To Dodgers' Relief, Manny's Manny Again

SAN FRANCISCO -- Manny Ramirez is an important part of the Dodgers offense, FanHouse has learned.

Not quite an earth-shattering scoop there, but nonetheless a point driven home -- along with a few runners -- as Los Angeles took the first two games of its series against the Giants.

Ramirez had been decidedly human for much of the previous two weeks, hitting .190 over a 15-game stretch during which the Dodgers went 6-9.

Over the past three games, though, Ramirez has racked up seven hits in 11 at-bats, including a two-run homer and a double on Tuesday night.

Ramirez was smack in the middle of the Dodgers' four-run fifth-inning rally and their five-run seventh-inning rally, which were enough to whip the Giants, 9-1.

"He hasn't really been in a slump," said Matt Kemp. "He was just trying to get his timing. I don't think he ever gets in a slump."

Manager Joe Torre said Ramirez had been out of whack.

"He really has such great balance, and for a time there he was sort off balance when he was swinging," he said.

Ramirez, who took some extra swings in the indoor cage hours before Tuesday's game, seemed pretty balanced when the game began. He stood patiently while the Giants issued him intentional walks in his first two trips to the plate.

In the fifth inning, with Andre Ethier at second after his RBI double, Ramirez got a 1-2 fastball from Joe Martinez over the inside corner and he whipped his bat around quick enough to yank it into the left-field corner, for a double.

In the seventh, he reached down to golf Brandon Medders' two-strike breaking ball over the left-field fence. It was Ramirez's first homer in a week, and second in 18 games.

"He's the same guy, just sometimes it takes awhile to regain your form," said Ethier, who had three of the Dodgers' 11 hits. "Sometimes you don't execute the way you want to, and sometimes things fall into place. Sometimes as teammates, we've looked for him to do too much, and he feels pressure from that. But he's the same guy we had last year."

"I don't think he ever gets in a slump"
-- Matt Kemp on Manny Ramirez Last year, of course, Ramirez was the savior for the Dodgers' offense when he arrived in a July 31 trade. Although the Dodgers proved that they can win without him, maintaining their division lead during his suspension, there is no question they aren't as good when he's not in the lineup and swinging a hot bat.

"I think it sort of takes the pressure off a lot of the other guys who try to pick up the slack," Torre said. "It's tough to make up for his absence, to try to duplicate what he gives us. He's probably one of the best five or six right-handed hitters I've seen."