Dodgers 4, Rangers 3
Manny walked each of his first two times up against Doug Mathis, who later seemed to be saying he was pitching around him by saying he ``wasn't going to give in to him.'' Ron Washington, the Rangers manager, said after the game that they WEREN'T pitching around Manny. ``I think (Mathis) just got a little pumped up,'' Washington said. At any rate, Manny came up a third time against Ramirez, Rangers reliever Elizardo, and hit a ground single up the middle, after which he was removed for a pinch runner. The DH situation with the Brewers is now moot, as Torre told us after the game that Manny will now TAKE TODAY OFF rather than playing against the Brewers or in the B game with the White Sox. Manny will now play LF for the first time on Sunday against the Rockies. ... After the first walk, Manny ended up scoring, but only after advancing one base at a time. Larry Bowa held him at third on a single by James Loney because with Manny's left hammy having tightened on him yesterday, nobody wanted to take any unnecessary chances. He subsequently scored when the Rangers botched a DP grounder by Casey Blake. ... As for the game, it ended when Delwyn Young, pinch hitting with runners on the corners and one out in the ninth, shot a ball up the gap in left-center off reliever Thomas Diamond, scoring Jason Repko. ... Cory Wade made his Cactus League debut in grand style, retiring all three batters he faced in a breeze of an eighth inning. Said afterward he was happy with the way the ball was coming out of his hand and that he feels good. ... Dodgers improve to 8-6, but it really bothers me that they aren't 9-6. If these games don't really count anyway, then why are some games (against major-league opponents) counted in your record and others (yesterday's win over South Korea) not? They're all a bunch of meaningless exhibitions anyway. So why not just count them all? But I digress.
I don't think teams will find pitching around Manny will be as successful a thing as pitching around Bonds because something tells me that the Dodgers have a better offense.
I can't believe I said that but I think they're finally going to jell.
Tony,
That Manny sarcasm in his post game comments to the effect of "They pay me $25mil to hit base hits"?? Was he frustrated that he wasn't getting any good pitches? I assume Manny is just joking around, but we can't tell since we're not there?? Where can we find post game comments??
Tony wrote a couple topics ago:
``We're not going to DH,'' [Milwaukee Manager Ken] Macha said. ``We've got candidates who are candidates for this team that are going to earn their way with the ability to pinch hit. We'd certainly like to accommodate everybody, but the first accommodation is the Milwaukee Brewers.''
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Ken Macha is an idiot. His can write-in a pitcher who won't pitch today in the DH slot, then send up his stupid pinch-hitters unwarned and unprepped each time the DH slot comes around and it works out exactly the same. No wonder Billy Beane fired him.