Dodgers Ashamed of Manny

↵As a Giants fan, little could have made this week more joyous. The best player for the most bitter, stabby rival was suspended for 50 games. Barry Zito finally reached an agreement with Satan on a three-year deal. (What a hold-out that was, Z.) Watching the Dodgers struggle to separate themselves from their No. 1 marketing tool for a few months, though, ranks pretty highly.
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↵According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, in the hours since the suspension was announced, the Dodgers have completely wiped Manny Ramirez from Chavez Ravine.↵↵⇥The Dodgers conjured quite a magic trick. They made Manny Ramirez vanish. The Mannywood section at Dodger Stadium was gone for the series opener against the Giants. So were the posters bearing his image and the dreadlock wigs in the gift shop. In political parlance, the Dodgers “disappeared” their best player after he was suspended for 50 games. The face of their franchise exists in name only on a few T-shirts in their main souvenir tent.↵↵The Manny wigs? No! Now how are grown men supposed to look completely ridiculous at the stadium? I guess they’ll have to pull those Garvey jerseys out of mothballs, or show up in the third inning and leave in the seventh. Shouldn’t be a difficult transition.↵