Manny Ramirez, Yogi

Manny Ramirez is a good hitter. He's a likeable guy. He also has certain powers that change the world around him. He's either a master psychologist or an enlightened master of the path to moksha. See, he spake unto us and we were cleansed—unless we were Cleveland Indians.

A couple weeks ago, the Red Sox were down to the Indians 3 games to 1. The Sox were facing elimination, they were in Cleveland and the Indians had been cruising through the playoffs. Asked about the Red Sox imminent demise, Ramirez dismissed it all.

"We're confident every day," Ramirez said. "It doesn't matter how things go for you. We're not going to give up. We're just going to go and play the game, like I've said, and move on. If it doesn't happen, so who cares? There's always next year. It's not like the end of the world or something. Why should we panic?"

The press went wild in their particular harrumph! way. Dan Wetzel at Yahoo! Sports was particularly scandalized: "That's Manny" he wrote. "See ball, hit ball. All the rest is someone else's problem." The upshot of the column was that Manny goofs around yet produces, representing today's myth-less ballplayer who leaves the seriousness of winning to schmucks like fans and writers.

So what happened? The Red Sox tore off three straight wins, with no room for doubt, then followed up with a 4-game sweep in the World Series. Don't worry, he says.

Well, don't.

We who watched those last few games saw that look in the Indians, the same as the Giants in 2002 Game 6. They knew that even if they scored 20 runs, the Sox would score 21.

(It happens every year and the cameras can't stop scanning the dugouts for it. It's become a cliché of coverage, as much as Joe Buck's and Bob Costas' desperate reaches for poetics, or Tim McCarver's and Al Michaels' banshee voices. I digress.)

So here's the larger question—did Ramirez's declaration liberate the Red Sox from their own fear, or did it unleash the fear within the Indians? Of course, the easy answer is "both," but let's consider each.

First, there's the case of Ramirez, Master of the Head Trip. This case has Manny claiming all is well. The Indians (or whoever might be hanging around) are bound to lose because they aren't the Red Sox, even with backs to the Green Monster. We saw this effect on opponents of the New York Yankees from '96 to 2000. Inferior Yankee teams would win because they were, well, the Yankees. The Red Sox have this going now, thanks to 2004 and now, 2007.

Second, the Red Sox are a team capable of domination, but some fatigue dulled their focus. A key weapon is their ability to face challenges without apprehension: there's always a tomorrow in baseball. Ramirez reminded us that the end had not come, that peeling off 7 straight wins was not only possible, but a matter of record for the Red Sox. So reminded, the Red Sox entered Game 5 with a win in their view. An expectation.

The inner winner, if you will, was revived. This is the case of Manny Ramirez, prophet.

Maybe this is a simplistic reading of events—or an over-complication, more likely. Whatever, pondering life's great questions are best done through ordinary experience. So whether Manny Ramirez is or is not a master of universal consciousness, I'm certainly working my way there by virtue of this post.