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Great article on ESPN.com this morning by Bill Simmons on Manny Ramirez.  It’s well worth checking out.  Enjoy! 

Speaking of Manny, watching him run out that infield single last night was awesome.  I’m sure Boston fans were letting out a collective groan when that happened and wondering what might have been if (according to Bill Simmons) Scott Boras had not orchestrated Manny’s move out to L.A.

Josh Rawitch has announced the Dodgers starters for the first three games of the playoffs.  It’ll be Lowe in Game 1, Billingsley in Game 2 and Kuroda starting Game 3 at home.

Also, there’s a free playoff rally taking place tonight out at Dodger Stadium.  The rally starts at 6 p.m. and there’s free parking and $2 Dodger Dogs,plus other discounted food items.  The players will be making an appearance at 8:00 p.m., so it should be a great event to bring the kids out to.

BTW, if you’re not familiar with Inside the Dodgers, it’s a great resource for true Dodger fans, with lots of great insights from our pal Josh.  The fans commenting on the site can be a bit much at times, but the blog is great and I’m sure the content will be fantastic as we head into the playoffs.

Now this is cool: Joe Torre is taking the last game of the season off and handing the managerial reins to his veteran players. Nomar will be the skipper, Mark Sweeney will be the bench coast and Eric Stults will be the pitching coach. I heard an interview with Nomar on the pregame show, and he said he was going to ask Manny to serve as the hitting coach.

Good luck to the guys today, and have some fun out there!

Yup, those rumors are back, Dodger fans!

The 39-year-old Ng has had her job for seven seasons and was a top adviser to New York Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman before that. She was believed to be the final candidate beaten out by Ned Colletti when Los Angeles selected a new GM in 2005, and the Dodgers say she is the first woman to ever interview for a GM job.

She may be getting a second interview soon.

“It’s time for some fresh thinking,” Armstrong said at the end of his 23rd season with the team — what he called his worst and most “miserable” one.

The full story can be found here at the four letter network. The New York Times also had a good piece on how the Dodgers may have blown it when they hired Colletti over Ng. Now nearly three years later, it certainly makes you wonder…

Congratulations to the Dodgers, who clinched the NL West title after Arizona lost to St Louis today.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers will be sporting the worst win-loss record amongst the NL division winners (even if they win out their last four games) which means they will be starting out on the road. According to the Dodgers Web site, this will be the lowest total number of wins the Dodgers have recorded while also finishing first in their division since 1900!