Yesterday a couple friends and I drove down to San Diego to watch Manny Ramirez make his return to the Dodgers after serving a 50 game suspension for violating the leagues drug policy.

Droves of Dodgers fans made the trip to support Manny.  Legions of Dodgers fans marched the streets of San Diego chanting “Lets go Dodgers!”  Padres faithful were….. nowhere to be seen.  I stood in front of the ticket gate on 7th and K Street behind the Western Metal Supply Company building and marveled at the inundation of Dodger Blue waiting their turn to pass through the turnstiles and said “Dodgers Home Game!”

Indeed it was just that, a Dodgers home game in our southern most suburb known as San Diego.  My friends and I took our assigned seats in the “Left Field Pavilion”  and noticed the ratio of Dodgers to Padres fans was easily 10 to 1. After a careful survey of the rest of “The Litter Box” aka Petco Park, the attendance was easily two thirds Dodgers friendly.  Some called it Dodgertown South others were confused to see so many Padres fans then realized they were actually in San Diego while others complained about the lack of Dodger Dogs at the concessions stands.  Either way, the home crowd vibe made for a fun night.

Of course the star on everybody’s mind was Manny but I was sure he wouldn’t be his typical Manny-being-Manny self.  What I wasn’t ready for was the 5 run offensive outburst in the 1st inning as the Dodgers batted around.  Manny’s first at-bat was greeted by the few and lonely Padres fans making what noise they could being almost completely drowned out by “Manny” chants.

The rest of the game was pretty quite offensively for the Dodgers but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t find something to have fun with.  After all this was a home game right?

Chase Headley.  A career .252 hitter in 173 career games was my target.  I figured if Harry the Heckler was going to give my guys a tough time, I was going to make sure whenever he opened his mouth nothing but “lets go Dodgers” chants would be heard and when his player, in this case Chase Headley was playing left field, I would give him a taste of LA.

It started with a very sincere ‘Hey Chase! Welcome to LA!” heckle.  No reaction. Then after a couple of doubles, that any decent LF would have caught, got passed him I said “You do a great job shagging our batting practice, Chase!.” and so on.

A few of my favorite heckles of the night include:

“I came to see you Chase! I’m very disappointed! I’m hurt!”
“Why do you wear #7? Is it for luck? Its not working for you Chase!”
“Chase! Can I have a souvenir? I promise to be nice!”
“Look at me when I heckle you Chase!”
“CHAY-ACE! CHAY-ACE!”

Chase Headley eventually started to turn around and look at us.  I always waved at him making sure he knew who it was.  I plan on getting LF Pavilion seats next time the Padres are in town and waiting for Chase with a very emphatic “Remember me Chase!?” I have a few more heckles I didn’t get a chance to try out on him.

A few other notable chants during the night:

“Mannys on deck! Mannys on deck!”
“Rus-sell Mar-tin! Rus-sell Mar-tin!”
“Juan P-air! Juan P-air!”

What can I say, I’m way too much fun to go to baseball games with.

One thing that fueled my heckling was that for Saturdays game they would be giving away free Beach Towels.  As Joe said “You can always use another towel.” but a towel that says “Beat LA” on it?  All I have to say is, that’s the true sign of a classy organization.  Way to fail Padres.  Way to fail.

I lost my voice last night.  I think Chase Headley stole it.

Enjoy the photo journal of yesterdays antics.

ooozing with class.

Legions of Dodger Fans

Just plain awesome

Love this picture

Thats right! 5 in the first.

Harry the Heckler had nothing to say.

Mannys Back!

Chase Headley

He hates me.

This is when Padres fans began to go home. Fail!

Post homerun fireworks smoke. Fail #2

This is why Dr. Frank Jobe should be in the Hall of Fame. (ouch)

In baseball “50 up and 50 down” would normally mean you are a mediocre team but in this sense its ironic.  Ironic that after serving a 50 game suspension for violating MLB’s drug policy, Manny Ramirez, arguably one of the greatest right handed hitters in history, returns to a team that has won 50 games and holds the best record in baseball.  50 games ago I suggested that the Dodgers might be able to pull off a .500 record (25W – 25L) in that span and maintain a 6.5 game lead on the Giants.  I was close but underestimated the team a little.  Instead the Dodgers went 29-21 in that span maintaining the same 6.5 game lead over the Giants (depending on Thursdays Giants vs Cardinals game) and continue to have the best record in baseball as I already mentioned.

One of two things will happen now; The Dodgers will go on a tear of epic proportions and finish the season with 120 wins which would establish a Major League record, or they could struggle to reaquaint themselves with Manny Ramirez cause a rift in the club house due to his lack of presence during the suspension and the displacement of Juan Pierre who filled in amazingly during the suspension and the Dodgers implode.  I’m guessing the former.

The Dodgers were 21-8 with Ramirez in the lineup.  If they play at that same pace for the remaining 83 games (wishful thinking) they will be 60-23 (or in that neighborhood) leaving them with a 110-52 record.  I think its definitely possible for me to be wrong and they add another 6 – 10 wins to that considering they won 4 more than I had expected during the suspension.  By the way, 116 wins is the major league record for wins in a season established by the Chicago Cubs of 1906 who played a 154 game season and had two rain outs that were never rescheduled or played and the 2001 Seattle Mariners who also won 116 games but played a 162 game season.  Coincidentally the 1962 Mets lost 120 games establishing a dubious record.  (That ones for you Scoot)

Manny Ramirez will play his first game back from suspension July 3rd in San Diego.  I will be driving there with a few friends to support the often misunderstood left fielder and to cheer him on.

Go Dodgers.

Really Manny?  Was this another Manny being Manny moment?  Has his legacy been tainted?  Is it all just a bad dream?

This morning, Manny Ramirez was suspended by MLB for 50 games for violating the leagues drug policy.  Hmm… This does not mean it was for steroids as everybody around baseball is already assuming.  Manny claims the drug he took was prescribed by a physician for a medical condition he would like to keep private.  My first thought was: “HAHAHAHAH it all makes sense now!  Manny has been smoking weed all these years which explains his personality and hi jinks over the last 15 years. “  I never once believed he was on roids.  Now it turns out he has been taking this medication to boost his sex drive but it is not Viagra.

So yes, it was a performance enhancer…. in the bedroom.

Seriously though… did Manny just pull a Jamaal Wilkes?  Does Manny need a sex drive boost now that he is the Mayor of Dodgertown too keep up with his “fans”.  Does Manny have his own private room where he takes his fans like Jamaal had in the Forum and Magic inherited after Jamaal left?  Or is Manny taking this drug to restart his sex drive after losing it because he juiced up while with the Red Sox?  Only time will tell.

I for one will add this to the “Manny being Manny” list.

So what will happen to the Dodgers now that Manny will miss the next 50 games?  Dodgers are currently 21-8 and a comfortable 6.5 games ahead of the 13-13 Giants.  If the Dodgers win half of the next 50 then we should still be in very good shape leaving us with a 46-33 record and 13 games above .500.  I’m not too concerned.  Yes Manny is a huge part of this teams success and yes he will be sorely missed but in a little over a month we had this record with him, then in the last three months we should be equally as good if not better.  The final 83 games of the season will be very interesting to watch as Manny tears apart the National League just like he did last year.