It’s hard to believe the final homestand of the season is here, and while it’s depressing that the Dodgers are completely out of the race, there are several entertaining sub-plots for these last three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
On Friday night, Torre will hand the managerial reins over to Brad Ausmus, perhaps in a nod to a future career. Ausmus also gets to choose his coaching staff from the players on the team, so that should be entertaining. As Ken Gurnick’s article indicates, Ausmus has the demeanor and intelect to be a ptentially great manager. I’m actually really looking forward to tonight’s game.
In addition, if you follow the Dodgers official Twitter feed, @DodgertownUSA, you can win autographed baseballs throughout the final homestand (also known as Fan Appreciation Weekend). There will also be fireworks on the field following the game.
On Saturday night, the Dodgers will honor Rubby De La Rosa and Gerry Sands as their 2010 Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher and Player of the Year. I’ll have more on these guys in a subsequent post.
Torre has also said that catcher Russell Martin will likely manage this game, and that he’s excited about the opportunity. This is also a bit of a change for Torre, as he usually picks older veterans for the honor, but I think it says something about how fond Joe is of Russ.
Finally, on Sunday, it’s the last game for the retiring Joe Torre and Brad Ausmus, so it’s a great opportunity to say goodbye. The club has a special pre-game celebration of Ausmus’ career planned, which spans an incredible 1,938 games, placing him seventh on the all-time list.
Sunday is also Fan Appreciation Day. If you haven’t been before, it’s really a lot of fun. Per the Dodgers’ press release, there will be more than 15,000 giveaways for fans:
Prizes include a 2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2011 Dodgers season tickets, a 40-inch Sharp TV, an MSI computer, Jet Blue flight vouchers, a 55-inch Vizio TV, tickets to the NASCAR Nationwide Series courtesy of Auto Club Speedway, 200 Universal Studios passes, a one-night stay at San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino’s hotel that comes with two tickets to a Sublime concert and dinner for two at the Pines Restaurant and more. A full list of Fan Appreciation Day prizes is below.
See you at Chavez Ravine!
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