Notes: Shohei Ohtani, Steve Sax, Jessica Mendoza
27/04/2024 16:04
The Dodgers won their fifth straight game on Friday night, and scored in double digits in the third time during that span. The first such run came off the bat of Shohei Ohtani, who hit a solo home run in the first inning.
That home run came after a chorus of boos from the Blue Jays crowd, and it tied Dave Roberts for most home runs by a Dodgers player born in Japan.
Here's some postgame reaction from the reporters in Toronto.
#Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Shohei Ohtani's teammates booed him when he got back to the dugout after the homer. Ohtani laughed.
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) April 27, 2024
Ohtani also turned to Roberts and said, "Now we're tied."
Was Shohei Ohtani surprised by the boos?
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) April 27, 2024
"Not surprised," Ohtani said via Will Ireton.
Why not surprised?
"Aside from how the fans may or may not think, I'm just very grateful for the teams that approached me and wanted to sign me...ultimately I could only choose one team."
Former Dodgers second baseman Steve Sax lost his son John, a Marine captain and pilot who died when his plane malfunctioned and crashed in June 2022. Sax started the Captain John J. Sax Family Foundation to honor his son and "to support those who have a relentless desire to chase their passions; to make their wildest dreams become their reality."
Daniel Brown at The Athletic wrote about Steve Sax and his relationship with John:
The reason Steve Sax has now parted with so many of his baseball treasures is that he had dreamed of one day giving them to his son. Instead, he holds tight only to all the gifts John gave him.
"He was my hero,'' Sax said.
That is why Sax is here now, alternating between tears and laughter, between happy memories and debilitating grief, as he embarks on his mission to honor John's life.
Jessica Mendoza, who has called three games so far this season for SportsNet LA, talked about how announcing games for a team allows for more of a chance to get to know players than when calling nationally televised games, on the 06010: The ESPN Communications Podcast.
She used Ohtani as an example:
"Now I can actually be around him and talk to him and really see how he goes about his routine and his business. And that's something, when you're talking about the greatest of this time period that we've seen for the sport … it's really about the day before, the prep five hours before the game, all of those little things."
