Here are some notes from Joe Torre's pregame chat with the media before today's game:
- Torre still hasn't decided whether Manny will bat third or fourth upon his return
- Manny was designated hitter last night in Lake Elsinore, but Torre would like to see him play the field starting tonight, "because that's what we do here."
- Jason Schmidt will throw a bullpen session today. If that goes well, he will have another rehab start. If Schmidt is able to last long in that rehab start without any issues, he might be close to coming to the big club.
- Rafael Furcal is still not comfortable, and with his poor performance so far he's putting extra pressure on himself, which has only compounded the problem.
- Torre noted that it might have been good for Manny Ramirez's first game back to be a home game, but he said the first road trip would always be in the back of their minds anyway, so its good to just get that initial first road game/series out of the way.
- Torre is not a fan of interleague play, mostly because its hard to gain anything from playing a team three times that you can use later in the season, or perhaps the playoffs. Also, he mentioned it was almost impossible for interleague play to be fair, with some teams having easier natural rivals than others. However, Torre noted that it is a novelty for the fans, and he's happy to play the games because of that.
- Jonathan Broxton's toe seems fine, in that he hasn't had any issues since the problem first occurred, which "came out of nowhere." Torre also quipped that Broxton has had a lot of rest lately (insert rant about not using Broxton Thursday)