Text messages from press row...

For Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira, it’s almost as if the first two-thirds of their 2008 seasons never happened. . . .

Neither is listed among the National League or American League leaders even though the Dodgers’ Ramirez and the Angels’ Teixeira began Wednesday night’s games with 112 runs batted in, tied for sixth in the majors. . . .

That’s because since being traded in July, Ramirez had 44 RBIs as a National Leaguer and Teixeira 34 as an American Leaguer. . . .

Which begs the question: Why aren’t major league statistical leaders more routinely listed, as opposed to only individual league leaders? . . .

For what it’s worth: Rick Sutcliffe, a midseason pickup a la Ramirez and Teixeira, won the National League Cy Young Award in 1984 after being traded from the Cleveland Indians to the Chicago Cubs in June. . . .

The surprise is not that it will cost more for Lakers fans to see LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers than to see O.J. Mayo and the Memphis Grizzlies, but that the Lakers are so late getting into the premium-seating game. . . .

Collegiate athletic programs have been doing this for years, USC charging more for tickets to football games against Ohio State or Notre Dame than games against Stanford, for instance, and UCLA charging more for basketball games against Arizona or Texas than games against Loyola Marymount or Pepperdine. . . .

Anyone who thinks it might be a blast officiating NFL games, try walking a mile in embattled Ed Hochuli’s shoes this week. . . .

An upcoming documentary claims Fidel Castro has slept with 35,000 women, making Wilt Chamberlain sound almost lax by comparison. . . .

BetUS.com has posted odds on when former USC assistant Lane Kiffin will be fired by the Oakland Raiders, with Week 5 the 2-1 favorite. . . .

Brett Favre, preparing to lead the New York Jets into San Diego for a Monday night showcase, played in Southern California only four times during his long tenure in Green Bay, going 3-0 against the Chargers but losing in the Super Bowl to Terrell Davis and the Denver Broncos in January 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium. . . .

If the U.S. can’t win the Ryder Cup with Tiger Woods, what chance does it have against the Europeans without the world’s best player? . . .

In a radio interview this week, former USC quarterback Carson Palmer assured listeners that, despite appearances to the contrary, the top-ranked Trojans could not compete with even the least successful NFL teams. . . .

By the way, the last time UCLA lost by as many as 59 points -- to USC, 76-0, in 1929 -- the Bruins won the next week, 56-6, over Fresno State. . . .

To the relief of no longer black and blue Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame has not given up a sack after giving up an NCAA-record 58 last season. . . .

Now, Charlie Weis needs to learn how to avoid taking a hit. . . .

Attention John Wooden, lover of baseball and poetry, not necessarily in that order: The Baseball Reliquary presents “Poetry Ball,” a celebration of baseball poetry and prose, Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Pasadena Central Library. . . .

As Wooden may well be aware, Robert Frost once wrote in a letter, “Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose -- unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction.” . . .

Former Cal State Fullerton lineman Dave Lamm e-mails to report that a “working group” has been formed to study the feasibility of reinstating the school’s football program and that updates can be found at bringbacktitanfootball.com. . . .

For those who couldn’t get enough of Nastia Liukin at the Bejing Games -- you know who you are, guys -- the Olympic women’s individual all-around champion headlines the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars into the Honda Center on Saturday night. . . .

Cracked Amy Poehler of “Saturday Night Live,” noting that a Miami-Dade official proposed a resolution to rename Jose Canseco Street because of Canseco’s admitted steroid use, “The proposed new name: Shrunken Cul-de-sac.”

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jerome.crowe@latimes.com