E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Isotope Fans Cheer Dodgers' Ramirez
By Randy Harrison
Journal Staff Writer
At 6:38 p.m. Tuesday, Manny Ramirez emerged from a tunnel onto the field at Isotopes Park, with fans roaring their approval and cameras flashing.
If there were Manny haters out there, they clearly were outnumbered.
The first step back toward a return to the sport of one of baseball's greatest hitters, whose reputation is now tainted by drug-related suspension, came in Albuquerque with an expected record turnout at Isotopes Park watching his every move.
Donning a white Isotopes uniform with his trademark No. 99 sewn on his back, Ramirez led off the bottom of the first inning and struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch. He then took off his helmet to reveal the trademark dreadlocks, then strolled leisurely back to the dugout. The crowd applauded anyway.
For the moment, it seemed to confirm what Ramirez said in the Albuquerque clubhouse some 90 minutes earlier: "Everywhere I go, people support me."
An unprecedented night in Albuquerque's baseball history began thusly, albeit coming in dubious circumstances.
Ramirez's suspension from Major League Baseball for violating its drug policies is set to end July 3. Under the terms of his suspension, he can play minor league games in the last 10 days before it ends.
So the baseball world tuned into a Pacific Coast League game between the Isotopes and visiting Nashville Sounds that otherwise would have been played in relative obscurity.
Isotopes media relations director Steve Hurlbert said that roughly 100 media members were on hand, including 65 with credentials specifically for Tuesday night. ESPN did live hourly shots beginning in the afternoon and leading up to game time.
They trailed his every move from the moment he first emerged onto the field at 4:15 p.m. for batting practice. Reporters trailed in hopes he'd say something, anything, about the trouble he's found. Cameras popped, flashed and whirred as he exchanged smirks of amusement with teammates, did his stretching, and played catch in the outfield.
That was a good hour before the gates would open, but the lines of fans had formed well before then. Omar Ramirez and Orlando Rodriguez, two 30-year-olds who drove up from El Paso, were both chest-to-iron at the third-base gate since 3 p.m., and the crowd was pressing in behind them.
"I feel like a dog in a cage at the kennel," said Rodriguez, as both he and his friend were peering through the gate for glimpses of Manny shagging balls in the outfield. Their view across the concourse of Ramirez at the batting cage was obscured.
Omar Ramirez said he was hoping upon hope for a Manny autograph for his accompanying son, Chris. He knew it was a long shot, but "Manny should do it. He owes the fans anyway, especially now."
Anyone expecting Man-Ram to slam pitch after pitch over the walls would have been disappointed anyway. Ramirez, after the perfunctory bunts and hitting to the opposite field, sprayed line drives all over the park, though only one cleared the fences (into the visitors bullpen) and two others rocked the fences.
"The last 10 pitches he looked really good," said Isotopes hitting coach John Moses, who threw batting practice to Ramirez. "The first 10 I didn't expect much because he had to get used to ... everything."
Isotopes manager Tim Wallach said the plan, as relayed by the Dodgers, would be for Ramirez to play four innings Tuesday night, five tonight, and perhaps seven on Thursday. There's been no indication yet that Ramirez will be around for Friday's series finale, which will disappoint the speculators who bought tickets for that night. The Los Angeles Times has been reporting that Ramirez will be back in Los Angeles on Friday before he begins another minor league tuneup early next week with the Dodgers' Class A Inland Empire team in nearby San Bernardino.
The Dodgers brought their own Manny Entourage for seemingly any need. Among them: assistant general manager Kim Ng, Ray Maytorena, vice president of security, and vice president of communications Josh Rawitch.
Rawitch had warned not to expect much communication. Ramirez dodged any attempts by the throng of media to engage him during batting practice. Once in the Isotopes clubhouse, he darted into the coaches' office and playfully slammed the door on one reporter.
But later, sitting in front of the corner locker typically reserved for a baseball team's most pedigreed player, Ramirez at least conversed, though there were no revelations.
Question: Did you use steroids?
Ramirez: I don't want to talk about that.
Question: Where are you in terms of "sorry about what happened?"
Ramirez: I'm not gonna talk about that anymore. I already said what I'm gonna say. I'm here to do my rehab, you know, get in tune with the game, get a couple of at-bats, and then get back to the big-league team.
Question: It'll be an overflow crowd. Does that make you feel good?
Ramirez: People love me everywhere I go. I've been here in New Mexico, you know, in the Connie Mack (World Series, as a teenager in 1989 and 1990). I'm happy that I'm here and that a lot of people are gonna take that chance to see me.
Then asked more about the Farmington experience, Ramirez begged out to go to the hitting cage.
The Isotopes management didn't miss an opportunity to capitalize on a marketing opportunity. Minutes before the gates opened to the throngs outside, several employees at the gates put on the Manny dreadlock wigs topped with the Dodger-blue bandana.
Many of them were elderly game-day employees.
"At least we get to take them home," said one, who asked not to be named, saying Isotopes management had instructed its employees not to talk to the media.
At 6:38 p.m., 27 minutes before the scheduled start, Ramirez emerged from the third-base tunnel. He turned and tipped his hat to an applauding crowd, then raised bats in salute as he descended the steps of the dugout, then tipped his hat again as he took the field to limber up.
It was a mob scene. Everywhere Ramirez went, cameras followed. A dozen photographers shot away as he leaned on the dugout railing with a teammate, then meandered over to one end to sign autographs. A beefy security guard wearing dark sunglasses and a headset trailed his every step.
Manny did sign autographs, the windfall coming to the kids who hit the jackpot as Little League teams of the night, the Rio Abajo Young Guns and Moriarty Lil' Diablos.
As he took the field for the top of the first inning, fans seated down the far left-field line stood up to reveal a sign that read "Manny Wood, N.M." scrawled in blue on two attached white bed sheets.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
