When will folks finally get sick of Manny Ramirez? The media for the most part tolerates this crap, and his teammates are oftentimes complicit in his behaviors by shrugging off his antics with the tired “Manny Being Manny” talking point.

The latest example is that, during the nail-biting bottom of the 9th inning on Monday night, while everyone else in the free (baseball) world was glued to the play on the field at Citizens Bank Park, Manny Ramirez was showering in the clubhouse after being pulled for Juan Pierre in an attempt to have some competent defense in leftfield. Well covered here, here and here.

Manny, in typical fashion, blew this all off as much ado about nothing, and his manager and teammates were more than willing to go along for the ridiculous ride.

Manny: “”I come out of the game early, I take a shower.”
Joe Torre: “”I think the way it turned out, it probably doesn’t look good. But it’s nothing different than he has done before.” And, “As we say, Manny is Manny. He’s a cool customer.”
Randy Wolf: “”I love him. He’s Manny.”

Oh, gosh. I really hope I get to be a big league ball player one day. Then, maybe I can be a teammate of Manny’s so I can say how great it is to be around such a cerebral guy. He’s just….just….just….Manny!

Joe Torre was at the Bruce Springsteen concert last night. If Manny had even a sliver of the Boss’ energy, passion and work ethic, imagine what he’d look like when he wasn’t in the batter’s box? Instead of resembling the worst guy on your local bar’s softball team, he may actually pass for a major leaguer. And his performance when he’s not in the basepaths is equally uninspiring.

One of the common excuses made for Manny’s “I don’t give a shit” attitude is that it’s good in a clubhouse – keeps guys loose:

It’s that coolness that could aid Ramirez and his teammates as they try to win three straight to save their season, win the pennant and move on to the World Series.

The following day, Tuesday, Ramirez was calm and relaxed in the Dodgers clubhouse. He sat at his locker with his feet propped up on Rafael Furcal’s chair and across the room, the movie “Anchorman” was on television.

“I slept like a baby [last night],” Ramirez told the assembled media.

FYI to media lemmings: We know that Manny’s “coolness” is code for not giving a shit. Just shoot us straight instead of writing a bunch of fawning claptrap about his calming nature.

Shame on Joe Torre for putting up with it. Shame on the Dodgers for not having the balls to speak up. And shame on the media for, the most part, not calling him out on it.