LOS ANGELES -- Out with the old, in with the new in La La Land.

"Hey!" came an angry, muffled shout from somewhere under a sea of television cameramen and photographers beating a path behind home plate to stake out the Manny Ramirez press conference Friday afternoon. "Hey! There's somebody standing here!"

The Dodgers faithful are happy to see Manny Ramirez in blue. (AP)

The hair will go, No. 99 apparently is here for good. And, you'll either be amused or outraged to know that the familiar outlandish and outsized personality landed with Manny Ramirez on American Airlines flight No. 725 around 1:30 p.m. Friday.

"I don't know how to play football," he joked when someone asked whether he was glad he wasn't traded for Brett Favre, as Manny himself humorously suggested during his final, turbulent days in Boston. "If I was going to go to Green Bay, it was going to be as a backup."

And, this, of moving to the National League: "I'm going to start stealing some bases. I don't know, man. I'm in a new league. I'll do what I do best. Play baseball. I don't go deep anymore. Line drives to right field. Don't expect me to hit 40 home runs anymore."

Cue the sound stage laugh track and pass the pine tar. Hollywood and Manny ... an intersection -- if only for two months -- made in silver-screen, high-definition heaven.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre visited a movie set Friday -- a real, live set earlier in the day, not the Ramirez meet-the-press set behind home plate later in the afternoon -- and in a town that loves its stars, the buzz already was as hot as the August sun.

"Going through the gate, (Manny) was all people talked about, which was pretty cool," said Torre, who declined to name the set (the prediction here is it's got something to do with Billy Crystal). "That's the kind of buzz you're talking about."

With good reason. Despite Ramirez's proclamation that he'll become a line-drive hitter, the lineup Torre sent out to face first-place Arizona on Friday night was significantly better than any lineup the Dodgers have trotted out at any time in the 2008 season.

Manny didn't do anything spectacular in the Dodgers' 2-1 loss -- two singles in four at-bats, two putouts (and no misplays) in left, a rally-killing double play grounder with one on and none out in the ninth, no in-game cell phone calls (that we know of) -- but his presence represents hope and possibility.

Unlike the presence of Andruw Jones, which sends folks scurrying for the parking lots. Or the presence of Nomar Garciaparra, which simply reminds everyone of their aches and pains.

A fan base tired of watching well-paid failure and chronic underachievement gobbled up 12,000 tickets to Friday night's game from the time the Dodgers announced the acquisition of Ramirez through Clayton Kershaw's first pitch.

A fan base that has enjoyed exactly one postseason victory since 1988 -- Ramirez sometimes had that many before breakfast on certain October days in Boston -- snapped up 230 season tickets for what's left of the '08 campaign.

And in the clubhouse?

"There's been a lot of smiles on a lot of guys' faces," Torre said. "Considering that there are players who are going to be impacted by him, impacted by not having as many at-bats. ..."

In Ramirez, Jones, Matt Kemp, Juan Pierre and Andre Ethier, the Dodgers have five outfielders to play three spots. That Ramirez will play left field every day is a given. Torre says he likes the way Kemp has progressed and talked like he'll start nearly every day in right field.

And for now, Torre said, he likes Pierre in center -- particularly for his ability to bat leadoff in the prolonged absence of the injured Rafael Furcal.

Which will leave Jones (.163, two homers, 13 RBI and an $18 million salary) and Ethier (.274, 11 homers, 46 RBI) on the bench more often than not.

The number of outfielders on the Dodgers' lawn now rivals the number of paparazzi on Lindsay Lohan's, and how this all will work for everyone not named Manny could give a glimpse into one big happy family or cause a clubhouse unraveling not seen here since ... last year.

"I have no idea, and it isn't for me to decide, think about or contemplate," Ethier said. "I have to show up every day and do what they ask me to do."

"If I'm going to play the game the way I know I can play the game, there shouldn't be any problem with playing time," Kemp said.

"I've got no comment," Pierre said. "I ain't commenting on anything."

For now, the Southern California Manny, who arrived with a smile and kept it in place all night, is full of comments.

Like, regarding his famous dreadlocks. The Dodgers don't have a rule per se regarding length of hair, but they do have standards. Torre, for example, asked reliever Joe Beimel to trim his hair this spring.

"I'm going to cut it," Ramirez promised. "I'm going to be looking like a baby, man."

Why?

"They've got rules. I don't want them treating me different than everybody else. It'll grow back soon. Don't worry."

Rules? That Manny will follow? Hmmm, what a concept.

As for his new number, 99, he explained that it simply was the number he was issued. There seemed to be some discrepancy about that, though. His former number, 24, is unavailable because the Dodgers retired it in honor of legendary manager Walter Alston.

Ramirez's second choice was No. 34 but, well, that was Fernando Valenzuela's number.

"It's not retired, but it's retired in our hearts," said Mitch Poole, Dodgers' clubhouse manager.

A series of text messages between the Dodgers and Ramirez's representatives finally produced 99.

"The Dodgers said that's fine if that's what you want to wear," Poole said.

Beimel, by the way, wears No. 97. Maybe the Dodgers simply issue numbers in the 90s to their long-haired dudes.

A guy from the Jimmy Kimmel show -- hey, this is Hollywood, baby -- asked whether Ramirez needed someone to show him around Los Angeles. In Spanish, Manny explained he's got one of those navigation systems.

The only thing in a 15-minute press conference -- in front of roughly 200 media people -- Ramirez didn't want to discuss was Boston, save for a seemingly heartfelt "thank you" to Red Sox fans.

"Every time people ask me about Boston, I'll put my brain on pause," he said, and undoubtedly there are a few thousand folks in New England who can fill in their own punch-line right about here. "I'm thinking blue."

So are the Dodgers, who unveiled a music video during the break before the second inning highlighting dozens of his big hits in Cleveland and Boston.

By the end of it, a deafening chorus of "Manny! Manny! Manny!" and a blinding display of camera flashes greeted the slugger when he left the Dodgers' dugout for his first trip to the batter's box, dreadlocks spilling out from his batting helmet, pants still baggy as pajama bottoms.

He smashed a bouncer to shortstop Stephen Drew on the first pitch he saw, then cracked singles in each of his next two at-bats. He busted it down the first-base line -- unlike his last appearance in Fenway Park. As for the key double play in the ninth, Ramirez credited Arizona closer Brandon Lyon with making a "good pitch" and noted that, overall, "It was kind of crazy. I was nervous. I felt like a little kid."

Torre said the he felt the buzz "the whole game, basically. Every time they put a camera on him."

The only ovation close to those Manny received came when they cut between innings to a live shot of Vin Scully up in his booth, noting on the scoreboard that the legend now is in his 59th season as Dodgers' broadcaster.

Likely, Scully has never before seen anything quite like what he'll see in left field during this season's final few weeks.

"I'm excited, man," Manny said. "I can't wait. I feel like a 5,000-pound weight is off my back coming here."

And, hey, if Tommy Lasorda lives through it all, it'll be a bonus.