Dodgers are playing the Manny Ramirez game perfectly

We knew it would be a tightrope.

We had no idea it would stretch into January.

We knew the Dodgers had the money and the attitude.

We had no idea they had the stomach.

They do. It has served them well. The Dodgers have found the perfect balance in this perilous walk toward Manny Ramirez, weathering the hot stove's blasts, enduring the Boras spin, stepping through thick smoke screens to come within a few yards of a dreadlocked destination.

Now, if they can only keep their balance and finish it.

Finish it by signing Ramirez to the same two-year, $45-million deal they offered him two months ago -- just enough to keep him hungry, their fans happy, and the team contending.

Anything longer will turn Ramirez back into a dog. Anything richer will make the Dodgers look like fools.

Nobody will give him more. No other place will love him more. If he can get a better deal elsewhere, fine, but so far, he hasn't, and here's guessing he won't.

Two years, and the Dodgers can ensure he will keep trying, while Ramirez can be assured fans will keep cheering.

Two years, and everyone is happy but five-year-seeking Scott Boras, whose winter commission dollars will be reduced to a gazillion.

"We want Manny, and Manny knows it," said Ned Colletti, the Dodgers general manager. "We'll just keep talking and see if something can't be worked out."

It's amazing that a guy who left Dodger Stadium in another universe has suddenly landed back in their laps.

I have written that Ramirez did not deserve more than a two-year deal, but, goodness, I always thought he would get it from somebody.

I thought somebody would fall in love with the dramatics and forget the histrionics. I thought somebody would think only about how he energized the Dodgers, and forget how he abandoned the Red Sox.

Surely there was a sucker out there somewhere. For a while, I thought that sucker would be Colletti.

But the pleadings of fans and media to give Ramirez the keys to Chavez Ravine -- keys he would have lost on the way to showing up three days late for spring training -- the Dodgers held firm.

They made that two-year, $45-million offer. They rescinded it when Ramirez didn't respond. They haven't made another offer since.

And guess what? They have not been alone. It turns out, my idea that Ramirez was not worth a long-term deal was neither novel nor singular. The rest of baseball agreed. Nobody has made him a serious long-term offer. Nor, apparently, will they.