Jamie Mccourt

Would Dodgers fans react negatively if the team were to pay big money to free agents when the nation's economy is in sharp decline and many Americans are losing their jobs? That was the question posed by Dodgers President Jamie McCourt as she made an appearance with her husband, team owner Frank McCourt, Tuesday at an event where it was announced the club's charitable foundation would help build 42 youth fields around Southern California.

If stirring the pot was what she was after, Jamie McCourt put in quite a performance as she spoke in a stream-of-consciousness way about the balance between her team's player payroll and the money it doles to the community for charity. Since it took place, great scorn has been heaped upon McCourt -- and by extension, her team -- from corners far and wide. But instead of unabashed scorn, I say she deserves praise. Why?

Maybe you can buy credibility. As the Dodgers welcomed Joe Torre to town Monday, the video board hovering above left field displayed his Hall of Fame resume. Jamie McCourt all but skipped across the outfield, her enthusiasm genuine, her smile broad. Torre managed the New York Yankees to 12 consecutive postseason appearances, six trips to the World Series, four championships. "All those times in the World Series?" she said. "I'd put my money on the guy -- and I did, by the way."

The new sports editor takes over Monday, which is great news for the Dodgers and those of us who have had our hands tied and would like to show our support for the Big Blue Crew. As you've guessed by now, it was Dwyre who had me calling the lovely and talented Jamie McCourt, the "Screaming Meanie," and her husband, Frank McCourt, the visionary businessman, the "Boston Parking Lot Attendant."

Frank tells stories in the Irish way, with a Boston accent and a faint stutter. Long, elaborate, convoluted stories, all curlicues and digressions, swirling back on themselves, redundant, pointless, spinning and spinning and spinning, but apparently going nowhere, until, miraculously, they begin to rise in a masterful flourish like a baroque concerto from Handel, rising and rising to a deafening crescendo, the point.

Manny Ramirez says he is exercising in a swimming pool but not running as he tries to relieve tightness in his left hamstring, which is keeping him out of Cactus League games. "Anybody that goes on the field, you don't want to be hurt," Ramirez said Tuesday. "Just going to take my time, be patient. We're shooting for next week." After signing a new two-year, $45-million contract and reporting late to spring training, the slugger developed the tightness in running drills last week and aggravated the injury while playing left field for the first time this spring in a game Sunday.

Jamie McCourt, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is taking a step into the art world: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced Friday that she is joining its board of trustees. LACMA board members are expected to donate at least $100,000 a year to the museum; McCourt and her husband, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, are paying left fielder Manny Ramirez more than that per game. McCourt will not be the only connection between L.A.'s baseball world and its nonprofit arts scene: Chairing the board at the Pasadena Playhouse is Michele Dedeaux Engemann, daughter of the legendary USC baseball coach, Rod Dedeaux.

Dodgers fans will support Manny Ramirez when he returns in early July from his 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy, Chief Executive Jamie McCourt said Saturday. "I think I speak for a lot of people when I say all of us are disappointed," said McCourt, who owns the team with husband Frank McCourt. Still, "I think people will welcome him back, will be happy when he's back," she said after unveiling a new ZIP Code (90090) designated for the Dodgers, a move she spearheaded.

If you buy season tickets from the Dodgers, you won't pay more next year. If you buy tickets for a game here and there, you might. The Dodgers lead the National League in attendance, and they are on the verge of winning back-to-back division championships for the first time in 31 years, but they have nonetheless decided to freeze the price of season tickets for the second consecutive year. The Dodgers are expected, however, to raise single-game prices for the most popular home dates next season.

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his wife Jamie, the team's chief executive, have separated, raising questions about the potential effect of their rift on the ownership of the franchise as the Dodgers prepare to start the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies today at Dodger Stadium. "This is a personal matter and they request that their privacy be respected. They will be making no public statements," they said in a release issued by the club late Wednesday.