Manny, and Sox' lead, vanish into the night

Anybody want my Hall of Fame ballot?

Seriously, I'm just about ready to give it away.

Used to really look forward to filling it out every winter, starting in 2004, but that is no longer the case.

Why?

Take Manny Ramirez … please.

Now that he is officially “retired,” Manny's name is going to appear on the HOF list of candidates five years hence, as it should.

For as odd as he has been on and off the field over 19 major-league seasons, Ramirez did hit 555 career home runs (14th all time) and had a .312 batting average. The 12-time all-star also drove in 100 or more runs 13 times.

“His numbers, he was unreal,” infielder Omar Vizquel said before new closer Matt Thornton and some porous defense in the ninth inning cost the White Sox dearly Friday night in a 9-7 loss to the Rays.

We'll get back to the Manny stuff in a moment, but the Sox have a closer controversy whether testy manager Ozzie Guillen wants to admit it or not.

Thornton, who is replacing departed Bobby Jenks, came on with a 7-4 lead in the ninth and promptly allowed 5 runs — all of them unearned — on 4 hits.

Consecutive errors by shortstop Alexei Ramirez and left fielder Juan Pierre opened the door for a Tampa Bay team that dropped its first five games of the season while batting a collective .145 and scoring 8 runs.

Thornton could not slam it, and Dan Johnson made the left-hander and the Sox pay big with a 3-run homer to end the scoring.

Guillen snapped when asked if he has a plan to replace Thornton, who also blew a save try Wednesday at Kansas City.

“I might just put a bomb out there and kill everyone,” Guillen said. “What do you mean, what are my plans?”

Calming down, Ozzie said the whole ninth inning was a disaster.

“(Thornton) gave up the runs, but we didn't help him,” Guillen said. “I don't think I should do anything right now. The ninth inning was very bad baseball.”

Thornton was waiting at his locker after the game and made no excuses.

“All I was trying to do was make sure I didn't give up the lead in that situation,” said Thornton, who threw 33 pitches in the ninth, 29 of them fastballs. “I don't care if they make 3 or 4 errors in a row behind me.

“I'm going to try to do my darndest to make my best pitch out there and get out of that jam and pick my teammates up. I didn't do that. I let them down.”

Ramirez let a lot of people down after his third positive test for performance-enhancing drugs, and he would have faced a 100-game suspension had he decided to keep playing for the Rays, his new team.

Instead, Manny opted to call it quits, and he's likely to be remembered as just another juiced-up slugger.

Claimed off waivers by the White Sox last August at a cost of $4 million, Ramirez flopped while batting .261 with 1 home run, 1 double and 2 RBI in 24 games. He was off to a 1-for-17 start with the Rays.

“It shows people that Major League Baseball is after (drug users),” Guillen said before the game. “They're not playing around. They're letting the players know how tough they're going to be.

“They say they'll be checking and monitoring those guys, and, jeez, they're showing how much they want to make this game clean and clear.

“Manny, as a friend, as his former manager, he was great for the game. He's done a lot of great things for baseball. He was one of the best hitters to play the game. He played good for us last year.

“I wish he could have played better. He was great in the clubhouse. I don't have any complaints or regrets to have him with the ballclub. Everything was great for us.”