By J.P. Hoornstra Staff Writer
One night many years ago, Emilio Nolasco was driving the familiar route from Dodger Stadium to his home in Rialto. His youngest son, Enrique - "Ricky," as the world would know him - was in the car. Ricky couldn't have been more than 2 years old.This was just like any other drive home after a Dodgers game, except that Emilio indulged a crazy thought. He thought about the name of the outfielder he'd been yelling all night.
"Right now it's Rick Monday. Maybe someday it'll be Ricky Nolasco."
Crazy, right?
Today, Nolasco will pitch at Dodger Stadium for the third time in his major-league career. For the first time, he will be wearing a Dodgers uniform.
"It's a dream come true," the elder Nolasco said.
When he was 25, Emilio Nolasco came to the United States from Mexico and found work with a sheet metal company in Los Angeles. He became a devout fan of the local baseball team, a passion that was enabled every time his boss gave out a portion of his season-ticket stash to Nolasco, his wife and his three children.
Emilio's dream had its origins even before Ricky, now 30, was born. It's caught on with a few people in the meantime.
Nolasco was acquired from the Miami Marlins in a July 6 trade for three minor-league pitchers and made his first start for the Dodgers on Tuesday.
About 40 local well-wishers sojourned to Phoenix for the occasion. It was roughly the same camp of 40 that drove or flew to see
Nolasco pitch every time the Marlins came to San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix or Los Angeles.The group includes Nolasco's parents, uncles, cousins, siblings and teammates from high school and Little League.
Sunday, the group will be larger, "in the few hundreds or so," Ricky Nolasco said.
Nolasco's older brother, David, lost count.
"It's nuts," David Nolasco said. "His phone hasn't stopped ringing since he's been traded. It's even to the point where some people he hasn't talked to in how long are asking for his number, for tickets."
The pitcher believes this is a great thing. He's already gotten the first game in a Dodgers uniform out of the way, and the team couldn't have asked for much more than the seven innings of four-hit ball Nolasco pitched in a 6-1 victory Tuesday.
"I'm an easy-going guy so I felt like I was able to use that (adrenaline) on the mound," Nolasco said. "It's the same game, just a different uniform."
Scott Russell, Nolasco's coach at Rialto High School, agrees.
"He'll be fine," Russell said. "I was glad to see his first start was in Arizona for that very reason - to get the jitters out. He's a big leaguer. He's an experienced pitcher. He knows how to keep his emotions in control. He'll be fine."
His brother isn't so sure.
David Nolasco says he's felt nervous before two of Ricky's games. One was April 5, 2006, when Ricky made his major-league debut in relief against the Houston Astros. The other was his 214th major-league game, Tuesday in Phoenix.
"I didn't want him to go out with a lot of emotions and let that take over," David Nolasco said. "Those times were probably the only times I was nervous. Probably Sunday will be the third time."
As a result, David has a policy.
"I told a lot of people that I don't want him worrying about a pass list, tickets, the first couple weeks," David Nolasco said. "I told them he's just going to leave a pass list for only a couple family and close friends. I don't want to take away from what he's doing on the mound. It kind of worries me because i know him as a person. He wants to help everybody and make sure everybody goes. I want him to focus on pitching. It's been a circus the last week."
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly has seen it before, the hometown kid pitching for the first time with friends and family looking on. The atmosphere, he believes, either works for you or against you, with little room in between.
Heck, there was a time Mattingly himself wanted to play for either the Cincinnati Reds or St. Louis Cardinals, the teams he followed growing up.
(Maybe Mattingly is the only one who didn't always imagine himself playing in Yankee pinstripes.) That changed over time.
"You think about all the family you have to deal with, people coming out of the woodwork," he said. "`I remember playing against you in Little League.' You just want to do your job."
It's in the Dodgers' best interests that Nolasco feels right at home right away. While Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu entered the weekend series against Colorado with a combined 22-10 record, their other starters were 8-18.
Nolasco, who had a 5-8 record and 3.85 earned-run average for the Marlins this season, is expected to restore some balance to the back end of the rotation.
"It's kind of a shot in the arm for the team," Mattingly said. "This helps."
General manager Ned Colletti said he's had his eye on Nolasco awhile but had to wait for him to become available.
"Ricky isn't someone who's going to lose his focus or competitiveness because he is pitching close to where he grew up," Colletti said. "If anything, in his case, it could make him better."
To Nolasco's family, the trade to the Dodgers was more than a shot in the arm. It's the wild fantasy Ricky wouldn't indulge while trade rumors circled in recent weeks.
Rather than imagine himself wearing Dodger blue, Ricky said, he always tried to stay even-keel.
His father did not.
"Always we wished that he could pitch for the Dodgers," Emilio Nolasco said. "He pitched in Dodger Stadium for the Marlins, but not for the Dodgers. I really wanted to see if the Dodgers could get him.
"When he called me and said `I've been traded to the Dodgers,' I was kind of screaming to myself. It was good news for me, for Ricky and for everyone in the family."
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