The Trolley Dodger

So this means the Yankees are going to pay back the $1.2 billion of public funding for that new stadium then?

No?

Ah.

The “still can’t let go” brigade has landed in the LA Times somehow with Bill Shaikin writing a story that wouldn’t have seemed out of place, like, a month ago. “The two sides of Manny being Manny”. No Dodgers apart from Manny are quoted. Several Red Sox are. I guess the propaganda squad wasn’t content with the east coast coverage and had to do a poison piece out here as well.

This gem ends the column:

The Red Sox were 11-13 with him in July, and the Dodgers were 11-16 with him before Saturday. The Red Sox were 17-8 without him.

“There,” a Red Sox official said, “is your story.”

Yeah, because Manny was the only guy having an effect on either team’s record. You know how many ABs David Ortiz had in July? 23.

And what about June, when the Red Sox went 16-11 with Manny?

Manny hit .347/.473/.587/1.060 for the Red Sox in July. But, you know, don’t let reality get in the way of your agenda.

I have a feeling the “There is your story” quote was the Red Sox “official” telling Bill Shaikin he had sent him a Word document with the story in it already written.

ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark has a bee in his bonnet. I use that cliché purposefully, as his latest column chastising Dodger fans for cheering Manny Ramirez sounds nothing so much as an old biddy waggling her finger at the children playing stickball too loud in the street.

“Paying Manny $100M would set a dangerous precedent”

Hey, we couldn’t be happier for those Los Angeles Dodgers, who are selling about 30,000 tickets a day now that they’ve moved their home games to Planet Manny. But we’d like to ask one little question of all those people in L.A. who are showering their man Manny Ramirez with so much love:

What the heck are you cheering for?

Mostly the balls flying over the outfield walls. Also the scoring more runs than the other teams. I like that part especially.

Just like the old biddy stereotype, Stark has a gaggle of gossips feeding him column-ready one liners — GMs and other league sources, all anonymous of course.

“It really bothers me,” one GM said this week of the Manny-mania lovefest that has unfolded in L.A….

(And here I’m seeing the GM throwing himself on a Victorian settee, casting an arm over his eyes and attempting not to faint in despair.)

…”What he did in Boston was criminal. Now he goes there, and everything’s OK? No, sir. It doesn’t change the fact that how he got there was criminal.”

Criminal? Really? Go read up on Darryl Strawberry or Michael Vick and get back to me on “criminal.”

Here’s the crime that Manny perpetuated on the Red Sox in July: .347/.473/.587/1.060. The nerve!

Look, everyone knows how much ESPN functions as the propaganda wing of the Boston sports establishment. Listening recently to the normally sedate Peter “Older Biddy” Gammons splutter anti-Manny invectives in between Red Sox talking points, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out where his allegiances lie.

But even Gammons has moved on now. It’s been forever in ESPN Attention Span Time, and it’s only a little surreal seeing Manny in Dodger Blue. I know you’re feeling antsy what with the Angels and Devil Rays (insert Paradise Lost joke here) owning your Boston overlords’ butts this season, but let it go already. Don’t you have any Brett Favre dead horse residue to nudge fitfully with your toe?

Update: Well, I guess I need to change that question mark to an exclamation point: Manny to Dodgers! As usual, the important thing isn’t the money, the other trade pieces, the offensive upgrade, or anything else — with both 24 and the obvious 42 reverse taken what number will he wear?

–

Naw, probably not, but it’s time for the annual “Where’s Manny getting traded?” roulette wheel. To listen to the Boston Media, they’re super serious this time about Manny Being Manny elsewhere. Just like every year.

Buster Olney seems to think the Dodgers (among several other teams) might match up:

They could make a deal with the Dodgers, who are overloaded with outfielders but have a manager in Joe Torre who is accustomed to dealing with star players with diva issues. The offer from L.A. would start with third baseman Andy LaRoche, conceivably.

While I’m sure the Dodgers would love to have that power in left field, I don’t see it happening at all before the deadline, for the simple fact of how much we would certainly have to give up. Besides, if the Red Sox are serious about getting rid of him this time, we can wait till they test the waiver waters in August, or even wait till the off season.

And how much you want to bet the Andruw Jones Effect* has the Dodgers front office a bit leery of taking on big contracts?

* AJE — rhymes with “age”

From Tony Jackson

Dylan Hernandez, Diamond Leung and I got a few minutes with Ned Colletti in the tunnel after the game. Said he might be getting close to acquiring a veteran utility infielder who could better plug the gap while Furcal is out, or if Furcal is out again later in the season.

Esteban Loaiza for Wilson Betemit anyone? ;)