Tagged: Brad Ausmus

Clubhouse crazes

It’s cool to see that even in the heat of a division series, the Rays find time to keep things light in the clubhouse by using their iPad. This is a great read from Yahoo’s Jeff Passan and I think these are the types of stories that fans really like to read about because it shows the “other side” of the players.

I still remember when the Sudoku craze took over our clubhouse after Jose Cruz Jr. found one on a table in the clubhouse at Coors Field. And this year, Casey Blake was the guy always on top of crossword puzzles, often with the help of his Ivy League teammate, Brad Ausmus (among others).

As a PR person, it’s our job to find these cool stories and help share them with you guys, the fans, so we’ll keep working this year to come up with them and bring them to light.

On a side note, to answer the question that was asked about the Team Photo Calendar that was given away by the Heart Gallery folks – yes, there are amazing success stories from this program. Last year, I believe 26 kids were featured in the calendar and all but a few found homes through this project. How amazing is that? That’s part of why we agreed to do it again this year…

As for the NLCS…I’m not even sure who to root for in a Phillies/Giants series. Is it possible that neither team wins?!  Who are you all rooting for and what are your World Series predictions?

Don Mattingly, the beach and artwork

With yesterday’s media availability for Don Mattingly and Ned Colletti, we got a little nugget at the end of the session that I never knew. Don Mattingly is a West Coast guy at heart, according to the manager himself.

“The first time I came to Anaheim, I loved it,” he said. “The weather, the cool nights, the laid-back way it is away from the field. I like that a lot. This place fits my personality really well. I live at the beach, I like it a lot, chill away from the field. It allows me to be somebody different.”

It was a glimpse at the man who will lead the team and it was very genuine. It’s also something I didn’t really know about him, though we did talk about how great the South Bay is on the plane flight to Colorado last week.

In any event, he heads to the Fall League tomorrow…

On a side note, I’ve had a few people ask me what artists did the gifts we gave to Joe Torre and Brad Ausmus. For Torre, it was Opie Otterstad who did the incredible painting and Brad’s helmet was decorated incredibly by David Arrigo. Check out their work…pretty amazing.

 

Thank you, Dodger fans…

Well, it was hardly the finish we all had hoped for back in February at Camelback Ranch, but it was a great day and hopefully those of you at the stadium or watching on TV enjoyed it.

From Brad Ausmus’ retirement ceremony and two-hit game, to John Lindsey taking out the lineup card with Joe Torre and even getting in the box score with a pinch-hit appearance…and from Hong-Chih Kuo setting the record for the lowest single-season ERA in franchise history, to Joe Torre’s farewell speech and ceremony, it’ll actually be a day to remember for many Dodger fans who have supported this team all year.

I know that more than 15,000 people left the stadium with some sort of gift (one of which took home a Hyundai Sonata), while David Hasselhoff’s rendition of God Bless America was a huge hit (as was his cameo in Don’t Stop Believing).

On behalf of everyone at the Dodgers, we truly thank you for your support this season. You all come out, win or lose, through thick and thin and for that, you have our deepest gratitude.

Keep checking back at the blog all winter, as we’ll be updating regularly. And have a safe Fall…

Welcome back Brad Ausmus

With Brad Ausmus starting today’s game, he will surpass Al Lopez for seventh-place all-time on the games caught list in Major League history (1919) and is only a few games shy of catching Jim Sundberg (1927) for sixth place.

And for those who track such things, today’s game also is Ausmus’ 1952nd of his career, and he will pass Shawn Green for the all-time Jewish record for games played according to JewishMajorLeaguers.org, a not-for-profit organization that documents American Jews in America’s Game.

Brad has worked incredibly hard to come back much faster than most expected from his back surgery and hopefully he’ll play a big role in today’s game on FOX.

 

Manny to the disabled list…

It appears Manny Ramirez’s calf injury is significant enough to put him on the disabled list, which we officially have done while activating Brad Ausmus from the disabled list. Obviously that’s not the news we were hoping to hear from today’s MRI, but clearly it’s more important to have him healthy down the stretch than have him go out there on an injured calf and make things worse.

Of course, the timing isn’t very good given that the team has dropped five in a row, but for true baseball fans, tonight’s matchup of Kershaw and Lincecum should be a really exciting one (and hopefully the first of many between two division rivals for years to come). And hopefully it’s the start of a winning streak…

Regarding the Inside the Dodgers tour, it looks like Sept. 4 is the winner, so stay tuned for details and mark your calendars. We’ll send out more info shortly…

And finally, I truly appreciate the candor of several people posting on ITD and hopefully you can understand that my job is not to be a voice of baseball operations for the team and to weigh in, point by point, on each position on the field. That’s for Ned, Joe and their staffs to do (and as you know, they answer these questions almost daily in the media).

There’s no doubt just from reading your comments how passionate you all are about the team and how badly you want the team to win. All we can do is assure you that the people who come here every day to work are equally as passionate and literally spend almost every waking minute of every day trying to find ways to win. No one comes into the office hoping that today is the day we start a five-game losing streak.

It’s awesome that there’s debate here about which pitchers should be acquired, what our farm system is like, what the lineups should be and the moves that Joe Torre makes in game. That’s why you all love the game and it’s why I love it, too. It’s why many of us have literally chosen to dedicate our life’s work to it.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the tour and hopefully I can answer a question or two for you, if it’s helpful. And if not, that’s okay, too. Just don’t lose your passion for the team…