Vin Scully ‘embarrassed over all the fuss’

Reporting from Phoenix

Vin Scully rolled up his right sleeve, lifted his arm and pointed to a wide, purple bruise around his elbow.

“Somehow I did it to myself,� he said sheepishly. “I hope not to do it again.�

The Dodgers’ Hall of Fame announcer was referring to his fall at home last week and brief hospitalization. But Scully, 82, was back at work Sunday on the telecast of the Dodgers’ 12-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians at Camelback Ranch, his first spring training game of the season.

Scully opened with his familiar phrase, “It’s time for Dodger baseball,� and then said, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a moment to say I’m sorry to have caused the accident that caused so much concern.�

He thanked the medical personnel “for taking such good care of me� and added, “Lord, I’m happy to be here.�

In a brief session with reporters before the game, Scully talked about the outpouring of concern among his fans and said he was “embarrassed over all the fuss.�

But Scully, who also received five stitch-like “staples� to close a cut in the back of his head from the fall, said, “I do appreciate that immensely and humbly, and I guess that’s why I’m embarrassed to put them through anything at all, especially when it was so simple and harmless.�

Scully explained that he’d been fighting a cough and, while reading in bed Thursday night at his Hidden Hills home, “all of a sudden I felt one of these big bronchial coughs coming up, and I thought I would get to the bathroom. I jumped out of bed. Bad idea. I got dizzy.�

He moved toward the bathroom but had to cross a marble floor “and all of a sudden I blacked out. [I] woke up, sitting on the floor, my wife calling 911, blood on the floor.�

Scully said he had suffered what’s known as a vasovagal episode that causes fainting and “I turned my own lights out for a split second. And that’s really it.�

Then he was asked if he now had any restrictions on his activity. Scully replied jokingly, “I’m supposed to cut back on dangling participles and I’m not allowed to split an infinitive for at least another week, but otherwise no.�

Paul’s progress

Outfielder Xavier Paul had such a strong spring last year, batting over .400, that he was called up to replace Manny Ramirez when Ramirez received his 50-game suspension early last season for violating baseball’s drug policy. But Paul soon developed a skin infection, and later had an ankle injury, that ended his season prematurely.

This spring Paul, 25, got off to a slow start, but his bat has been heating up again. He was two for three Sunday with a double and is now batting .350.

“I feel like my swing is really good right now,� Paul said. “I feel pretty much as good as I have the past couple of years.�

With the Dodgers’ outfield set with Ramirez, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, Paul said he knows that it won’t be easy keeping a seat with the big league club. But 2009 proved that nothing is certain.

“Things do happen, unfortunately, that’s how I caught my break last year,� Paul said. “I try not to look at the situation and just go out and compete.�

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Times staff writer Steve Galluzzo contributed to this report from Los Angeles.