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Associated Press photo Wilson Ramos made his winter ball debut tonight in Venezuela. |
Eleven days after he was rescued from his abductors in Venezuela, Wilson Ramos was back on the diamond in his homeland Tuesday night, playing the game he loves.
Ramos' performance for the Aragua Tigres -- he went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts -- was less than inspiring, but the mere fact he was in the lineup so soon after his harrowing kidnapping more than made up for his lack of production at the plate.
Playing in front of a packed house at Aragua's home ballpark, Ramos hit cleanup and served as designated hitter. He flied out to left to end the first inning, grounded out to end the third, grounded out again to open the sixth, was called out on strikes in the seventh and struck out again swinging in the bottom of the ninth while representing the potential tying run.
Aragua wound up blowing a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth, ultimately losing 6-4 to La Guaira.
Ramos was cleared to play after a quick trip to Washington late last week, during which team team doctors gave him a physical exam and club officials met with the 24-year-old catcher to ensure he was in a strong enough mental state to return so soon after his abduction.
15 comments:
Wednesday Aragua game tso be on ESPN3 if my iPad schedule accurate. I really need to learn Spanish. Or maybe Venezuelan, to paraphrase Herman Cain.
any update on Purke's trip to Alabama?
Yeah, what's the scoop on Purke and Dr. Andrews, if that's who he's seeing??
I hope that The Aragua Tigers keep Ramo at DH or 1B---anything but catching. Davey wants him to reduce his uppercut a bit--good time to try, without the ordeals of catching.
I understand that Cain is working on learning to speak Puerto Rican!
I don't like that this is a story. If we put so much pressure on Ramos in his first winter league appearance after he was kidnapped, imagine how heavily scrutinized every little thing he does during the season will be, and how it will be connected to his psychological health after being kidnapped. The headline should read, "Ramos back to playing baseball again," or something more optimistic, rather than reading "Ramos goes 0-5 in return," and focusing on results that don't ultimately matter. The man hasn't faced live pitching in almost two months! I'm worried if he doesn't perform immediately, the media will be all over him and quickly attribute his lack of production to his kidnapping. We don't want Wilson to believe that any struggles he has at the plate are because of PTSD when that may not necessarily be the case- hitting in the major leagues is mentally tasking enough as it is! If he struggles at the plate, it could just be a common case of the sophomore slump. If Ramos starts off the 2012 season slowly, I'm worried everyone will quickly blame the kidnapping (something that happened that was out of Wilson's control), rather than the need for a minor adjustment in Ramos' swing/approach (something that is in his control). This behavior is not productive and will not help Ramos. If anything, the media should lay off him and give him some time to find his groove. Mark, I'm not accusing you of being guilty of this, you even acknowledged that Ramos' return is far more important than his results at the plate the other night. I'm talking about the media in general, and feel like I kind of see this one coming, but hopefully I'm wrong. Thoughts anyone?
And how was it NOT going to be a story? If he had gone 4-5, would the story have been different?
Good grief.
The story is he is back playing! That is a victory!
I understand ZTown's point, but I am guessing the local media won't do that. There will probably be somebody nationally clueless or lazy enough to go there, but the national press pretty much ignores DC most of the time, so maybe it won't be more than infrequent. The fans, OTOH, may be a different story. I hope not. We'll see. Either way, he's going to have that as part of dealing with it, and I'm sure he realizes that by now.
Happy to see El Toro back on the field!
Welcome Back, Wilson. We love you.
Haven't had time to read comments or post of late, but I do appreciate the update. I'm not hung up on the results, particularly for just one game as a DH, but hope that Wilson got an awesome welcome from the local fans.
Here's what matters to me: Wilson was in a baseball uniform and at the plate. Then he went home, and will return to the park for the next game. That's one of the things for which I am grateful. 0-5 -- who cares?
Ztown, I hear that you're concerned about people over-thinking what MIGHT be wrong with Wilson Ramos. Frankly, I think you may be over-thinking what MIGHT be wrong with media coverage of Wilson Ramos. You want Ramos given a chance; why not pay reporters the same courtesy?
In other words, let's wait a month or four before we get all worked up about this, okay?
Fair enough everybody. My post was a lot longer than I wanted it to be,I really wasn't that worried about it, just trying to make a point as Ramos will probably continue to be in the spotlight. Obviously I'm mostly focused on the fact that he's back, which is awesome. Ramos will be one of the great franchise players valuable for years to come
3 for 5 last evening. It'll work out.
Thanks Mark Z for a great blog. Thanks to all the posters for the insightful and (mostly) civil posts. And finally, thanks to Elijah Dukes for not having Scott Boras as his agent. :-)
Captcha - heabillu = he a bill u?
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