Michael Ventre

The phrase “Kirk being Kirk” never did catch on at Dodger Stadium. Kirk Gibson wasn’t celebrated for his wacky eccentricities. He was more of a cold-blooded enforcer who had no room in his life for frivolity. His first official act as a Dodger in 1988 was to institute a zero-tolerance-for-nonsense policy after somebody put gook in his cap as a spring training prank.

“Manny being Manny,” however, is almost as common as “Play ball!” While Gibson and Manny Ramirez rarely are mentioned in the same breath — the former was known as a hothead, the latter is recognized as a knucklehead — the two do have one attribute in common:

Each in his own way brought a spark to the Dodgers’ franchise.

Gibson’s tenure has been over for years. But Manny’s fire was on display in the third inning of Sunday night’s 7-2 Dodger victory over the Phillies, which pared Philadelphia’s lead in the National League Championship Series to 2-1. Game 4 is set for Monday.

A brouhaha broke out when Philly’s Shane Victorino felt he was thrown at by Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda. While tempers simmered, Manny ran in from left field and went haywire. He had to be restrained by Dodgers catcher Russell Martin and others. He was incensed. It was one of those moments that, if Kirk Gibson were on the field, he would have been in the middle of, stirring the bubbling pot.

“Both guys did what they were capable of doing to change the complexion of their teams and lead their teams,” noted former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda said of Gibson and Manny. “Kirk was the MVP of the league and he didn’t even hit .300. His value to the team made him the most valuable player of the league. He led his team and convinced them they could beat anybody.

“Mike Schmidt was a guy who could carry his team. Steve Garvey, Ron Cey could carry a team. Certain guys can carry a team. That’s what Manny is doing. He’s outstanding.”

Lasorda watched with amusement as replays in the press box showed Manny flailing his arms and yelling something at Victorino and the rest of the Phillies. “That’s good,” Lasorda said. “That’s what a clubhouse can use, something like that.”

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It should be noted that Gibson hobbled to the plate in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and smacked a game-winning dinger, which propelled the underdog Dodgers past the Oakland A’s for the eventual championship. That home run is replayed more often than Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary or anything Michael Jordan ever did, just because of its sheer drama and improbability.

Suffice to say that Manny’s eruption Sunday will not stick in the memory nearly as long; he was 1-for-2 Sunday, with one RBI, and because the Dodgers jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first and cruised, there was no opportunity for Manny drama. Yet he arrived with the Dodgers at midseason and made the same kind of impression that Gibson made, even though it was in a radically different way stylistically.

“That was Manny being Manny,” Martin said of his teammate. “Everybody feels the same way about him. He just got more (pissed) than anybody else (tonight). You gotta love that guy.”

It might seem strange to look upon Manny as a leader. After all, that would hardly be the first word out of the mouths of Boston fans and media, not to mention former Red Sox teammates. Everybody in Beantown basically hit the Manny breaking point simultaneously, resulting in a fire sale trade that sent him packing.

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