From Joe Torre:

On Lilly’s performance:

“Lilly made it look easy.  This kid is really calm.  He’s got a lot of passion inside, but he’s very calm.  Certainly when you go to a new club, it’s nice to be able to pay dividends right away.  Oswalt struggled somewhat in his first outing… I think Haren struggled a little bit.  It was nice to see him give us that game.  And we needed every bit of it.  He gave up two hits, the home run and the base hit in the first inning.  He made it look easy.  Russell was like sitting in a rocking chair.”

On taking Lilly out after the 7^th inning, despite retiring 20 batters in a row:

“If I don’t have Kuo to go to, we may have to rethink it.  Kuo has been pretty much lights out.”

On Broxton:

“Brox, we need to get him back, because he certainly is too important for us to not have him.  This is going to be good for his confidence.  He went after the middle of the lineup and it was a good outing for him.”

On the possibility of using Kuo in the ninth inning:

“No, you can’t do that. Half the battle in this game is showing confidence in somebody.  I’d rather pay the price then not do that.”

On Martin:

“He’s going to have an MRI and we’ll hold our breath and see what we have.  He just felt a little click in the right hip.  It didn’t happen, I don’t think, in the contact at the plate.  It happened when he went by into the grass.  Maybe he stopped himself or stepped wrong or whatever it was.”

On winning the game:

“We beat one of the better pitchers, and we have to come out here tomorrow and hopefully we can build on this.”

On intentionally walking Gonzalez in the ninth inning:

“I was torn there, because Brox is like 1 for 11 with 5 strikeouts against him.  But the thing that bothered me more than anything is with a man on second base, we’re sort of compromising our defense, because we’re going to keep him close and we’ll keep the big hole on that left side.  He burned us a couple times in San Diego with groundball base hits to left.  So when I saw him take that swing on the second pitch, I said that was enough for me and just tried to play the percentages there.”

From Russell Martin:

On tweaking his right hip:

“I still have some mobility, but obviously I don’t have all of it.  We’ll get the MRI tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.  I know I can play with this, it’s just whether or not, if I play with it, is it going to get worse?  Those are the types of things that I’m worried about.”

On choosing not to slide on the play:

“[The play] looked like it was going to be bang, bang.  I was indecisive on whether to hit him…I don’t want to hit the catcher when he doesn’t have the ball in his hand.  It was so bang, bang that it caught me in-between.”

From Ted Lilly:

On his first game with the Dodgers:

“Coming up through the minor leagues, this was the goal, every day: to get a chance to pitch for the Dodgers.  This is a special night for me, no question about it.”

On coming out of the game after retiring 20 batters in a row:

“I felt good.  I’m not going to question Joe.  He’s been pretty successful and with the bullpen that we have, the bottom line is, do whatever it takes to win the game.  It’s not so much trying to concern yourself with what your individual numbers are.  It was nice to win the game tonight.”

On Rafael Furcal:

“Evidently last night when he made an awkward catch…he felt something in his back.  So he’s getting an MRI.  Hopefully the fact that it just happened and he felt it on that play, hopefully that indicates it’s something that’s not related [to previous back injuries], but we’re not going to know that until we get the results back.”

On Jeff Weaver’s left knee bothering him:

“I don’t necessarily need guys to tell me about all their aches and pains, but I think when it comes time to start to affect your performance, then you want to know.  A guy like Weav, who’s been around a little bit, sort of knows his body and thinks he can do things in spite of stuff.”

On Ramon Troncoso’s rehab in Albuquerque:

It’s ok. Ok. Inconsistent.  We’ll see. He gives us a guy who can throw a couple innings.  Maybe back here he can find that thing that he had earlier this year and last year too.”

On yesterday’s base running blunder in light of the team’s recent performance:

“It’s terrible.  It’s certainly something we always pay a lot of attention to in the Spring when we’re talking about base running drills.  A lot of it, on base running, a lot of it’s just common sense.  In Matt’s case, did he have to run full bore to get home? No, because he wasn’t going to throw him out.  But in light of James trying to go to third, which he shouldn’t do with two out, unless it’s just standing up, you just can’t take anything for granted.  In James’ case, once he made the commitment, and I talked to him a couple times during the game last night, he said ‘I made up my mind too soon.’  I said, that being the case, once you round the bag, you’ve got to see where the guy in front of you is.  You’re the one now, that can make sure he scores.  Even if you’re going to get tagged out, you’ve got to make sure it’s not until after he crossed the plate.  But he never looked.”

On Carlos Monasterios and the bullpen:

“He is the long guy.  Troncoso, I think he’ll probably take on a little more of a longer role.  With the addition of Dotel, I think we have some options for guys to get out of innings.”

On Manny Ramirez:

“Stan [Conte] went to Arizona to watch him work today, and Stan thinks it will be at least another week or so…before we make any plans for him to do some game stuff.  We had expected to see him this week, figuring he’s start to play in rehab, but that’s not the case.”

On what the team needs to do to turn things around:

“We just need to win a game to start building.  We know what we want to have happen.  We want what’s happened since the All-Star break to disappear, but that’s not going to happen.  We’re going to have to start stopping the negative by turning it into a positive, but you can only do that by winning a game and just building on that.  I just want us to play a clean game, be aggressive and pitch the way we’ve been pitching most of the time.  But we need to win a game.”

“It’s immaterial how far out we are, because it’s a matter of our winning games…we need to win.  Until we do that, I really don’t pay attention to the standings.”

—-

The media session concluded with the aforementioned banter between Torre and The Los Angeles Times’  T.J. Simers.  I’ll leave this for T.J.’s column, but needless to say, Torre knows Simers approach and had fun with him (for the most part).

In the aftermath of the debacle that was last night’s Dodger game, one piece of news seemed to not get the coverage it deserved: Joe Torre said that he would make his decision within the next month or so on whether or not he would return as manager in 2011. 

The timing was a bit of a surprise, as Torre had previously said that he would wait until the end of the season to make this decision.  Why the change of heart?  It’s not like there is a pressing need to make the decision in the middle if the season.  Well, if I were Joe, I’m sure I’d be frustrated by the McCourt’s lack of willingness to loosen the purse strings and bring in top-tier starter and some veteran relievers that can help this club.  And coming over from the Yankees, he’s got to be a little bit spoiled by the resources he had available to him in New York.  The guy wants to win, and knows this team is built to win now.  It’s pretty clear that Torre only trusts a few arms in his bullpen, and he’s going to ride those guys into the ground if they don’t get some more help. 

And, for the record, I generally really like the moves Ned Colletti has been able to pull off at the trading deadline over the past few years.  Outside of Manny Ramirez, none have been blockbusters, but he’s been able to consistently help the club without adding a lot to the payroll. Colletti and Kim Ng are a crafty team, and I’m confident they will bring in some solid, unspectacular pitchers to help this team between now and the playoffs.

I’m not saying Torre’s announcement should be interpreted as an ultimatum to the Dodgers front office (or the players for that matter), but it shouldn’t be completely ignored.  Think of it as a warning shot across the bow of the good ship Dodgers.

As the McCourt divorce continues to slowly (and excrutiatingly) plays out, I’m reminded of how great ownership can truly shape the direction of a franchise.

Following are quotes from those within the Dodgers organization that knew George Steinbrenner best (quotes courtesy of the Los Angeles Dodgers PR staff):

“George was a friend who I admired very much.  He was a giant in our game and he built an empire.  All he was was a winner.  He wanted to give the fans a winner, and that’s exactly what he did.” 

- Dodger Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda

“I will always remember George Steinbrenner as a passionate man, a tough boss, a true visionary, a great humanitarian and a dear friend.  I will be forever grateful that he trusted me with his Yankees for 12 years. My heart goes out to his entire family. He will be deeply missed in New York, Tampa and throughout the world of baseball. It’s only fitting that he went out as a world champ.”

– Dodger Manager Joe Torre

“I am deeply saddened to hear the news of George Steinbrenner’s passing.  His vision, passion and commitment to winning, recharged the New York Yankees and revolutionized the game.

I remember a man driven to succeed.   He was the owner, “The Boss” and number one fan of the Yankees.  Our relationship was built on mutual respect.  I will never forget and always be grateful for how he treated me and my family both during my playing days and after I retired.

I will miss him very much and extend my deepest condolences to his wife, Joan, and all the members of the Steinbrenner family.”           

– Dodger Hitting Coach Don Mattingly

“George Steinbrenner was the first owner to contact me to congratulate me when I purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers.  From that day forward we built a strong and meaningful friendship.  He was a larger than life owner who cared deeply about winning.  George helped shape the game of baseball during his incredible stewardship of the Yankees.  My deepest sympathies go out to his wife, Joan and his four children, Hal, Hank, Jennifer and Jessica and the entire Steinbrenner family.”

– Dodger Owner Frank McCourt

Rest in Peace, George Steinbrenner!

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Chris O’Meara

I have to say, I’m pretty psyched for this weekend’s Dodgers-Yankees series at Dodger Stadium, and all the hype that goes along with it.  It’s only the second time the two clubs have faced each other in the regular season, and the Dodgers have won 10 of 14 games played at Chavez Ravine.  Overall, the Dodgers are 31-38 against New York.

And the big series couldn’t come at a better time.  After losing 11 of their last 13 games, the Dodgers’ bats came alive last night in a critical win.  Plus, the club could use a distraction, and this weekend will be all about Joe Torre - the perfect way to take some of the pressure off of the team’s players.  I’ve got to admit, there are some intriguing story lines with Joe Torre and Don Mattingly facing their old team, to say nothing of Manny Ramirez playing against one of his former rivals.

According to the Dodgers pre-game notes, Ramirez has the fourth best batting average against the Yankees in the regular season, going .321 with 55 home runs in 200 games.  Oddly, Garret Anderson has the fifth best average against the Yankees at .310.  Something tells me that the surging Manny has a MUCH better chance to come through in the clutch this weekend than GA does.  Prove me wrong GA, prove me wrong.

On the surface, the Yankee influence on the Dodger coaching staff reminds me a lot of Mike Scioscia and the Dodgers influence on the Angels coaching staff (the big difference being that Scioscia has delivered a championship and is in place for the next 10 years, while Torre could retire as soon as the end of this season).

One of my earliest Dodger moments was being 11 years old and listening to the Dodgers-Yankees play during the 1981 World Series while my mom drove us to soccer practice.  This is the baseball equivalent of the Lakers and the Celtics, and cold only be topped if the two clubs met in the World Series later this season.

And just to wrap up, following are a few interesting notes in how this series, and some of it’s sideshows, are being painted by the New York and national media:

The New York Post looks at Alex Rodriguez’s frosty take on Joe Torre, while Derek Jeter says “He has been like a father figure to me.”

The New York Daily Newsparticipates in Joe Torre’s pre-game media session yesterday, where the skipper shared his thoughts about the weekend series against his former team.

Lee Jenkins at SI.com looks at “Joe Torre vs. Joe Torre.”

Photo credit: Fantasysportsday.com

Joe Torre:

On the game as a whole:

“It was a classic.  That’s post-season baseball right there.  Great pitching on both sides.  Carpenter did an amazing job at getting out of jams.  They made plays.  Kuroda, that’s as good as you want to see him right there.  It was a great game.  If they had beaten us, I’d still have to say it was a great game, just the way things played out.”

On Kuroda:

“It looks like he was very aggressive.  It looked like he was pretty much doing what he wanted to.  It looked like the ball was really alive, movement wise, and he was locating it.  I think that he had as good of command as he’s had since early in the season.”

On Ethier:

“It is just a matter of timing for me.  You saw him hit that ball the other way with two strikes from the left-hander, you know he is back and comfortable.”

On Manny:

“It looked like he tried to pull.  He was hitting the ball on the ground.  Stayed inside the ball that last time and hit the ball hard to right field.”

Hiroki Kuroda (through his interpreter):

On his pitching overall:

“Most of my key pitches were moving. The sinker, slider and also splitter…were all good today.”

On facing Chris Carpenter:

“Before the game I didn’t really have the time to think about the other pitcher.  I just was worried about how I was going to pitch today and how to get outs on other hitters.”

Russell Martin:

On Kuroda:

“His command was great today.  Good velocity on his fastball and good movement on it too.  His two-seamer was working well for him.  He really had all his pitches tonight: his two-seamer, his slider working well, his splitty as well and also using his cutter.

From the first inning, he was throwing 95 and getting that good sink.  Just with that pitch alone, he can get away with just having that pitch.  Today’s the day where he had everything. So you know when you have all those weapons that you can use, that there’s a lot of different things you can use to get the hitters off balance.

On hearing that the surgery for the little girl who fractured her skull during batting practice on Monday was going to be ok:

“Earlier today, I heard the news, and definitely felt a bit better. It definitely was on my mind yesterday, the whole day, and it was good to hear the good news.”

On playing 0-0 games:

“It means that you’re doing things well, playing good defense and pitching well.  The hitting part, you’ve got an ace on the other side.  You get a win against him, you’re happy, no matter how you get it.”

On Chris Carpenter:

“He had his good stuff today.  Good curveball, command.  Not really leaving anything over the middle of the plate.  Every time you’re up there, it’s a battle against him.”

On Manny’s big hit:

“I don’t know how he hit that ball – it seems like he got jammed a little bit.  That’s a good sign when he’s able to stay inside the ball like that and drive it the other way.  That’s when he’s at his best, so it’s good to see that.”

On Broxton’s 11 pitch battle with Pujols:

“When you get in those situations, the great hitters just get even better.  And you could tell right there, he was fighting off some really good pitches.  Good thing we had one of the best closers in the game out there.  That’s what Pujols does, he’ll just wear you out until you make a mistake and then capitalize on that, but fortunately Broxton just came through, kept making good pitches.”

Jonathan Broxton:

On the ninth inning:

“The heart of the order coming up.  I just had to go out there and make pitches…I did.”

On his battle with Pujols:

“I was just out there trying to go pitch for pitch…trying to see what he’s doing with the ball.  He kept fouling off some good pitches.  I finally just had to bury one.”

“It felt like it was a long time.  I had to keep going with good pitches and good location.  I couldn’t make a mistake.”

Photo Credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2010

Following are the highlights from Joe Torre’s pre-game media session.  A casual day with lots of discussion about two-sport athletes (like Dodgers first round draft pick Zach Lee), but not too much news to report:

On George Sherrill Starting Fresh Now that He’s Back from the DL:

“You’re certainly not going to be able to change the stats.  You’re just going to have to go out there, and I’m sure he’s going to be in that mindset anyway.  He’s not much to concern himself about how pretty it is, it’s just about getting it done.”

On Carlos Monasterios:

“Last night was good for us. We’ve had all those one run games. It was a good opportunity to rest our bullpen for one. Monasterios gave us a heck of a job.  A heck of a job.  He got himself in a bit of a jam there in the fifth inning, and then got himself out of it in a hurry.”

“To me, the fact that he’s pitched this well, I think he could do the job out of the bullpen too. I think all this stuff has done nothing but increase his confidence, and increased our confidence in him.  He doesn’t seem to be bothered by who he pitches against, and that’s a big get for me, is just to watch his demeanor out there.  After the first few times, he’s been pretty good.”

On Rafael Furcal:

“There’s a lot of life in his body right now.  He was sort of fooled on that ground-rule double that he hit, but he kept his bat in the zone a long time.  He’s staying back a lot better.  I thought a few days ago he was swinging out of his shoes, but he had much more controlled at bats, I felt, last night.”

On Washington Nationals Pitcher Stephen Strasburg’s Debut Today:

I’ll tell you one thing, from what I’ve seen in the inning and two thirds I watched him pitch, the ball comes out of his hand pretty good.  He’s got that one that sinks a little bit, and with that arm speed, he’s got a great curveball…so quick.  You have to be more than perfect to live up to the expectations…he certainly appears to be pretty special.  I don’t think there’s any question.”

On Who Strasburg Reminds Him of:

“When you think of someone young, coming up and pitching, I think of Doc Gooden.  He’d cross your eyes with that breaking ball and throw that fastball.  He’d say ‘Here, I dare you.’ And that’s what you’re seeing with this kid.”

On Possibly Being Asked to Talk to Zach Lee:

“Whatever they ask me to do…I’m only here to serve.”

Photo Credit: Chris Volk/2010 dodgerfan.net

Joe Torre

On Travis Schlichting and the performance of the pitchers:

“Schlichting pitched his tail off, as everyone else did.  I have no clue where we’re going to go from here.”

“That’s the one area that’s made a big difference in our ball club.  Anyone who tells you that pitching isn’t a main part of the game should take a look at those numbers.”

On Garret Anderson:

“He’s a pro.  I’m happy for him.  He’s a guy that’s used to playing all the time.  Playing off the bench isn’t the same, but he comes in like a pro every day and it’s nice having him here.”

On Carlos Monasterios:

“I thought he was terrific.  I took him out because he had a little blister.  That’s why he came out of the game, although his pitch count was about where we wanted it.  We were going to send him out there for another inning.”

On Travis Schlichting:

“He’s gone three innings a number of times and his pitch count was pretty good.  But that was going to be his last one and we were going to come with Weaver.  That was something I certainly didn’t want to, but at this point we had no choice.”

On who would have pitched after Jeff Weaver:

“I have no clue.  A lot of it would have depended on that inning.  If [Reed} Johnson has to pitch, now I’m out of players.  Even if you go to a position player, you’re going to have to have a pitcher play someplace."

On Reed Johnson potentially pitching:

"I don’t know…I didn’t poll anybody.  Short of one of those things, I was hoping that if we weren’t going to score, that it would be Garrett making the last out so at least the next inning I’d have Johnson leading off and I’d have nine guys.  Pick one of those guys to pitch.  But if I had to use him in the 14^th inning, then I was going to have to probably use a pitcher to play a position and not pitch, which is something I’ve never had to do."

On potentially making a roster move to add a reliever:

"Kim [Ng] is out there waiting to talk to me. She’s going to come in and ask me the same question.  I haven’t really digested this yet and I don’t know where we would make room for that person, but we are going to be a bit short, so we’ll have to see.”

Travis Schlichting:

On his performance today:

“I felt great out there.  Last year I was a little nervous coming out, and this year…I just felt more relaxed and calm out there which is a good thing to feel.”

Garret Anderson:

On how big the game-winning hit was for him personally:

“I don’t really worry about myself personally too much. I just try and contributed as much as I can with what I got and fortunately I was able to do something today when it counted.”

On the fans getting restless:

“I’ve had that before and it’s well deserved.  I don’t mind hearing boos when I’m out there not doing the things I’m capable of doing.  So yeah, I’ll take those boos.”

Carlos Monasterios:

On how soon he can throw:

“I can throw.  We’ll see tomorrow.”

On how happy he was with how he pitched:

“Very happy.” (with a huge grin)

On John Ely:

“He doesn’t have an issue with taking the mound in any ballpark in any city…He’s in his own world out there.  Guys feed off the enthusiasm.”

On Ely facing the Diamondbacks for the second time:

“That’s important, because as I know as a hitter, sometimes you get familiar with a pitcher, you know what you want to hit.  When he’s able to throw as many different as pitches for strikes, it makes it a little tougher to do that.  He sort of puts you on your heels a bit as a hitter, because he works so quickly.  It’s really unlike a lot of the pitchers these days.”

On George Sherrill:

“I watched him throw the [simulated] game the other day and he threw the ball well.  He’s going to go tomorrow again with Padilla and then he’s ready to come off in probably five days or so.”

On giving so many starters the day off today:

“I think we’re better this year with the quality of the bench and A.J. [Ellis] has been remarkable because he hasn’t played for so long, and he had some good at bats this last game.  Defensively, he’s certainly not a concern at all.  I think you have to do what’s necessary, whether you have the quality on the bench or not.”

On Andre Ethier’s mechanics:

“It’s just timing right now.  I’m glad he got his base hit, but it’s still a matter of timing.  That’s the thing about hitting.  He doesn’t look inhibited in any way or trying to protect anything.  He’s pretty comfortable swinging the bat.  It’s just a matter of getting the rhythm back.”

On A.J. Ellis missing the birth of his child to stay with the club:

“It’s a throwback, that’s for sure.  Normally a player, when his wife is pregnant, will come in and say ‘My wife’s expecting in a month or five weeks.’  I always tell them, if you need to be there, take as long as you need.  Catcher’s a little different than other position players, unfortunately.  But he never came in and asked for any consideration.  He knows it’s an opportunity right now.  It’s an opportunity this kid has, and when you play this game, it’s a family commitment.  You spend so much time with your teammates than you do your family.  I’m sure it was tough.  He did say that he did watch it on the computer….but it’s not the same.”

On the team’s recent hitting struggles:

“I think our at-bats have been ok.  You go through those ups and downs.  Manny’s struggling a little bit, Ethier is just getting going and Matt [Kemp] seems to be getting comfortable again.  Those guys don’t hit, and then you’re asking the support guys to do the job.  Even Furcal is trying to find his stroke.  I think we’re just going through a little bit of a dry spell, that hopefully we can start coming out of.  Casey [Blake]’s been swinging the bat really well. James [Loney] is struggling again.  He can be as ugly as it gets, and then all of a sudden, three hits will come out of him.”

On Carlos Monasterios:

“Like Ely, he gets the ball and throws it.  It’s going to come down to throwing strikes early to keep him from trying to hard.  He falls into that too when he’s struggling a little bit.”

On Charlie Haeger:

“We can’t start him up again until the start of the week.  His foot is getting better.  The only thing he really hasn’t been tested on is touching the bag, but he’s been doing a lot of stuff.  He’s just about back to where he should be right now.”

On Russell Martin’s slide from last night:

“I thought it was hard, but I thought it was clean.”

On the benches clearing after the slide:

“I told Matt Williams: you’re mine.” (Torre was obviously joking here)

On Jason Hayward coming to town with the Atlanta Braves:

“I am curious.  He’s a pretty special young man.  Bobby [Cox] doesn’t throw compliments around as easily as you might think and when he started talking about him in the spring, that got my attention.  I hope we can deal with him.”

Joe Torre:

On Chad Billingsley: “He got in some bad counts and I think he started over-throwing the ball in that last inning.  It is frustrating for him because his first three innings were really good and his last start was really good and I know this is a disappointment for him.”

On keeping pressure off the relievers: “I think ability-wise they can do it.  It is a matter of going out there and not thinking they have the weight of the world on their shoulders.  We’ll get through it…we just have to make sure we don’t lose our composure.”

On the offense and closing out games: “Offensively, we’re fine.  We’re having good at bats, quality at bats, doing some good things.  Casey Blake with a big hit tonight for us, Manny is swinging the bat really well.  The thing is, you can’t run the clock out on this game.  You have to get 27 outs and we have to find a way to do that on a consistent basis.”

On who would pitch the 12^th inning (if necessary): “It would have been one of those guys on the field…we would have found a volunteer in there somewhere…we may have gone lefty righty, back and forth.”

Matt Kemp:

On the game overall: “It was a fight.  Two good hitting teams, and we battled it out.  At the end, they ended up coming out on the right side.”

On the team’s slow start: “I’m not worried about.  We still got 150 games left.  It’s not time to panic; we’ve got a lot of games left.  We still got a great team and we’re capable of doing a lot of great things.  We can’t always start out the way we did last year.  We’re not that hot right now, but we’ve got a great team and we’re going to end up on top at the end.”

On the ball that dropped for a single in the bottom of the 10^th inning (I think): “I played deep, but that’s no excuse.  I should have got to the ball.  It was high enough to get there….it should have been caught.”

On the way they played:  “We never give up…that shows the character of the team.  We’ve got great character, we never give up and we battle to the end.”

 Good night!