PLAYOFF NOTEBOOK
Vin Scully, legendary Dodgers broadcaster, to miss playoffs on doctors’ orders
Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully won’t be calling any games in the playoffs after undergoing a medical procedure.
The Los Angeles Dodgers said Thursday that Scully was resting comfortably after a recommended procedure earlier in the day. The team didn’t specify what the procedure was.
Doctors advised Scully to skip the playoffs in order to rest up. Scully, who turns 88 in November, said in August he expects next season will be his last in the booth.
Hall of Famer Lasorda to hit mound for Dodgers
Tommy Lasorda, the Hall of Fame manager who guided the Dodgers to their last World Series title in 1988, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Saturday’s Game 2 of the team’s NL division series with the New York Mets.
Lasorda, 88, currently serves as special adviser to team chairman and co-owner Mark Walter and is in his 66th season with the franchise.
Ella Mason Annear, a 4-year-old who successfully overcame cancer in the last two years and is the daughter of the team’s vice-president of merchandising and retail, will throw out the first pitch before Game 1 Friday.
Rodriguez says everything’s cool between him and dugout jug
It’s all good between Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Sean Rodriguez and the Gatorade cooler he TKO’d in the dugout during Pittsburgh’s wild-card loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.
The one-sided bout, which followed the player’s ejection from the game following seventh-inning benchesclearing dustup, drew an avalanche of memes and GIFs as well as a parody Twitter account. Rodriguez took to Twitter to apologize on Thursday “for allowing my emotions to control my actions in a negative manner.”
Rodriguez added he “spoke to the cooler, apologized personally, and he’s forgiven me as Christ forgives all.”
Mets’ Matz could be set for Game 4 start against Dodgers
Steven Matz (back) threw 90 pitches in a simulated game Thursday at the team’s complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and is on track to be the NLDS Game 4 starter against the Dodgers, if the game is needed.
The team has to see how Matz feels Friday after he plays catch, then determine whether to place him on the series roster.
Manager Terry Collins said the plan is for Matz to be in the rotation.
“In a perfect world, that would be the plan,” Collins said.
Banged-up Cardinals Molina included on Cards’ NLDS roster
Catcher Yadier Molina is on the St. Louis Cardinals roster for the NL division series against the Chicago Cubs and will play wearing a splint to protect a strained ligament in his left thumb, which he hurt Sept. 20.
The Cardinals roster includes four rookies — outfielder Randal Grichuk, outfielder-first baseman Stephen Piscotty, outfielder Tommy Pham and infielder Greg Garcia — for the bestof-five series that starts Friday night.
Lefty Tyler Lyons joins them after impressive outings down the stretch.