ESPNDEPORTES.COM Dodgers reciben con gusto a Yankees

ESPNDEPORTES.COM

By Rigo Cervantez

Se trata de palabras mayores, de un duelo clásico de la pelota caliente, entre dos ilustres instituciones deportivas.

Para el duelo de apertura, en la cortísima serie, este martes, Mattingly ha decidido que sea el derecho Zack Greinke (8-3), que presenta un porcentaje de carreras limpias permitidas de 3.49, quien encabece el comité de recepción, desde la lomita, para los ilustres visitantes.

Y en lo que se refiere al proceso de adaptación a su nueva etapa profesional, como jugador de los Dodgers, Carlos Enrique reporta: "Me he sentido muy bien, todos los integrantes del equipo han sido muy buenos conmigo. Además, estamos ganando, y eso me estimula para tratar de colaborar, en todo lo que yo pueda, a que el equipo siga ganando," apuntó Nolasco.

"Estaré, como todos los días, entrenando junto a mis compañeros y a los mentores de bateo, para estar lo mejor preparado para enfrentar a los Yanquis, que también cuentan con magníficos lanzadores y con un tremendo equipo," señaló Puig.

ESPNLA.COM

By Mark Saxon

LOS ANGELES -- When did Don Mattingly get so much smarter?

On May 22, there were national baseball writers either calling for the Los Angeles Dodgers manager to be fired or predicting his imminent downfall. The Dodgers scrambled to squash those rumors, but a month later, the Dodgers’ season had settled into a more humdrum rut, and it seemed like Mattingly might make it until the final game of the season, but not much beyond that.

And now? Mattingly’s club is as hot as it has ever been in the 55 years the Dodgers have been in Los Angeles and, funny, nobody is raising the issue of his job security. If anything, his name is now being bandied about in early discussions for Manager of the Year.

With the New York Yankees coming to Dodger Stadium for interleague play for the third time ever, it seemed like a good time to catch up with Mattingly. He was a six-time All-Star for the Yankees between 1982 and 1995.

Q. When you guys were in New York earlier this year (the Dodgers’ first trip there in 32 years), the Yankees played a tribute to you on the video board, and you got a standing ovation. How did that feel?

A. It was nice. I’m downplaying it, but it was nice.

I always like going back there. It’s hard to explain that. I played my whole career there, you know, and they were always good to me. The fans appreciated the way I played. It’s where I grew up. I learned how you were supposed to play the game from their perspective. It’s like, you play your whole career there, so …

A. I’m not sure. I don’t know how serious everything is. Obviously, Father Time’s going to get you at some point, but one thing I’ve seen with Derek is you don’t ever underestimate him because he finds a way to get it done. Two years ago, they were saying he can’t do this and he can’t do that, and he gets 200 hits and had a tremendous year. It’s hard to sell him short.

He’ll play the same. Jete plays hard, but he’s under control. He’s not doing dumb stuff. He steals bags when you need them. That’s kind of the way he plays. When he wants an out, he’s going to go make a play, even if he has to go in the stands.

Q. Earlier this year, you said you were prepared for all the rumors about your job because of your experience playing under George Steinbrenner during that time of volatility at Yankee Stadium. When you went through it, though, was it any different than you’d expected?

A. It’s a little different, because you can’t really do a whole lot about it. I’ve been through a lot, obviously, just as a player. It was a good situation, but still you go through stuff. You struggle in your career, they get on you. It’s just the way it is.

You’re prepared for that. You just know how to deal with stuff, but as a manager, you don’t really have any control. So, you’ve just got to keep making good decisions, that’s the main thing. You can’t start listening to outside influences. I don’t want them in my head. I don’t want to see Twitter, I don’t want to see comments. I want to go off facts to make baseball decisions, not based on what’s trending or what talk radio is saying about what you should be doing. You want to just keep making good decisions and then trust your guys. But it was hard, though.

Q. When you read that stuff …

A. I didn’t read it. I heard the questions, so I know what they’re saying. I read MLB.com, the Dodger news, because I want to hear my guys’ comments, because it tells me what they’re thinking and how they’re thinking. Just a little thing they may say, a word in there, tells me something. If something’s going on with the guys, I’ll kind of read a little bit. But that's all.