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(Sports Network) - Manny Ramirez doesn't keep track of the Hall of Famers he passes on the all-time home run list. He said so himself.
Whether he cares or not about baseball's history Ramirez is passing great sluggers such as Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle, and now has his sights set on Mike Schmidt. Ramirez took sole possession of 15th place on the career home run list with a two-run blast in the second inning of the Dodgers' 7-5 win over the Reds Monday night. He passed Mantle with his 537th career home run, while Schmidt is 14th on the list with 548 homers.
"To be honest I haven't been keeping track of who I've passed or where I'm at. I just wait for you guys to tell me," Ramirez said on the team's Web site. "So I'm glad I'm moving up."
Ramirez has four homers and 11 RBI since returning from his 50-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs, and is not the only alleged drug abuser among the greatest home run hitters. All-time leader Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro have all been linked to PEDs, making it an easier transition for the flamboyant Ramirez to be dubbed as one of the best hitters ever to play the game.
The dreadlocked left fielder will most likely pass Schmidt by the end of the year and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and Palmeiro some time next season barring injury or another suspension. Jackson belted 563 home runs during his career, while Palmeiro logged 569. Harmon Killebrew, whose silhouette is often argued to be the logo of Major League Baseball, clubbed 573 homers in his Hall of Fame career.
Los Angeles, which is a season high 25 games over .500 at 59-34 and eight games ahead of Colorado for the NL West lead, also has been getting great numbers lately from outfielder Matt Kemp. Kemp owns two homers, 12 RBI and has a hit in 11 of 14 games in July, and scored all of LA's runs in Sunday's 4-3 victory over Houston.
Dodgers second baseman Orlando Hudson received some good news on his surgically-repaired left wrist. Hudson, who underwent surgery last summer and has no mobility in the wrist, aggravated the problem in Sunday's win against the Astros and X-Rays revealed no significant damage.
"He's OK and ready to play according to him, but we'll give him today," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said on the team's site Monday. "He's usable if we need him."
The Dodgers did not use Hudson in Monday's win and started Juan Castro instead. Castro went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the series opener versus Cincinnati. Hudson, in his first season with LA, is listed as questionable for Tuesday's contest at Chavez Ravine.
Los Angeles is 3-2 on a 10-game homestand versus the Astros, Reds and Marlins, and first in the National League with a .274 batting average. The Dodgers are also eighth in the Senior Circuit with 460 runs scored and second in the NL with a 3.59 earned run average. San Francisco is first at 3.54.
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