Former Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Tommy Lasorda stopped into the White House briefing room this afternoon after attending the ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI.

Mr. Lasorda, 80, who is Catholic, held court for a few minutes with a handful of reporters, and said that while he was on the South Lawn, he was grateful for the pope's coming to the U.S., but was fixated on President Bush.

"I just kept looking at the president and feeling so bad for him, knowing what he's gone through for eight years," Mr. Lasorda said.

"He's been through so much. He has really had it rough," Mr. Lasorda said, blaming "inherited" issues for many of the president's problems, and saying Mr. Bush was unfairly blamed for the government's failed response to Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. Lasorda called Mr. Bush "a remarkable man."

"He's withstood it. He's a patriot. He's given eight years of his life to serve the country," he said.

Mr. Lasorda said that when Mr. Bush leaves office, he hopes the president, who owned the Texas Rangers for several years, is able to go to lots of baseball games.

— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times