Manny Ramirez arrived in Albuquerque Tuesday afternoon with all the fanfare of a rock star. He left Thursday night like a shrinking violet.

Ramirez's final and only words to us Thursday were "no thank you" in asking if he wanted to talk. The silence was deafening in light of reports that the Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating a Miami doctor and his son as Ramirez's source for the performance enchancing drugs he took that led to his 50-game major league suspension. You kinda knew when this report came out that Manny was gonna go silent, but c'mon, the man's gotta face the music sometime and his actions Thursday were highly disappointing.

Just as disappointing was another full house at Isotopes Park that didn't get to see Ramirez play. People who put down their hard earned money deserve much better than to be stiffed by Manny, though this was somewhat understandable with the slick field conditions from an hour of rain.  He could at least have come out, acknowledged the 15-thousand plus crowd, signed some autographs and then left.  Did he do that?  NO!  Maybe he would have melted in the rain...I doubt that.  At least the Isotopes have kinda made it up to those fans by offering them a ticket to a future Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday home game the rest of the season.

But back to Ramirez. He now moves on to southern California where he's expected to play three A-ball games, before returning to the L.A. Dodgers July 3rd in San Diego. He's going to be hounded by media even harder there. Manny could have made it easier for himself if he talked here and got it out of the way. But he didn't.

End of the Albuquerque Manny circus. Fade to black.