Supporters of Ramirez resemble Giants fans

It was the first thing I saw when I pulled into Dodger Stadium on that humid, funereal Thursday afternoon.

A brightly scripted banner adorned in celebratory reds and triumphant blues.

“We support Mannywood. Go Dodgers!!!”

Manny Ramirez had just been suspended for 50 games for the use of a banned substance, cheating millions of fans out of one-third of their baseball season, yet the first ones to pull together magic markers and a bedsheet were ones who support him?

Manny Ramirez had just willfully broken baseball rules, busted clubhouse chemistry, decimated a winning culture, and yet the first voices we heard were ones cheering him?

My first thought was the one thought that strikes dread into the heart of any longtime Angeleno.

Goodness, we have become San Francisco.

After all these years of ripping Giants fans for supporting the juiced Barry Bonds, we are now them.

Two days later, after allowing the rhetoric to settle and my heartbeat to slow, I am even more convinced of this.

Fully two-thirds of the approximately 750 e-mails I have received about Manny Ramirez have ripped me for criticizing him.

I have been physically threatened, personally insulted and generally despised for having the gall to hold an accomplished, longtime professional athlete accountable for the lives he has touched and the mess he has made.

I won’t list readers names and addresses because my e-mailers have an expectation of privacy, but here is one excerpt:

You are a bald, un-loyal piece of [bleep], you are a much bigger villain than Manny and I hope the Times fires you soon.

An obviously a misguided opinion because, well, I am not completely bald.

Another excerpt:

You’re a hack, go Dodgers and go Manny, I would like to see you call Manny a cheat and a fraud to his face . . . smack you in the face!

The problem here is, since the suspension was announced, Ramirez hasn’t shown his face.

Certainly, there are many who share my views that Ramirez is a knucklehead who shouldn’t be allowed to return without full transparency, if at all.

And, certainly, those who agree with my columns generally do not e-mail about them.

So the poll here is unscientific, and the numbers are skewed, but the conclusions are unmistakable.

The loudest Dodgers baseball fans want to win at all costs, even if the price is drugs and deceit.

Many booed Andruw Jones when he broke unwritten rules about becoming fat.

Yet, many will apparently cheer Manny Ramirez even though he broke the explicit rules about becoming strong.

Fat doesn’t win games. Strength does. The message is clear.

So when Manny comes back and hits his first home run, we will stand and welcome him back. The Dodgers will be in a pennant race with Manny, and nobody will care about what happened yesterday.

I might not believe the legitimacy of that home run. But I will certainly believe that standing ovation.

When nasty Kevin Brown struggled on the field, he was booed and accused of being human waste.

Yet, when charming Ramirez is deceitful off the field, it is being written off as “human frailty.”

Ramirez smiled at us, he invited us all to sit on his lap, so when it turns out the smile is phony and the lap is juiced, well, hey, keep hitting those home runs, big fella.

You don’t know the town you write for. The truth is, L.A. fans love their sports stars, whether it is Kobe or Manny.

I was waiting for this one.

Kobe is not Manny. Kobe is not even close to Manny.

For whatever issues Lakers fans had with Bryant’s personal problems here -- and I was among his biggest critics -- he was never found guilty of anything in Colorado or anywhere else.

He was never suspended for cheating. He never missed a game because of off-the-court issues.

And the moment Bryant attacked the team, with his rant against management in the spring of 2007? The next fall, he was booed, and only an MVP season totally redeemed him.

When Ramirez returns to Chavez Ravine this summer, Dodgers fans will have a chance to show that he must slowly earn his way back into their hearts.

Even though they are understandably desperate for their first World Series championship in 21 years, Dodgers fans will have an opportunity to show that they want to win it fairly.

Demand that he show up and apologize, which hasn’t happened. Demand that he fully explain himself, which he also hasn’t done.

Make him show you that he has changed, that he is clean, that he wants to regain your trust.

If he does, you can forgive, but don’t forget, and let him know you don’t forget.

Let Manny Ramirez know that, in the smart, sophisticated sports landscape of Los Angeles, there can be no victory without honor.

The cheers that accompanied each of Barry Bonds’ tainted home runs in San Francisco will forever stain that city’s baseball culture.

Dodgers fans have a chance to show they are different.

But are they?

This year has been nothing but great. Thirteen straight home victories, and when do the Dodgers lose? When Manny gets suspended. So as far as I’m concerned, give the man a contract extension until 2020!

Maybe not.

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bill.plaschke@latimes.com