Manny Ramirez

LOS ANGELES - Charlie Manuel understood what "Manny being Manny" meant long before most. Manuel managed Manny Ramirez at triple A in 1993. Then, he was hitting coach and manager for the Cleveland Indians during Ramirez's six full seasons there. "The more money he got, the more he hit, the more they let him be Manny," the Phillies' manager said. On Monday, Ramirez wasn't playing against the Phillies as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Instead, he was en route to Cleveland to join the Chicago White Sox for a pennant-race boost.

Righthander Tim Wakefield retired Friday after pitching the last 17 seasons for the Red Sox. The 45-year-old knuckleballer made the announcement at JetBlue Park, Boston's spring training facility in Fort Myers, Fla. After two seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the righthander signed as a minor-league free agent in April 1995. He was 186-168 with a 4.43 ERA with the Red Sox. Only Roger Clemens and Cy Young had more wins (192) with the team. Wakefield is first in team history with 3,006 innings and 430 starts, and second in games and strikeouts.

From the miracles-do- happen department: Major League Baseball will not expand the use of its instant-replay system this season. The bosses - who had looked forward to reviewing trapped balls, fair-or-foul rulings, and fan interference - now hope to do so in 2013. This season will be the same as last season: Replay will remain an option only on disputed home run calls. According to the Associated Press, which cited sources familiar with the situation, there were at least two roadblocks to expanding replay reviews: umpires and players.

Wow, the Yankees' Russell Martin must really not want to run the risk of facing Tampa Bay or Los Angeles in the playoffs. If not, why would he give Boston (11-4 against New York this season) great bulletin-board fodder such as this to light a fire under the fading Red Sox, up 21/2 games on the Rays and Angels in the AL wild-card chase? "I hate the Red Sox," the all-star catcher said Thursday, contemplating the three-game series in New York this weekend. "Anything to get the Red Sox out would be awesome for me. " (Of course, it could be reverse psychology - maybe he just wants the Red Sox to think he wants them out, because then they'll press to stay in, and he really doesn't want the Rays to win, unless it's really the Angels he wants . . . ow, head-game headache!

Speculation over the Prince Fielder sweepstakes continued Saturday, but about the only certainties at the end of the day were: The Texas Rangers remain interested in the slugger; the Chicago Cubs are not; and those two stances could change, lickety split, before a deal is done. Rangers president Nolan Ryan acknowledged Saturday that the AL champions met Fielder and his agent, Scott Boras, in a Dallas-area hotel Friday afternoon but downplayed the discussions. "It was very preliminary, and it's very early in any type of negotiation process to even say if there's anything that's going to come of that or not," Ryan said.

It's official: Pro golfer Phil Mickelson and members of the O'Malley family now own the Padres. Major League Baseball's owners Thursday approved the sale of John Moores' club to a group that includes Kevin and Brian O'Malley, sons of former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley; Peter and Tom Seidler (Peter's nephews); Mickelson, and beer magnate Ron Fowler for about $800 million. Commissioner Bud Selig said it's going to be difficult to say farewell to Moores, whose divorce forced him to put the team on the market in 2009.

Manny Ramirez has proved to be one of the biggest difference makers of the 2008 season - for what he's meant to the Los Angeles Dodgers and what he hasn't meant to the Boston Red Sox. The Dodgers finally ran down the Arizona Diamondbacks last weekend, taking over first place in the National League West for the first time since April 4. The Dodgers went from 4 1/2 games back to 1 1/2 up thanks to an eight-game winning streak in which Ramirez hit...

The final two months of the regular season are upon us and playoff races are beginning to crackle. But on this third day of August, we take a look back at some of the wheeling and dealing of July. Manny moves on. In some ways, it's still difficult to believe. Sure, Manny Ramirez asked the Boston Red Sox to trade him in the past. Yeah, they floated his name on waivers to gauge interest a few years ago. But did you ever believe they'd trade a bat like that? Everything seemed to be going well for Ramirez just a couple of months ago. He hit his 500th homer.

LOS ANGELES - One night later, Manny Ramirez had nothing bad to say about Shane Victorino. There were no sparks trailing from the words the Los Angeles Dodgers' slugger summoned when asked about how Game 4 turned from a celebration to something closer to a wake. "I think tonight, everybody battled, played their hearts out, out there," Ramirez said after going 2-for-2 with three walks, but ending his offensive evening on third base when Brad Lidge retired James Loney for the final out in the eighth.

BOSTON - A circle of humanity squeezed around him as words poured out of his grinning mouth. Manny Ramirez was talking again. Let the fun begin. One caveat: To take part, you had to speak Spanish, or at least understand it. And for all the potential those Rosetta Stones offer at those airport kiosks, there is not one documented example of a sports writer emerging from a flight with an added language as part of his skill set. So the ring around...