Ted Lilly is where he wanted to be, 14 years later
Reporting from San Francisco — Ted Lilly laughed Sunday as he talked about realizing the life ambition of his former self.
“It took me 14 years,” Lilly said. “I’m getting my chance.”
Lilly, 34, was acquired in a five-player trade with the Chicago Cubs on Saturday by the same team that drafted him in 1996 and sent him to the Montreal Expos on the day of the 1998 trade deadline.
Lilly was in triple A at the time.
“That was really rough,” he said. “As a youngster, I was devastated to be traded from the Dodgers. My dream from when I was signed was to pitch for the Dodgers.”
Manager Joe Torre said Lilly is scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers on Tuesday against the San Diego Padres.
Lilly, who was acquired along with infielder Ryan Theriot in exchange for Blake DeWitt and two minor leaguers, pitched for Torre in New York from 2000-02.
Despite posting a 3.69 earned-run average, Lilly was only 3-8 with the Cubs, a byproduct of receiving the second-worst run support of any starting pitcher in baseball. When reminded the Dodgers also haven’t been scoring lately, Lilly replied, “Hopefully, that’ll change and we’ll find ways to win games. Low-scoring games or high-scoring games, it doesn’t matter.”
Among the new teammates Lilly met Sunday was Casey Blake, who accused him of cheating when the Dodgers faced the Cubs in May. Blake said Lilly was pitching from in front of the rubber.
“We joked around,” Lilly said. “I mentioned something about it.”
Blake smiled when asked about the incident.
“I’ll tell him to keep doing it,” he said.
Comfortable in new clubhouse
Of the three newcomers in the Dodgers’ clubhouse, reliever Octavio Dotel was clearly the most comfortable, as he could be heard from across the room talking to Vicente Padilla and Rafael Furcal.
Dotel was also playful when speaking to reporters.
A closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Dotel was asked whether changing roles would be an issue.
“Maybe for Mariano, yeah,” he said, referring to New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.
Told that Torre likes to go to the hot hand often, Dotel was jokingly asked whether he could pitch every day. Dotel didn’t give up any runs in his last five appearances with Pittsburgh, which sent him to the Dodgers in exchange for pitcher James McDonald and minor league outfielder Andrew Lambo.
“Every day, no, because I’m going to be tired,” he said, laughing. “I’m not 25 years old. I’m 36. We just have to understand that. I don’t think I’m going to be able to throw five days straight.”
Dotel pitched a scoreless eighth inning Sunday.
Health not an issue with Broxton
When Torre spoke to closer Jonathan Broxton, he had one pressing questions: Was Broxton healthy?
Broxton, who gave up a two-run home run to Pat Burrell to blow a save Saturday, said he was. Broxton’s words, coupled with bullpen coach Ken Howell’s account that Broxton looked fine, was enough to convince Torre.
Torre said Broxton looked as if he was overly concerned about location instead of trusting his stuff, which is what he said happened to Chad Billingsley when he struggled this season. Torre guessed that the mentality has translated into a decrease in velocity of Broxton’s fastball in some games.
But Torre said he will stick with Broxton as his ninth-inning man.
“I’m not going to bypass Jonathan at this point,” Torre said. “He just needs to get that personality back.”
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