"Manny Ramirez hit in the indoor batting cage this morning at Tampa Bay Rays camp at Charlotte Sports Park and afterward talked about this chip on his shoulder.

It's time Manny goes back to being Manny.

"I don't know, it's just me," he said. "I want to go and get that feel back that I still got it."

And still got it for Ramirez will be, what - 30 home runs, 100 RBIs? A return to his 2008 form when he hit .332 with 37 home runs and 121 RBIs while splitting time between the Red Sox and the Dodgers?

"I wish," he said, "but I'm going to go and give all I got."

Ramirez arrived at camp five days early to get a jump start on the spring, intent on getting back to the form that has produced 555 home runs over his career.

"I just got a chip on my shoulder that I want to be here, I want to get my stuff right and show people I can play," he said.

Ramirez, who signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Rays on Feb. 1 is expected to be the full- time designated hitter. He said he doesn't mind where he hits in the order - third or fourth, in front of or behind Evan Longoria.

"It doesn't matter where you hit. You got to still go and do your job," he said. "Longo, he's the man. He's the captain of this team. I'm just here to go out there and prove to people I can still play. He's showing everybody. He's young. He's doing it."

Ramirez said he's as excited to join the Rays as the Rays are excited to have him.

"I'm excited to play with them. It's great," he said. "I look at it this way: When I was their age I was doing the same thing they were doing. But now, you're almost have one maybe two years left in your career, you're excited because you said to yourself, I used to do that when I was their age."

Ramirez, who turns 39 on May 30, is trying to rebound from a couple of subpar seasons. He was suspended 50 games in 2009 for failing Major League Baseball's performance enhancing test and played in only 90 games in 2010 because of a trio of leg injuries."