First let me start out by saying that yes I am a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. I spent my early childhood, “the formative years”, living in Hollywood so my pro teams are the Dodgers, Lakers, and Raiders. The Raiders were in LA at the time before moving back to Oakland. I guess you can accuse me of being a bit of a homer, and yes I do love Manny Ramirez, but I did go to journalism school so I know how to write without bias. Unfortunatly, for those Dodgers haters, this is a blog so there is no reason for me not to be a huge homer. GET USED TO IT!!!

So last night Manny Ramirez played in his last minor league game before his expected return from his 50 game suspension for using performance enhancing drugs. In the Single A game last night in San Bernandino, Manny went 1-3. He beat out an infield single and struck out swinging two times. In his 5 minor league games Manny went 3-10 with a HR and two runs scored. Those stats really are meaningless though cause he’s just trying to get his legs back, and if you know anything about Manny you can be sure he ain’t gonna give much effort in the minors. Ironically he did beat out an infield hit last night though.

After the game Manny once again refused to talk to reporters. He did find the time to tell them “”No thank you,” Ramirez said. “Go to YouTube.” Its just classic Manny, and one thing that you can be assured of is that’s never gonna change.

So what’s really changed in the 50 games that Manny’s been out. Not much. The Dodgers were in 1st place in the NL West with the best record in baseball with Manny, now their still in 1st place in the NL West with the best record in baseball.

Juan Pierre has been outstanding for the Dodgers since Manny’s been out. For the month of May, Pierre hit .369 with an OPS of a ridiculous .940 he also added 18 RBI’s and swiped 9 bags. He’s cooled off a little in June, but still hit .274 with an OPS of .651 and swiped 11 bags. Of course Pierre is still gonna find himself with a seat on the bench as there really is no way he will get the nod over Ethier or Kemp at either of the other two outfield spots.

A lot of people did predict that the Dodgers would fade for the 50 games they didn’t have Manny. After all they were really even excedding expectations with Manny. That has not been the case as they are playing some excellent ball.

Now the question is whether the return of Manny is gonna disrupt that? One way of thinking would tell you, of course not they we’re playing just as great with him so why would anything change. What changes however is the media attention. They were always all over Manny, but now the questions are gonna change. Someone is gonna have to answer them, even if Manny refuses too.

Of course the organization is glad to have him back, if only for a financial perspective. Manny sells tickets that’s a fact that is easily measured. The Dodgers built a whole marketing campaign around him and even had a special section of the stands for him named “Mannywood”. Now “Mannywood” has been closed for a few months and I’m sure its gonna reopen to some great fanfare.

I really don’t see any reason that Manny’s not gonna be fully embraced by the fans as soon as he comes back. After all, this is Los Angeles they seem to be a very forgiving lot with their heroes. Perhaps Manny might even be more popular now as Hollywood has always loved a good story of redemption.

The prodigal son is scheduled to return on Friday at San Diego. After that the Dodgers go to New York for a series against the Mets and then to Milwaukee. Then we have the All-Star break so Manny’s not going to get to play a game in Los Angeles for quite awhile. That series in New York should be mighty interesting as I’m sure that’s going to be quite the circus atmosphere.