The Manny Ramirez effect on Dodger hitters

September 10, 7:50 AMSports ExaminerPaula Duffy

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Jeff Kent and Andre Ethier of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Photo: AP

In the first two and one half weeks that Manny Ramirez played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, second baseman Jeff Kent hit .500 while batting in front of the dreadlocked outfielder.

As is natural in sports reporting, numbers like that are noted and talked about. Kent didn't like the message, especially when it came out of the mouth of legendary Dodgers play by play announcer, Vin Scully. He denied that his stellar batting average was a direct result of hitting third with Manny in the clean up spot.

Kent. In an exchange with the Los Angeles Times' gadfly columnist T. J. Simers, included a dig (whether mean spirited or not) at Scully by telling Simers that Scully, "talks too much." Duh. he is one of the only play by play announcers that works solo without a sidekick.

But the point was made that Kent, a prickly guy under normal circumstances didn't like easy comparisons between his pre and post-Manny performances. Andre Ethier, the young Dodgers outfielder is now in that position and you don't hear a complaint out of him.

Ethier bats in front of Manny and has seen the same thing happen to his batting average. I'm not saying that these men don't have to possess the talent and intelligence to make the most of a position in which they are going to see good pitches. But a distinct difference in performance in a short period of time is worth noting. 

Kent doesn't have to worry about that now and perhaps for the rest of the season and off season. He went down with an injury and gave up that sweet spot to Ethier who has replicated Kent's performance. The way Andre is hitting he might not give that slot up. Good for him. It is a thrill for a kid who wasn't a starter at the beginning of the season and had to fight for time in the outfield as a result of the failed Andruw Jones experiment. He has drunk the Manny Kool Aid to the point where he uses pieces of black tape shaped like fake dreadlocks as worry beads in the dugout. Gotta love it. Manny sure does and the Dodgers are 2 and a half up on the Diamondbacks in the NL West.