Russell Out to Prove He Can Manage

Interim manager Bill Russell doesn’t know how long he’ll have the job, but Wednesday afternoon, after the announcement that Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda had suffered a minor heart attack and would be away from the team indefinitely, Russell acknowledged that this, in a sense, was his audition for a full-time role as a major league manager--with the Dodgers or some other team.

“Sure it is,” said Russell, a perennial candidate take over as Dodger manager when Lasorda retires. “No question it is. I know people are looking at me. It’s been said, been written about--I want to be a manager, and I’ve got an opportunity now to manage.

“In the game of baseball, you get opportunities. I got an opportunity to make this team, and I took advantage of it. This is an opportunity. I can’t get this opportunity and try to be somebody I’m not. This is my team and I have to run it the way I see fit.”

Russell, who had a previous two-game stint as Dodger interim manager in 1991 and managed the Dodgers’ triple-A team in Albuquerque for two seasons, says his style is not much different than Lasorda’s.

“I like to be aggressive, and I like to see my players be aggressive,” Russell said. “That’s what I want, and that’s probably what everybody wants.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’ve trained for this day. Right now the job is mine, and I’m going to try to do everything I can to get the team to win games.”

Said Dodger first baseman Eric Karros: “Billy’s been around here for a few years, and he knows the players. And he’s been under Tommy’s tutelage for a few years, and he’s been in this organization forever.

“Obviously, we’re going to miss Tommy, but Billy knows how to run a club and I’m sure he can fill his shoes.”

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Russell quickly achieved one of the first things he said he’d like to: Getting right fielder Raul Mondesi, hobbled for the last four games because of a heel injury, back into the lineup.

After Wayne Kirby was posted on the original lineup sheet in right field, Mondesi was switched into the starting lineup, and doubled in his first at-bat.