FanHouse Wordupthome

The playoffs are almost over and the stage is set for the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies to face the dreadnought New York Yankees ... or the Los Angeles Angels Angels, pending a dead Christopher Lloyd-style miracle.

The bottom line is this: the World Series is like one block to our left, and we're going to have to start buckling down and making some declarative statements. Before we do that, though, today's Dugout features some pre-ALCS decision arguing and some sad realities.

The 1997 Cleveland Indians have finally been reassembled on the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers, and it is up to venerable Dugout protagonists Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez to lead them through the playoffs and to the promised land, whether they've been there already or not.

If you have not been reading our end of the season special event and want anything you're about to read to make sense, please catch up by reading the first seven parts linked conveniently below. Part "The End" is after the jump.

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The "youth movement" continues in Los Angeles, as Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez continue their countrywide trip to reunite the championship hopeful 1997 Cleveland Indians on the championship hopeful 2009 Dodgers. If you've missed where they've been so far, check out the numbered links below. If you haven't, and you are still somehow entertained by caps lock and typos, continue after the jump to read part seven of our epic special event.

Previously on It's Tribe Time Now

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The Dugout favorites Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez have taken a break from danging dingers together on the playoff-bound Los Angeles Dodgers to travel the country and possibly fictional dreamscape lands to reuinte the 1997 Cleveland Indians and right the wrongs of the 97 World Series. The quest is almost complete, and now we learn what happened in the MLB Journeyman Chatroom, and where the dynamic twosome are headed next.

Part 6 of The Dugout: It's Tribe Time Now is after the jump.

Welcome to part five of our apparently 30-part series about how Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez play for the same team, just like when they were part of the 1997 World Series challenging Cleveland Indians.

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Once you have caught up on the previous four parts, remember that none of this is newsworthy and that we've ingratiated ourselves enough at Fanhouse by this point to occasionally make the casual reader here to discuss how he feels about Prince Fielder's baseball-disgracing shirt tuck think we are on crack. Is this a real chat??? Part 5 of 30 is after the jump.

Not to ignore everything else that is happening in the world of baseball, but Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez are on the same team and you should be reading about it.

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Part four of the quest to reunite the entirety of the 1997 Cleveland Indians on the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers takes us places we never dared go, to a post-apocalyptic wasteland where humanity is depraved and the skies are filled with ash.

Tonight's Dugout is after the jump.

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Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez suddenly find themselves playing for the same team again. Their mission: to travel the United States on a tandem bicycle and reunite the 1997 Cleveland Indians AL Championship team in Los Angeles. Will they succeed, or will I stop when I get to like, Chad Ogea and run out of jokes? Only time will tell. Part 3 of the Dugout special event is after the jump.

As you may have read yesterday, Jim Thome was awarded to the Los Angeles Dodgers like so much sassy Sapphire, reuniting him with former Indians teammate Manny Ramirez. In the Dugout universe (which is the real universe, because we are somehow still convincing people that these are legitimate transcripts) this is big news, and in yesterday's episode the two realistically-portrayed superstars took off across the country on a bicycle built for two to rebuild the 1997 Cleveland Indians in 2009 Los Angeles and reclaim the World Series ring that was rightfully theirs.

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Part 2 is after the jump.

In the most important "real life benefiting The Dugout" moment since Barry Bonds dressed up like Paula Abdul, rosy-cheeked Faulknerian idiot man-child and Dugout regular Jim Thome has been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. This reunites him with another Dugout regular, Manny Ramirez, who he has not played with since they both played for the Cleveland Indians in 2000.

Tonight's important next chapter in Dugout lore is after the jump. Hey, I've got to root for the Indians somewhere.

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In surprisingly out of character news, Ozzie Guillen is losing his ability to remain positive in light of the unfortunate, existential things happening to the White Sox lately. They've suffered fourth walk-off losses in the last two and a half weeks, the percentages are failing, lineup changes are fruitless... basically Ozzie is standing on the dugout steps while everything else cracks and breaks and is swallowed into the Earth.

Today's Dugout takes a step back to examine the psychological reasons behind the Chicago collapse. Hey guys, it's the examined life!