. Something that Ortiz touched on in a recent interview.

"To be honest with you, I've talked to some guys and when it comes down to retirement, even when they get prepared to do it, once they do it they're not ready for it," Ortiz said Friday. "And in Manny's situation he retired from the game when nobody expected it, so I think it has to be a little hard for him just chilling and not playing the game that he loved.


"I mean, I'm not using that as an excuse for him to do what he did because you can never go that far. I've only heard comments about what happened and I don't really know, nobody really knows what happened behind closed doors at his house. But everybody knows you cannot go that far and let that happen. Everybody knows how we, as humans, look at that."


"When it comes down to the game, I can't imagine how he feels about not playing," Ortiz said. "He knows it's all his fault. He can't blame nobody but himself, so it might get even worse. When you can blame it on somebody else you at least have an argument but when you know it's all your fault it's got to be even harder."



"It has to be [difficult]," Ortiz said. "The last time we talked was when we played each other in spring training. Manny's a hard guy to reach. I think it'll be easy for me to get in touch with Obama than it would be to get in touch with Manny. I would like to at some point and see how he's doing."

Ortiz also expressed his disappointment with Ramirez regarding the domestic violence sllegations surrounding him. Obvioulsy this is something Ortiz never thought would happen.

"They are a beautiful couple and they have great kids and a beautiful family, so hopefully they figure things out and he realizes that what he did was wrong," Ortiz said. "He needs to regroup with his family and have a good life.



"He had a wonderful career, and it didn't end the way he wanted it to, but he still had a great career. You marry your wife one day because you think that's the right person to be right next to. Now that you need her the most, you don't want to be going through things like that. It's easier said than done, but Manny's a good dude. He's not a bad person. I hope everything works out for him and his family."


Manny needs to reevaluate what's important to him right now. He's lost without the game of baseball and it's starting to show. Witness the way he handled the media when they tried to interview him outside of his house. He needs to realize who cares about him. Ortiz has tried to reach out to him. It's about time he returned the favor.