Manny Ramirez and the search for the long ball

Manny Ramirez, where is the power? The long ball, the drive rocketing into the pavilion? The kind of hits that make your fans go all aflutter?

Manny Ramirez … singles hitter?

OK, maybe not, but Manny has been a tad lacking in the home-run department this season. Certainly by his standards.

It’s May 19 and Manny has two home runs. This from a guy who has 548 career homers, tied with Mike Schmidt for 14th on baseball’s all-time list.

Hey, where’s the entertainment? The bone-jarring dramatics? The I-can’t-believe-he-hit-the-ball-that-far drives?

Manny has been stuck in his tie with Schmidt for over a month, since he tied him April 18. You know, back when he could still hit home runs.

Of course, there are a couple of qualifiers. He missed 14 games after going on the disabled list April 23. And in 22 games he is hitting .357 with 19 runs batted in.

"That’s all I care about, RBIs from him," Manager Joe Torre said. "He’ll hit home runs, I’m not concerned about that."

And to be completely fair, he did crush a ball over 400 feet in Arizona on May 12 -- one that would have gone out of almost any other ballpark -- for a bases-clearing double.

But still, come on, no Manny long ball? What’s up with that? The Dodgers aren’t paying him $20 million for base hits.

I’d love to tell you if Manny is miffed by this power outage, but you know how that’s been going.

"I think he’s fine," Torre said. "He wouldn’t be hitting .350, .360 if he was trying to hit home runs. Last year when he came back, he got so long [in his swing].

"Something [Tuesday] night that happened a lot last year, and hasn’t happened a lot this year -- he took strike three. That doesn’t happen very often. He has good coverage of the plate, a good view of the plate right now."

Manny could win another batting title -- "I don’t think there’s any question he can win a battling title," Torre said -- but they didn’t rename a section Mannywood hoping that he’d threaten 200 hits.

When he won the American League batting title in 2002 with the Red Sox, he also hit 33 home runs.

(Updated at 9:33 p.m.: Manny was a late scratch Wednesday from the starting lineup. He injured his left foot in pregame warmups. He later pinch hit in the fifth and struck out.)

-- Steve Dilbeck

Comments

[These Dodgers Suck]

Come on Steve, you know Manny's been nursing a bruised ego since Ethier started getting all of the face time in those lame "MY TOWN" commercials ...

bring back some "MANNYWOOD" promotions and that sore head will respond with a 'jack' (or two) on next his bobblehead night.

god! these dodgers suck

[mannythedruggie]

the "power" went when manny the druggie was finally "outed" last year.......all of his "feats" were just mere delusions of grandeur, direct result of his cheating!!!

[Hollywood Dodger Mark]

Ah, finally Mr. Dilbeck. I have been waiting for you to catch on. We have a singles hitter in the 4 hole - albeit a good one - but a singles hitter nevertheless. Now, he is apparently swinging (and missing) for the fences which is lowering his BA. Vinny pointed out the other day the inordinate amount of times Manny is now swinging and missing pitches.....Play taps?

[Rick]

Last year, before his suspension, Manny was getting a lot of walks, hitting to the opposite field, getting lots of runs and RBI but not hitting a lot of home runs. Adding home runs to the mix would be great but what he's doing without home runs is still good. The big salary is water under the bridge.

[OldBrooklynFan]

It's starting to worry me too. I'm against trading him for a top notch pitcher right now because I feel Manny is an asset to the team because of his power but if it's gone then I'm all for a trade, right now, instead of waiting for the deadline..

[N.P.Krohn]

Hey it wasn't just a 400ft bases clearing double in Ariz., it was a two out tie breaking 400ft bases clearing double and he absolutely ripped an inside mid-90's fastball down the left field line with two outs to make a one run lead a three run lead at Chavez Ravine the other night.I live in Giants territory and catch alot of flack on the Regular from Bonds lovers ever since Manny tried to get pregnant and that flack is deserved. Not a fan of steroids-era baseball and how it affected the game. Manny is too old to pick up a running game but this shortage of power speaks to the fact that he's probably not using labratories to get an advantage. In addition, the HR can be huge but the thing Manny continues to do, whether he is hot or cold, is moving the runner over and bringing the runner in from 3rd with less than two outs. Alot of his RBI's over the last 2yrs have come with out a hit. Not alot of guys on our team do that consistantly. I love the two out double in a close game. With or without runners on base, it puts alot more pressure on a defense and a pitcher than any homerun and there are no plays to call from the dugout, allowing the next batter to give his undivided attention to the task at hand; as a result the batter is generally going to have their best ABs in that situation.

[blueeyedgal]

So far the script has gone exactly as expected: Two years of fireworks from the prima donna, then he starts sulking and coming down with this or that minor injury keeping him out of the lineup.

Happened with the Sox. It is absolutely unsurprising it happened again.

We got what we needed out of him. Just so long as he doesn't bring down the guys who are producing, I am only mildly irked. We made a deal: a few years of Manny-magic in exchange for the inevitable lackluster finish.

I'm only irked at him for the drug suspension. Otherwise, my attention is on Ethier and Kemp. I hope Andre's back soon.

I loved the fact that teams are starting to walk Dre to get to Manny.

It was a joke bringing Mannywood back this year. Then again, it was something of a bitter joke from the start. I realized we needed him, but I did not and do not like the way the media and PR department suddenly turned the team into "Manny's Dodgers," as if all the young guys we've been watching grow into their own (with a few bumps along the way) were irrelevant or totally off the radar. THEY are the Dodgers. And team players like Casey. The hype was smart, marketing-wise, to sell wigs and seats and t-shirts, but meh.. I'll be glad when it's our Dodgers again.