Manny Ramirez will return to Mannywood on Thursday night as his comeback from a
50-game suspension for a positive drug test continues at Dodger Stadium against
the Astros.

The Dodgers open a nine-game homestand that continues through July 26, so there
will be plenty of time for Ramirez's faux dreadlock-wearing fans to hail him
from the Mannywood section of the lower left-field stands in fair territory.

The promotion -- two T-shirts and two tickets for $99 -- is back on track for
the first time since Ramirez was suspended May 7 for what turned out to be the
use of a fertility drug called human chorionic gonadotropin. And like Dodger
Stadium as a whole Thursday, the roughly 500 seats are expected to be sold out.

"We welcome him back with open arms, but we aren't glorifying his return,"
Charles Steinberg, the team's executive vice president of communications, told
The Associated Press. "The magic of the return is the embrace from the fans that
will see him again. We're keeping the focus on the team, of which Manny is an
integral part."

The homestand also includes a long-ago scheduled Ramirez bobblehead night next
Wednesday, July 22, against the Reds -- a game that's also expected to have a
fan in every seat.

Manny has weathered his return both mentally and physically as well as anyone
could have anticipated. After a five-game Minor League rehab stint, Ramirez
returned to the Dodgers' lineup on July 3 at PETCO Park in San Diego, where at
least half the crowd of 42,217 seemed to be blue-clad L.A. fans who made the
trek 120 miles south down the San Diego Freeway. He didn't have a hit that night
in four plate appearances.

Manny's initial three-stop return before the All-Star break included sets in New
York and Milwaukee, where Ramirez told waiting media what he said in San Diego:
He wasn't going to talk about drugs or his suspension. He had already apologized
to the fans, Dodgers ownership and his teammates, and he didn't need to explain
anything further.

The 50-game suspension was tough, Ramirez said. "But it's over. I'm moving on."

And move on the slugger has. After a slow start, Manny's batting .379
(11-for-28) with three homers, two doubles, nine RBIs, a .471 on-base percentage
and a .759 slugging percentage in the nine games since his return. He's been
ejected from one game, but he's hit safely in his past six. That's a more torrid
pace than the .348 batting average, six homers and 20 RBIs he had in 27 games on
May 6, the last day he played before his suspension.

"The magic of the return is the embrace from the fans that will see him again.
We're keeping the focus on the team, of which Manny is an integral part."
-- Dodgers executive vice president of communications Charles Steinberg

At that point, the Dodgers were leading the National League West by 6 1/2 games,
and at the break, they led the second-place Giants by seven.

The change at the plate seemed to come last Wednesday in New York's Citi Field
against the Mets, when Ramirez went the other way for a home run into the first
row of the right-field seats -- an estimated 345 feet away in a new ballpark
that is reputedly tough to hit homers in.

"That home run to right field stayed in the air a long time," Dodgers manager
Joe Torre said. "That let me know his rhythm was coming back."

The Brewers caught the brunt of the Ramirez resurgence last weekend in
Milwaukee, leading manager Ken Macha to say he wasn't surprised by Manny's
output after a long layoff because he has been a consistently dangerous hitter
throughout his career.

"I remember seeing him back in Cleveland," Macha said about a player who came up
with the Indians in 1993 and left after the 2000 season to sign with the Red
Sox. "At that time, I was the bench coach with Oakland, and I think he had maybe
40 at-bats against us one year and hit three ground balls. The rest of them, he
had that stroke where he was hitting line drives or homers. So I've seen a few
of those."

A year ago, the Dodgers were a 54-54 team, neck-and-neck with the D-backs for
the division lead at the July 31 Trade Deadline. Only minutes before the
witching hour, they obtained Ramirez from the Red Sox.

Ramirez went on to bat .396 with 17 homers and 53 RBIs during the last two
months of the regular season, and then he hit .520 with four postseason homers
while leading the Dodgers into their first NL Championship Series since 1988.
They lost, though, to the eventual World Series-winning Phillies in five games.

This year, with Juan Pierre subbing for Ramirez in left field, the Dodgers went
29-21 sans Manny in the lineup, proving to themselves that they could thrive
without their highest-impact player.

"The team was successful when we played without him," Dodgers backup catcher
Brad Ausmus said. "These guys have done a very good job, and our record shows we
don't need Manny to be a winning team. However, I think we all prefer that Manny
be here."

Since his return, Ramirez has revved it back up into full gear. On Friday night
at Miller Park, Manny hit his 536th career homer, tying him with Yankees
switch-hitting great Mickey Mantle for 15th on the all-time list. In typical
Manny fashion, the milestone homer was really no big deal.

"It feels good, but it's just like another home run," Ramirez said after the
game, a 12-8, 10-inning Dodgers victory. "It makes me proud, but it's just
another home run that I hit. I didn't even know I tied him."

Next up is Hall of Fame Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt in 14th place with
548 shots.

"Manny's a special talent, there's no question. So was Mickey, obviously," Torre
said. "With his ability -- and I know there's going to be some questions for the
rest of his career -- I'm not sure you can question how many he hits. It's how
far they go, I think [that's the performance-enhancing drug affect]."

Regardless, with the big return in San Diego and the homecoming in front of Los
Angeles fans about to be under his belt, the Dodgers hope that life with Ramirez
will begin to have a semblance of normalcy. Unlike in San Diego, the Dodgers
aren't expecting a big national media throng nor a playoff atmosphere Thursday
night.

They are anticipating a big home crowd, generating a lot of excitement for No.
99's return to Mannywood.

Source: Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com