July 27, 2004
OC REGESTER.com
VENTURA DECISION
These could be the final weeks of Robin Ventura's baseball career - or not.
The 16-year veteran said he hasn't decided if he will play beyond this season and doesn't expect to decide any time soon.
"I've kind of decided to take a month-to-month attitude - or week-to-week. That's the way I went into the season," said Ventura who turned 37 earlier this month.
Ventura, traded to the Dodgers at the deadline last season, re-signed for one year last winter with the expectation that he would be a role player and pinch hitter after playing more than 130 games 12 times in his career.
Tracy has praised Ventura for accepting his diminished status and called him "a tremendous example for anyone to take note of because of his unselfishness and willingness to do whatever is needed to win a ballgame."
Ventura has hit just .219 overall but leads the Dodgers with eight pinch-hits in 29 at-bats.
"That part of it (pinch hitting) is hard. Most of the time you're facing closers or relievers that are brought in to get you out," Ventura said. "I knew going into it that's what my role was going to be. I wasn't going to be an everyday player."
If Ventura does decide he wants to continue playing, the father of four said he won't go chasing a job or more playing time around the major leagues. He will finish in his native California.
"I like the guys here. I like the organization. I always wanted to play for the Dodgers," he said. "Part of accepting that (reserve) role was a tradeoff for getting a chance to play where I wanted to play."
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Ventura helps Dodgers in a pinch
Two-run HR in ninth beats Diamondbacks 7-6
Robin Ventura celebrates with his teammates after his game-winning two-run homer in the ninth inning against the Diamondbacks on Saturday.
The Associated Press
Updated: 2:57 p.m. ET July 18, 2004
PHOENIX - When the Los Angeles bullpen had a rare letdown, Robin Ventura was ready with some run support.
Ventura hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the ninth inning, lifting the Dodgers to a 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.
“I was just trying to get a good pitch,” said Ventura, a 16-year veteran relegated to spot duty. “Hitting a home run, I don’t think is something you try to do. If you put a good swing on it, it’ll go, but I would have been just as happy with a double.”
Adrian Beltre had an RBI double earlier in the inning off Mike Koplove, who hit two batters, walked one and gave up three runs while getting just one out.
Koplove was pulled after Beltre’s hit. Brian Bruney (2-3) relieved and got an out before allowing the homer to Ventura.
Eric Gagne struck out the side around a single in the ninth for his 25th save in 26 chances as the Dodgers won for the 14th time in 17 games.
The Arizona bullpen blew two saves, ruining a strong effort by starter Casey Fossum and a comeback keyed by Juan Brito’s tiebreaking double in the eighth.
Brito drove the ball into center off Guillermo Mota with one out after Mota (7-3) walked Alex Cintron to lead off. Luis Terrero also had an RBI double to give Arizona a 6-4 lead.
In the Dodgers eighth, Koplove came in with two outs, hit Milton Bradley in the helmet — knocking him out of the game — and walked Shawn Green to set up pinch-hitter Jason Grabowski’s run-scoring single that tied it 4-all.
“A big base hit off the bench in the eighth inning by Grabowski to tie the game,” manager Jim Tracy said. “They score two off of Mota, and then the other guy, Beltre, off the bench with the two base hits and then the Ventura home run. You can’t say enough about the job those guys have done.”
Koplove called Bradley to apologize after the game.
“I’m sure he felt bad enough, especially when they lost the ballgame,” Bradley said. “I’m kind of glad it happened. We got the win.”
Koplove, Arizona’s third closer this season after injuries to Matt Mantei and Jose Valverde, refused to blame his shakiness on hitting Bradley.
“I’ve hit people before — never in the head — but I usually don’t let that bother me,” Koplove said. “I was just wild.”
Earlier, Shea Hillenbrand’s two-run homer gave the Diamondbacks a 4-2 lead. Quinton McCracken and Tim Olson had RBI doubles for Arizona, which lost its sixth straight and nine of 10.
Manager Al Pedrique, who fell to 2-11 since replacing Bob Brenly, said it was his most discouraging loss.
“Any time you go in the ninth inning with a two-run lead, that should be in the bank,” Pedrique said.
Fossum worked 6 2-3 strong innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out five in his longest outing since working seven for the Red Sox in a 5-2 win at Anaheim on April 25, 2003.
Odalis Perez returned to the Dodgers rotation for the first time since developing tendinitis in his left rotator cuff during a start against Anaheim on June 26. He went five innings, allowing nine hits and four runs — only one earned.
The Dodgers got an RBI single from Cesar Izturis in the fifth to get to 4-3.
Arizona, which has the worst record in the majors at 31-61, played like it while giving up two runs in the second.
Olmedo Saenz popped up in short right field with one out, but second baseman Scott Hairston overran the ball while calling off first baseman Hillenbrand, and it dropped for a single.
Jayson Werth followed with an RBI double, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Cora.
But the Diamondbacks scored on back-to-back doubles by Cintron and Olson in the second, then took a 4-2 lead in the third while nearly knocking out two position players.
Fossum, leading off, hit a weak grounder to third but jammed Saenz’s glove hand at first, knocking the ball loose after a throw from Hernandez. Saenz, who was charged with an error, rubbed his wrist but stayed in the game.
Fossum scored from first on McCracken’s double to center, where Bradley was shaken up diving for the ball, and Hillenbrand added his 416-foot shot into the left-field seats.
Notes: Saenz’s fielding error was the Dodgers’ seventh in 34 games and only their major league-best 36th overall. ... Bradley had a rough game, getting hit twice in four at-bats along with his tumble in the field. ... Dodgers C Paul Lo Duca has had a bad series in Phoenix, going 2-for-12 and striking out four times after striking out just 23 times in 78 previous games.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Robin to the rescue
Ventura homer in ninth lifts L.A.
By Tony Jackson
Staff Writer
PHOENIX - Robin Ventura never has complained about his role with the Dodgers, one that hardly seems worthy of a player with his history.
Ventura has come to epitomize the notion of aging gracefully, and he never was more graceful than when he stepped to the plate in the ninth inning Saturday night at Bank One Ballpark.
There are few jobs in baseball that are less glamorous - or more difficult - than pinch hitting. But there also are few jobs in baseball that offer more glory if a player can do it well.
With one out, one on and the Dodgers trailing by a run after a rare meltdown by reliever Guillermo Mota, Ventura did it as well as it can be done.
The veteran infielder and six-time Gold Glove winner launched a pitch from Diamondbacks rookie Brian Bruney deep into the desert night, turning what would have been an especially-galling defeat into a stirring 7-6 win for the Dodgers in front of 37,027.
It was only the second home run this season for Ventura, who has hit 291 of them in his 16-year career and as many as 34 in a single season. But it provided a snapshot not only of what Ventura was in his prime, but of what a valuable presence he provides even now, mere days after his 37th birthday.
"That's one of the big keys to this club, and it's an example," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. "That's a tremendous example for anybody else who is involved with a winning baseball team, recognizing his influence and the fact that he knows how to do whatever is needed of him to help us win baseball games."
Ventura probably will never hit 30-plus homers again. He probably will never play on an everyday basis again, either. But he leaves the Crash Davis-type cynicism to other veteran players because Ventura claims he is having as much fun now as he has at any point in his career.
"I realize what I do and where I'm at in my career," Ventura said. "I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying the guys I play with, and I'm enjoying who I play for, and that's important. That's something that helps me do this. I'm trying to be the best I can. That's all I can do."
It was the fifth consecutive win for the Dodgers (51-38), their 11th in their past 12 games and 10th in 12 meetings with the Diamondbacks, the not-so-proud owners of the worst record in the major leagues.
The Dodgers remained 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place San Francisco in the National League West and set the stage for a possible four-game sweep to open the second half.
For all their success, though, this was easily the Dodgers' most dramatic win of the season. They tied it on a two-out RBI single by Jason Grabowski in the top of the eighth. They fell behind again, by two runs, when Mota (7-3) walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the inning and collapsed.
Mota was torched for RBI doubles by Juan Brito and Luis Terrero, snapping his string of 14— consecutive scoreless innings.
But for the second time in this series, the Dodgers' most effective weapon proved to be the Diamondbacks bullpen.
Closer Mike Koplove, who ignited the tying rally in the eighth by hitting Milton Bradley in the helmet with two outs, hit Alex Cora to begin the ninth. A gimpy Adrian Beltre, who had entered defensively in the sixth, followed with a double to left-center, cutting the deficit to 6-5.
That chased Koplove, who had faced six batters and recorded one out.
Bruney (2-3) got Cesar Izturis to pop out on a sacrifice attempt, but then grooved a pitch to Ventura, who made Bruney the unfortunate loser in the wake of Koplove's stunning ineptitude.
Bradley left the game after Koplove hit him in the eighth, pointing at Koplove in anger as he disappeared into the dugout. But Koplove, who clearly wasn't throwing at Bradley intentionally, called the Dodgers clubhouse after the game to make sure Bradley understood that.
Bradley, who was not seriously hurt, said he understood it perfectly.
Dodgers left-hander Odalis Perez came off the disabled list Saturday to make his first start since June 26. It wasn't a smashing success (nine hits), but it wasn't a colossal failure, either (one earned run, three unearned).
Tracy lifted him after five innings because he had thrown 71 pitches, which Tracy said was "plenty" after the long layoff.
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07/18/2004 1:07 AM ET
Ventura's homer powers Dodgers
Ninth-inning pinch-hit homer extends LA's win streak
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
PHOENIX -- The Dodger offense is making a believer out of one of its harshest critics of a year ago. "I know this team can come back and score runs," Odalis Perez said after watching the Dodgers erase deficits in the eighth and ninth innings Saturday night to pull out a 7-6 victory over the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks. Robin Ventura's two-run pinch-homer off Brian Bruney in the ninth put the Dodgers ahead and Eric Gagne struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth for his 25th save, locking up their fifth consecutive win and 11th in their last 12 games. The Dodgers are 10-2 against Arizona this year and go for a four-game sweep Sunday.
Perez, the most vocal critic of the offense last year, was staked to a 2-0 lead in his return from three weeks on the disabled list with an inflamed rotator cuff, but an Olmedo Saenz error led to three unearned runs and a 4-2 Arizona lead after three innings.
But the Dodgers scored a run in the fifth and another to tie in the eighth on Jason Grabowski's RBI pinch-single.
That rally was ignited when, with two out and nobody on, Milton Bradley was hit in the back of the head by a Mike Koplove fastball. Bradley bounced up and ran toward first but was intercepted by manager Jim Tracy and removed, pointing back at Koplove as he left the field with trainer Stan Johnston. Bradley had been hit by a pitch from Casey Fossum in the fourth inning.
Afterward, Bradley said he was not hurt and that Koplove called the clubhouse to check on his condition. "He apologized. He wasn't trying to hit me," said Bradley. "He felt bad enough that they lost the game. I know he didn't try to hit me."
