Dodgers Beginning to Slip?

Due to the HCG controversy, the seemingly outrageous contracts that stars get in baseball, and the fact that he’s only hit 4 home runs since the All-Star break, Manny Ramirez is receiving most of the blame for the recent “slide” in the Dodgers offense. Last night’s loss to the creeping Colorado Rockies is only adding a can of diesel to that flame. Starting at a base camp of 15 ½ games back of the NL West division leading Dodgers, the Rockies have almost reached Everest finding themselves only 2 ½ games back of the boys in blue. While Manny isn’t necessarily being Manny over the last month, the blame for slipping from their “best offensive team in baseball” status doesn’t necessarily lie with him.

Although his home runs haven’t quite been up to par, Ramirez is still hitting .306, by all accounts a quite respectable number. Last night, Manny was 2 of 4 at bats with a tying RBI. Not spectacular, but he did come up clutch in a major moment. Now let’s take a look at James Loney, Russell Martin, and Rafael Furcal: 0 for 5, 0 for 5, and 1 for 6 respectively, all with 0 RBIs. Russell Martin has been in a slump all year, making it one of his worst ever, so we leave him out of the equation. James Loney and Rafael Furcal have been almost non-existent on the offensive end for the last few months. Defensively, Furcal (SS) is still the leader and best player on the team, but that doesn’t make up for his lack of hitting when the Dodgers have needed it most. It also hasn’t made it any easier that he’s their lead-off hitter. When the lead man can’t do anything, it makes successful clean up batting (Ramirez) very difficult. Whoever wrote the article blaming Manny Ramirez for this “losing streak” needs to turn a watchful eye to these two players.

The Dodgers left 8 men on base last night, and there are no excuses for that, but since the beginning of the season the real problem has been that the Dodgers don’t really have an outstanding pitching staff. Maybe they didn’t do enough before the trade deadline, but who knew Cliff Lee would be this dominant for the Phillies? Regardless of any slump the Dodgers may be having right now, they’ll still probably make the post-season. But with an acceptable to mediocre pitching staff, it will be difficult to make it far in October without some astounding offense. A problem which the Dodgers need to solve. Quickly.

Bernie is Sad Today

I guess single A was going to be a little too much for Manny Ramirez. Dodgers AAA Affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes, are now the rehab destination for Manny. Sorry Bernie. Manny will play tonight in Albuquerque, not Inland Empire. The Isotopes usually draw about 7,000 fans, which is actually a fairly decent draw for AAA minor league, but look for the stadium to hit capacity when Ramirez starts this week. In fact, the staduim seats a total of 9,000, but up to 6,000 can find seats on a grassy lawn outside the gates. Attendance records are expected to break tonight. Believe it or not, each Manny Ramirez at bat will be broadcast on ESPN.com.

I feel for the 66ers club, I feel for the 66ers fans, I feel for Bernie! Sorry guys, I know all you minor league fans and clubs pray for injuries and suspensions so big name players can breeze through your city on the rehab wagon for a few games, but it’s apparently not up to you. LA fans already have Manny in Chavez Ravine for 56 some-odd games this year, so it’s understandable that the McCourts want to spread the Manny love to New Mexico. But I’m sure it’s tough for 66ers fans to have come so close, but no Dominican Republic cigar.

Manny's 50 Game Suspension and "Bernie" the 66ers San Bernardino... Guy? Bear? Muppet?

On May 7th of this year, Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games for violating the MLB drug policy. He was tested for abnormally high levels of testosterone and later revealed that Ramirez had used hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), a female fertility drug commonly used by steroid users to restart their bodies’ natural testosterone production after they’ve come off of a steroid cycle. It’s similar to Clomid, the drug that Barry Bonds got busted for. That's the update, just in case you’d been banished to Siberia for the last few months.

It’s been reported that Manny Ramirez will be bringing his big bat to the mighty Inland Empire 66ers in San Bernardino as early as this Thursday. Wait a minute, you’ve never heard of the 66ers? I live in Southern California and have barely heard their name before now. If you’re living in Arkansas and know them, I commend you. I will be the first to admit that I’m not a “real” baseball guy. I couldn’t tell you who played short stop for the Yankees in 1967, although I’m sure there are plenty of guys out there who could. But I bet you even those guys couldn’t name 2 players on the Inland Empire 66ers.

Regardless of whether you know much about the Dodgers Class “A” Affiliate in San Bernardino, the 5,000 seat Arrowhead Credit Union Park will be packed when Manny Ramirez comes to town. I bet even the high-priced $10 Exclusive Box Seats will be filled, although I don’t really know who could dish out that kind of money in this economy. So set your calendar on your office Outlook, Manny Ramirez is swinging for the Inland Empire 66ers this Thursday, June 25, 2009! But wait a minute, doesn’t his 50 game suspension end on July 3 when the Dodgers are in San Diego?

Apparently when someone in MLB gets a 50 game suspension, it’s really more like a 44 game suspension. Maybe Bud Selig wants Manny ready to go by Independence Day, but to me, if he gets a 50 suspension that ends on July 3, he should miss 50 games and return on July 3. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Manny hater. In fact, I can easily say that Major League Baseball is more interesting when he’s playing. He’s a transcendental player. There’s a few in every sport. Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Tom Brady, LeBron James, David Beckham… there are several more. Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, your Aunt Agnes in Florida who listens to Glen Miller and watches re-runs of the Honeymooners on Nick at Nite probably knows who these guys are. Even though Manny didn’t test positive for steroids (lets get that clear, hCG is not a steroid), he still violated the MLB drug policy, and shouldn’t be allowed to cut corners.

It is true that Ramirez is permitted to have a 10 game rehabilitation assignment before he’s activated again with the Dodgers. Regardless of that, if we’re playing by the rules, shouldn’t that period start on July 3? It seems pretty simple to me. To all of you baseball guys, I know that’s allowed and that everyone coming back from injuries use that rehab period, but was Manny injured? He’s serving a suspension, not coming back from a torn ACL. He may not be getting paid his gigantic Major League salary during these games with the 66ers, but he is honing in on his game so he’ll be ready when the time comes. That seems like a pretty nice head start to me.

I’ll say it again, baseball will be more interesting when Manny gets back, but whether you’re a Manny lover or hater, this is great for the Inland Empire 66ers. Hooray for their club, hooray for their fans, hooray for Bernie! (pictured above) They couldn’t get this type of press if a UFO landed in center field during one of their games. Hopefully they’ll get some great exposure and will really take advantage of this opportunity that’s fallen in their lap.

The 66ers are currently in third place (out of 5) in the Cal South Division at 32-38, 11 games back of the division leading High Desert Mavericks.