APRIL 27, 2004

Zeile, others dive in to help out

By Len Hochberg / Special to MLB.com

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Big names from baseball, the sports world and Hollywood gathered for a celebrity-laden event on Monday night, but the star of the evening unquestionably was an adorable six-year-old girl.

Hannah Zeile, the daughter of Mets infielder Todd Zeile, has juvenile diabetes, and hundreds of people came to the Lucky Strike Lanes to bowl and take part in a silent auction of autographed memorabilia to raise money to fight the disease. This is the fourth year that Zeile has organized a charity event to combat juvenile diabetes since his daughter was diagnosed at 18 months old.

Many of the Mets and Dodgers -- who begin a series in Los Angeles on Tuesday -- were on hand, along with other athletes such as Wayne Gretzky, Bruce Jenner and Scott Hamilton, plus Heather Locklear, Richie Sambora (from the band Bon Jovi), Kenny G, Julie Bowen ("Ed") and others from the entertainment industry.

"It's a great feeling," said Zeile, a Los Angeles native. "Especially because a lot of this happened with just phone calls because we didn't have enough time to put formal invitations together. So, phone calls to my friends, all of whom said, 'Yeah, if I'm in town, I'm there.' As you can see, a lot of them are here."

There were also many families with stricken children in attendance, and collectively they take part in various charity events around Los Angeles to fight diabetes, Zeile said.

"I'm not much of a bowler, but this is a great event," said Gretzky, who arrived with his wife, actress Janet Jones. "Todd's my next-door neighbor and Hannah is a great little girl, so any way we can help out a little bit, it's a nice feeling."

Gretzky was among the many athletes who provided autographed memorabilia for auction. Others included Barry Bonds of the Giants; Zeile, Mike Piazza, Tom Glavine, Al Leiter and Kazuo Matsui of the Mets; and Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green and Robin Ventura of the Dodgers.

Zeile said he expects the event to generate from $150,00 to $250,000, adding that all the proceeds will go to the Childhood Diabetes Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

"Fortunately for us and the other people here, Childrens Hospital does a great job," Zeile said. "There's a real positive hope that there's potentially a cure in the making in the next five to 10 years."

Hannah's condition requires her to take "multiple blood tests every day and injections of insulin to control the blood sugar," said her doctor, Kevin Kaiserman, medical director of the Clinical Diabetes Program at Childrens Hospital. "With advanced treatment, people with diabetes can live long, healthy lives free of complications."

Yes, a serious illness brought everyone together, but still it was a festive event.

It's a different element for us," Glavine said. "We're all fans of TV and movies and other sports. And when we see other athletes that you don't really know but you've watched, and you get an opportunity to talk to them, it's cool. And the same is true for the entertainment industry."

The Dodgers, who will oppose the Mets on Tuesday, were definitely on Zeile's side on Monday.

"We're with the same agency and I've known Todd for a while now, super guy," Lo Duca said. "He does this for juvenile diabetes and it's awesome."

Lo Duca, however, didn't bowl, saying he wasn't very good and didn't know which players were good. (Conversely, the Mets' John Franco, also asked who was a good bowler, replied, "Myself.")

Some of the stars bowled, some didn't. "Not in high heels," said Locklear, while stressing that "it's a great night for a good cause." (And, for the record, Locklear was asked if chicks still dig the long ball. "I don't know, but I do," she said, laughing.)

In the end, the night was all about Hannah and the other children with diabetes. Hannah's brother, 10-year-old Garrett, wrote a song for her and performed solo in front of everyone, singing and rocking the house with his electric guitar.

Hannah spent the evening with her pack of friends and having lots of fun "because I like bowling a lot." Asked which star was her favorite, she said, "Robin Ventura."

"Oh yeah. Her and I are tight," Ventura said. "She's spent a lot of time at our house. She's on the top of my list. She's great. I love that girl."

__________________________ __________________________

This is an old story, but for lack of any other news, Im putting it on this page. It's from the June 22, 2003 NY Times and was sent to me by Cathy M.

Forgetful Husband

Robin Ventura of the Yankees is such a devoted fan of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers that he knows the vocalist Anthony Kiedis and the bass guitarist Flea personally. They have invited Ventura to stand beside the stage for their energetic concerts, which sometimes involve band members' peeling off some or all of their clothes.

Ventura brought his wife, Stephanie, to a show, and she was stunned when the band members dashed out for an encore wearing nothing but socks.

"I forget to tell her about that," he said.

_________________________________ _________________________________ APRIL 9, 2004

Dailybulletin.com

Ventura knows end is closing in

By TONY JACKSON STAFF WRITER

LOS ANGELES - Robin Ventura freely admits, with a shrug and a smile, that the sun is setting.

There was a time when he was baseball’s golden boy, arguably the biggest star the college game had ever seen, a U.S. Olympian and the guy the Chicago White Sox believed was their ticket out of all those decades of ineptitude, just as they were about to move into a new ballpark.

Fourteen years later, Ventura is all but forgotten on the hardscrabble South Side, where he won five of his six Gold Gloves. He is with his fourth major-league club now, having been traded to the Dodgers by the New York Yankees last summer, and he was relegated to the bench on Sunday when the Dodgers acquired outfielder Milton Bradley from Cleveland and moved Shawn Green to first base.

Some veterans would have been indignant. Ventura took it like a pro and when he was called upon to pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s game with San Diego, he delivered a game-winning single to right field to give the Dodgers their first victory.

Funny thing is, in all that time and through all those changes, Ventura’s attitude has remained pretty much the same.

“I realize where I’m at and where I fit on this team,” Ventura said. “I’m not going to be an everyday player. I think right now, it’s fairly obvious that I’m closer to the end than I am to the beginning.”

When it comes to aging gracefully, Ventura is the baseball equivalent of Sophia Loren.

As recently as five years ago, he was winning what almost certainly will be the last of his Gold Gloves as a third baseman. Today, he is in essence a utility infielder and pinch-hitting specialist.

As recently as two years ago, he earned a career-high salary of $8.5 million. This year, he will get a base of $1.2 million, plus up to another $1.2 million in incentives. But those incentives are all based on plate appearance, and he isn’t likely to get that many of those.

There was a time when Ventura, as long as he stayed healthy, could count on at least 450 at-bats a year. This year, he will be lucky if he gets 300.

But in a sport where some former marquee players would feel slighted and wouldn’t hesitate to say it publicly, Ventura understands why his status has changed.

He doesn’t hesitate to say it publicly.

“In spring training this year, I probably noticed it at third base, especially,” Ventura said. “It just seemed like the field had gotten bigger. Obviously, I don’t have as much range as I used to have, but it is what it is.”

All that aside, though, there are reasons why the Dodgers acquired Ventura at last year’s trading deadline, and there are reasons why they re-signed him for this season, when he will turn 37 on July 14.

The obvious reason is that he still is an above-average major-league player, a former All-Star with a flare for the dramatic who leads all active players with 16 career grand slams. When he isn’t in the lineup, which is most of the time now, he gives the Dodgers a potent left-handed threat off the bench.

The more subtle reason is that Ventura is a natural leader, an asset he credits simply to being the resident old guy. His teammates say it is more a matter of the respect Ventura commands, not only with what he has accomplished in the game but by the way he carries himself.

“Without a doubt,” Dodgers center fielder Dave Roberts said. “He’s the perfect example of what it means to be a professional. He’s a guy who is always on time and who always works hard. Just the fact that he wanted to play in Los Angeles, that made an impression on a lot of the guys. He made the decision to re-sign here because he really wanted to come back here and finish his career here.”

The question, then, is whether Ventura will.

He is signed only through the end of this season. He hasn’t said he will retire, but he hasn’t said he won’t, either. He isn’t being coy; he simply doesn’t know. What he hopes is that when the time comes, he will know.

“I hope I know it before somebody else has to tell me,” he said.

Ventura has hit 25 or more home runs four times in his career and driven in 100 or more runs three times. He probably doesn’t have another one of those seasons in him.

He doesn’t have a championship ring, either, having come up three wins short in his only World Series appearance with the New York Mets in 2000. But Ventura says he isn’t the type who would consider his career incomplete without one, and he certainly isn’t the type to hang around too long in an attempt to get one.

In talking to Ventura, you get the feeling there isn’t much he would change, even if he could. But you also get the feeling that if he could go back and relive it all, perhaps a bit more slowly this time, he might have to consider it.

“It has just gone by so fast,” Ventura said. “It kind of hit me going into spring training that I just don’t know that many people around the game anymore. When I was younger, it seemed like I knew every other guy on every other team. Now, it seems like it’s only the guys I have played with.”

A lot of those guys have learned from his example. And that, more so than the 289 career home runs or the 1,155 RBI, may be Ventura’s greatest mark on the game.

**********************************

APRIL 7, 2004

YAHOO NEWS

Ventura's single in ninth brings home winning run as Dodgers edge Padres 5-4

LOS ANGELES (AP) - When the Dodgers traded for centre-fielder Milton Bradley on Sunday, it affected several players. But they all came through Tuesday night in leading Los Angeles to its first victory of the season. Adrian Beltre, angry at manager Jim Tracy after getting moved from third to seventh in the batting order without being told first, hit a tying, two-run homer to spark a 5-4 victory over the San Diego Padres (news). Shawn Green, shifted from right field to first base, saved three runs with a defensive gem. Robin Ventura, who would have started semi-regularly at first had Green stayed in right, came off the bench to deliver a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth.

"I came here to do what I'm doing right now," Ventura said. "So when Trace told me on Sunday, I just said, 'All right, whatever.'

"I mean, that was the original plan. I was going to share it with other people, anyway, so it wasn't just my spot. And now I'm back to what I was supposed to do."

One night after receiving the National League (news) Cy Young award he earned for his perfect 55-save season, Montreal native Eric Gagne got the victory with a hitless ninth inning. Bradley saved Gagne with a spectacular, over-the-shoulder catch on the run with both feet in the air, robbing Ramon Hernandez of extra bases.

"Of course I though he'd catch it," Gagne said. "I saw him on the highlights before, so I know what he can do.

"He's a great player and that's why we got him. He can hit, he can play defence and he can run. It was a great catch. He saved the game right there." Padres reliever Akinori Otsuka, making his major league debut, gave up a one-out single to Beltre in the ninth. The right-hander then fielded a bunt single by Alex Cora and bounced his throw past first base, sending Beltre to third. Ventura batted for Gagne and grounded a 2-1 pitch to right field.

"I would have bet a lot of money that he was going to get it done there," teammate Paul Lo Duca said. "He's been there before and he knows how to get it done.

"Robin's going to play a key role for us. He's going to have a lot of big at-bats for us, and that's why you have a guy like him."

San Diego starter Jake Peavy allowed two runs, seven hits and no walks in 5 1-3 innings. He handed a 4-2 lead to the bullpen, but former Dodger Antonio Osuna gave up a leadoff single in the seventh to Lo Duca and a one-out homer to Beltre to pull the Dodgers even.

It was the 100th career homer for Beltre, who batted .305 in spring training and was psyched about having more responsibility to drive in runs from the No. 3 hole - until Bradley came to town.

"I just hope to hit well wherever I hit," Beltre said. "I'm going to try to be the best No. 7 hitter in the league.

"I play for my teammates. They support me, so I go out and do my best. I'm just happy to play third base every day."

The Padres, who jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 4½ innings of Monday's season opener against Hideo Nomo, built a 4-0 cushion through three innings against Odalis Perez. The left-hander was charged with four runs, 10 hits and three walks in 5 2-3 innings.

Perez stranded a runner at second base in the first by striking out Brian Giles and Phil Nevin. But the Padres opened the second with singles by Jay Payton and Ryan Klesko, and Hernandez homered two pitches later for a 3-0 lead.

Mark Loretta doubled to start the third, and Nevin doubled one out later to drive in the Padres' fourth run. It could have been worse for Perez, but Green made a diving, backhand stop of Khalil Green's sharp, two-out grounder down the line to save at least two runs.

"Every time you get a tough play and you make it, it just adds to your confidence," said Green, who started only one game at first base in the majors before Monday's opener. "It felt good to be able to contribute like that on the field.

"Hopefully, it can be a good sign of things to come."

The Padres left the bases loaded again in the fifth when Green popped out.

"We jumped on them early, but they quieted our bats down and got out of a couple of jams," Klesko said. "We let them back into the game.

"That was a big hit by Beltre."

Peavy took a three-hit shutout into the sixth, but he balked home Dave Roberts and gave up an RBI single to Bradley, cutting the lead to 4-2.

Notes: Peavy did not commit a balk in 32 starts last season, spanning 194 2-3 innings. His 12-11 record made him the only Padres starter with a winning record . . . Hernandez, who spent his first five big league seasons with Oakland, was obtained Nov. 26 in a trade after hitting a career-high 21 homers last year with 78 runs-batted in . . . Beltre had three hits and scored twice

***************

04/05/2004 5:00 PM ET

Notes: Bradley makes his LA debut

Roberts on the move; Sanchez on roster

By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com

LOS ANGELES -- If Milton Bradley is as bad a guy as his reputation implies, you couldn't tell by his gracious and patient dealings with the media before Monday's opener.

The newest Dodger again was peppered with questions about last year's shouting match with new teammate Paul Lo Duca.

"We've both moved on from that," he said. "He just said, 'How you doin?' We met and greeted, like you'd do with anybody. Everybody's been great and I'm just happy to be here."

Bradley, a product of nearby Harbor City, said he was pleased to play at home, allowing his mother to watch his games, and said he was not concerned about any distractions.

"I'm pretty focused on the task at hand," he said. "Around my friends, it's kind of like a comfort."

Bradley said he's not fazed by the fact that he has gone from an outcast in Cleveland one day to a welcome addition on an offense-starved club.

"Cleveland was a great experience and I don't regret a single moment," he said. "But everything changes. I welcome change. I'm glad to be wearing Dodger Blue and look forward to getting out there and playing ball. I'm ready for the first few games, to get over with it."

Will Roberts move again: Bradley's arrival moved center fielder Dave Roberts to left field, but the movement might not stop there.

"Today's lineup is today's lineup, but how it plays out remains to be seen," said manager Jim Tracy. "We'll try this and see how it works out. In five days there may have to be some tweaking."

Even Roberts expects trade talk involving his name to pick up, but he said that won't change the way he plays the game.

"I'm going to always play hard and keep my focus on winning games," he said. "The rest of it will take care of itself."

General manager Paul DePodesta said he was surprised to be able to acquire a player of Bradley's ability on the eve of the season and he now wants to see what this team can do.

"I hope I'm done for a while," he said of potential acquisitions. "Let the team play. I don't anticipate anything in the near future."

Roberts was only moved from center to left. Robin Ventura was moved from primary first baseman to the dugout in the wake of Bradley's acquisition and is now the primary left-handed pinch-hitter.

Tracy said Ventura "probably isn't the happiest guy in the world" because of the late change, but the 36-year-old veteran who came to camp expecting to be a bench player took it in stride.

"It's really all the same," he said. "I'm not the unhappiest guy in the world either. I like to play. But now we're back to the original plan. I didn't say anything to anybody. I don't make the decisions. I'm just here to play." Endorsement from Odalis: Last summer, Odalis Perez called the Dodger offense for what it was, and he was ostracized for telling the truth. Here's his response to the acquisition of Bradley:

"Our team is better," he said. "He can play. We we've got more power and more speed. The team is way, way, way different and better. If I'm pitching against this team, if I make a mistake I have to pay for it. It's a great move we made." Who is Duaner Sanchez? And how did he make the Opening Day roster?

The short answer is, he could be another Guillermo Mota. He's 24 and he can throw 100 mph, but he went from Arizona to Pittsburgh without ever achieving Major League success and he was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers last November.

He was truly flying under the radar in a Dodger training camp that was loaded with pitchers, but his arm was hard to ignore. His chances of making the club, however, were long until a breakthrough bullpen session last week when pitching coach Jim Colborn detected a flaw in his leg lift and weight shift. Sanchez made an instantaneous and dramatic adjustment.

Taking it into a game for the first time Friday night against the Angels, he pitched two scoreless innings without a ball leaving the infield.

"His quality of pitches," said Colborn, "became astounding in a hurry."

Sanchez said the tip has improved his location. He sees his fellow Dominican Mota as an example of what he can become.

"They used to say Mota was a hard thrower, now they say he's a pitcher," said Sanchez. "I can throw 102. But I'll trade that for 95 if I can pitch like I did Friday. I had a good spring and I thank Colby for that. Since I got here, he's helped me a lot. I don't have the words to thank him enough. Everything he teaches me is working. He should feel proud for that."

The injury to Paul Shuey opened a bullpen spot and Sanchez grabbed it.

Share the credit: Dodger relievers presented Paul Lo Duca with a plaque in appreciation for his role in their becoming the best bullpen in baseball last year. The pregame ceremony took place at home plate.

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.