I hate to admit it, but I am a Dodgers fan. For as long as I can remember, the Dodgers were the only baseball team I cared about (until recently when the Cubs have snuck up and made me a fan as well.) Maybe it was Tommy Lasorda or Fernando Valenzuela that made me a fan, but the Dodgers were my team when it came to baseball.

I remember watching Kirk Gibson hit that home run in the World Series and about jumping out of my skin in excitement. Fast forward to the present times…

The Dodgers, along with the whole National League West, have been abysmal for several years. I mean really, the Dodgers haven’t even sniffed a World Series since 1988. Even with the addition of Joe Torre, I was a bit weary that this season would be very similiar. That is, until I saw on Sportcenter that the Dodgers aquired Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox in a 3-team trade. What good is it to add yet another high-priced outfielder to the line up and a head case to boot?

Well, I guess we need to look at the numbers for his 16 year career. With 510 home runs and 1672 RBI it appears that Manny can hit for power, but like everything with age, his productivity has dropped off. The past few seasons, his numbers have steadily declined. Could it have been his unhappiness with the Red Sox that encouraged this decline? Is being 37 years of age a factor?

Could Manny be the spark that the Dodgers need to get back to the World Series? Hopefully, with the change of location and change of number from 24 to 99, Manny can do just that. Otherwise, I’ll just keep my mouth shut until the Dodgers come close again. With Torre at the helm, I look for that sooner than later.

Ramble on…