Ramirez, who drew an intentional walk in the eighth, said he had his hair cut at a local barbershop that morning, adhering to Torre's wishes that he "clean up" his look. Ramirez dreadlocks took three years to grow.
"If I come back next year, it'll be shorter," Ramirez said.
Though Torre said he would "continue to monitor and talk about" Ramirez's hair, he was pleased with the fact that it was trimmed to his shoulders and no longer covered his name stitched across the back of his uniform.
In the days leading up to the haircut, Torre jokingly said he would be run out of town if Ramirez stopped hitting, especially with the Dodgers starting to sell Ramirez-style dreadlock wigs in their team stores this week. Torre said Ramirez has needled him on the subject recently, telling him, "It's the hair," whenever he got a hit.
Asked by a television reporter after the game if it was responsible for Ramirez going hitless, Torre snapped. "I'm not going to dignify that with an answer," he said.
dylan.hernandez@latimes.com
