Sports Thread for 7/8/09: Manny Being Manny On Full Display At New Shea

Okay, it's Bailout Field....okay, it's CitiField......okay, it's ballout whatever, Manny Ramirez made his return to baseball on Friday. But last night against the injury riddled struggling Mets, baseball's latest drug "cheat" got two hits in the Dodgers 8-0 pounding of Jerry Manuel's side.

That was all overshadowed by well, Manny being Manny to the extreme: He was thrown out in the 5th inning. Or better said, he threw himself out.

In his first appearance in New York since serving a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy, Ramirez was ejected in the fifth inning after his second strong disagreement with home plate umpire John Hirschbeck.

After being rung up on a pitch that was off the outside corner, Ramirez tossed his bat, helmet and elbow pad, the latter landing close to home plate and earning him the heave-ho. Hirschbeck had been more lenient in the first inning, when Ramirez was also called out on strikes and signaled with his hands how far outside he thought the pitch was.

Manny said he was going to be taken out in the 5th, so it wasn't a big surprise. And if he does, then it makes ESPN's John Kruk slamming of him look kind of futile.