Dodgers’ Andre Ethier can’t answer call to start in outfield
ST. LOUIS -- Only a day removed from starting in his first game in nearly a month, outfielder Andre Ethier was back on the Dodgers bench Saturday for Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
Not only was the lower part of Ethier’s left leg hurting again, the rest of his body was sore. Ethier, who didn’t have the luxury of playing on a minor league rehabilitation assignment before his return, played nearly the entire game Friday night. He was removed as part of a double switch in the 13th inning.
“He was sore at the end of that game last night,” Manager Don Mattingly said. “Obviously, 13 innings wasn’t our optimal game for him coming out of the game like that.”
Ethier said that he was sore, but was confident he would be ready to start Monday in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium.
As it was, Ethier was able to pinch-hit for Skip Schumaker in what turned out to be the game’s final at-bat. Overpowered by St. Louis Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal, Ethier struck out on three pitches.
Tony La Russa to the Dodgers?
If the Dodgers don’t retain Mattingly next season, could they replace him with Tony La Russa?
It doesn’t sound like it, based on what La Russa said Saturday at a news conference before Game 2 of the NLCS.
Asked whether he would be open to coming out of retirement to manage again, La Russa replied, “In October only.”
La Russa, who won World Series titles with the Cardinals and Oakland Athletics, said he misses postseason baseball.
“If I could only manage October, I would be back every year,” he said. “This is so much fun. But I don’t miss the managing. I miss winning and losing. There’s a big difference.”
La Russa retired after the Cardinals won the 2011 World Series and has since expressed no interest in returning to the dugout.
Steve Lyons and Eric Collins out as Dodgers broadcasters
The Dodgers do not plan to bring back Steve Lyons and Eric Collins to their broadcast team next year.
Lyons had worked on the Dodgers’ television broadcasts for nine years, most recently as an analyst on road games and on pregame and postgame shows.
Collins, with the Dodgers for five years, had served as the play-by-play voice on televised games outside California and Arizona.
Lyons, a former major league player, announced news of his dismissal Saturday via Twitter.
Collins also is not expected to return, but a Dodgers official said the team would not confirm or comment on any broadcast personnel decisions until after the season.
The Dodgers are expected to bring back the rest of their broadcasters — Vin Scully, Charley Steiner and Rick Monday, as well as the Spanish-language team of Jaime Jarrin, Pepe Yniguez and Fernando Valenzuela.
A.J. Ellis says umpire got it right
To a large segment of the Dodgers fan base, this was an outrage: Mark Ellis slid home with the potential go-ahead run Friday, and replays appeared to indicate catcher Yadier Molina might have missed the tag.
That play, in the 10th inning of the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss in Game 1, might have been challenged under the replay system expected to be implemented next year.
But Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said the call was the correct one, even if Molina missed the tag.
“In the history of baseball, no one has ever been called safe on that play because they didn’t tag them,” A.J. Ellis said. “That would be a shame for a great defensive play like that, the great throw by (right fielder) Carlos (Beltran), and great play by Yadier at the plate to be overturned because of a technicality that he didn’t graze him with the glove.”
Twitter: @dylanohernandez
Twitter: @BillShaikin
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
