SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In his first game as the reigning World Series MVP, Freddie Freeman did what he does. A total of 125 days have passed since Freeman etched himself into Los Angeles Dodgers lore forever, returning in Gibsonian fashion from a gruesome right ankle injury and launching the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history .
Advertisement Nothing will ever be the same . But some things don’t change. Freeman, playing in his first Cactus League game of the spring after that ankle ultimately required offseason surgery, drew a prolonged cheer even in a visiting spring training park on Thursday at Salt River Fields.
“I’m in gray pants and getting some cheers,” Freeman said. “It’s kind of different.” Then he went down quickly to two strikes in his first at-bat, waited out a pair of pitches in the dirt and laced a fastball from Colorado Rockies right-hander Bradley Blaylock into right field for a single.
So began the next stage of Freeman’s Dodger life. “It’s been a little different everywhere I go,” said Freeman of the attention. “Everyone knows who I am.
That’s because good things happened. “Very uncomfortable for me. You guys know I just like to do my job and go home.
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I appreciate it, I really do. It’s not something you set out for but you take it in stride. You appreciate what you created for people and I don’t take that for granted, what we were able to accomplish last October.
” Thursday was a relatively simple day’s .
