Dodgers News

Dodgers' Nomar Garciaparra to start Sunday night
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October 12
Los Angeles Times
 
"Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said he had not ruled out starting Garciaparra at third base ahead of Casey Blake, who is batting .222 in the postseason and .118 against Philadelphia Phillies starter Jamie Moyer. However, Torre said the oft-injured Garciaparra would "have fewer problems playing first." Garciaparra has a .417 average against Moyer, although only three of his 36 career at-bats came within the last five years. "I think recent stuff is important," Torre said, "but, approach-wise, Jamie hasn't changed much over the years." Moyer, 45, said he never had to adjust to diminished velocity since he never had much on his fastball to start with. "I never threw 90 [mph], 95, and got hurt," he ..."
Ramirez, Dodgers not worried yet
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October 12
Camden Courier-Post
 
"Manny Ramirez sat in his cushioned chair in the cramped Dodgers clubhouse Saturday afternoon, lounged back a bit and contemplated drinking heavily. "I'm thinking about bringing a bottle of Crown Royal and do it before the game," Ramirez said. Then he laughed that high-pitched, hee-hee-hee laugh of his, the one where he's having fun, totally absolved of pressure, completely oblivious to the apparently dire circumstances that face the Dodgers. In 2004, Ramirez and the Red Sox were down 3-0 in the ALCS to the Yankees. They won the last four games, becoming the first and only team in baseball to overcome such a deficit in a seven-game series. Legend has it they passed around a cup of Crown ..."
The Dodgers can thank Padres' ex-scout for recent draft success
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October 12
San Diego Union-Tribune
 
"Sunday night the National League Championship Series will visit Southern California for the first time since the 1998 Padres and Braves met in Mission Valley. At Dodger Stadium, the Phillies, winners of Games 1 and 2 in Philadelphia, will try to extend their lead in the best-of-seven series. Whether Logan's Run has more life to it could determine whether Los Angeles can reach its first World Series since 1988. Logan White, a former Padres scout, built the foundation for this Dodgers team via the amateur draft from 2002 to 2006. "The Dodgers wouldn't be where they are without those drafts," Padres General Manager Kevin Towers said. Nine players drafted by White are on L.A.'s active ..."
Mets and Yankees should stay away from Manny Ramirez
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October 12
New York Daily News
 columnist Mike Lupica
"Both the Mets and Yankees, who are a little desperate these days as they watch the baseball postseason go on without them, should stay away from Manny Ramirez. Let the Dodgers pay him. And have him. Then the Dodgers can wait around to find out if it will be enough that he doesn't quit on them someday, wonder if the last big score of Ramirez's career is enough to satisfy the greed that brought him to them at the trade deadline. Scott Boras, Swifty Boras, is still sticking to his story on Ramirez, bless his heart (heart, of course, being just a figure of speech in Boras' case). And Boras' story is that Ramirez couldn't possibly have quit on the Red Sox, that he was still producing, forget ..."
Truly life and death
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October 11
San Francisco Chronicle
 
"Where did the tragedy end and the comedy begin? How blurred was the line? When was it proper to laugh, to cry, to revel, to bury one's thoughts in stone silence? When before did these questions creep onto a baseball diamond with such urgency? Maybe this was the first time. One hopes it was the last. "I guess this is Black Friday after all," Phillies pitcher Brett Myers said, an extraordinary quote from the winning clubhouse. Philadelphia beat the Dodgers 8-5 to take a lead of two games to none in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series on a day that brought two terrible phone calls. In the morning, after a meeting with his coaches, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel learned his ..."
Phillies overmatch foe in all facets of game
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October 11
Chicago Tribune
 columnist Phil Rogers
"There was a time when Nomar Garciaparra was just about the last hitter a pitcher wanted to see at the plate in a big situation. That time wasn't Friday, however. Brad Lidge absolutely obliterated Garciaparra in a three-pitch mismatch at the end of Game 2 in the National League Championship Series. He represented the tying run but might not have got within a foot of hitting one of Lidge's sliders, swinging wildly three pitches in a row to finish an 8-5 victory for the Philadelphia Phillies over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Where was Garciaparra when the Dodgers played the Cubs? Because the Cubs couldn't put any pressure on Joe Torre's team, the Dodgers didn't need to go to their collection of ..."
On Torre Divorce: 'It Was Time'
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October 11
New York Post
 
"Hank Steinbrenner refused to get into a hissing match with Frank Torre yesterday when asked what he felt about Joe Torre's brother saying Thursday that Steinbrenner's inheritance was bigger because Joe won four World Series titles as manager of the Yankees. "People don't know the whole story," Steinbrenner told The Post in his George M. Steinbrenner Field office about last year's awkward divorce between Torre and the Yankees, in which Torre was offered a one-year deal with a pay cut to stay, but left. "I agreed with the baseball people that it was time for a change, but it wasn't just my decision. It was my dad's decision long before that.""
Dodgers' McDonald mighty from bullpen
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October 11
L.A. Daily News
 
"OK, so this might seem hard, trying to find a silver lining in the Dodgers' 8-5 defeat to the Phillies on Friday that left their clubhouse so quiet clubhouse you could hear a season drop. Have no fear, there act