LA’s Manny Ramirez was 0 for 3 with a walk and a run scored in the Dodgers’ 4-1 Opening Night win at San Diego, the sort of modest showing from the enigmatic LF that might’ve brought a smile to the face of Fox Sports’ prolific Ken Rosenthal.

While Manny “has turned the Los Angeles Times’ T.J. Simers, one of the toughest columnists in America, into his personal Oprah,” opined Rosenthal  (above) yesterday, adding the warning, “Ramirez’ attention span is about as long as L.A.’s, so a June vacation on the DL might be necessary ” just an innocent little sit-down strike if the Dodgers balk at signing him to an extension…over/under on games played: 128.”  Never one to duck a pissing match, Simers responds in Tuesday’s Times (link taken from Baseball Think Factory) :

As Rosenthal put it, the “relationship between Ramirez and Los Angeles is sickeningly sweet,” a relationship that annoys those who supposedly know the real Ramirez.

Rosenthal also referred to Page 2 as Ramirez’s “personal Oprah.” As you know, that’s not true, given the one obvious difference between Page 2 and Oprah — she’s rich.

Hard to find fault, though, with the guy we’ve gotten in L.A. so far — Ramirez doing and saying all the right things, the Dodgers relevant again and other players seemingly improved because he’s here in the lineup and the clubhouse.  So what does Ramirez say?

“That’s a lot of games — 128,” he says with a laugh. “I wasn’t thinking about playing that many; I was thinking 100. I thank him [for the motivation to play more].”

Ramirez hasn’t played in fewer than 130 games since 2002, has averaged 145 games per season over the last six, and foresees no problem playing just as many.

“I’m just a table-setter now,” he says, joking that he won’t be doing as much and everyone should be talking to Andre Ethier because he’s the one who will be driving in all the runs.