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Manny doesn't deliver in debut with Dodgers

Former Red Sox slugger 2-for-4, but comes up short in 9th vs. D-backs

Diamondbacks Dodgers BaseballAP
New Los Angeles Dodgers' slugger Manny Ramirez waits to hit as the team's owner and chairman Frank McCourt looks on against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday. The Dodgers lost 2-1.

Ramirez helped Boston win two World Series titles in four years after an 86-year drought.

The Dodgers last won the World Series in 1988, and in a desperate attempt to end that dry spell, they acquired the 36-year-old Ramirez on Thursday in a three-team deal with Pittsburgh.

Once Ramirez got settled in with his new teammates, including former Red Sox Derek Lowe and Nomar Garciaparra, he met with manager Joe Torre and donned his white Dodger uniform — shunning the trademark baggy pants in favor of a slightly more streamlined look.

Ramirez was assigned a locker in the narrow and antiquated Dodgers clubhouse between Jason Johnson and Mark Sweeney. He was given No. 99 instead of his familiar No. 24, which the Dodgers retired to honor Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston. Ramirez’s second choice was 34 — ex-teammate David Ortiz’ number — but clubhouse manager Mitch Poole has unofficially kept that number out of circulation out of respect for Fernando Valenzuela.

Before Ramirez’s first at-bat he was welcomed with a montage of highlight footage from his days with Cleveland and the Red Sox. The sellout crowd of 55,239 chanted his first name in unison and flashes went off around the ballpark while he looked toward the upper deck behind home plate and surveyed his new surroundings.

Notes: When the Red Sox played their only interleague series at Dodger Stadium in June 2002, Ramirez was on the disabled list with a broken left index finger. ... Ramirez’s first curtain call as a Dodger came 15 minutes before the first pitch, when a ground-level TV camera showed him sitting in the dugout and the crowd roared its approval. He stepped out of the dugout and doffed his cap, bringing more cheers. ... Johnson is the only pitcher with at least 2,000 strikeouts for two teams. Ramirez is one of four players with 200 or more homers for two clubs.

© 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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