Ramon Ramirez

I've been thinking about the current dilemma of having 2 pitchers named Ramon Ramirez on the 40 man roster this year. The Red Sox decided to name the newer acquisition Ramon A. Ramirez to differentiate between the two. (They had a similar situation a couple of years ago when there were two players named Javy Lopez on the roster at the same time.)

But what will the media and the bloggers call them? There are all sorts of catchy nicknames with dashes out there- A-Rod, K-Rod, Dice-K, V-Mart. Some hung the tag of Ram-Ram on Ramon Ramirez #1 last year. Some folks can't stand those monikers, others are now totally ingrained in baseball lore. I then recalled Dr. Seuss's 'Thing 1 and Thing 2' from my childhood, and also that of my daughter's.

Hmmm.......

OK, I've got it- Ram 1 and Ram 2.

Ramon Ramirez (Ram 1) Ramon A. Ramirez (Ram 2)

As an aside, as I was composing this post, I came to the conclusion that a former Red Sox player with the last name of Ramirez now playing in Ellay, home of the rock and movie stars, should drop his last name and just go by Manny. It works for Cher, Jewel, Liberace, Madonna, Charo, Eminem, Flea, Sade, Seal, etc., so why not just 'Manny'?

Fenway West 02.27.10