The Dread Lock Decision: Manny Complies With Haircut Edict; Barely

Manny Ramirez finally got a haircut on Thursday — as you can see he's practically bald — and the results were predictable. Apparently he angered Jobu, going 0-for-3 against the Phillies. But thanks to the mojo of the Joe Beimel bobblehead, the Dodgers still won, 3-1, to sweep the four-game series and keep their share of first place in the West with the Diamondbacks.

"I was in the principal's office right now," Ramirez said upon emerging from Torre's office some three hours before the Dodgers faced the Phillies. "[Torre] told me he's fine, for now." Said Torre: "He came in and showed me. As Billy Crystal said in 'Analyze That,' it's a process. He took a little bit off. It's within the rules of cleaning it up a little bit. Right now, it's around his shoulders. It's not covering his name up. We'll continue to monitor it." Ramirez said he plans to get his next haircut before spring training. "He haunts me with this," Torre said. "He says every time he gets a hit, it's the hair. I say it's the ability. He knows as well as everybody else around here that his ability is special. He's a character."

In a rematch of the Olympic game between Japan and Taiwan on Thursday, Hiroki Kuroda (who is Japanese) allowed two hits over seven innings and Hong-Chih Kuo (Taiwanese) pitched two scoreless innings to earn his first career save. The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second on James Loney's triple and Nomar Garciaparra's grounduot, and made it 2-0 in the sixth on Jeff Kent's homer. And now the bade news: Brad Penny is on the disabled list again with a shoulder injury. Hiroki Kuroda Is Sharp Again As Dodgers Sweep Phillies [Los Angeles Times]