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
Post-Game Comments from Torre, Martin, Broxton, Kuroda (June 8)
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