Write stuff could earn Series trip

Well, you could be in luck.

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez is giving away his World Series tickets, which he purchased for $500, to the writer of what he decides is the best 50-word sermon to the "loafing slugger."

"I’ve got problems with the Dodgers’ biggest star," Lopez writes, "… and I can’t bring myself to pay good money for the privilege of watching a fraud.

"… I still can’t get over the number of fans who gave him a pass this year. They’d wear their Manny dreadlocks, looking ridiculous, by the way. They’d sit out there in Mannywood so they could be close enough to call his name.

"Wake up, folks, and take a look at yourselves.

"Do you really think Ramirez gives a fig about his fans? Ask that question in Boston, where Ramirez got run out of town after dogging it and letting his team down."

Lopez is more upset about Ramirez’s often lackadaisical play than for his suspension for steroids.

Writes Lopez: "You’d think a guy who held out for $45 million over two seasons, and then got suspended for 50 games just when this looked like a magical season, would bend over backward to earn the mercy and respect of teammates and fans.

"Not Manny."

For Lopez to consider your essay, it must be 50 words or less and submitted to him by noon Friday at www.latimes.com/tellmanny.

• CHIP OFF THE OLD CARAY — In the latter stages of the legendary announcer’s career, the late Harry Caray was known to botch a few calls. He also was known to imbibe a few adult beverages before, during and after Chicago Cubs games.

But Chip Caray, Harry’s grandson and a TBS play-by-play announcer, has no such excuse for the on-air flub he made during Tuesday’s one-game playoff between the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.

With the game tied 5-5 and runners on first and third for the Twins with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Chip followed in the often wobbly footsteps of his grandfather, calling Nick Punto‘s sharp flyout to left field a "line drive base hit … caught out there."

The Tigers escaped the inning before losing in the 12th.

• REILLY TAKES A LICK — In early April, ESPN.com columnist Rick Reilly vowed he’d "tongue bathe the Capitol dome if the Rockies make the playoffs." On Tuesday, Reilly made good on his promise and licked the dome, which he said "tasted like crow."

• GO, BAMA! — We’re not sure if he carried a roll of toilet paper and a box of Tide detergent with him to the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse on Wednesday, but there’s little doubt that Dave Grzyb is a crazed Alabama football fan.

After a judge agreed to drop charges stemming from an on-campus fight against Alabama linebacker Courtney Upshaw and his girlfriend, Grzyb’s daughter Kendall, Dave Grzyb yelled toward news cameras as they left the courthouse, "Roll Tide!"

COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL