Fantasy baseball anyone?

Los Angeles, CA

Chavez Ravine has seen its share of special moments. Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game, Fernandomania had a no-hitter of his own, and nobody will forget Kirk Gibsons Home-Run with no legs to steady himself, or the back-to-back-to-back-to-back homer game against San Diego, stay classy. Now on this 22nd day of July 2009 Manny Ramirez left his mark on the Ravine. After getting hit by a pitch in yesterday's blowout over the Reds, Ramirez was not expected to play. The gamer that he is, Man-Ram approached Dodger manager Joe Torre and told him he'd be available to bat if need be. It turns out in the bottom of the sixth inning against relief pitcher Nick Masset, Torre made the call. The crowd was already in a frenzy, as loud as any playoff game, in anticipation of seeing their hero step into the box with bases loaded on Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Night. Masset delivered a hard 96 MPH fastball over the plate, and Manny mailed it return to sender, well over the left field wall into the Mannywood section of all places. The ballpark erupted once more and the fans gave Ramirez a long ovation until he came up the steps for a curtain call. "It was great", said Ramirez."One of the best moments of my career. I'm just happy it happened here. It was kind of crazy, but I loved it." A top moment in his career is pretty accurate. Manny (21) moved within two Grand-Slams of Lou Gherig (23) for the most all time. He has the most of all active players. This was his first career pinch-hit grand slam. In the duggout afterwards, Manny playfully shook himself like a bobblehead with teammates. 

For his first victory since June 14th, All-Star pitcher Chad Billingsley allowed just two runs in six innings of work. His 10-4 record has helped the Dodgers, winners of five straight, reach a plateau they haven't seen since the days of Kirk Gibson. Los Angeles is now 27 games over .500. Andre Ethier hit his team high 20th HR on the season, becoming the first Dodger outfielder to do it in back to back seasons since Shawn Green in 2001-02. James Loney also had an RBI triple for LA. Next up is Clayton Kershaw (8-5, .295 ERA) vs. Josh Johnson (8-2, .272) as the Dodgers play host to The Fish starting Friday night. In his last seven starts, all Dodgers wins, Kershaw is 5-0 with a mightily impressive .063 ERA.