There is no joy in Mannywood. For that matter, there is no Mannywood.
The most talented and most popular player among all the Dodgers essentially vanished Thursday, banned from baseball for 50 games after flunking a drug test. Manny Ramirez, whose effervescent attitude and lethal bat had made him the face of this storied franchise, had been labeled a cheater before a largely adoring fan base at Dodger Stadium.
"They embraced Manny here," Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said. "I'd like to believe it could happen again. But there's got to be a period of healing."
The Dodgers initiated the process by swiftly revamping a marketing strategy that had revolved around Ramirez. They pulled the plug on the "Mannywood" seats in left field, yanked the trademark dreadlock wigs from the shelves of the team store and removed Ramirez T-shirts for sale at kiosks on the field level.
And on their first day of life without Ramirez, the Dodgers blew a six-run lead and lost to the worst team in the major leagues. The 11-9 loss to the Washington Nationals snapped the Dodgers' 13-game home winning streak to start the season, which set a record.
His disappearance from Dodger Stadium -- in person and otherwise -- comes less than a year after he arrived with the reputation as one of the greatest hitters and problem children in baseball.
The Boston Red Sox last July divorced Ramirez, dumping him on the Dodgers for free and bringing to an end a stormy eight-year relationship. Ramirez then led the Dodgers to their first National League championship series in 20 years, with not even a hint of misbehavior.
Fans adored him, and vice versa.
So on billboards around town, and in ads on radio, television and the Internet, the Dodgers' spring marketing campaign featured Ramirez and the words, "I'm back."
"For a short period of time, we were definitely hitching our wagon to Manny," Dodgers President Dennis Mannion said.
Said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute: "You can't put all your eggs in one basket and let a guy like Ramirez hold the basket."
But on the day "I'm back" turned into "I'm gone," Mannion said he was not concerned about selling the Dodgers without Ramirez, pointing out that the team already was rolling out a new campaign, "This Is Our Town," featuring various celebrities and players.
"We're not going to crop Manny out," he said.
