PHOENIX — Manny Ramirez belted his first home run of the spring Tuesday in the Dodgers' first night game at Camelback Ranch, ripping a first-inning pitch from Seattle Mariners starter Ryan Rowland-Smith through the desert sky and far above the bullpen beyond the left-field fence.
But Ramirez was dismissive of the blast -- "Anybody can go deep in March," he said, stealing a line Casey Blake shouted to him in the Dodgers' clubhouse -- and claimed that his most important at-bat of the evening was a fifth-inning fly ball he hit to left-center that was caught by center fielder Endy Chavez. He motored around first base and made a hard turn around second but said that the left hamstring that had sidelined him for a week felt fine.
"I'm more concerned about my leg," Ramirez said. "If I'm healthy, I'll be fine. Everything will take care of itself."
Ramirez, who was hit by a pitch in the third inning of the Dodgers' 8-6 loss, said the way he felt convinced him he was ready for his "big day" -- a start in left field in a road game today against Milwaukee.
"I'm going to test it, try it out, go harder in the outfield," Ramirez said.
The All-Star outfielder seemed to gain some confidence from a workout he had soon after he exited the game. In near-darkness he ran in the outfield of a practice field under the watch of strength and conditioning coach Brendon Huttmann.
But the idea of sending Ramirez back to where he strained his hamstring 10 days ago was clearly a source of anxiety for Manager Joe Torre.
"We will certainly encourage him to measure what he does," Torre said. "Let the ball go to the wall if you have to."
Ramirez's response?
"I'm cutting that [ball] off," he said. "Sorry, you know, you just react. When you're there, it's hard to pace yourself."
Ramirez made it clear he wants to play more to regain his timing at the plate.
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Billingsley on the mend
Chad Billingsley, whose start Monday was cut short by a mild groin strain, threw on flat ground without any problems.
"It's no worse than yesterday so that's good," Billingsley said. "It's nothing serious, as far as I know."
Billingsley is tentatively scheduled to throw a bullpen session Thursday and make his next start Sunday.
He took about a week to recover from a similar problem early in camp last year.
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Broxton's back
