As we’re all pretty familiar with Joe and his his Safe at Home Foundation from past posts, I’ve focused this article on thoughts and quotes from the man himself, Sandy Koufax.  When the show first started and the camera tightened in on him, Koufax looked tanned and dapper, yet also slightly uncomfortable with all of the attention on stage.  But when he spoke, he gave short, concise, confident answers.  He appeared reserved at first, but warmed up throughout the evening.

Additional baseball personalities and celebrities in attendance included Don Mattingly, Peter O’Malley (who received a rousing ovation from the crowd), Tommy Davis, Sweet Lou Johnson, Arte Moreno, Billy Crystal, Ron Howard and Jon Lovitz, among others.  Interesting that Frank McCourt wasn’t in the audience given Koufax and Torre being on hand…or maybe it’s not surprising, given the event’s host.

One great moment of the evening was when Simers brought Clayton Kershaw up on stage.  Despite being a few inches taller than Koufax, when the two compared hands,  the top of Clayton’s fingers only reached to the top knuckle of Sandy’s fingers.  Incredible; and as Torre pointed out, that was the key to Sandy’s dangerous curve ball.

Now, on to Koufax being Koufax:

On claims he’s a recluse: “I don’t know that I’ve dropped out of sight.  I go to the Final Four every year…and I go to golf tournaments and walk around if I have a friend playing in it.  I go to the Super Bowl occasionally, I go to Dodger Stadium.  I worked for the Dodgers for almost 20 years.  I go to dinner every night, I go to the movies…”

On what word he would use to describe himself: “It sure as hell isn’t gentle, especially playing the game.”

On competition: “For me competing is being the last man standing.  It has nothing to with kicking water coolers.  That’s ego massage.  I just feel that when the game was over, the best thing that could happen to you was shake hands with the catcher and go inside.  But the last man standing is to me is the competitor.”

On Hank Aaron hitting .362 against him (inc. seven intentional walks in one season): “Good hitters are going to hit you.  The idea is not necessarily to get them out.  Make them hit in situations where they’re not going to hurt you. It says you have to get 27 outs, it doesn’t have any names on it.  And Henry’s was never one on my out list.”

On intentionally hitting Lou Brock in a game: “If you’re going to hit someone, you never tell him.  He did bunt.  He did get on.  And I looked at first base and I couldn’t tell if he was laughing or smiling.”

Koufax then turns to Torre: “What would you have done?”

Vin Scully on Koufax’s perfect game: “Sandy had a way of lifting his teammates, inspiring the fans and I think, every once in a blue moon, inspiring a broadcaster.  And on that particular night, it was so dramatic.  A perfect game; it inspired me.”

On his perfect game: “There are times where everything is right.  I don’t know if I’ve ever had better stuff or better control than I did the last two innings of that game.  Everything was right.  Everything worked.  I didn’t have much doubt that it was going to be ok.“

On his grandfather’s philosophy and his dropping out of the public eye:  “My grandfather just felt that time was the most important asset that…don’t be frivolous with your time.  As you get older, I’ve developed an attitude: spend your money foolishly and your time wisely because it’s a lot easier to know what you have in the bank than it is what you have left.”

On his rookie year: “I got a $14,000 bonus.  I was 19 years old and got invited to every poker game.  I was not really welcome in the clubhouse at the start.  I’m a kid with no experience; I probably pitched five times in my life, and all of a sudden I’m in the major leagues,  taking a roster spot [NOTE: that roster spot belonged to Tommy Lasorda of all people] on a team that’s trying to win a pennant and Jackie [Robinson] and Joe Becker, who was our pitching coach at the time, were the two guys who really went out of their way to make me feel welcome and try and make it o.k.”

On Jackie Robinson: “I know what Jackie went through and Jackie was very special to me.  Everyone talks about him as a competitor, but he was a warm human being too.  He was compassionate, he looked after me, and it was special to me.”

On a quality start being six innings today: “No. A quality start is shaking hands with your catcher.”

On holding out: “There were years when I’d already signed my contract, and the general manager would say, ‘We’re not getting enough press, I’m going to make you a hold out.”

On Don Drysdale: “I think we drove each other. If Don was going to do something, I had to do it also.  I think we made each other better, as a friendly competition. Most teams would like to have two guys that were pitching that well.”

On being known as a playboy bachelor: “I don’t know.  I had a good time.”

All in all, I found myself laughing and really enjoying every moment of the broadcast.  Both Sandy and Joe were very open, honest and jovial throughout the evening and it was great to get a peek inside this fiery competitor with the soft exterior.  By definition, it’s rare that any of us have the opportunity to hear from a reclusive legend, and this was one of those special moments.  Most of all, I hope Sandy had a good time and that we’ll be seeing him again soon.  It’s been too long.

Photo Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

From the Foundation’s Web site:

Joe Torre, former professional baseball player and manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, grew up the youngest of five children in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a New York City police detective and revered in his community. He was the cop that made everyone feel safe. Everyone except his own family.

Joe and Ali have already launched 11 Margaret’s Place locations in the New York tri-state area, and Joe mentioned today that the Foundation hopes to have their first two West Coast locations up and running in the greater Los Angeles area by this fall.

I have to say that this was a very moving afternoon.  Joe and Ali Torre clearly are clearly trying to make a difference and break the cycle of domestic violence that so often continues in families from generation to generation.  Oh, and in a nice surprise, former Dodger Todd Zeile was in the audience supporting his friend and former manager (from their days with the St. Louis Cardinals).

As has been widely reported this week, the first big public event for the Safe At Home Foundation will be the “Koufax & Torre…Safe At Home” event on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at the NOKIA Theatre.  Needless to say, this should be a fantastic opportunity to not only hear some great baseball stories from two legends, but also learn more about Joe’s passion for this cause.  Ticket prices range from $25.00 to $200.00 and are available at Ticketmaster.

Of course, what event with Joe Torre wouldn’t be complete without a little baseball talk, right?  Joe had some very funny and insightful comments and anecdotes on everything from Manny Ramirez  to pitch counts in the major leagues.  I’ll share some of these very soon, but will leave you with one tonight on Boston Red Sox fans:

“The people of Boston are very nice.  But something happens to them when they go through those turnstiles.”  Joe then went on to share two anecdotes: on one occasion while he was managing the Yankees, he was in an elevator with a Boston fan.  The fan told him that if he had the choice between watching the Red Sox beat the Yankees or having the U.S. capture Saddam Hussein, he would take the Yankees.  In another instance, Joe was in church with his daughter and Joe was watching her have fun by lighting a series of candles.  A Boston fan came up to Joe and told him that if one of those candles was for the Yankees then he was going to blow it out.

Ahh, Boston fans…you’ve got to love their passion!

Congratulations once again to Joe and Ali Torre for their very public dedication to ending the cycle of domestic violence and for bringing the Safe At Home Foundation to the West Coast.  I’m sure we’re going to be hearing a lot more about this organization in the months and years ahead thanks to their ongoing commitment to the cause.

Jim Tracy

As I sit here on one of Maui’s amazing beaches, I got to thinking about the manager of the year voting, and who I would vote for if given an opportunity.  There are certainly a number of worthy candidates with the favorites falling into two camps: the managers leading upstart teams on surprising runs, and those whose teams consistently deliver year after year.  I tend to favor the former category in MOY voting…there’s something to be said for teams that defy expectations and go on incredible runs deep into the regular season, but you can’t ignore managers that deliver contenders seemingly every year.

Finally, since I’ve tried to write this with minimal computer time, please excuse the lack of numbers…gotta get back to the beach and continue working on my playoff tan!  With that said, here are my votes:

3^rd Place: Tony La Russa

Sure, La Russa has the best player in the game in Albert Pujols and a stacked lineup.  But once the Cardinals added Matt Holliday, Mark DeRosa and others, he deftly put the pieces in place (including moving Skip Schumaker to second base from the outfield) to lock up the division early.  They did struggle down the stretch, but the competition was non-existent.  He deserves third place.

2^nd Place: Joe Torre

Like La Russa, I feel Joe Torre had a very strong lineup to start the season, but in my opinion, Joe deserves consideration for manager of the year due to how he handled the Manny Ramirez situation, and specifically his use of Juan Pierre.  In addition, he managed a shaky starting pitching roster that had to overcome numerous hurdles.  In the end, they finished with some on the best numbers in the National League.  And like Toy La Russa, Torre has proven he can deliver a contender year after year, seemingly with ease.

NL Manager of the Year: Jim Tracy

Jim Tracy gets our vote, as he literally turned this team around the Colorado Rockies after taking the reins following Clint Hurdle’s firing on May 29.  Consider the numbers: The Rockies were last in the NL West with a record of 18-28. After taking over as manager, he led them to a Wild Card playoff appearance and very nearly a division title.  Most importantly, Tracy gave his players (especially his bullpen) clear roles, and let them know how he intended to use them.  This in turn gave them confidence and the turnaround began.  Pretty incredible stuff.

So there are our votes…let us know what you think about our picks, or feel free to make a compelling argument for another manager.

3 games at Arizona (52-63)

3 games vs. St. Louis (64-52)

4 games vs. Chicago (58-54)

3 games at Colorado (63-51)

3 games at Cincinnati (49-64)

1 game vs. Arizona (52-63)

Not so bad, right?  Now let’s look at September and early October:

3 games vs. Arizona (52-63)

3 games vs. San Diego (49-66)

3 games at Arizona (52-63)

3 games at San Francisco (62-52)

3 games vs. Pittsburgh (46-67)

3 games vs. San Francisco (62-52)

3 games at Washington (40-74)

3 games at Pittsburgh (46-67)

2 games at San Diego (49-66)

3 games vs. Colorado (63-51)

That’s 283 combined games under .500.  Yes, that’s right, 283 games under .500, thanks to two sets with the Pirates, one with the Nationals and one with the Padres.  Seems almost unbelievable, doesn’t it?  Hopefully the Dodgers will use this time to get healthy and have their starting pitching develop some much needed confidence as they learn to go deep into each game, preserving the bullpen for the postseason.

Joe Torre is amazing…
Last Thursday…2 outs, bottom of the 8th in St. Louis…game tied, 3-3…man on 3rd…Hong-Chih Kuo on the mound…he just struck out Ryan Ludwick…the fastball was working…next batter, Albert Pujols…Joe Torre comes to the mound…usually, Joe makes a pitching change, but instead, there was a conversation…pitch to Pujols or walk him intentionally?…we got our answer 4 pitches later – the intentional walk…so, up steps Matt Holliday – probably the hottest hitter in the NL since his trade from Oakland…I was thinking that you pitch around one great hitter to face a hot hitter?…interesting…

…then I was amazed…Kuo walked Holliday intentionally to load the bases!…this setup a lefty-lefty matchup with Rick Ankiel…in a classic battle, Ankiel swung at all 3 pitches he saw…all 3 of them were fastballs…and he didn’t make contact on ANY of them!…the Dodgers escaped and eventually won the game in 10 innings…wow!

Joe Torre is amazing, part 2…
In Atlanta on Sunday, Chad Billingsley was pitching a great game…he had 9 strikeouts in 5 innings while holding the Braves to just 2 hits and no runs…a freak hyperextension of Billingsley’s left knee led to Joe Torre pulling him after the 5th for precautionary reasons…I don’t blame him…why risk further injury at this point of the season?…our goal is to win in October, so let’s take care of our guys…

Billingsley was slated to lead off the top of the 6th inning…because the Dodgers were short of bench players (only 3 hitters were available on Sunday), Joe went to power hitting pitcher, Jason Schmidt, to pinch hit…Schmidt has 7 career home runs…what did Torre have to lose?…anyway, Jason lined a 1-1 pitch back up the middle for a single and eventually came home to score the 5th run of the game…the Dodgers went on to win, 9-1.

George Sherrill Trade
Have you guys fallen in love with George Sherrill yet?…as I mentioned in a previous post, he’ll be great out of the bullpen for us and gives us another strong lefty for matchup situations (ie – the Phillies lineup) or be the 8th inning setup guy for Broxton in the 9th…in just 2 appearances (1.1 innings), he has 3 strikeouts, 1 hold, 0 hits and 0 runs allowed…of course, we’ve only seen him twice…sooner or later, he’ll get touched up for a hit, maybe even a run…until then, the Dodgers got the better end of this trade…

Vin Scully’s Farewell Tour
The LA Times published an article last week challenging the Dodgers to send out the great Vin Scully in style…Vin announced he will come back for one more year in the booth before retiring after an incredible career…here’s my 2 cents on what should be done…#1 – Dodgers win the World Series this year and next year!…win it for Vin!…#2 – next season, let Vin choose 81 Dodger greats (1 for each home game) from his days of broadcasting and have that player, manager, coach or Dodger employee take part in throwing out the first pitch and then come up to the booth so Vin can share some great memories with that person…let VIN choose the 81, not the Dodgers…simulcast all 81 of those home games so fans can take part in the farewell – whether you are watching on TV or listening in your car on the radio…that would be awesome…

Great post-game comments from Torre, Kershaw and Ethier.  Definitely don’t miss Kershaw’s take on his developing pitching style.

First up is Joe Torre:

On Ethier: “That’s the guy we all know is in there.”

On Kershaw:  “As far as Kershaw, he grew a little bit at his last outing on Sunday and tonight was just an add-on.  Any time you can put two or three back to back like that, that means you’re making some progress.”

More on Kershaw: “Early in the game he’s not trying to overthrow the ball.  He’s so agressive, and sometimes it works against him because he goes out there and just tries to throw the ball by people and you can’t do it at this level…not on a consistent basis.  I saw him using his pitches the last time out and he used all his pitches tonight.  I thought his curveball was better and we told him he was done after six and he had these big wide eyes and said, ‘Really? Is that it?’  We’re gonna try and get as much good out of this thing as we can.”

On Never Having a Three-Game Losing Streak This Season: “People told me that, and it’s great.  Streaks are great, but you certainly want the good ones to outnumber the bad ones.  I remember ‘96 when I had the Yankees, we never lost more than five in a row and we never won more than five in a row.  There’s no question that if you keep going the rest of the year without losing more than two in a row, we’re in pretty good shape.”

Clayton Kershaw’s Post-Game Comments:

On Andre Ethier: “He’s so tough when he’s hot.  There’s really no right way to pitch him; maybe walk him is the best idea.  He’s just got so much power and he;s got power to all fields.  When he’s seeing the ball well like he was tonight, you saw what happened – there’s no one way to get him out.”

On His Developing Pitching Style: “I think that’s the key for me – trying to incorporate all my pitches.  Sometimes when I get into trouble I just want to go hard, hard, hard and get people out.  Sometimes the best way to do that is just by backing off.  When you’re in certain situations, like whether it was the Angels and the bases loaded or tonight with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, you’re really just trying to make quality pitches.  Sometimes soft is the way to go.  Brad and Russell have both been great.  They’ve both started calling the pitches that I need to throw.  Instead of shaking off like I have done in the past, I trust them and trust myself a little bit more.”

Andre Ethier speaks:

On Having ‘Quick Hands’ Tonight: “I just went in there and worked with Donnie and worked on some stuff and got back to where I need to be. So I guess not to expect that that’s what happen after you work with Donnie, but I’m relaxed, more comfortable up there and ready to go.”

On Hitting Seventh in the Lineup: “We have a good lineup.  You should be honored just to be in the lineup.  We’re now in a situation coming in a couple weeks where we’ve got a guy that will definitely be in the lineup and everyone’s got to fit in where they can and have their opportunities.  It just shows you that you should be happy to be in this lineup because it;s so good and deep from our bench to our starting eight.”

On Attending Wakamatsu’s Baseball Camp as a Youth: “I remember going to Don’s hitting and fielding camps in the winter there in Phoenix.  I’m surprised he remembers me.  I was probably 11…12 years old at that time.  I don’t know if he knew at that time that I’d be his opponent on the major league level.”

On His Home Run Power: “I was never a home run hitter.  I didn’t hit my first home run until I was 13 years old.  Not even Little League.  I didn’t hit one until I was a seventh grader in junior high. So I can say, never three in a game.”

On Manny Ramirez in Albuquerque: “He got through it and he didn’t get hurt…he’ll play the next five days, four days and be ready for us next week.  I’m not concerned about statistics.  I’m more interested in having him compete in some games.”

On Juan Pierre’s Upcoming Return to the Bench: “Juan certainly seized the opportunity and made the most out of it.  We’ll just go back and, our original plan coming out of Spring Training was to give Juan a day or two a week in center field and rest Ethier or rest Kemp.  We did it, I think three times, before Manny was suspended, so we’ll continue to do that.  It’s just one of those things.  When you have Kemp in center field, obviously getting better.  Ethier’s been such a big part of our offense. with this National league baseball, there’s not much we can do about it.

On the Dodgers Not Losing Three Games in a Row All Season: “We’ve been lucky a lot.  Our record in close games has been very good.  It just so happens, a lot of those close games were played at home…our bullpen has been doing an amazing job.  And that’s something that when we left Spring Training, we weren’t sure what it was all about.  So I’ve got to credit the bullpen and just the resiliency of this team.  They’ve been fighting and biting and going after things on an everyday basis and we’ve got to keep doing it.”

On Jason Schmidt: “Schmidt’s pitching tonight with no pitch count so we’ll see what that’s like.”

On Jeff Weaver: “Weaver gave us a courageous outing yesterday.  He pitched his tail off, especially that last inning.”

On His First Impressions of Ichiro Suzuki: “Usually people don’t live up to the expectations but he certainly, when we saw him after what we were told about him, he was scary (for the opposition).  He looked like he had a great deal of control over what he was doing.  Defensively, it looked so easy for him.  He’d be under every ball and make a throw right on the money, running fast after two steps, steal a base when he wanted to, and then when you watched him in batting practice you knew he could hit home runs when he wanted to…he’s about as complete a player as you want to find.”

Torre played for the St. Louis Cardinals for six years and managed them for an additional five. He won the NL Most Valuable Player award as a Cardinal in 1971, when he hit .363 with 24 home runs and 137 runs batted in.

Hopefully Joe will be able to use his influence to get some of those well-deserving Dodgers players on the team!

On the Game as a Whole (Joe Torre): “It was a good baseball game, but a very frustrating baseball game.”

On Missed Opportunities (Joe Torre): “That’s frustrating, but you have to give their pitching a little credit for that.  They missed opportunities too.  They had a man at 3rd base, nobody out.  We were able to get them on a good play.  There were missed opportunities on both sides.  Unfortunately they broke through and we didn’t.”

On Clayton Kershaw (Joe Torre): “You know what, he bends, but he doesn’t break.  He still was able to right the ship.  He’s paying a heavy price here, running that pitch count early.  But this kid doesn’t melt away and that’s certainly a step in the right direction.”

On the Offense (Joe Torre): “Yeah, we’ve been scuffling.  The longer it goes, the worse it gets because everyone puts pressure on themselves, saying, ‘I have to do it here.  I have to do it here.’  I don’t think the pressure of the game is getting to anybody.  I think it’s just the pressure that we’ve been scuffling and each guy is probably trying to do a little bit more than they’re capable of doing.”

On the Offense (Russell Martin): ”You get guys on third base, less than two outs, you’re supposed to put the ball in play and get the run in.  Some days it works, some days it doesn’t.  Today is obviously a day when it didn’t work, especially for me.  Maybe tomorrow.”

On Clayton Kershaw (Russel Martin): “He was kind of inconsistent with his location, his command, today, but he battled through it.  Kept them to one run.  You’re going to have days where you don’t have your best stuff and you just gotta compete and that’s what he did today.”

On His Pitching (Clayton Kershaw): “I just didn’t find a rhythm in the first inning.  Really in the second inning I just got fortunate and went deep in the counts.  Just one of those things that you have, probably over 30 pitches…it’s going to be tough to stay in a game past five innings when you do something like that.  So, just gotta figure out a way to minimize my pitches early in the game.”

On Throwing 97 Pitches Today After 112 His Previous Start (Clayton Kershaw): “I don’t think it has any affect at all.  I had four days to recover from it.  I don’t think it matters to be honest with you.  Pitch count is pitch count, but as a starter you get four days off so you can recover.”

On the Angels: “They are a good ball club, no question about it.  They know how to play, they’ve had success, they’re very aggressive.  And obviously you want to keep the speed guys off the base which isn’t easy ’cause they’re a lot of them in the lineup.”

On the Freeway Series: “There’s always a certain amount of energy that’s brought to the ballpark…from both cities.  I always find that the players, whatever the rivalry is….they they feed off the energy in the ballpark.  I expect it to be that way tonight.”

On Xavier Paul’s Staph Infection on his Left Leg : “He’s in the hospital, but he’s going to be fine.  Everything points to starting the recovery, but obviously it’s going to be a while before he plays baseball.”

On Xavier Paul’s Staph Infection on his Left Leg (from Director of Medical Services Stan Conte): “Xavier had a previous infection that was classified as MRSA which is a type of staph infection that is resistant to a lot of the antibiotics, so it’s difficult to treat.  It was treated successfully, he was fine for a period of time.  In Florida, he slid for that catch that he made.  He had a little, small scrape on his knee, which is not uncommon with any baseball player.  On Tuesday morning, he called us and said it was a little red.  We looked at it Tuesday morning, sent him to the doctor who cultured it, put him on an antibiotic that works effectively with MRSA.  By Wednesday after the game he had a full-blown infection – it happened that fast.  We sent him to USC Hospital, Infectious Disease.  After the game…I took him over there, put him on IV antibiotics, which is the course, and drained the skin, cleared it up of a lot of the infection.  He’s at USC and doing well.  His swelling and infection is resolving, but he’ll probably be in there a couple more days.”

On When Xavier Paul May Play Again (Stan Conte): “We won’t let him play or sweat until that skin is completely closed. I won’t really know until we see how that is and how that resolves, but it definitely could be weeks.”

On Corey Wade:“As far as roles on this club, Corey Wade, we know he’s an eighth inning guy and when Corey’s not available, we pretty much let the situation dictate who is pitching the eighth.”

On Will Ohman and Brent Leach:“Ohman’s been like a one hitter guy, and I think that’s the role we’re going to use him in for now…where we’re sitting now, the way Leach is pitching, it’s nice to have two of them where you can use one early and one late.”

On Juan Pierre: “I’ve never been around anybody who works as hard as he does, as far as the time he puts in doing what he does.”

On the Freeway Series (from Mike Scioscia):  “As far as Southern California fans, yeah, you definitely sense it walking around town.  I was walking around my house today, people were saying ‘Go get ‘em…good luck.’ They know we’re playing the Dodgers.”