Should Manny be benched?

It's not too late for Torre to admit a mistake and sit Manny* down. He can't hit the fastball without PEDs apparently. I say give Juan Pierre the chance to start. He's earned it. Of course, manny could come alive tonight and all will be forgiven, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen.



Dodger doldrums start with Ramirez

By Steve Henson, Yahoo! Sports
9 hours, 27 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES – Dreads on his head, dread in the heads of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Manny Ramirez can’t hit and the Dodgers can’t win.

Yes, they’ve already clinched a playoff berth, even if the NL West crown continues to be maddeningly elusive. No, they won’t last long at this rate. Not with Ramirez morphing from baseball’s best hitter to its biggest rally killer. He struck out four times Friday night in a 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies, who trail the Dodgers by one game with two to play.

Ramirez swung and missed at fastballs, curveballs and changeups. Especially fastballs. He came to the plate with six runners on base, five in scoring position. Fans exhorted him to deliver, standing and screaming in Mannywood. Manny wouldn’t.

By the third punchout, fans booed him lustily. He has struck out in his last seven official at-bats over three games, and the Dodgers’ losing streak is at five. They could have taken the West by winning any of those games.



Not that Ramirez is openly concerned. “I don’t control ,” he said, sitting back in a chair in front of his locker, batting away questions far more effectively than he did pitches.

“My confidence is always up. I’m one of the best hitters. All you have to do is check my police report and see that I’m still a good hitter.”

The baseball police might have ticketed him in the third inning – Ramirez was unaware of the count. After swinging through a curveball by Ubaldo Jimenez(notes) for strike three, he loitered near the batter’s box, pushed his helmet down on his head, adjusted his elbow pad, took a deep breath … and heard the umpire say something to the effect of, “You only get three in this league.”

“That was funny,” Jimenez said.

Maybe Ramirez was flabbergasted that the Rockies were pitching to him at all. The at-bat began with the bases loaded, but Jimenez uncorked a wild pitch and the runners advanced, leaving first base open. Until recently, Ramirez – who has more grand slams in his career, 21, than any player except Lou Gehrig – would have been walked intentionally.

But Jim Tracy, who has led Colorado to a record of 74-40 since replacing Clint Hurdle as manager, is well aware that for three months Ramirez routinely has been blown away by hard-throwing pitchers such as Jimenez.

“Manny is living on soft stuff, that’s all he can get around on,” said a scout for a team the Dodgers might meet in the playoffs. “Guys who wouldn’t have dreamed of challenging him in the past are going right at him with fastballs.”

Guys like Rafael Betancourt(notes), who struck out Ramirez with one out and two on in the seventh. Jimenez, who owns one of the league’s liveliest arms, got him three times.

“You can’t throw him too many breaking balls,” Jimenez said. “I located my fastball good against him. I was throwing hard.”

(snip)