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"FacebookPinterest\n\nSee the classic baseball jacket slideshow here.\n\nYou used to write a restaurant-review blog, \"Dining With 'Dre.\" It was great, but you haven't posted on it in several years: why not?\n\nThe blog came about when the Dodgers approached me to be involved with some off-field stuff. Our media relations guy said, \"What interests you?\" And I said, \"You know, often on the road, especially at home, I search for small, off-brand type restaurants that are usually little pop-ups and strip malls and maybe I could do something about my search and journey for some of those restaurants.\" It kind of evolved into that. I found myself writing many nights late at night, re-erasing and rewriting on my iPhone. My \"Notes\" section had all these little things. I think that's what kind of led to me not doing more. It just became a little too taxing to do it. I'd put one out and then sure enough he'd be asking me, \"When's the next one coming out?\" I felt like I had a deadline. I'm like, \"I don't work on deadlines here. Whenever I feel like I can get one done I'll do it.\" I think it was just feeling the pressure to do another one that kind of led me to stop.\n\nEven if you're not writing about your favorite restaurants any longer, you're still patronizing them, right?\n\nIn New York there's a new one I like every single time I go there. If I could narrow it down to two, it's probably Momofuku and Locanda Verde. In Chicago I am a big fan of Avec. It's a part of all those, you know, Blackbird and the Publican and all those places. Another one that's really good there that's low-key is a place called Cafe Bionda; it's on the South Loop. It's old-school Italian neighborhood restaurant.\n\nIn L.A. it would have to be Osteria Mozza. In fact, after I first found out about Mozza I begged my wife to live near that area so I could strategically place the stadium and our house on opposite ends of the restaurant and just stop in late at night. I like to believe I am the only one who gets takeout from the restaurant; the restaurant doesn't do takeout. It's a nice little text to  I'm on the way, can I get some stuff?\"\u2014and they'll let me slip in the back alleyway and have some [food] for me.\n\nA baseball question: Against right-handed pitchers, your numbers are spectacular. Against left-handed pitchers, you've struggled throughout your career. This spring your manager, Don Mattingly, had to defend you and affirm that he's not going to platoon you this season\u2014i.e., bench you when the Dodgers are facing a left-handed starting pitcher. At this point in your career, how do you go about improving your ability to hit lefties?\n\n[This area] is one where I think more than anything this spring we\u2014I mean me and [Dodgers hitting coach] Mark McGwire\u2014have been working really hard. Nothing mechanical, just more the mental side: visualizing and making ourselves better and really figuring out a way to just be confident in all situations.\n\nSometimes as a baseball player or just an athlete in general you stick to the things you do well and you keep practicing those things. Those areas where you have issues you try to fix 'em but at the same time you try to limit your exposure to those. But in baseball you gotta go up there and face everyone in every situation. I think it's a thing where now lefties are coming out of the bullpen earlier in the game to face left-handed hitters. There's maybe two lefties in the bullpen that are there every day just to try to get you out when those big at-bats are coming. You gotta learn those guys; it's just how the game's really been evolving."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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