FanHouse Manny Ramirez

SAN DIEGO -- Manny Ramirez took a page out of Jason Giambi's book.

When Giambi came back to the Yankees after it was reported that he testified before a federal grand jury that he had used steroids, Giambi apologized, but he was careful not to say what he did wrong.

When Ramirez addressed reporters en masse for the first time since he was suspended for 50 games for a violation of baseball's drug policy, Ramirez gave vague apologies, but not much else.

"I want to say I'm sorry to the fans, to my teammates," Ramirez said Friday in a packed press conference before the Dodgers played the Padres at Petco Park. "They were always there for me. I want to thank them for their support. I'm here. I'm excited."

Friday is the night that many a Dodgers fan has been waiting for. After serving his 50-game suspension, the home run-hitting, fertility drug-taking wonder that is Manny Ramirez will be back in the lineup as the Dodgers take on the Padres in San Diego. Now if you're wondering what to make of all this I invite you to give our latest BaseCast a listen as Prez and Fletch have already broken it down for you.

One question I have for tonight's game is how Manny will be treated by Padres fans. These are the same people who greeted Barry Bonds with giant syringes after all. Of course, while we know that Manny is bound to hear some boos while on the road, what kind of reaction will he get in Mannywood? Well, if Kevin Patra at the Los Angeles Times gets his way, Dodger fans will boo Ramirez.

It's a baseball podcast. The math is easy, right? BaseCast. Let's rock.

He's baaaaaaack. Manny Ramirez rejoins the Dodgers Friday night in San Diego after a 50-game suspension for a violation of Major League Baseball's drug prevention program.

FanHouse's own Jeff Fletcher will be at Petco Park to see and report on Manny's return, so in preparation he joined Andrew Johnson (Prez) on the second edition of BaseCast to talk about what the media horde will be like, how, if at all, the slugger will address the media, what impact he'll have on the Dodgers on the field and how the road fans will react to him post-suspension.

And just for good measure, there's also Fletch's exclusive interview with Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson. Listen in after the jump.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

No, I didn't lose a bet to Matt Snyder (although he is running roughshod over our fantasy league right now) and he hasn't stolen my log in information to write favorable posts about the Chicago Cubs. I feel it's just necessary to expound a bit about what's been happening on the north side lately.

The Cubs won their second game in a row and made it back to .500 on Thursday. They did so with a scoring barrage led by Derrek Lee. If Lee's two home runs on Thursday weren't enough foreshadowing for a breakout, imagine that we're only two games into July and Lee already has three homers and nine RBI. He had six homers and 20 RBI in June. Is Lee a 30-home run player again?

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

This coming weekend, Major League Baseball will reveal its 2009 All-Star teams. So what better opportunity than this to run through a list of this season's "Anti-All-Stars." Anti-All-Stars is far too bland a name, though, so we decided to name the team in honor of Andruw Jones. After all, he was the poster child for guys not earning the lucrative contracts bestowed on them last season. We'll sort through each position and find the player who is least helping his team in comparison to expectations -- whether monetary or from management.

The Newport Beach Police Department landed themselves a doozy of a case on Monday night. Scott Boras, much-maligned baseball agent, had dinner at Bandera Restaurant and returned to a disturbing scene in the parking lot after his meal. His Land Rover bore signs of a brutal assault, with damage to the windshield and driver's side window.

Someone used an unknown hard, long object (that's what she said) during the assault, but police are short on other leads. If they hope to crack the case, they'll probably need to start working in shifts as there's no shortage of people with an ax to grind -- or window to break -- when it comes to Boras.

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.

Michael Jackson believes Manny Ramirez should be in the All-Star Game. So does Bud Selig, Roger Clemens, Ted Kennedy and Ramirez himself.

I know because they all voted for Manny. I actually cast their ballots, but that doesn't make a difference to Major League Baseball.

Dead or alive, animal or vegetable, saint or sinner, MLB just wants your vote. In keeping with baseball tradition, it is now allowing fans to cheat like their real-life heroes.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Heading into 2009, here's what we thought we knew about Rich Harden: Absolutely lights out stuff, but can't be counted on to stay healthy consistently. In 2008, he went 10-2 with a 2.07 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP and 181 strikeouts in 148 innings. Those are elite numbers on a per-start basis. The problem, of course, is that he only made 25 starts. In 2007, he had a 2.45 ERA, but only pitched 25 2/3 innings.

Until Monday night, 2009 had been quite surprising from the 27-year-old right-hander.

With the White Sox and Cubs set to begin their second series against each other this season at U.S. Cellular Field, former White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas is back in Chicago, but instead of playing he's now a member of the local media. The two-time AL MVP is 41 years old now but he's still open to the idea of coming back and playing if anybody is interested in his services.

The problem is that there just aren't that many teams in the market for a 41-year old designated hitter right now, and it's highly unlikely there will be any suitors for the Big Hurt in the near future. So it's not exactly a shocker that while giving a radio interview in Chicago on Thursday Thomas said he's very close to just hanging up his cleats.