Manny Ramirez has productive return to Fenway with single to set up run for White Sox in 2nd

Ramirez contributes early with single at Boston

BOSTON — With his dreadlocks still flowing, Manny Ramirez ran to first base with a single on his first at-bat Saturday in his return to Fenway Park.

The slugger’s opposite-field hit in the second inning set up the first run of the game against the Boston Red Sox, the team he starred for and mystified with his antics for 7½ seasons.

Now there’s some uncertainty about his long hair since he joined the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday after being claimed on waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Chicago owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s policy is for his players to have short hair, but if Ramirez had his dreadlocks shortened, it was hard to tell even though his barber was outside the White Sox clubhouse after Friday night’s game was postponed because of the threat of severe weather from Hurricane Earl.

“He did (get it cut). I think he did,” manager Ozzie Guillen said before Saturday’s opener of the day-night doubleheader. “I look at Ibis’ hair, my wife. I don’t look at somebody else’s hair. I worry about my wife’s.”

And how is her hair?

“Pretty good right now,” he said with a laugh. “It’s starting to bother me because I see that hair every day now. She knows.”

Guillen isn’t letting Ramirez’s hair bother him. He figures that’s the job of the front office to handle.

“I talked to Manny about (it), but the last thing I worry about right now is Manny’s hair,” he said. “It’s not my department. We talked to him. We gave him the message. … I don’t worry about it. Hey, man, just perform.”

He did in his first at-bat Saturday. His single to right field sent Paul Konerko, who had singled, to third and he scored when A.J. Pierzynski grounded into a double play against Clay Buchholz.

Ramirez, whom the Red Sox sent to the Dodgers at the 2008 trade deadline, received a mixture of boos and cheers as he walked to the batter’s box before his first two at-bats. In the fourth inning, he moved Konerko to third again with a groundout to second after Konerko’s double. Pierzynski then singled in a run for a 2-0 lead. In the sixth, Ramirez singled to left.

He seems to fit in well with the White Sox, chatting with teammates Andruw Jones and Alexei Ramirez before Saturday’s first game.

Ramirez hit .312 with 274 homers and 868 RBIs with the Red Sox and was the first World Series MVP in club history, earning the honor in 2004 when Boston won the title for the first time since 1918. He also played a key role on Boston’s 2007 championship team.

Ramirez already had played at Fenway this season, going 5 for 12 with a homer and an RBI in three games with Los Angeles in June.

Now he’s back.

But what about his hair?

“It’s my job to make sure those guys represent the White Sox the right way,” Guillen said, “but it’s not in my hands to punish you.”