By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
"I met a guy today who had been through 49 surgeries," said Chad Tracy. "I've been through four of five myself, just to imagine a guy going through almost 50 surgeries, to see he was still a driven, confident, leader of a man really touched me."
Ramos has already begun to conquer what was admittedly his biggest fear: blocking. He participated in a blocking drill on Sunday with bullpen coach Jim Lett throwing balls at the catchers, bouncing them in the dirt and on either side of them, and Ramos had no trouble.
Late Tuesday night, Washington Nationals bullpen coach Jim Lett looked to his left, and to his right, and saw only rows of empty chairs. In a 7-6, 12-inning win over the New York Mets that saw the Nationals empty their bullpen down to long reliever Ross Detwiler, Lett was a lonely man.
Chances are, when the Florida Marlins plucked Miguel Cabrera out of Venezuela as an undrafted free agent in July of 1999, they had no idea they'd eventually be opening the eyes of 11-year-old Wilson Ramos to his catching idol.
"Some guys have that ability, as far as calling a game, where it just comes naturally," Lett said. "Some guys work on it and it's something you have to adjust to. Wilson seems to have that knack where you can tell him a scouting report or something one time and it just clicks. It stays with him."
"Pudge is Pudge," said Nationals bullpen coach Jim Lett, who also serves as the team's catching instructor, when asked to compare the two players. "You're talking about a Hall of Famer. But I think he can be a good mentor to this guy because of his experience, and I think that's all Wilson needs in this game is experience."
