Dodgers forced to make changes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A pair of baggy black jeans hung inside his locker. A nearly empty water bottle sat on a shelf. A pristine No. 99 jersey was ready to be slipped on.

It looked as though Manny Ramirez had briefly stepped away instead of being suspended for 50 games a day earlier by Major League Baseball for a drug violation.

“I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet,” manager Joe Torre said before Friday night’s series opener against the rival San Francisco Giants. “You’re so used to seeing him but reality sets in and you sort of have to force it on yourself.”

Ramirez will lose nearly $7.7 million in salary; the Dodgers have yet to know whether they’ll take a financial hit from the prolonged absence of their dreadlocked slugger.

He’s eligible to return July 3 in San Diego.

Merchandise connected to Ramirez, like No. 99 jerseys, T-shirts and dreadlocked wigs, remains for sale around Dodger Stadium. Anyone wanting to exchange an item related to Ramirez can do so with or without a receipt, a club official said.

Ramirez was single-handedly responsible for boosting attendance, souvenir sales and interest in the team before he helped it win the NL West last season.

This year alone, more than 5,000 Manny T-shirts, 800 jerseys, and 1,700 dreadlocked wigs have been snapped up, the club said.

The Dodgers sold more than 30,000 season tickets in the first 24 hours after Ramirez was acquired at last year’s July 31 trade deadline — the highest volume sold in club history.

But things are changing.

Barely a week since the “Mannywood” seating section was announced, it’s been renamed “90090” after the stadium’s zip code. For $99, fans got two tickets and two “Mannywood” T-shirts. In its short existence, 3,130 tickets were sold to fans wanting to sit in the area closest to Ramirez’s position in left field, the club said.

About 60 tickets for “Mannywood” had been turned back by fans since Ramirez’s suspension was announced Thursday, according to Dennis Mannion, the club’s president and chief operating officer.

“We’ll wait to see if it’s appropriate to bring it back,” he said.

In an ironic bit of timing, the Dodgers’ marketing campaign that prominently featured Ramirez had begun phasing out last week. The new “My Town” campaign will include celebrities and other players, although Ramirez will be part of it, Mannion said.

“He’s still on our team,” Mannion said. “Some people were suggesting we take a high moral ground and I don’t think we are in a position to do that.”

Mannion said the club heavily advertised Ramirez’s return to boost season ticket sales, which typically go on through May. After that, team performance and play dictate sales, which are often buoyed by school letting out for the summer.