DODGERS NOTEBOOK: LITTLE TAKES DREW OUT OF LINEUP.Byline: TONY JACKSON
Anthony (Antonio) Jackson, best known as Tony Jackson Staff Writer Dodgers manager Grady Little William Grady Little (born March 30, 1950 in Abilene, Texas) is a manager in Major League Baseball. He guided the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2003, and has been manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2006. bristled bris·tle n. 1. A stiff hair. 2. A stiff hairlike structure: the bristles of a wire brush. v. bris·tled, bris·tling, bris·tles v.intr. when asked after Tuesday's loss to Pittsburgh -- a game in which right fielder right fielder n. Baseball The player who defends right field. Noun 1. right fielder - the person who plays right field outfielder - (baseball) a person who plays in the outfield J.D. Drew went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts -- whether it was time to consider alternatives to Drew in the important fifth spot in the lineup. Wednesday night, Little not only removed Drew from the five hole, he took him out of the lineup completely. Marlon Anderson Marlon Ordell Anderson is a Major League Baseball infielder who was born on January 16, 1974 in Montgomery, Alabama. Marlon attended the Autuaga County School system in Prattville, Alabama. He currently plays for the New York Mets. took over for Drew both in right field and in the fifth spot, and Andre Ethier
Little wouldn't blame Drew's benching on a lack of productivity. ``It's just a day off for him,'' Little said. ``It's because I wanted Ethier in there, and I wanted Marlon to stay in the lineup.'' Drew, who has been knocked his whole career for being injury-prone, has started 126 of the Dodgers' 153 games and has avoided the disabled list all season. He also entered the day leading the team in RBIs (88) and second in homers (17), and he was batting a respectable .287 with runners in scoring position. Still, he has been unproductive in key situations, and the fact he also led the team with 81 walks suggests he might not be a good fit for the middle of the order. Drew's most productive seasons came with St. Louis in 2001(.323, 27 homers, 73 RBIs in just 109 games), when he hit mostly second, and Atlanta in 2004 (.305, 31, 93), when he hit third but had Chipper chipper Drug slang An occasional user of illicit drugs. See Recreational drug use Tobacco A popular term for a person who smokes < 5 cigarettes/day, who may be resistant to nicotine dependence or addiction, and often born to non-smoking parents. and Andruw Jones hitting immediately behind him. Those were the only seasons when Drew hit .300 over a full year or had at least 20 homers. Playoff tickets: Tickets for possible Dodgers home games in the National League Division and Championship Series will go on sale at 10a.m. Monday in parking lot 10 of Dodger Stadium. Gates will open at 8 a.m., and each fan will receive a numbered wristband wristband An identifying bracelet attached to a Pt's wrist at the time of admission to a health care facility, which may be the only identifier used during a person's stay in a hospital starting at 8:30a.m. A random lottery drawing will be held at 9:30 a.m. Because of the lottery selection, there is no benefit to arriving before the gates open. Deja vu: Former Dodgers catcher Brent Mayne, who retired after the 2004 season and lives in Costa Mesa, was at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday to visit his close friend, Pittsburgh third baseman Joe Randa. Mayne said Monday night's stirring, late-inning comeback against San Diego reminded him of the Dodgers' division-clinching win over San Francisco in October 2004 that ended on a grand slam by Steve Finley. ``It did a lot,'' he said. ``That was a really special thing. I'm so happy for these guys because it looked like their whole season was kind of teetering on (that game).'' |
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