Vin Scully delights Dodger Stadium with his return for first pitch

LOS ANGELES – The cheers began even before Vin Scully stepped onto the field. One year removed from the broadcast booth, his job Wednesday night was to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 of the World Series.

Scully walked out with a microphone in his right hand and a baseball in his left. Fitting for the man who provided the soundtrack for Dodgers games for 67 years, first in Brooklyn and then in Los Angeles.

"Somewhere up in heaven Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges are laughing their heads off," Scully told the crowd. "Look at who's throwing out the first ball at the World Series!"

Scully, who turns 90 next month, always has enjoyed a good yarn. As he took the mound he began spinning one, much to the crowd's delight.

He went into a windup and stopped, feigning a rotator cuff injury. He said he would have to call to the dugout for relief.

And who should come out? Lefthander Fernando Valenzuela, the Dodgers great who now works as a Spanish language announcer for the team.

Valenzuela went into his classic windup and threw to Steve Yeager, who spent 14 years as catcher for the Dodgers. The two helped Los Angeles beat the Yankees in six games in the 1981 World Series, when Valenzuela was 20.

Scully retired at the end of last season and resisted calls to do an inning or two of the World Series broadcast, saying it would not be his place.

Two days after returning from Italy, sidelined first baseman Adrian Gonzalez rejoined the Dodgers with plans of remaining with the team for the remainder of the World Series. The five-time All-Star has kept his distance from the team this postseason.

Limited to 71 games this year because of back problems that sent him to the disabled list for the first time in his career, Gonzalez, 35, was ruled out by the Dodgers for the playoffs in the final week of the regular season. He said he decided to watch the Division Series from home because he didn't want to be a distraction.

"Then they swept the Division Series, so I'm like, 'OK, we're all superstitious guys, it's a superstitious sport,' " he said. "I don't want to show up and all of a sudden they lose and be like, 'Oh, man, I'm bad luck.' "

Gonzalez said he asked the Dodgers for permission to help his wife and two daughters move to Italy. His wife is taking a five-month shoe design course in Milan, and Gonzalez plans to spend the winter there.