Many stay away with no Manny

Something was missing in Comiskey Park on Tuesday night.

Pizazz was. Spice was. The cherry on top of a baseball game was.

Manny Ramirez was.

Maybe that's why so many fans were, too. Only 22,251 attended. That could be attributed to several factors, especially the economy and perhaps the heat.

But Ramirez might have brought a few thousand in walk-up sales because people still like to see characters, regardless of whether they have character.

Instead Ramirez was drawing fans in Albuquerque, where he played and prepared for his return from a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a banned substance.

Any game is a little less appealing when the stars don't show up. It just so happens that so many of them over the years have been cheats or alleged cheats that used performance-enhancing drugs.

That isn't the preferable way, but it is the way it is. The biggest names and biggest attractions turned out to be cheaters, and it sure seems enough people still manage to enjoy their acts.

Without Ramirez, the Dodgers' 5-2 victory over the White Sox was just a baseball game instead of an event.

The buildup was interesting on paper, what with this being the 50th-anniversary year of these teams meeting in the World Series.

Also, the Dodgers know they're good and have the major leagues' best record to indicate it. The Sox think they're good and are trying to overtake the Tigers in the American League Central to prove it.

"I think we can win it," Sox general manager Kenny Williams said of the division.

Yet without Ramirez, this game turned out to be a snoozer. For people looking for a little showbiz buzz, a little sprinkle of Manny would have helped.

Even coming in with a 47-24 record, does Los Angeles have anybody you would go out of your way to see?

Not really. Not anyone with the bad-boy appeal of Ramirez. If he were in the lineup the Dodgers would have somebody for Sox fans to dislike and heckle.

What were they supposed to do as it was? Boo Casey Blake?

Then there are the White Sox. They're about as exciting as a T-ball game played by other parents' kids.

The most recent count of all-star votes shows no White Sox among the top five at any position. That includes none among the top 15 outfielders.

Listen, I don't want to disparage the Sox and the Dodgers. We're talking about some good-to-great players and a couple of good-to-great teams, or maybe mediocre-to-great.

But it isn't surprising that manager Ozzie Guillen is the face of the Sox and that without Ramirez manager Joe Torre is the face of the Dodgers.

In fact, the biggest spark of this game occurred when home-plate umpire Joe West ejected Guillen for sniping from the dugout in the eighth inning.

Not many fans come to games to see the managers or umpires. However, some more might have to see Manny be Manny, even if he did test positive for something.

Tuesday was a nice night of baseball at the ol' ballpark for hard-core fans of the game.

But for casual fans the spice was in Albuquerque, of all places.

mimrem@dailyherald.com