Monday, June 11, 2007

Dodgers Not in First Place, But Russell Martin Is

(Click on the badge to VOIX POUR LE RUSSELL!)

From Inside the Dodgers:

Yes, it's true. Russell is now in first place in what has to be the quickest anyone has made up a 150,000 vote deficit ever. Hopefully will get to post more later but for now, here's the lineup. Keep up the great work!

UPDATE:

Paul Lo Duca regains some classy points. From Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com:

Spotlight on Martin: By moving into the top spot in National League voting for All-Star catcher, Martin was surrounded by local media before the game.

The best comments, however, came from the Dodgers' previous All-Star catcher and current Met, Paul Lo Duca.

"He's done everything right. I wasn't as talented as Russell at his age, I didn't have the catching skills," said Lo Duca, who reached the Major Leagues at age 26, compared to 23 for Martin. "He's so polished behind the plate. Pitchers are comfortable throwing to him, he understands the game and he's an unbelievable offensive player.

"I just told him to get his rest, take your days off. He reminds me of myself, he doesn't want to take time off, neither did I. You get older, you realize it pays off."

And from Bill Dwyre at the LA Times (reg.):

Another bonus for the Dodgers is Martin's speed, something normally squeezed out of catchers' legs in all those hours of squatting.

"Catchers aren't supposed to do that," said Tom Lasorda, who managed more than his share over the years. "Scioscia and Piazza, they couldn't even steal a hot dog in their own clubhouse."

...Even Lo Duca said, "Russell deserves to go" to the All-Star game and said, if he had a vote, it'd probably go to Martin.

1 comments:

Alex Cora said...

Classic quote by Lasorda about the hot dog.