June 26, 2004
Dodgers drop fifth straight
Lima touched for eight runs in four-plus innings
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com
LOS ANGELES -- When Robin Ventura pitches better than Jose Lima, it's no joke.
Their current crisis started with a four-game sweep in San Francisco and things turned critical Friday night when the Dodgers were crushed by the Anaheim Angels, 13-0.
Their fifth consecutive loss dropped the Dodgers into third place, 3 1/2 games back. It was the worst loss of the season, worst loss ever to the Angels in an Interleague Series game, as well as the most runs allowed to the Angels.
The Angels battered Dodgers pitching for 22 hits -- the most Los Angeles has allowed in nine years -- seven for extra bases, four of them homers. Lima didn't retire a batter in the fifth inning and by the ninth the Dodgers waved the white flag and handed the ball to Ventura, who threw a scoreless ninth inning in his Major League pitching debut, the first Dodgers position player forced into relief since Chris Donnels in 2001.
"If anybody was going to get hurt, it might as well be me, so I volunteered," said the 36-year-old Ventura, who tipped his cap to Darin Erstad after allowing his lone single. "Since I'm hitting like a pitcher, it goes in line with that. Hopefully, that's it. I told them I couldn't be available tomorrow."
Ventura got fly ball outs from Robb Quinlan, Alfredo Amezaga and Derrick Turnbow.
"It was definitely below hitting speed," said Ventura, clocked in the low 70s. "I don't know if (catcher David) Ross gave signs. He was putting down a bunch of fingers, but I threw all the same."
Ventura saved the real pitchers for an inning and provided a measure of comic relief from an otherwise dismal Dodgers situation.
The early damage was done on Lima Time, as home runs by Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Guillen and Erstad accounted for the bulk of the eight runs charged to the Dodgers' starter. Adam Kennedy added a three-run blast off Duaner Sanchez.
Lima said it's time for something dramatic, and he's just the guy to do it.
"Everybody's down, the whole team's down," said Lima. "I think I have to have a meeting without the coaches to make sure everybody's on the same page. Don't give up now. People are putting us down, that we won't win. It's 3 1/2 games. There's still the second half. We can't give up. We've got to do our jobs and stick together."
With his club needing a stopper after being swept in San Francisco, Lima's time was over before he could retire a batter in the fifth inning. It was the third time this week that a Dodgers starting pitcher allowed at least five earned runs. The Angels had 22 hits, seven for extra bases. Lima is now 6-3, his ERA jumping from 3.75 to 4.64.
"The bottom line is, I stunk tonight," said Lima. "I take all the blame. No pointing fingers. That's a tough team right there. I was behind, threw a lot of pitches up. When you hang it, they bang it. When I get the pitches down, I trick people. Tonight they trick me. I left pitches up and they hit them where nobody is there to catch it."
The offense wasn't any better against Jarrod Washburn, who allowed only three singles and no Dodger past second base over seven innings. The Dodgers finished with four hits.
"We haven't hit a lot the last few days," said manager Jim Tracy. "Nothing new tonight."
As badly as the recent four-game sweep by the Giants went, the Angels series started worse for the Dodgers, as Lima allowed more home runs to Anaheim in the first inning than the Giants hit in the four-game series.
Guerrero, who could have been a Dodger, hit the first one that carried well into the black background in deep center. Garret Anderson followed with a single, a prelude to Guillen's two-run shot to left-center and the Dodgers were down, 3-0, before ever coming up.
The first four Angels to bat in the third reached second base, so Lima had to consider himself lucky to allow only one more run on a ground out, but it still left the Dodgers trailing by four.
Make that five two batters into the fourth. Adam Kennedy tripled an 0-2 pitch past a diving Juan Encarnacion in right field and with the infield up, Washburn's blooper fell in shallow left for an RBI single. Erstad clubbed a three-run homer in the fifth to chase Lima.
Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
________________________________
June 26, 2004
MERCURY NEWS.com
BY MARK SAXON
The Orange County Register
LOS ANGELES - (KRT) - Robin Ventura basked in all the love a few thousand people giving a standing ovation in the dying minutes of a blowout game could muster.
The Dodgers' third baseman had nearly done something no other Dodgers pitcher had been able to do Friday night: pitch a 1-2-3 inning. If not for a Darin Erstad bloop hit, Ventura's low-70s fastball would have gotten it done in the ninth inning.
The Angels turned the opener of the Freeway Series into that kind of farce by pounding Jose Lima and the rest of the Dodgers, 13-0, at Dodger Stadium.
For a team that has been waiting for all the pieces to come together, it was yet another tantalizing taste of what this Angels offense might do when it's healthy.
Erstad played two days after dislocating a finger and smashed his first home run of the season.
Adam Kennedy emerged from a lengthy slump with a long ball of his own and the regular heavy-lifters, Jose Guillen and Vladimir Guerrero, each went deep, too.
With injuries turning their lineup into a carousel of rotating hitters most of the year, the Angels would like to think Friday was an omen for the final four months.
"Some of the offensive chemistry has been a little slow to develop with this group of guys," Manager Mike Scioscia said.
Jarrod Washburn was usually the man on the mound when the Angels scored big early in the year and he benefited Friday, too.
But he also gave the Angels an excellent start even though back spasms still bothered him at times.
____________________________________________________
June 26, 2004
Ventura lends helping arm
CAREER FIRST: The 16-year veteran pitches the ninth inning, giving up no runs and one hit.
By KEVIN PEARSON / The Press-Enterprise
LOS ANGELES - In the bottom of the ninth inning Friday, the few fans who remained for the conclusion of the Freeway Series opener heard the second-most bizarre thing of the night from the Dodgers' public address announcer.
"Leading off the bottom of the ninth for the Dodgers, pitcher, Robin Ventura."
The most bizarre?
"I was throwing probably the slowest pitches ever," Robin Ventura says.
"When (Manager Jim) Tracy asked me to pitch," Ventura said with a laugh.
For the first time in his 16-year major league career, Ventura was called upon to pitch, allowing a harmless single and notching three flyouts in the top of the ninth inning of the Dodgers' 13-0 shellacking at the hands of the Angels in front of 54,617 at Dodger Stadium.
Ventura, who has spent his entire career as an infielder, pitched the ninth inning with the Dodgers trailing 13-0. He has not pitched since high school, where he admitted he "wasn't very good, either."
"But I figure if someone was going to get hurt doing it, it might as well be me," Ventura said.
With a tongue-in-cheek attitude and affable sense of humor about the event, Ventura stood, hands in his pockets after the game, laughing about the experience. All joking aside, he was the Dodgers' most productive pitcher of the night.
Ventura got ahead 0-2 on Robb Quinlan, who fouled off the third pitch and then flied out to center field on a 65 mph pitch. Alfredo Amezaga flied out to right field on the first pitch, putting Ventura in line for the Dodgers' first 1-2-3 inning.
Then came Darin Erstad. He took two balls, then a swinging strike, before singling to left field on a 70 mph pitch.
"He definitely grinded that at-bat," Ventura said. "He hit a pretty good pitch, too. I took a little off, down and away, and he hit it."
Erstad laughed as he went to first base, then applauded Ventura's willingness to get on the mound.
"That's a team player right there," Erstad said. "This is a guy who has been in the league a long time and sucked it up for his team."
As for the types of pitches he was throwing? The scoreboard announced each one as a breaking ball, though Ventura said they were all fastballs.
"I was throwing probably the slowest pitches ever," Ventura said. "It's all about keeping guys off balance. (Catcher David) Ross was putting down a bunch of different signs. I just tried to throw it over the plate. It was above-average BP is what it was."
Manager Jim Tracy said he used Ventura so he would not wear out another arm in the bullpen but stood up and angrily left his office when asked again about the lighthearted moment.
Ventura is the first Dodgers position player to pitch since Chris Donnels on May 5, 2001, at Chicago.
When Ventura came to bat in the bottom of the ninth, the scoreboard in left field showed his photo with a caption that read: "Owns a 0.00 career ERA." As for a possible permanent role in the bullpen?
"I told Tracy I wasn't available tomorrow," Ventura said. "Tracy will have to find somebody else."
_____________________________________________
Robin Ventura successful in pitching stint
JOHN NADEL, AP Sports Writer
Saturday, June 26, 2004
(06-26) 12:45 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Robin Ventura hopes his pitching career started -- and finished -- on the same day.
Ventura, a big leaguer since 1989, worked a scoreless ninth inning Friday night in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 13-0 loss to the Anaheim Angels.
"Pretty uneventful. It's down pretty close to the bottom," the 36-year-old infielder said a day later when asked where the experience ranked on his personal highlights list.
Ventura retired three batters on flyballs and allowed a single to Darin Erstad.
"I just tried to throw it over the plate," Ventura said. "It was definitely weird."
Ventura said the last time he pitched was "a lot of years ago."
"I was not very good. I can honestly tell you that," he said.
The loss was the fifth straight for the Dodgers after they won two of three against the New York Yankees.
"You have games like that -- not too many," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. "Once or twice a year, you go through something like that. You hope you don't see that again too often."
Ventura said pitching coach Jim Colborn approached him late in Friday night's game to tell him the Dodgers were thinking about having him pitching an inning.
"I said I'd do it. I hope I don't have to do it anymore," Ventura said.
"It says something about who he is," Tracy said. "He's the consummate professional player in every aspect of the game. It speaks volumes. What Robin did afforded us the opportunity of saving (Darren) Dreifort for an inning today."
When asked if Ventura's pitching career was over, Tracy smiled and replied: "I'm very hopeful of that. He said he's unavailable today."
The last position player to pitch for the Dodgers was Chris Donnels on May 5, 2001, at Wrigley Field.
___________________________
June 19, 2004
FOX Game of the Week
JOE BUCK: Robin Ventura’s been kind enough to put a microphone on and not only a microphone, but an ear piece can hear us. Hi Robin. And wouldn’t you know it, we talked to him the entire break and now his mic doesn’t work. Robin are you sitting on the transmitter?
ROBIN: Oh I’m sittin on alota things.
JOE: Now we hear you better
ROBIN: It’s the weight, it’s the weight
JOE: What are you carrying these days?
ROBIN: Well, alotta sunflower seeds right now.
JOE: You’ve been around a long time Robin.
ROBIN: Thanks Joe.
JOE: We were talking during the break, you don’t know which way to go left or right to sit with the players or the coaches.
ROBIN: Right in the middle- ploach
JOE: Ploach, did you hear that Tim.
TIM: I did
JOE: Hey you gotta like what you have here, I mean maybe there’s some short comings, but what team cant say that. And this place is alive man. Its fun to be @ Dodger Stadium this weekend.
ROBIN: Yeah its definitely picked up this year, we obviously had some struggles but now with us winning and people coming out its been great.
TIM: Robin, that’s really one of the things about which you can pride your career on. You were with the White Sox in the early 90’s there were winners, the Mets won in 2000, with the Yankees there were winners, and now the Dodgers are in first place.
ROBIN: Yeah, definitely my personality Tim. My electric personality keeps us in first.
JOE: Your one of those closet smart guys though. You sit there and your quiet and you don’t really say much, but there are always lines running through your head arent there? Your always sitting on things to say it’s just sometimes you don’t say them.
ROBIN: Well, you come to a new team and its new material to them. You know when you play with a team a long time it becomes pretty old, it becomes stale. So now its new. So everybody thinks your funny if you keep bouncing it around.
TIM: One of the better reasons to be traded.
ROBIN: That’s right
JOE: If you were playing against this Dodger team I would imagine the theory is get a lead against the starters cause this bullpen’s just flat out nasty.
ROBIN: Its set up that way. I mean you really, ideally want to get to Drifort, Mota, and Gagne. So it’s like most teams that are good, you have a good bullpen and you go right to them.
JOE: What are your plans once the grim reaper of baseball comes knocking?
ROBIN: I don’t know. I’m week to week Joe. So Im just trying to get through the week.
JOE: Well, good luck to you. You’re almost through it, there only one more day.
ROBIN: I know that’s what I have to look forward to.
JOE: Would you consider yourself intense?
ROBIN: Right now? This is as much as I get right here. It’s pretty intense.
JOE: Well you don’t want to waste all your energy early in the game
ROBIN: No, I gotta wait around ill like the 8th or 9th so I save it up and then I get into a fevered pitch in about the 7th.
JOE: That’s the southern California way isn’t it?
ROBIN: Absolutely.
JOE: Catching some righteous waves these days are ya?
ROBIN: I wish I wish
JOE: You do a little of that don’t you or you snow board?
ROBIN: Yeah well I do both of those- the older you get. You try to stay away from it when your younger. Todd Zeile and I actually got into a little snowboarding, it’s pretty fun.
JOE: You had to mention your buddy the future filmmaker.
ROBIN: Yeah, he making film s these days, and hitting well, so that works well
(Yelling in the background)
JOE: Who’s that? What was that down there?
ROBIN: Riggleman. He’s like the loudest guy. I’m sorry I’m sitting next to him.
JOE: Who’s that to your left?
ROBIN: Oh that’s Bones. Let me get Bones in the picture. One of our clubhouse managers.
JOE: There’s a guy in a flowered shirt sitting next to Robin
ROBIN: Say Hi Bones
BONES: Hi Bones
ROBIN: He said Hi Bones
JOE: Say goodnight Gracie
ROBIN: Goodnight Gracie
___________________________________
June 18, 2004
LA TIMES
T.J. Simers:
It's Really No Reason to Tear Your Hair Out
I'M GOING to give it some thought, though, because how old is NBC's Fred Roggin? Something like 60 or 62, and you'd never know it with the dye job he gets every month. And look at Hacksaw Hamilton. The reason he has been on the radio all these years is because of the way he has his hair styled.
I have to consider it, because I'm not going to the Olympics in August, and I'll need something to do and the X Games are here in August.
Call it providence, but I heard tickets went on sale Thursday for the X Games shortly after being told 20 years could be knocked off my life, which is all I'd need to blend in with the Tony Hawk crowd.
"We'll spike your hair a little, do this, and do that," said Luke the Barber, so I've made a makeover appointment for August so I can write about the X Games.
"You can't go to the X Games wearing clothes like that," the Dodgers' Robin Ventura said. "You need to wear your pants low like this," he said. I don't know the legal definition of indecent exposure, but I've now seen it.
I continued my rounds around the Dodger clubhouse, and I'll say this for the guys, it seemed like every one of them was all for me covering the X Games.
I wonder if they know that means I won't be able to spend as much time with them as I would like?
-----------------------------------
JUNE 18, 2004
Still classic
Long-time rivals meet in regular season for the first time tonight in LA
By DAN WEBER / The Press-Enterprise
LOS ANGELES - They shared a game, then a city.
The geography may have changed 46 years ago when the Dodgers headed West, but the history of these baseball teams from the Bronx and Brooklyn just keeps going.
No change in coasts could diminish it.
The 11 World Series they played against each other is a record in baseball.
There's more than postseason play joining the Yankees and Dodgers, however, even if the two franchises have totaled 32,094 games between them since the beginning of the 20th century without facing each other in the regular season until tonight.
If there's a signature World Series moment, it's Don Larsen's perfect game for the Yankees in 1956 against . . . of course, the Dodgers.
If you're looking for the largest crowd in baseball history, it's the 93,103 who showed up for a Yankees-Dodgers exhibition game in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum May 7, 1959, to honor Dodgers Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella.
If you're looking for the first Dodgers series this season to sell out the day individual tickets went on sale in March, it's this weekend's three-game interleague matchup against the Yankees.
But there's more than history and homestands here.
Tom Lasorda, the Dodgers' Senior VP, admitted he had an annual prayer when he was a Hall of Fame manager in LA and looking ahead to a possible World Series opponent.
"Please let it be the Yankees," Lasorda recalled.
Surprisingly, the man who bleeds Dodger Blue grew up dreaming of Yankee pinstripes. Asked by the recently published 2004 Baseball Hall of Fame Yearbook for his childhood heroes when he was growing up in Norristown, Pa., Lasorda named Yankee greats Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio.
Lasorda wasn't alone. Duke Snider, the lone surviving Dodger who played in Larsen's perfect game, cited Gehrig as well.
"A team player, a family man and leader," Snider said.
No. 7, Mickey Mantle," said Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton.
Yankee Hall of Famers concurred. Phil Rizzuto picked Babe Ruth. Whitey Ford tabbed DiMaggio.
Not that the Dodgers were neglected. Non-Yankees Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson, Willie McCovey and Joe Morgan all named Dodger Jackie Robinson as their boyhood hero. Willie Mays split his picks between a Dodger, Robinson, and a Yankee, DiMaggio.
If the Dodgers and Yankees provided heroes, they also have provided an amazing array of players who have shared both uniforms. The count is 159 now, including seven who made it to the Hall of Fame.
There was a Frenchy (Bordagaray) and a Rosy (Ryan), a Deacon (McGuire) and a Doc (Newton), a Burleigh (Grimes) and a Wee one (Willie Keeler), a Chick (Fewster) and a Babe (not that one, Babe Dahlgren).
The original "Babe," the prototypical Yankee, Babe Ruth, did finish out his career as a Dodgers coach in 1938.
There were even a couple of Lefties (O'Doul and Davis), but no Righty, just a Whitey (Witt). For political fans, there was a Nixon (Otis) and a Kennedy (John).
There was a Bubba (Crosby) and a Bobo (Newsom), a Dazzy (Vance) and a Dixie (Walker). There was a Leo the Lip (Durocher) and a Tommy John (the surgery). For Hollywood fans, check out Rocky (Colavito) and Oscar (Roettger).
There was one more Rodriguez (Ellie and Henry) than Smith (Charley).
Finally, Nos. 158 and 159 in the all-time Yankee-Dodger player roster, are a pair of Southern California guys who will wear the home whites tonight after sharing Yankee pinstripes a year ago.
"It is neat to play in that stadium and wear that uniform," said Dodger Robin Ventura, a Santa Maria native who spent most of the last two seasons with the Yankees.
Northridge native Jeff Weaver (4-7), who starts tonight against the team he compiled a 12-12 record for the past two years, offers this take on the Yankees:
"I had one of the toughest years ever in my career (7-9, 5.99 ERA) last season and one of the best times ever just being a Yankee. I'll never forget my experience there. It's something I hope I can bring here with me.
"The thing you notice with the Yankees is that when they lose, it just rolls off their backs. . They just go on. That's where you feel the presence of all those who came before you in those pinstripes, the ones out there in the monuments in center field."
Dodgers manager Jim Tracy grew up right outside Cincinnati, a National Leaguer all the way. He said he paid almost no attention to the Yankees.
"But I know who they are," said Tracy, who will be facing the Yankees for the first time in his career in what turns out to be a battle of first-place teams - the Dodgers in the NL West and the Yankees in the AL East.
"And I know that not too many teams have been able to beat them. That's what'd be special this weekend for me, beating them," Tracy said. "It helps that we're playing in a National League park. It takes one hitter out of their lineup."
That alsoputs Weaver on the mound. "I'm pretty fortunate," said Weaver, 27, who grew up "a Dodgers fan all the way" and now gets to go against his old team.
"I love pitching here with the sun shining in April. And I can't wait to get out there and put it to the Yankees - and let them see what they lost."
___________________________________
JUNE 8, 2004
The Chicago Sun Times
Okla. State's Fields opts for diamond
BY JOE GODDARD Staff Reporter
The White Sox haven't had a first-round draft choice make a major-league impact since Jack McDowell, Robin Ventura, Frank Thomas and Alex Fernandez from 1987 to 1990. But they believe they made a solid selection Monday in third baseman Josh Fields from Oklahoma State, which also produced third baseman Ventura, with the 18th pick.
A right-handed hitter who batted .362 this season with 10 home runs and 47 RBI, Fields turned down a potential pro football career. He threw a school-record 55 career touchdown passes and set a Cotton Bowl record with 307 passing yards last January.
''I knew coming out of high school my heart was in baseball,'' the 6-2, 210-pounder said, adding he became a White Sox fan when a ''Big Hurt'' Frank Thomas video game came out.
''I've always felt there was more of an upside for me in baseball. Being around a baseball clubhouse and on the field always had appeal. The idea of being a backup quarterback -- the [lack of] money and learning the playbook -- didn't.''
Sox player personnel director Duane Shaffer didn't waste time claiming Fields.
''He has a chance to be an impact guy, a 3-4-5 type hitter down the road,'' Shaffer said. ''He takes the ball the other way, gets the ball into the gaps and lofts his bat to get the ball up when he sees a pitch he can get under.''
Fields, 21, had large shoes to fill at Oklahoma State after Ventura set an NCAA record with a 58-game hitting streak in 1987.
''The memory of Robin Ventura is everywhere at Oklahoma State,'' he said.
The Sox went for left-handed pitchers with their supplemental picks. They took Clemson's Tyler Lumsden with the 34th pick as compensation for the loss of pitcher Bartolo Colon to Anaheim and Miami prep sensation Gio Gonzalez at No. 38 for losing reliever Tom Gordon to the Yankees.
Lumsden, who has been likened to Andy Pettitte, was only 3-3 at Clemson with a 3.90 ERA, but scouts had him projected as a first-rounder because of his 92-plus-mph fastball and power curve. He was taken in the sixth round of the 2001 draft by the Florida Marlins as a high school player but didn't sign.
Gonzalez, who had a 6-0 record, 1.37 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 41 innings, is believed to have one of the nation's best curveballs.
Second-round pick Wes Whisler is another intriguing lefty. The 6-5, 227-pounder did not have a good season at UCLA but was the Cape Cod League's top pro prospect in 2002 after leading the Pac-10 in homers as a freshman. He might get a look at first base.
The Sox drafted 14 pitchers with their 22 picks.
_________________________________
JUNE 7, 2004
LA TIMES
Tracy said Olmedo Saenz probably would be the designated hitter Tuesday when the Dodgers open their interleague series against Toronto at Skydome, with Jose Hernandez and Jayson Werth also in the lineup against left-hander Ted Lilly. Tracy said he also hoped to utilize Jason Grabowski and Robin Ventura at designated hitter in the six-game stretch at American League parks.
----------------------------------
JUNE 4, 2004
SI.com
Mixing it up
Interleague play often reshuffles fantasy strategies
Interleague play was instituted by the baseball powers that be to spice up the game and for the most part it's done the job. Besides natural rivals like the White Sox-Cubs, Yankees-Mets and Angels-Dodgers, each year we're treated to other intriguing matchups. This year is no different, as we'll get to see Barry Bonds hitting in Camden Yards, the A's three aces taking on whichever three of the Cubs aces are healthy at the time and the Yankees playing a meaningful game in Dodger Stadium for the first time since "Fernandomania" was all the rage.
You'd think all of this hype means little to fantasy players, but you'd be wrong. In fact, the fantasy world also gets shaken up a bit, at least temporarily, while the AL plays the NL. Beyond being an oasis where you never have to contend with your pitchers facing your hitters, or those agonizing games where you have both starters on the hill, interleague contests have more subtle effects that help or hinder your path to a championship. Here's a look at players who should benefit the most from seeing the other league for a change:
Red Sox and Orioles hitters (and all of you who have invested heavily in those two teams) should send effusive thank you notes to Major League Baseball's schedule makers for allowing them to pad their stats in Colorado. Those two teams, along with the Tigers in July, have the good fortune of playing three games apiece in the cozy confines of Coors. In the six-game stretch starting May 15, not only will Manny Ramirez, Javy Lopez, Rafael Palmeiro and David Ortiz have the potential to go deep on every cut, but the mile high air of Denver will make Mark Bellhorn, Larry Bigbie, Luis Matos, Kevin Youkilis and every hitter shy of Pokey Reese a feared slugger -- at least for a few days.
With the Rockies pitching staff struggling and both offenses clicking, there's a really good chance that the scoreboard will look like the Patriots and Ravens are in town to play the Broncos instead of the Sox and O's versus the Rockies. For you AL-only folks who aren't used to the Coors effect, a word of wisdom: You might want to consider sitting starting pitchers not named Curt Schilling or Pedro Martinez for that series (although Derek Lowe, Sidney Ponson, Bronson Arroyo, et al aren't doing too well at sea level either).
Also on the list of those champing at the bit for the battle of the leagues is the legion of NL pinch hitters who normally find themselves on the bench waiting for their one at-bat per game, but for a couple of weeks anyhow, will get four and five ABs per game while playing in AL parks. Some part-timers who should see their short-term value skyrocket during interleague season are AL vets Mike Lamb of the Astros, Ricky Ledee of the Phillies, Olmedo Saenz and Robin Ventura of the Dodgers, and Shane Spencer of the Mets. Brady Clark of the Brewers, Eli Marrero of the Braves and Lenny Harris of the Marlins could also see a plethora of plate appearances during these games.
Finally, AL-only and mixed league owners should pay close attention to interleague games in NL parks. During the normal part of the schedule, AL managers don't have to deal with foreign concepts like double-switches, pitchers hitting, and pinch hitters for said pitchers. They also can put the nine hitters they want into their starting lineups. That means that they're going to have to be creative to get their best hitters into the game during interleague play.
For example, the A's Erubiel Durazo and Rangers' Brad Fullmer have yet to play in the field, making all of their appearances this year at DH. Durazo has played the outfield and first base during his career, while Fullmer is a first baseman by trade. Look for them both to dust off their leather sometime soon.
Others who likely will appear at positions out of the ordinary are AL batting leader Melvin Mora, who can play everywhere except catcher but has been anchored to third base for Baltimore all year; Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez, who could see himself at first base for a game or two to keep his bat in the lineup while giving him a rest; Boston outfielder Gabe Kapler, who spent time in spring training learning how to play third base; and Royals first baseman/DH Ken Harvey, who might see himself in the outfield to help keep both his and Mike Sweeney's potent bats in the lineup in NL parks.
David Sabino is an associate editor in charge of statistics at Sports Illustrated. His fantasy column appears every Friday on SI.com
--------------------------
OCRegister.com
Thursday, June 3, 2004
Silent night: Bradley quiet after outburst He declines comment on Tuesday night's incident, which could lead to a suspension. Tracy again defends him.
By BILL PLUNKETT The Orange County Register
LOS ANGELES – Milton Bradley's feelings were on public display Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
But the night after his on- field eruption in the sixth inning resulted in his ejection and an equipment-tossing tirade, Bradley was keeping his thoughts to himself.
"Don't even waste your time," Bradley said when approached for an interview after the Dodgers' pregame batting practice Wednesday.
Bradley was in the Dodgers lineup while awaiting word from Major League Baseball on the suspension that is likely to follow Tuesday's incident. He went 1 for 3 in the Dodgers' 5-2 victory over Milwaukee and was cheered by the home crowd each at-bat.
General Manager Paul DePodesta and Manager Jim Tracy have spoken with the commissioner's office to give their version of events. Joe West, crew chief for the group of umpires working the Dodgers-Brewers series, submitted the umpires' report.
Bradley's equipment, meanwhile, sat in the umpires room until it was returned just before Wednesday's game. After Bradley set his bat, helmet and batting gloves on the ground near the plate after his ejection by plate umpire Terry Craft, West collected the equipment and handed it to an usher with instructions to take it to the umpires room.
West's confiscation was the oddest aspect of Bradley's meltdown but not the only part of the incident that bothered Tracy, who also was ejected by West.
"I have processed a lot of what I saw last night," Tracy said. "I don't understand it. ... I saw things that to me were very definitely out of the ordinary from what I've seen from a number of umpiring crews while managing this club over the past four years.
"I talked to the people it was necessary to talk to."
Those people did not include West or Craft, Tracy said. West also had upset the Dodgers with a balk call during Monday's game.
Tracy said he would discuss the incident with Bradley but would not detail what he planned to say. Tracy did say he still feels Bradley was provoked into his outburst and that he should not be held to a different standard because of his history of confrontations with umpires, other players and past managers.
"Are we going to single Milton Bradley out because it's the first time in history someone has been provoked to the point where you've seen things come flying out of the dugout?" Tracy said.
Bradley, however, has indicated he feels singled out - by both umpires and the media - for additional scrutiny because of his past.
"I don't know about that. I think last night it (Bradley's reputation) did come into play," Dodgers veteran Robin Ventura said. "I know there are always going to be calls that are in a gray area and no matter what they (umpires) call on those, somebody is going to be unhappy.
"Only they (umpires) know if they take the gray area away from some guys more than others. But I know as a player you do get frustrated when it seems all the gray-area calls are going against you."
NO PRESIDENT
Dodgers owner Frank McCourt informed team personnel Wednesday he would not be hiring a team president to fill the role vacated by Bob Graziano in February but would continue to handle those duties himself.
The Dodgers will add an executive vice president for business development. Jeff Ingram will assume those duties July 1, joining three executives previously hired: Chief Operating Officer Marty Greenspun, Chief Marketing Officer Lon Rosen and Vice President of Communications Gary Miereanu.
Ingram has been working for the McCourt Co. in finance and banking and will divide his time between Boston and Los Angeles.
NOTES
Right-hander Rodney Myers was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for Edwin Jackson, Wednesday's starting pitcher. Myers has to clear waivers before he can be returned to Triple-A Las Vegas. ...
Outfielder Jayson Werth hit three home runs and drove in six runs at Las Vegas on Tuesday. Werth, nearing the end of his injury-rehab assignment for a strained oblique muscle, has hit .417 (20 for 48) with five home runs and 19 RBIs in 13 games for the 51s.
TODAY The Dodgers are off.
