Target Adds Insult to Dodger Injury

A reminder of the Dodgers' disappointing turn of events, currently on display at Target: Manny Ramirez #99 Dodgers T-shirts, now 75% off. (From $14.99 to $3.74.) I'd say get these "collector's items" while you can ... but who are we kidding, I've seen these Manny tees collecting dust on the Target shelves for at least a week.

DirecTV Smells Blood in the Time Warner Cable Waters

DirecTV is hoping to steal away a few Time Warner Cable subscribers still pissed off about last month's Manny Ramirez snafu.

You may remember, Time Warner Cable took some heat after it accidentally cut into Prime Ticket's coverage of the Dodgers -- missing a dramatic home run by Ramirez.

Now, DirecTV is running spots on the radio reminding Time Warner Cable subscribers of the goof -- and suggesting they try DirecTV, which wasn't impacted by the accidental pre-emption, instead.

I subscribe to DirecTV -- and although I'm mostly pleased with the service, I'm surprised that cable operators like Time Warner never attempt to combat satellite's major West Coast weakness. DirecTV and Dish offer mostly East Coast feeds -- which means primetime series air too early out here, and many channels telecast infomercials by 11 p.m. PT (which is 2 a.m. ET), making for frustrating late-night channel surfing.

Weisman on Manny Ramirez: "We Knew He Was Flawed"

Talk about weird timing for my Variety colleague Jon Weisman, the blogger behind Dodger Thoughts. He was already taking today off, in order to get a few other things done --including his son's 5 p.m. T-Ball practice -- when the Manny Ramirez story broke.

So in addition to keeping that 5 p.m. T-Ball appointment, Jon's spent the day doing interviews -- including a phoner with ESPN News -- and updating Dodger Thoughts, including this piece on how he's taking the news:

How do I feel?

I feel that this is one of the many imperfect things that happens in an imperfect sport. Everyone and everything that I love is flawed. I get frustrated, annoyed, angry, depressed. Over time, I love some a little less, others the same despite it all.

For the Dodgers on the field, if it wasn't going to be this, it might easily have been (or still might be) something else. Manny Ramirez is a critical component of the 2009 Dodgers, but he's not the only component. ...

As for the man? Even if we didn't know this would happen, we knew he was flawed... The game is greater than any one person, good or bad. I've just seen too much to be up in arms.