The Dodgers so value Ramirez's comfort above all else that they actually sent employees to Albuquerque to help him and protect him from the unwashed masses who would dare bother the great man during his courageous comeback from a female fertility drug.
I guess that's cheaper than hiring a midwife.
All of this is set up to fill stadium seats and company wallets upon Ramirez's July 3 return. Did you hear about the previously planned bus trip to San Diego for the Padres series on Fourth of July weekend? In an e-mail sent to fans, a Dodgers employee re-billed the trip as a welcome back for Ramirez, exploiting a drug offender in only a slightly more sophisticated manner than the dude standing on a darkened corner of Sunset.
And, c'mon, after watching fans fill up the yard in Albuquerque, is there any question that the Dodgers will re-christen the "Mannywood" section the moment he returns to Chavez Ravine?
When Manny Ramirez is old and gray and sitting outside the locked doors of Cooperstown, he might reflect on this summer as the best 50 games of his career. Or is it 42 games? Or, really, was he ever gone?
It's all Isotopes to me.
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bill.plaschke@latimes.com
