After a bit of a hiatus, it's time to return for the Sports Beat:

--If you haven't checked out the LA Times' Olympic coverage yet, then you should. Their Ticket to Beijing blog is one of the most comprehensive sites I've seen yet on the Olympics. It seems like the Times sent half their staff to Beijing, and they have some high-quality results to show for it.

--The Times also broke news that the Dodgers have traded for Greg Maddux. Given Brad Penny's recent injury, the Dodgers could certainly use another pitcher. Greg Maddux is a shell of his former self, but he's better than Eric Stults and more reliable than Chan Ho Park. Rob Neyer points out that Maddux has been a league-average pitcher for most of the past few years, but the Dodgers got a taste of his value two years ago. Not only was Maddux phenomenal in his two months in LA in 2006, but he was a valuable teacher and mentor for every pitcher on the Dodgers staff. Perhaps he can help with the development of Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley -- who have been doing great so far -- just as much as he'll help on the mound.

--Jeff Kent is an absolute disgrace. In TJ Simers' column yesterday, Kent bashed Vin Scully, and said he was insulted by those who claim he's hitting better recently because he's batting ahead of Manny Ramirez in the lineup. Kent claimed that Scully "talks too much," referred to him as "some guy," and added: "I've been here four years and I have never seen Vin Scully down here in the clubhouse...How does Vin Scully know me? How does Vin Scully know Derek Lowe?"

No idea how Derek Lowe got thrown in there, and apparently neither does Lowe, who disavowed any involvement in this.

For nearly 60 years Scully has diligently called Dodger games and he means everything to Los Angeles baseball. The Dodgers are as popular as they are today because of the job Vin Scully has done behind the microphone, spanning generations of local baseball fans, and educating us all on the game. He is the greatest announcer in the history of sports, and there is virtually no debate about that. No one else is even close. He is LA's local treasure, he's the classiest man alive, and I feel incredibly fortunate that I still get to listen to his voice every time I watch a Dodger game.

This past week I was in Cooperstown, NY, and I made a point of finding Scully's picture in the broadcaster's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. There's a decent chance that Kent will one day be enshrined in Cooperstown as well, but I think the Hall should establish a "Jerk's Wing" as well, starting with Ty Cobb, Eddie Murray, and Jeff Kent as charter members.

In the previous bullet point, I noted how great Greg Maddux has been in working with young players, and how he has been a terrific mentor for his teammates. On a young Dodger team, I've never once heard that the veteran Kent has done a thing to help his teammates develop and grow. Instead he called out Matt Kemp and others last year, he argues and whines with umpires more than anyone I've ever seen in the game, and his own performance has declined for the past few years.

As for Kent's actual comments about his recent improvement (he's hitting .500 while ahead of Ramirez in the lineup), there has actually been a great deal of statistical work that has shown that lineup order and hitting in front of an RBI man doesn't necessarily correlate to improved performance. That being said, there are a tiny handful of extraordinary power hitters who are so great that they do alter the way a pitcher approaches a lineup. A pitcher is more likely to throw strikes to a guy batting in front of a super slugger than he is to most other players. Manny Ramirez is in that exclusive group. So is Barry Bonds, and Kent had some rather dramatic splits hitting in front of him when the two played in San Francisco... like in 2002 when the Giants made the World Seires.

No less an authority than Joe Torre, a future Hall of Fame manager, agreed with Scully's points.

"I think it's helped [Kent]," Torre said in the column. "Jeff is a good enough hitter in his own right, and being a good hitter he has the patience to take advantage of a pitcher who doesn't want to walk the guy who bats ahead of Manny."

Jeff Kent should be ashamed of himself for saying anything negative about Vin Scully. If he's smart, then he'll apologize before tomorrow night's game.

--Much has been written about the buzz Manny Ramirez has generated in Los Angeles, and how much he has helped the Dodger brand. I was very high on the move when it was made almost three weeks ago. I do want to dispel one misconception about Ramirez's value that I hear mentioned on sports talk radio periodically. Ramirez may help Dodger merchandise sales, but that doesn't really matter. All Major League Baseball teams share revenue on MLB-licensed products. If you were to go to Foot Locker or Champs Sporting Goods tomorrow, and buy a No. 99 Ramirez jersey or t-shirt, then the Dodgers would collect just as much money on that purchase as the Washington Nationals, Kansas City Royals, or Boston Red Sox.

The only place where the Dodgers would keep all of the money from a merchandise sale is at Dodger Stadium or at a team-owned store, like the one at Universal Citywalk. Home ballparks and team-owned stores are the only locations where an MLB club collects all of the revenue off a merchandise purchase. So while Ramirez may be helping the Dodgers bottom line with improved attendance, the extra jerseys he sells only makes a tiny dent.

--The Los Angeles Galaxy today announced the Bruce Arena would take over as GM and Head Coach of the team. Apparently the Ruud Gullit experiment didn't work out, and Alexi Lalas never assembled any quality depth on the roster after the handful of superstars that AEG helped bring in for him, like David Beckham and Landon Donovan. There's no question that the Galaxy are better off now than they were before.

Bruce Arena is the greatest American soccer coach ever, having won 5 NCAA titles at Virginia, 2 MLS Cups with DC United, and took the US to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup. I once read an article that called Bruce Arena "the Bill Parcells of soccer", and he's the type of coach who knows how to build a winning atmosphere in a locker room. This is a move that Galaxy fans should be excited about.

--UCLA Football named Kevin Craft as its starting quarterback today. He only got the job after both Patrick Cowan and Ben Olson got injured. Honestly, I'd be very surprised if Craft played the whole season, as redshirt freshman Chris Forcier offers some potential at the position. Craft is a former San Diego State and Mt. Sac QB, and I've heard mixed reviews about his training camp performance. He sort of got the job by default. I like Rick Neuheisel and Norm Chow, but this is going to be a transition year for the Bruins. I wouldn't expect too much from UCLA in the new coaching staff's first season.

--In the meantime, everyone wants to know who will be USC's starting QB at Virginia on August 30. There's a possibility it will be Mark Sanchez, who is healing quickly from his knee injury. I'm a little surprised that Mitch Mustain hasn't had a better training camp, or even separated himself from Aaron Corp in the competition for No. 2 on the depth chart. Mustain did go 8-0 as a starter at Arkansas, but perhaps USC's offense isn't suited to his strengths.

Yes, Kurt Streeter of the L.A. Times compared Maury Wills favorably to Ernie Banks, Rod Carew, Pee Wee Reese and Luis Aparicio. Too bad — it undercuts Streeter's argument that Wills is a Hall of Fame shortstop.

Rob McMillin at 6-4-2 blogs that Wills is defensible for his achivements as a player, but not for what happened after. it makes him suspicious not just of Streeter, but of the Times.

Some things I didn't mention before on the Manny Ramirez trade:

--If the Dodgers fail to sign Ramirez to a long-term contract, then they will likely receive two draft picks as compensation for losing him, assuming he's offered arbitration. If the team that signs Manny Ramirez drafts outside the top-15, then they receive that team's pick, and a supplemental pick between the first and second round. If that team drafts in the top-15, then the Dodgers receive their second round pick and still keeps the supplemental pick. I hope that's clear.

--The Dodgers took advantage of the Red Sox apparent desperation to get rid of Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox have been desperate to get rid of his act before, exposing him to waivers in 2004, nearly trading him for A-Rod at one point, nearly sending him to the Mets at another point, and he's been dangled many times before. But they always held onto him, and he helped Boston win two World Series. This time however, Manny's antics were too much to bear for the Red Sox, and they were insistent on getting rid of him, that they gave up two decent prospects and agreed to pay his salary. In order to succeed in baseball, organizations must be opportunistic. The Dodgers took advantage of a unique opportunity in this case.

--As Kevin Roderick points out, there has been some serious concern about the "baggage" that Ramirez brings to LA. I haven't been in the Red Sox clubhouse, so I have no idea how much of a problem he's really been. Evidently, he was problematic enough that the Red Sox upped the ante to trade him. But I'm not as pessimistic about Ramirez being an organizational cancer as some others.

The fact is, Manny is now a certain free agent after this season. He reportedly wants a 4-year $100 million contract. I find it hard to believe anyone will pay that much for his services through his 40th birthday. But if Manny really wants to have any chance at that salary, then he has to perform at his best in the next 2 months. I think he recognizes that. I also believe that Ramirez will be motivated to prove the Red Sox nation wrong, and a motivated Manny is an effective Manny.

Since he'll only be here for two months, I'd be shocked if his act will wear thin. He already has the "Manny being Manny" mantra, and teammates will likely expect the bizarre from him and possibly embrace it.

--It's true that Ramirez weakens the Dodgers defenisvely. In fact, the Dodgers may have one of the worst defensive teams in baseball on days in which Jeff Kent, Nomar Garciaparra, Juan Pierre, Casey Blake, and Ramirez are all in the lineup. The presence of Ramirez in the outfield practically mandates that Kemp and Ethier start, just to mitigate that effect. I don't believe that Blake's as bad defensively as some have suggested, but his range isn't great, and it's compounded if Nomar is playing shortstop.

At the end of the day though, I agree with TJ Simers' and Keith Law's takes as the trade was a no-brainer for LA because of what was involved, and that it will make the Dodgers the favorites in the West.

I don't have all of the details yet, but it appears the Dodgers have acquired Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris. Both of them will go to Pittsburgh, who then have shipped Jason Bay to Boston. The Pirates also got Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen from Boston. I'm also hearing the Red Sox dropped Ramirez's options as a condition of him waiving his 10 and 5 rights, meaning he'll be a free agent after the season.

Not sure what this does to the Dodger outfield situation, but on the surface, the team has certainly made a huge splash and not sacrificed too much. If the Dodgers were really trying to top the Angels' Teixeira deal, then I'd say they can credibly say "my rental is better than your rental." More to come later...

Update

I've been slightly critical of the Dodgers in the past, saying that they shouldn't be making short-term deals to satisfy the local media and create headlines. Great organizations never put themselves in position to resort to such gimmicks. It's as if the organization saw yesterday's Bill Plaschke video at LATimes.com, and accepted the challenge to match the Angels. ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick writes about a litany of deals that were made to satisfy short-term desires, and turned out to hurt the organization. Too often, the LA media pushes the Dodgers or the Angels into making these deals without fully understanding the implications, and then bashes them when they fail to wave the magic wand. Very rarely does one move change an organization, and very rarely are one-sided moves even feasible.

So with that all of that being said, I really like this deal for the Dodgers. Yes, it's a short-term gimmick that will grab headlines and appease the local pundits. But Manny Ramirez is a special player. He is one the great power hitters of our generation and he is still putting up terrific numbers. He also has the personality to thrive in this city which puts a premium on superstars. Ramirez puts an instant shot into the arm of a brand that had been sagging somewhat this year.

In all likelihood, Ramirez is a short-term rental. But I don't think that's a problem. For one, the lift he is bringing this franchise is enormous, even if it is unquantifiable. Secondly, the Dodgers gave up a more than reasonable package for him. Bryan Morris is a high-ceiling pitcher, but he's already had Tommy John Surgery, and is at least three years away.

A lot of people like Andy LaRoche, but the Dodgers were going to need to trade him at some point to make room for Blake DeWitt. Given the current dynamic between the Dodgers, the organization, the fans, and the media, LaRoche was setup to fail. It seemed like few people had the patience to watch him develop, he was setback by injuries just enough for impatient types to believe he was a bust, and he didn't put up stellar numbers in the very small sample size of at-bats he was given. If LaRoche had been handed the 3B job full-time, and gotten off to a mediocre start, then he might have been ridden out of town. I don't think LaRoche is the next Paul Konerko, who this town also soured on quickly, but I do think he has the talent to be a quality everyday major leaguer. But I also think that DeWitt has a higher ceiling. So at the end of the day, LaRoche was expendable.

With Ramirez in the lineup, the Dodgers get some much-needed power. And it's not just any power. Ramirez has slugging ability that just a tiny handful of MLBers can match. In fact, he's arguably the greatest power hitter to ever wear a Dodger uniform for any length of time. Eddie Murray and Frank Robinson are the only other Dodgers to have ever hit 500 home runs.

The Dodgers are now the clear favorites in the NL West, and given Ramirez's excellent postseason history with the Red Sox, their odds look better in October.

The only other question now is what the Dodgers will do with their crowded outfield. Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier have both proven they're everyday major leaguers, and it would stunt their development to take them out of the lineup. Andruw Jones has proven that he has no business being in the lineup. And Juan Pierre continues to be a topic of hot debate. I wouldn't be surprised if the Dodgers chose to outright Jones to the minors (provided he accepts). If he doesn't accept, then Jones would be a free agent. Either way, he'd be owed all of the money on his contract, but Jones has been so inexplicably awful that they really might not have a choice.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made a big push for the stretch drive today, acquiring Mark Teixeira from the Atlanta Braves for Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek. The deal brings the Angels the "big bat" that they've desired for so long, but it's also a calculated gamble.

There's little question that Teixeira is a top-flight power hitter, and he will absolutely make a difference in the Angels lineup. The Angels were probably going to the playoffs without him, but they needed someone who could get a big hit in the playoffs, and Teixeira is a better guy to count on in the middle of the order than what the Halos have been working with lately.

Still, Teixeira is a free agent after this season, and his agent Scott Boras is going to demand an astronomical contract for his client. Boras will probably play the market to drive up Teixeira's price, and it's not clear if the Angels will pay him in the neighborhood of $20 million a year for the long-term.

If the Angels lose him, then they've effectively given up Casey Kotchman for nothing. While there's plenty of argument among Halo circles as to how promising a young player Kotchman actually is, he's been the third-best hitter on the team and seemingly still has room to grow. The Angels may figure though that they could lose Teixeira in the off-season, and at least find a comparable first baseman to Kotchman statistically at a low price.

Overall, this move will satisfy Angels fans who have been begging the organization to make a move. Sometimes, I think MLB teams have to be careful not to make a trade just to make one and satisfy some sort of primal urge. One could argue that's the case here. The trade makes the Angels a better team this year, and possibly years to come if Teixeira re-signs. Their odds of going to the World Series have just improved. But in the long-run, the Angels will either be saddled with an expensive contract that could hurt their payroll flexibility, or they will have created a hole at first base in exchagne for two good months of offensive production. It's a calculated gamble.

I was at Dodger Stadium last night to see the debut of newly traded-for third baseman Casey Blake, and he looked great, going 2-for-3 in the Dodgers 6-0 win over the Nationals. Earlier in the day, Blake had been traded from Cleveland for Jonathan Meloan and Carlos Santana.

The trade has drawn a wide mix of reactions from all sides of the baseball community. For the remainder of this season, the deal clearly helps the Dodgers. Casey Blake isn't an all-star, but he's an above-average hitter, who has some power, and his bat will add a sorely-needed boost to a Dodger team that has been inconsistent offensively all season long.

He's a significant upgrade over Blake DeWitt, who has been awful since he was NL Rookie of the Month back in May. At this point, it's best for DeWitt's development to play every day in AAA. He wasn't even supposed to be in the majors this season, and while he's talented, MLB scouting reports figured him out and he hasn't learned to adjust yet.

Blake will also be starting every day over Andy LaRoche, a third baseman who draws a wide variety of opinions. Scroll through Jon Weisman's Dodger Thoughts blog, and you'll find plenty of people who think that LaRoche has the talent to be a very good ballplayer, but bemoan that he's been jerked around by the organization and never given a fair a opportunity. It seems as though the mainstream LA media, such as the LA Times, has never been high on LaRoche, and they don't like what they've seen in the few snippets of playing time he's received.

If LaRoche hadn't torn a thumb ligament in spring training, then he almost certainly would have received the opportunity many felt he deserved. But now, at 24, he's almost too old to be a prospect, and one can't help but feel that the Dodgers organization has soured on him. There are still plenty of teams that like LaRoche, and I'd expect him to be traded in the offseason.

Blake also doesn't figure into the Dodgers future plans, as he's 34 years old, and a free agent after the season. For now, he's a rental down the stretch.

Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus is critical of the deal, claiming the Dodgers gave up too much for 200 at-bats, and is disappointed that LaRoche's development is blocked. Jonathan Meloan flourished in the minor leagues as a reliever, but struggled in five games last September in the majors. He was converted to a starting pitcher this year, and struggled in that role in Las Vegas. In reality, he's probably best used as a reliever, and he could be a really good one.

Carlos Santana is putting up excellent numbers in Single-A, but he's a bit old for that level of the minors, and his path to the majors is obviously blocked by Russell Martin.

I'd argue that the Dodgers gave up a good package to get Casey Blake, and it has more potential than what they received. At the same point in time, it's questionable if that potential will ever be realized. While the Dodgers might have a losing record, they're only 1 game out of first place, there is no runaway team in the NL, and anything can happen in the playoffs. I can't see LaRoche thriving this season within the current structure of the Dodger organization, given the lack of patience that seems to exist with his game, even though it's probably not fair that impatience exists. For now, I think this helps the Dodgers in their pursuit towards the playoffs, and I'm not convinced they'll regret it 5 years from now.