Sunday Pregame Notes

Today was the no-spin zone in the Dodger dugout before the game, as Bill O'Reilly was in the house during Joe Torre's pregame media session. Here are some notes from that session:

• Torre likes the progress Xavier Paul has made this season, calling him a big league player, and said the chances are very good that Paul will remain with the Dodgers for the rest of the season
  
• Hong-Chih Kuo and Jeff Weaver are unavailable to pitch today. Jonathan Broxton, who threw 28 pitches in his two innings Saturday, is a "wait and see," per Torre, who said he wouldn't be afraid to close the game with Kenley Jansen today
• George Sherrill was indeed the last man standing on the mound for the Dodgers yesterday. It was Chad Billingsley's throw day, but he had already completed his full work -- including a bullpen session and time in the weight room -- by the time extra innings rolled around, so he was unavailable
• Today is Hiroki Kuroda's throw day, in case you were wondering who could be the extra-inning long man
• Torre said he was happy with George Sherrill's outing yesterday, and said it was a good test because the pressure of the game was more like what Sherrill is used to.
• Brad Ausmus has what Torre termed a stomach issue, similar to what Broxton faced earlier in the week. Ausmus is available to pinch hit if needed, but Torre would rather not use him.

Umpire Doug Harvey was inducted into the Hall of Fame today, and Torre noted that he was both the first and last ejection of Harvey's 31-year career. About a month before Harvey's final game in 1992, he came to Torre, then the Cardinals manager, with an idea. Harvey said Torre was his first career ejection, and he would like for Torre to be the last as well. The two concocted a plan by which Torre would be ejected by Harvey near the end of the season. Torre remembered that the game was against the Mets and they were up "by four or five runs" late -- it could have been this game -- so late in the game with a comfortable lead he yelled at Harvey from the dugout, seizing his chance to get ejected. The only problem was that Harvey forgot of their plan, and it took a bit of arguing to get Harvey to remember, and he smiled as he tossed Torre, for the final time.

Lineups

Game Time: 1:10 p.m.

TV: Prime Ticket

Baseball Reference Preview | Box Score | Gameday