L.A. Times: Manny Ramirez, and the Dodgers, are getting their groove back

Ramirez’s reaction to this crowd of trial lawyers and Googleheads and Marin moms-of-three? He smiled, he bowed, he laughed, he trudged to the outfield with that slow, heavy-legged mope—and then politely tossed spare baseballs to his trying-really-hard-to-be-angry tormentors.

To all of this, of course, Joe Torre smiles. He gets a question about how nervous Ramirez had seemed when he returned last month from his suspension. The Dodgers’ manager says it feels like, since then, and without doubt in recent days, a transformation is underway.

“You know, he puts that uniform on he has a place to hide,” Torre says. “It really is a comfortable place for him. [More comfortable than] if he had to sit in front of a microphone, or during his suspension if he had to talk to somebody, or even when I talked to him during the suspension. The baseball side of it is where he finds his security.”

It appears Ramirez is secure again. The old vibe is coming back: at the plate, in the clubhouse. “I never leave San Francisco without a home run!” he says, and then delivers Tuesday, just in time. Just as the Giants have been inching forward. Just as Colorado keeps edging closer.

Whether that vibe remains, whether it will keep away the teams nipping at the Dodgers’ heels, will be this regular season’s great remaining plot line.