Lori Shepler/AP
The Manny Ramirez ballet

Sore-toed Manny Ramirez trod gingerly in the outfield Friday, allowing two fly balls to fall for half of the four hits Chad Billingsley allowed. And he hasn’t homered in his past 56 plate appearances, since his game-winning pinch-hit shot against San Francisco on April 18. Since coming off the disabled list, he’s on-basing .419 but slugging .324.

But he still hits the ball real hard, as John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press writes:

Brandon Inge said it was the hardest ball ever to hit him at third base.

“And Larry Bowa (the Dodgers third-base coach) told me that it in his 40-plus years of professional baseball, he’d never seen a ball hit that hard to third base,” Inge said. …

This moment, perhaps as much as any stat or rave that Ramirez has been able to garner, advertised his abilities at the plate.

The ball caromed behind Inge at an angle past deep shortstop and into short centerfield. It might have gone farther after it hit Inge than before it hit him.

You know how Don Kelly has started at both third base and centerfield for the Tigers this season? Ramirez singled to third base and centerfield on the same play.

After the game, Inge pointed to the baseball-sized red welt on his right shin. It was his souvenir of the play. …

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  • Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt has requested a trade. I’m not expecting the Dodgers to be in on it, but Eric Stephen explores how they could theoretically afford him at True Blue L.A.
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    • “After 9 1/2 years with my lady, I’m finally(!) getting married tomorrow. Now I know how AJ Ellis felt tonight.”