Torre downplays latest Manny moment

LOS ANGELES — Manny being Manny?

Nope, just a little misunderstanding.

That’s how Dodgers manager Joe Torre characterized the latest Manny moment, when Ramirez headed to the clubhouse at the end of the eighth inning Monday night and returned to the field late to start the ninth only after outfielder Juan Pierre and bench coach Bob Schaefer went looking for him.

Ramirez jogged back to his position in left field with his jersey half-buttoned and later said he had needed to use the restroom.

The misunderstanding started when Ramirez returned to the dugout after being forced out at the plate for the first out in the eighth.

Torre usually shakes the slugger’s hand or gives him a fist pound when he comes back to the dugout after a hit, but this time they were about eight feet away. When Ramirez started moving toward his manager for the congratulatory bump, Torre waved him off and told him not to worry about it.

Ramirez, whose dreadlocks were put up in a bun when he showed up to the ballpark on Tuesday, took the wave from Torre to mean he was being lifted for a defensive replacement and thus ended up taking his bats with him to the clubhouse; Torre had just meant for him not to worry about walking back toward him for the fist bump.

“He was still getting on me about it today,” Torre said. “[He told me], ‘You told me to do this.’ Well, I can understand why [he] thought that, but that’s fine.”

Torre said the umpires were OK with the momentary delay because that happens once in a while when a player breaks a piece of equipment and has to make a quick trip to the clubhouse to change.

The manager also believes the incident has received more attention nationally than it would have if another player had been involved because of all “the funny things” Ramirez has done over the years and the reputation he’s developed from Manny being Manny.

But Torre said this misunderstanding will not affect the Dodgers like some of Ramirez’s antics in Boston did to the Red Sox.

“Guys were laughing about it,” Torre said.

 

Michael Schwartz is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Russell Martin said he was unsure what Manny Ramirez would be like or how he would influence the Dodgers’ clubhouse. Never had Martin played with someone of Ramirez’s stature.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Martin said.

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He had not taken a step toward home plate, and already the chant had started.

Man-ny! Man-ny!

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A motivated Manny’s coming up big

It is not uncommon for a player to step it up in his option year. But the circumstances surrounding the commencement of Manny Ramirez’s two-month salary drive are unprecedented. Manny, on the orders of Scott Boras if you listen to the cynics, misbehaved his way out of Boston by A) slapping Kevin Youkilis B) assaulting traveling secretary Jack McCormack and C) ducking Joba Chamberlain. Boras insisted that any club obtaining Ramirez waive its rights to the two option years dangling at the end of Manny’s original 8-year, $160M deal — which Boras did not negotiate and could not receive commission from. When the Dodgers agreed to the terms, parting with prospects Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris in a three-team deal that included the Pirates, it unleashed one of the most fearsome forces in baseball history: Manny Ramirez with a chip on his shoulder in the midst of a salary drive. The last time these elements came together, in Ramirez’s final season in Cleveland in 2000, all he did was hit .351 with a .457 OBP and .697 slugging percentage while driving in 122 runs in 118 games. Hard numbers to improve on, but Manny has taken it to a whole new level with the Dodgers. In 10 games since joining the Dodgers, he is hitting .475 with a .543 OBP and .850 slugging percentage. With a ridiculous 1.393 OPS in L.A. Manny could be on his way to securing the second nine-figure contract of his career.

Manny ready to ‘follow the rules’

 

LOS ANGELES – How long it lasts is anybody’s guess. But Manny Ramirez is trying a new tack with his new team in a new league on a new coast.

Fitting in.

He’s going to cut his dreadlocks because, he said during a madcap introductory news conference behind home plate at Dodger Stadium on Friday, “They got some rules here, and I don’t want to be treated differently than anybody else.”

He paused, then concluded the thought.

“You’ve got to follow the rules,” he said, without a trace of irony.

Ramirez wore No. 99, not to honor Barbara Feldon or Anne Hathaway or Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams or Turk Wendell or even reprise Wayne Gretzky wearing 99 for the L.A. Kings two decades ago. Ramirez couldn’t have the number he wore in Boston, 24, because it was Walter Alston’s and is retired. Then he asked for 30 but missed it by a week because newly acquired third baseman Casey Blake grabbed it. His next choice was 34, but that was worn by Fernando Valenzuela and, while it isn’t retired, it might as well be. So he said he didn’t care, and the Dodgers gave him 99.

By the time he decided on something else, it was too late. The Los Angeles Dodgers already were cranking out Manny 99 jerseys, expecting to sell plenty to the 30,000 fans who bought tickets to games this weekend since the trade.

“Ninety-nine is fine,” he said. “I’ll stay with it.”