Three Cheers.

This is my fourth attempt at trying to get this right. The first one dissolved into a rant against the way Manny was treated by the media. And while it was wrong (no one should have to cooperate with reporters to avoid having them make stuff up about you), I wouldn't want people to think that I was mere baby steps away from moving to a cabin in Wyoming and writing vicious anti-media screeds about a dying industry and the self-important, power-hungry people it employs, from the public library because I'd gone off the grid. I swear that I'm not that person.

Then I tried listing the reasons that Manny should be cheered but that didn't seem sufficient. The most persuasive reason was, of course, that David Ortiz said to not boo him.

"Cleveland missed Manny and we miss Manny. The Dodgers will miss him when he's gone. The kids with the Dodgers, he's helped them. If you want to get better approaching the game, watch Manny because he slows things down. I hope they cheer him. Don't boo him. It'll make him mad and he'll go deep."

Jason Varitek may be the leader of the team; Mike Lowell could be in charge of the heterosexual female fans; Jacoby Ellsbury could be in charge of the teenagers; but David Ortiz is the heart and soul of this club. Often enough he's carried this team on his broad back that if Papi says, "Don't boo", then you don't boo.

Then I tried the route of explaining why booing Manny was wrong and how people who would boo him were clueless. But who am I to say what's wrong and what's right?

And so I'm left with the plea: Don't boo Manny. Yes, it ended poorly but he was our Manny (the man was beloved) and he was desperately important to the 2004 and 2007 teams. There has never been and likely never again will there be a right-handed hitter quite like Manny. And the media wants him to be booed (Would Fox/ESPN cover these games if they weren't looking for a little manufactured drama?) and it's always best to not give them what they want.