Lot of time spent gathering audio, little time to create a formal report

Thus, I'll hit some high points and let y'all hear it before the game:

Maddux will make his debut on Friday in Philly, which will push Clayton Kershaw to Saturday.

Joe Torre, on what Greg Maddux adds to the Dodgers, on and off the field
"To me, he adds more than just taking the ball every five or six days. it's what he's done in his career and the way he's done it. I believe it's going to add to a lot. His willingness to talk to players."

Torre, on how Maddux manages to succeed at his age
"His experience is going to be his hole card, in how he goes about doing things and his reputation, when you're facing, you know you're going to have to find a way to beat him, because he's not going to beat himself. his ability to pitch probably outweighs that question about how much he "has left."

Torre didn't think Maddux being able to only throw about 5-6 innings was a problem. Between Derek Lowe, Hiroki Kuroda and, at times, Chad Billingsley, there are enough guys Torre considers feasible 7-8 inning options to offset whatever use of the relief staff is needed for Maddux's starts.

Greg Maddux is happy to be here, but would have been cool staying in San Diego, if a deal couldn't be worked out. He likes his teammates and the experience down south. That being said, he likes being in first place (after being in last just 24 hours ago) and had fun the first time around, which he's looking forward to again.

Nothing new on Raffy Furcal, who's doing some always vague "baseball things" in Arizona. He'll hook up with the team when they happen to be in his neck of the woods for the D-Backs series next week, but beyond that, it's dicey if he'll make any roadies.

Andruw Jones hit a pair of long balls yesterday for the Las Vegas 51's against Fresno, but Torre stressed that it's still pretty premature to declare the outfielder "back." He's giving it at last a few days under Jeff Pentland's watch before even making any evaluations.

To make room for Maddux, Eric Stults' stay in L.A. just got cut very short and Scott Proctor got shifted to the 60-day DL.

Six members of the band Ozomatli threw out the "pre-first pitch." They're all L.A. natives and, having recorded a song about the Dodgers, presumably think Blue. As one might guess, a sextet of balls flying towards the dish was a little chaotic, but nobody got hurt. If you ever get a chance to see them live, by all means, jump on it. Great musicians and they put on a fun show.

From there, actor Chazz Palminteri threw out the official first pitch. Low and outside. Love him in the movie "A Bronx Tale," which I think he's reviving in its original stage version.

Lineups
Rockies
Clint Barmes - 2B
Willy Taveras - CF
Matt Holliday - LF
Brad Hawpe - RF
Garrett Atkins - 1B
Ian Stewart - 3B
Troy Tulowitzki - SS
Yorvit Torrealba - C
Ubaldo Jimenez - P

Dodgers
Kemp - CF
Ethier - RF
Kent - 2B
Manny - LF
Loney - 1B
Martin - C
Nomar - SS
Blake - 3B
Kuroda - P

AUDIO
Joe Torre, Part I: Download joe_torre_part_i.mp3
Joe Torre, Part II: Download joe_torre_part_ii.mp3
Joe Torre, Part III: Download joe_torre_part_iii.mp3
Joe Torre, Part IV: Download joe_torre_part_iv.mp3
Ned Colletti, Part I: Download ned_colletti_part_i.mp3
Ned Colletti Part II: Download ned_colletti_part_ii.mp3
Greg Maddux Part I: Download greg_maddux_part_i.mp3
Greg Maddux, Part II: Download greg_maddux_part_ii.mp3

Posted by kambrothers on August 19, 2008 in Pregame Update | Permalink

Comments

Wow, that ball Stewart sent out had nothing on it. No action of any kind.

Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | August 19, 2008 at 10:00 PM

By the way, it's gotta make things a little easier for Sturtze knowing that he can get shellacked tonight and remain the Major's best pitcher named "Tanyon." In history, to the best of my knowledge.

There's a certain freedom that comes with such a scenario.

Posted by: Andrew Kamenetzky | August 19, 2008 at 10:03 PM

The back end of the bullpen is getting overworked. Troncosco and Sturtze both had 4+ ERAs in the minors. This is the perfect situation to pitch Sturtze in when the game is basically over. Why Troncosco has pitched in important innnings this season is beyond me when he posts a 4+ ERA in the minors. Before this season is over, I bet Torrie is going to put Sturtze in an important innning. The Dodgers minor leagues is that depleted that there is no one better than those two? And we have such horrible minor league players that we have Sweeney on the 25 man roster? Having Sweeney on the team is absolutely ridiculous.

Posted by: Tom | August 19, 2008 at 10:03 PM

Why does Torre continue to put Martin on the 6th spot when you have a couple of more experience players in Blake and even Nomar? Why Torre???????? It's obvious Martin is struggling right now and he had a pretty good game when he batted 8th in the order. But yet Torre continues to bat him 6th. I wonder if a more experience Blake would go for the first pitch after the pitcher just finish walking the last batter. It makes no sense for Blake to be batting 8th. I put this loss all on Torre.

Posted by: dcerros | August 19, 2008 at 10:09 PM

I think it is time for Sweeney to have "back spasms".

Posted by: Tom | August 19, 2008 at 10:11 PM

I hope Torre continues this trend and ONLY pitches Sturtze and Troncosco in blowout situations. How many games did Falkenberg cost the Dodgers?

Posted by: Tom | August 19, 2008 at 10:20 PM