| Press-Telegram Oct. 14--Los Angeles Dodgers-Philadelphia Phillies Game 4 Diary: SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS 1:40 p.m.: Determined to arrive early for big match, and set to drive through Elysian Park Ave. media entrance when a gruff-voiced guy waves me over to stop, ignores my Baseball Writers' Association of America card, and informs me that I can't proceed and must park outside Dodger Stadium when he can't find my name on the press parking list. The officious fellow seems thrilled by such a development, but his euphoria doesn't last as a quick call to the Dodgers' vice-president of public relations, Josh (Mr. Fix It) Rawitch, resolves my harrowing dilemma and forces my irritating nemesis to relent and allow me to enter the inner sanctum of Manny Ramirez. 2:00: Say hello to the Greatest Dodger Of Them All, Mr. Vin Scully, in the pressbox, and marvel how well he looks for a guy 80. Certainly, I hope to look the same 30 years from now when I, too, reach such a scary milestone (OK, I fudge a year or two, which one is inclined to do when one reaches a certain age). 2:15: Attend the press conference of another old geezer, Joe Torre, and, oh, is Mr. Torre bursting with self-reverence even though he vainly attempts to hide it. I've seen people pleased with themselves across the seasons, but none more than Mr. Torre, whose practiced banalities always inspire yawns from me. Incidentally, spot Torre wearing a Dodger hat, which is surprising since I didn't think a hat could be found large enough to fit over his swollen noggin. 2:40: The Phillies' manager, Charlie Manuel, isn't exactly overburdened with brains -- or at least that's the distinct impression I get every time I listen to him talk -- but the folksy gentleman, unlike Torre, did dispense something worth remembering when discussing the brush-back, beanball controversy that's unfolded in the series by saying, "Let the Louisville (bat) do the talking for you instead of running your mouth." 3:00: Walk onto the Dodger Stadium field to observe the Dodgers take batting practice, and come across an old acquaintance, Orel Hershiser, doing analyst work for ESPN radio. Reminds me that he was known to pitch tight to batters, and even one season hit 17 of them. Says it was a common practice among many pitchers early in his career, but that umpires started issuing more warnings later in it as a result of the crackdown of violence in sports that he says grew out of excessive hockey fighting. 3:10: Manny Ramirez struts to the batting cage, acknowledges a couple of admiring patrons in the stands, does a few calisthenics, and begins hitting line drives around the field and into the outfield stands. 3:30: Spot my old Fresno State dormitory roommate from a long, long time ago, Jimy Williams, the one-time Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros manager who's now a coach with the Phillies. Natch, we talk about ancient times. 4:00: Spot another old friend, Ed Weinberger, who I have known since the early 1970 s when we were both young writers. Alas, I wrote sports and Ed wrote TV scripts -- many for the "Mary Tyler Show" -- and was one of those who created "Taxi." He retired in his mid-40 s, and owns homes in Beverly Hills and Florence, Italy. I, well, own a home in East Long Beach. 5:14: The music group from East L.A., Los Lobos, sings the National Anthem. 5:16: Orel Hershiser throws out the ceremonial first pitch. It was so embarrassingly wild that even I, with my bum shoulders, could have done as well. 5:24: Play Ball! 5:24: Ominously, the Phillies' shortstop, Jimmy Rollins, who hasn't been hitting, leads off with a single off Derek Lowe, starting on three days rest because Joe Torre doesn't trust anyone else to start in such a vital game for his team. 5:28: Oh no. Jayson Werth singles, and now Lowe must face Chase Utley with runners on first and third. 5:30: Did Joe Torre err in starting Lowe with so little rest? Utley doubles down right field line to make it 1-0, and Phillies have runners on second and third with no outs. 5:31: Ryan Howard ups it to 2-0 as his groundout to second base plates Werth. 5:35: After Lowe walks Pat Burrell, he induces the fleet Phillies' center fielder, Shane Victorino, to hit into a double play to limit the damage. 5:38: Rafael Furcal bunts one over the head of third baseman Greg Dobbs for a leadoff single. 5:40: After Andre Ethier grounds out to advance Furcal to second, the Philadelphia starter, Joe Blanton, intentionally walks Manny Ramirez, bringing up Russell Martin. 5:44: Strategy works with Martin, who feebly strikes out. 5:45: Doesn't work with James Loney, who drills one off the center field wall to score Furcal. 5:48: Blanton gets Blake DeWitt on a liner to Howard at first to end the threat. 5:52: Derek Lowe isn't sharp -- at least not yet. The Phillies' No. 7 hitter, Greg Dobbs, leads off with a booming double down the right-field line. 5:58: Suddenly, Lowe does look sharp, retiring the next three hitters, including the last one, Jimmy Rollins, on a strikeout. 6:05: After Juan Pierre, who had singled, is thrown out at second, Derek Lowe bloops single into center field off Rollins' glove. But Furcal flies out, and the Dodgers still trail by a run. 6:12: Utley, the Long Beach native and Poly High graduate, picks up his second hit, a single to right. 6:20: Manny Ramirez's second plate appearance. Ramirez isn't intentionally walked this time, but nevertheless he winds up walking again. 6:24: Loney picks up his second hit, a single, and Dodgers have runners at first and third with two outs. 6:25: DeWitt once again fails, as he flies out to left field. 6:54: After a couple of scoreless innings, Furcal leads off the fifth with a walk, as crowd ignites. 6:56: Now the stadium is a reverberating din, as Ethier singles and up steps Manny Ramirez with no place for Blanton to put him with two runners on and no outs. 6:58: It becomes even louder as the People's Choice drills a single to tie it at 2-2. For the second straight game, Burrell, the Phillies' left fielder, indiscreetly tries to throw out the speedy Furcal at home plate, allowing Ramirez to advance to second. 7:01: Dodgers go ahead 3-2 as Ethier scores on a groundout by Martin. 7:12: Joe Torre replaces Derek Lowe with the young left hander, Clay Kershaw, who yields a walk to Howard and single to Burrell. 7:17: Chan Ho Park replaces Kershaw, and promptly gets pinch-hitter Pedro Feliz on a fly to right. 7:19: Howard scores the tying run moments later when Park unleashes a wild pitch. 7:29: The new Phillies' pitcher, Chad Durbin, starts off as ineffectively as Kershaw, yielding a home run to Casey Blake to put the Dodgers ahead again and then a double to Juan Pierre, of all people, and a walk to pinch-hitter Matt Kemp. 7:40: The Phillies unraveling. Ryan Howard muffs a bunt by Furcal, and, suddenly, Dodgers up by two (5-3). 7:50: A familiar voice can be heard nearby, and when I turn to see who it's coming from I spot first the jolly fellow's impressively bulging midriff that I know can belong to only one person -- the inimitable Tom Lasorda. 7:57: The Dodger left-handed reliever, Hong-Chih Kuo, has the crowd shrieking with delight, as he sets the Phillies easily in the seventh. 8:17: But, oh, do things turn around in the eighth after The Genius, Joe Torre, inexplicably yanks Kuo when Shane Victorino drills a two-run homer off Kuo's replacement, Cory Wade, to silence the assemblage and pull the Phillies even at 5-5 in the eighth. 8:25: Joe Torre's pitching moves are a disaster since he took out Kuo. He replaces Wade with Jonathan Broxton, who soon gives up a lengthy two-run homer to right field to pinch-hitter Matt Stairs. The Phillies are now ahead 7-5 and the Dodgers are now on the threshold of going down 3-1 in this series. 8:44: Manny Ramirez hits two-out double against Brad Lidge in the eighth, and then Russell Martin reaches first base on a wild-pitch strikeout. But it doesn't matter, as the Phillies' formidable reliever gets Loney on fly to Burrell. 9:08: It's over. Lidge, predictably, sets the Dodgers down in order in the ninth, and wonder how Joe Torre is going to rationalize his bumbling pitching decisions that have his team on the precipice. doug.krikorian@presstelegram.com
To see more of the Press-Telegram, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.press-telegram.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. NYSE:DIS, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Related News Topics:
Top sports stories
General sports briefs
Other sports news
Mixed Sports News and Releases
Sports photographs
Miscellaneous sports news
Miscellaneous sports news
|
