Friday, August 26, 2011

SoSG Road Trip: St. Louis (Part 5: Mattingly In The Dugout, Pre-Game UPDATED)

Here are a couple of videos I took of Dodgers coach Don Mattingly from the pre-game media session in the dugout of Busch Stadium, on August 22, 2011. Both involve him talking about rookie Nathan Eovaldi, who ended up pitching a good game that evening though he did not register the win.

It was interesting for me to see how collegial Mattingly, Gurnick, and the LA Times' Jim Peltz all were in the session. I mean, I know Mattingly sees these guys every day, but still it was impressive to see the level of rapport among that trio. Mattingly is very comfortable in these sessions, as you can see from the videos.

It's too bad; I have a third video in which mlb.com's Ken Gurnick asks about Rod Barajas (who was back in the starting lineup for this evening's game), and Mattingly says that Barajas received the green light from the trainer Stan Conte. And then Gurnick goes on to clarify that it's not the green light for stealing bases, to which everyone laughed.

Unfortunately the dialogue goes on and discusses some things that I can't publish, so I'll have to leave it at that.

UPDATE 10:50p: Shoot, I just found the notes I took on my ipad from the session. Here's some other things Mattingly said:

  • Dee Gordon was possible for the weekend series with the Rockies.
  • Hiroki Kuroda was "a win machine now." Gurnick asked if this had anything to do with his decision to stay with the Dodgers, and Mattingly said it was "admirable", and that it told a lot about Kuroda's character. "He's pitching good every time, he's solid. I figure if we get three runs on the board, we are there," Mattingly said.
  • Regarding the lineup change, Mattingly was unfazed. "It's not that dramatic to move Matt Kemp up a spot [to third]. [Juan] Rivera is consistent, which helps. I don't envision James [Loney] always in the two-hole, but it seemed like it made sense today."
  • Peltz and Mattingly had a great riff going about the midwest, how Mattingly loved it and Peltz was dismissive. "God's country" was the term Mattingly kept using, with Peltz shaking his head.

Earlier: Part 0, Quick Thoughts From The Cardinals Press Box; Part 1, Getting to St. Louis; Part 2, Press Pass Access Onto The Field; Part 3, Inside Busch Stadium, Before Anyone Else; Part 4, Pre-Game Banter With Mattingly, And An Overdue Apology To Jim Peltz