Broncos players weren't very happy after kicker missed FG (VIDEO)

With the Denver Broncos trailing the Miami Dolphins, 21-17, in the third quarter Sunday, Denver kicker Brandon McManus missed a routine 33-yard field goal when it hit the upright.

And that didn't sit well with Broncos guard Manny Ramirez or wideout DemaryiusThomas.

The two players were hardly the only players who were angry over the botched chip shot — McManus has now missed three of his last six field-goal attempts — but there was probably one teammate the kicker especially hoped he wouldn't run into on the sidelines — namely one Peyton Manning.

The missed field goals by McManus have re-ignited comparisons to clutch kicker Matt Prater, who was released by the Broncos in October following his four-game suspension and who has since signed with the Lions.

Somewhere, you know Prater is getting a real kick out of this.

Desperate Yankees not interested in Manny Ramirez: Cashman

Desperate times call for desperate measures and, even though they are mired in a mind-blowing offensive slump,  the New York Yankees will not consider the bold and crazy notion of bringing former major league slugger Manny Ramirez to the Bronx.

Just when it looks like your team might have to pin all of its run-scoring hopes on a 24-year-old rookie named Zoilo Almonte, it's hard for the Yankees to not to think out of the box and maybe give the quirky former Red Sox and Dodgers' hit machine a shot — even if he comes with more baggage than a Rihanna tour.

Ramirez just finished a three-month stint in Taiwan — where he batted .352 with eight home runs and 43 RBI in 49 games for the EDA Rhinos — and says he wants back in the majors.

Is there any chance the Yankees would try pumping up the run production with Ramirez who would be a low-cost, high-profile gamble?

It doesn't sound like it, a source told Anthony McCarron of The New York Daily News.

The Yankees have “no interest at all,” the source said. GM Brian Cashman refused to talk about Ramirez, or any other player, saying, “I don’t think it’s in our best interests to announce who we’re interested in. We have an interest in someone, we’ll tell them.”

The idea of bringing Manny — and his 555 career home runs — back to his high school breeding grounds in the Bronx is a fascinating idea considering his rap sheet which includes PED suspensions and his outlandish behavior as Manny being Manny. 

Still, it's fun to entertain the thought of Manny in the lineup with Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez — when the Captain and A-Rod rejoin the team sometime next month — regardless of fact that the 41-year-old Manny hasn't swung a bat in the majors since 2011 and spent only a short time with the A's Triple-A affiliate last season after serving a drug suspension.

Manny just might make a Yankees team that is unbearably hard to watch maybe just a little more watchable.

Taiwanese fans welcome Manny Ramirez with photo of ... Johnny Cueto?

You have to love the enthusiasm of the Taiwanese fans at Manny Ramirez's first home game with the EDA Rhinos in the Chinese Baseball League.  Too bad a couple of fans thought every major league baseball player with dread locks looks like the same and put a photo of the wrong player on their poster: the Cincinnati Reds' pitcher Johnny Cueto.

These two women probably went through a lot of trouble to make the professional-looking poster just for the big night but ended up with an epic fail or amusing comment about how long Manny has been out of the public eye — depending on how you look at it.

Here's a photo of the real Manny being Manny for the next time.

MLB, DEA probe A-Rod adviser for possible PED link

The Drug Enforcement Administration and Major League Baseball are investigating a Miami-area man named Anthony Bosch — who has worked closely with Alex Rodriguez and has ties to Manny Ramirez — for Bosch's possible links to performance-enhancing drugs, reports The New York Daily News. The sources asked not to be identified because of the ongoing probe.

Bosch — a well known figure among current and former Latin ballplayers in the South Florida area — has advised the New York Yankees third baseman on nutrition, dietary supplements and training, a source with Miami-area anti-aging centers told The Daily News.

The source said Bosch — who has been affiliated with numerous Miami-area medical companies and clinics — and Rodriguez consulted with at least one other expert about blood test results.

Major League Baseball investigators are cooperating with the U.S. government and have turned over information about Bosch and his father, physician Pedro Publio Bosch to federal officials, a source told the newspaper.  Bosch and his father have already come under MLB and DEA scrutiny in 2009 for their links to then-Los Angeles Dodger Ramirez.  The Dodgers outfielder was suspended 50 games that year for using a banned substance.

Sources involved in the current probe told The News that MLB and federal investigators are trying to determine if Anthony Bosch and his father are involved in supplying banned substances to ballplayers.  The younger Bosch's relationship with major league players dates back to the 2000's when he attended parties with players and games in New York and Boston.

The 37-year-old Rodriguez is currently recovering from last week's hip surgery and the original prognosis for his return by the All-Star Game is still up in the air. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has even admitted that there is a chance that A-Rod might not play at all in 2013.

It isn't the first time Rodriguez has been associated with someone under investigation for supplying banned substances.  In 2009, he broke off his relationship with controversial Canadian doctor Anthony Galea after U.S. and Canadian law-enforcement agencies investigated the Toronto sports physician for ties to HGH and other drugs.

Galea, who said he treated A-Rod with a blood-spinning technique called platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP), was indicted for five drug-related charges.  Four of the charges were dropped after he cooperated with authorities.

MLB is concerned about a widespread ring of synthetic testosterone, HGH and other drugs to players who have sought to circumvent MLB's drug-testing program by using hard-to-detect creams and gels they rub on parts of their bodies.  Several high-profile players including former Yankees Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon failed drug tests in 2012.

HGH is popular with athletes who use steroids because it helps reestablish normal testosterone production after extensive steroid use and helps prevent testicular atrophy.

Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees and Rodriguez's lawyer, Jay Reisinger, all declined comment to The New York Daily News.

Ex-Idiots Manny and Johnny Reunite In Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Rays, who lost more than a few key players this off-season, have reloaded their depleted line-up with a couple of familiar faces from the AL East--Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez.  The former Boston Red Sox teammates and ex-Idiots will be signed to one year deals pending physicals.  The Rays may want to throw in a head examination for the enigmatic Ramirez to see what's under those dreads.

Both Damon and Ramirez were being considered by the New York Yankees this winter but, with the signing of Andruw Jones the other day, their fourth outfielder position looks capably filled.

Damon and Ramirez were teammates for four years in Boston and were two members of the self-proclaimed Idiots squad who won four games in a row to beat the Yankees in the classic 2004 ALCS.

The 37 year-old Damon bent a lot of Boston fans noses by joining the hated Yankees from 2006-09 after being unceremoniously released  by the Sox.  He spent 2010 with the Tigers.

Ramirez spent a few contentious years with the Los Angeles Dodgers, after his lease on his Red Sox padded cell ran out, and split the 2010 season between the Dodgers and Chicago White Sox.  The troubled DH has seen his numbers decline in recent years and in 2009 he failed the league's Performance Enhancing Drug policy and was suspended for 50 games.  The 38 year-old Ramirez has been dogged recently by numerous injuries and may see more time on the DL than as the DH.

The 2010 AL East Champion Rays, the Yankees and the Red Sox continue to play a comical game of roster-chess by trading and picking up each other's players.

Boston added former-Ray Carl Crawford, who was desired by the Yankees, to their team and the Yankees signed the Rays relief pitcher Rafael Soriano last week.  Now the Rays pick up two experienced, but aging,  AL East warriors from their adversaries' glory days, hoping to keep the three-way rivalry alive.

The durable Damon signed for a salary of $5.25 million plus attendance incentives--not an easy task at fan-starved Tropicana field--that bring his total earnings to $6 mil.  I wouldn't spend that extra $750,000 just yet Johnny.

Ramirez signed for a flat $2 million.  A far cry from his $20 million years in Boston.

The Red Sox have dominated the free-agent market this off-season while adding power, speed and youth.  The Yankees have chipped away at nagging problems but still look a lot like last years team without a strong starting rotation. Advantage to Boston.

Now the Rays are flexing whatever financial muscle they can muster to show their three-year mini-dynasty wasn't a flash-in-the-pan and they will continue to give the other teams in the division a run for their money in 2011.

Can't wait for the love-fest at Fenway Park on April 11 when the Rays visit Boston.  It'll be an Idiot's delight.

Yankees Scraping Bottom By Pursuing Manny Ramirez

If New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman doesn't turn his team into the best one this off-season, he could turn them into the oldest.  While the Yankees are in desperate of starting pitchers and relievers, reports from the YES Network say Cashman has had internal discussions about signing aging outfielders, Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon.  If you can't beat the Boston Red Sox on the playing filed next year, at least you can break the hearts of the Red Sox Nation by wheeling out a couple of their favorite Idiots in pinstripes.

Cashman seems to be scavenging  the bottom of the free-agent scrap heap looking for players.  The eccentric Ramirez is free after finishing a two-year $45 million  deal he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He finished last years injury-plagued season with the Chicago White Sox and batted .298 with nine home runs and 42 RBI's in 90 games.

It seems ridiculous for Cashman to be looking at outfielders and a DH, while the real Yankee priorities are starting and relief pitching.  Andy Pettitte  seems to be leaning heavily towards retirement and the Yankee GM has made it clear that Jorge Posada will see way more games as DH than as catcher.  So what's he doing?

The Yankees say they are trying to land a defense-first player to spell regular outfielders Nick Swisher,
Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson.  That trio is solid, if not spectacular and Ramirez is no defensive whiz.  In fact, Ramirez finished the season in Chicago as the full-time DH.

The talk of pursuing Ramirez could just be coincidental.  Agent Scott Boras represents both Damon and Ramirez, so it seems logical the heavy-hitting righthander's name was just tossed out there during the talks.

Damon, the former Yankee outfielder bats left-handed and appears hopeful of landing a full-time starting position.  There doesn't seem to be any room for the player and fan-favorite anywhere on the roster in that capacity.

Ramirez, on the other hand, is a malcontent and his behavior could be disruptive to the team chemistry.  This would not sit well with the Yankee's Key-Three---Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Posada.

If Pettitte bails, it looks like the remaining starting pitcher pool is slim and not particularly reassuring.  Reports say Cashman has asked for the medical records of Freddy Garcia and has inquired about oft-injured Brandon Webb and Jeff Francis.  Any of those moves look intriguing, but it looks like Cashman might have to rely on the inexperienced--but highly touted--Ivan Nova as the fourth starter until he can make a blockbuster move before the July 31 trading deadline.

The Yankees just look and sound old.  Cashman's two biggest off-season moves so far have been resigning the 36 year-old Jeter and 41 year-old Rivera and now he is chasing after other past-their-prime or damaged players.

If Cashman isn't voted MLB's Executive of the Year,  the Yankee GM could end up AARP's Employer of the Year.