Reporting from New York — Manny Ramirez talked again Tuesday afternoon. But once again he didn't say anything.
With the threat of rain having washed out batting practice at Citi Field, Ramirez called a huge throng of reporters over to his locker in the middle of the Dodgers' clubhouse.
"If you guys want to talk about the game, we'll talk about the game," he said.
What he won't talk about, though, is his just-completed 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy, a topic he briefly addressed last weekend in San Diego.
"I'm not talking about anything that I talked about in San Diego," he said.
But if Ramirez was speaking softly, he carried a big stick to the plate in the second inning against Mets starter Mike Pelfrey with the bases loaded and the Dodgers up 1-0.
Ramirez swung wildly over a fastball, then took another inside for a ball and a third for a strike. Ahead in the count 1-and-2, Pelfrey busted Ramirez inside with another fastball, but Ramirez fisted it over the infield, breaking his bat but driving in two runs.
An inning earlier, Ramirez had come up with one out and Orlando Hudson at first. In that trip, Ramirez lined Pelfrey's first pitch foul down the left-field line then took the second pitch for a ball. Pelfrey missed inside, then high and way, with the next two pitches, running the count to 3-and-1.
Ramirez took the next pitch for a strike, briefly starting up toward first as if he had walked. He took the next pitch as well, but plate umpire John Hirschbeck called it a strike.
Ramirez, who had again started up the line, turned quickly, took off his batting helmet and screamed at Hirschbeck before finally retreating to the dugout.
Casey Blake followed with a single, sending Hudson to second, but Pelfrey and the Mets escaped the jam when James Loney grounded out to end the inning.
When Ramirez first came onto the field -- about 20 minutes before game time -- the clot of fans behind the Dodgers' dugout and down the third-base line greeted him with cheers and waves. The reaction was much louder -- and far more mixed, with a combination of cheers and boos -- when Ramirez's name was announced in the starting lineup and again when he stepped to the plate for the first time.
