PITTSBURGH — Could Manny Ramirez be voted the most valuable player of the National League?

"I don't think that's going to happen," Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said Monday. "It's August, September, two months."

Though Torre said he wouldn't be surprised to see Ramirez be named on some ballots, he doesn't expect him to receive any first-place votes.

"Manny's certainly made a difference where we were and where we are now," Torre said. "If we get this done, he certainly would be a major influence on it. ... It depends on whatever interpretation of the MVP award is."

Torre recalled how there was controversy when he won the NL MVP award in 1971 as the St. Louis Cardinals' third baseman by beating out the Pittsburgh Pirates' Willie Stargell, whose team won the World Series.

"I had the best year of anybody, but my team went home and he went to the World Series," Torre said. "That argument would still happen today."

Ramirez could get his first day off as a Dodger on Thursday afternoon in the final game of the four-game series in Pittsburgh.

"That'd be the first temptation," Torre said.

Ramirez, who started his 41st consecutive game Monday, said he had no opinion on the matter. He said that he felt fine physically.

"If he wants to give it to me, that's fine," he said. "I don't mind."

Casey Blake, who was pulled from the game Sunday because of lower back pain, was out of the lineup. He was replaced at third base by Nomar Garciaparra.