Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen welcomes addition of Manny Ramirez | Baseball notebook

CLEVELAND — Manny Ramirez will have to follow two nonnegotiable rules if he is going to play for Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

No. 1: Stretch with teammates.

No. 2: Be on the field for the national anthem.

Well, he might have to trim the dreadlocks. But that's about it.

"I want him to feel comfortable here," Guillen said Monday. "I want him to like it here. I want him to have fun and I want him to be Manny."

Back to frighten pitchers who haven't seen him regularly in a few years, Ramirez will try to get Chicago back to the American League playoffs.

As expected, the White Sox claimed the unpredictable but productive 12-time All-Star slugger on waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers, counting on his powerful bat — full of so many October hits — to help them make a postseason push.

"Hopefully, he can come in here and give us some help," Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko said. "We need to make up some ground. There's no doubt Manny can hit. He makes any team better."

The White Sox began a 10-game trip to Cleveland, Boston and Detroit on Monday. Ramirez is likely to join the White Sox, his fourth major-league team, Tuesday. They began the day 4 ½ games behind first-place Minnesota in the AL Central.

Ramirez, 38, returns to the AL after spending parts of three seasons in Los Angeles, a stay that ended on a somewhat sour note. He batted .311 with eight homers and 40 RBI in 66 games with the Dodgers this season, but was on the disabled list from July 20 to Aug. 20 with a right-calf strain and missed 33 games.

Guillen said he plans to use Ramirez primarily as a designated hitter and will bat him fifth.

Guillen said he is confident the enigmatic superstar will be accepted in Chicago's clubhouse.

"People have the wrong idea about Manny," he said. "I don't think Manny is a bad guy or a pain in the butt. It's funny how people say Manny is being Manny. Manny is being real.

"I never see anyone on his team get mad at him because he goes about his business."

Notes

• First baseman Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees returned with a bang after missing a game because of a bruised right thumb. The All-Star singled, hit his 29th home run, doubled and walked in his trips to the plate against Oakland.

Teixeira scored three times in an 11-5 Yankees victory.

• Jamie McCourt wanted to "renege" on an agreement that made the Los Angeles Dodgers her husband's personal property because it would have limited her effectiveness to pursue potential runs for public office, perhaps for mayor of Los Angeles, governor of California or president of the United States, an attorney said.

"She realized she needed the Dodgers as her platform to accomplish this," Steve Susman, Frank McCourt's attorney, said in the couple's divorce trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. The McCourts took over the team in 2004.

• Hiroki Kuroda gave up one hit in 7-2/3 innings as the host Dodgers blanked Philadelphia 3-0. Shane Victorino got the Phillies' hit off Kuroda with one out in the eighth inning.

• Many of the St. Louis Cardinals got their heads shaved before Monday's game in Houston as a way to break the monotony of their longest trip of the season.

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said he likes the new styles because they are so ugly, he won't have to worry about players staying out late.