Dodgers at Giants, 1:05 p.m.
Kershaw CXXXVIII: Kershamen Corner
Mark Ellis, 2B
Juan Rivera, LF
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Hanley Ramirez, 3B
James Loney, 1B
Luis Cruz, SS
A.J. Ellis, C
Clayton Kershaw, P
Just shy of the anniversary of his August 9 Tommy John surgery, Dodger righty Rubby De La Rosa is scheduled to pitch his first rehabilitation outing today for Class A Rancho Cucamonga – along with lefty Ted Lilly, reports Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
De La Rosa would be a candidate to pitch out of the bulllpen sometime in the season’s final two months, before re-emerging as a starting rotation candidate in 2013. The 23-year-old last appeared in a game July 31.
Elsewhere …
- Nathan Eovaldi is undefeated as a Miami Marlin after allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings to the Padres on Saturday. From Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald:
… “His stuff was electric,” said catcher John Buck, who was behind the plate. “His fastball jumped out of his hand. His location was good, not afraid to throw in on either side of the plate. He threw a cutter pretty good [Saturday], and this was only his second game throwing it. What I saw today was pretty nasty.”
Buck said that in his nine years of catching he’s encountered only one other pitcher who, when going over the scouting reports for opposing hitters, seemed to know exactly what he was doing.
“That was Zack Greinke,” Buck said. “For a young guy, that’s a big step.” …
- Ernest Reyes of Blue Heaven has a couple of fun posts, including a link to Tommy Lasorda telling Jeremy Rosenberg of KCET about his move to Los Angeles and another featuring an interview with oldest living Dodger Mike Sandlock.
- From the Dodger press notes: “The Dodgers would like to extend their condolences to the family of former Brooklyn Dodger and Pittsburgh Pirate Ed Stevens, who passed away at the age of 87 last Sunday in Houston, TX. Stevens hit 10 home runs and collected 60 RBI in 1946 and came to camp in 1947 expecting to be the Dodgers’ starting first baseman. However, Branch Rickey had other ideas, promoting second baseman Jackie Robinson to play first and sending Stevens to Triple-A Montreal where he hit 27 homers and drove in 108 runs in his final year with the Dodger organization.”
- The injury bug might have finally reached Rafael Furcal in St. Louis. Furcal, who was on pace to play in 154 games this season, has back discomfort, reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- In the wake of the Seattle Mariners trading Ichiro to the New York Yankees, Larry Granillo offers historical details at Baseball Prospectus of the San Francisco Giants sending WIllie Mays to the New York Mets.
Anonymous
That lineup is an open invitation for the Giants to pitch around Ramirez. I’d much prefer Loney hitting second and Rivera fifth…
Jon Weisman
Loney hits righties better than Rivera, so I don’t understand your comment.
Anonymous
Any updates on Puig Jon? Cespedes has sure come fast and is tearing it up for Oakland. How sweet would it be if Mr. Puig did anything close to that for us? 3 5 tool guys in the lineup at once.
Jon Weisman
If you’re asking if Puig will play in the majors this year, the answer is no. He hasn’t even been activated for a minor-league game yet.
Anonymous
That’s what I thought. Thanks
Jon Weisman
Vs. Vogelsong, via True Blue L.A.
Juan Rivera, 7-for-17 (.412) with a double in his career against Vogelsong, gets the call in the number two spot on Sunday. Rivera is in left field, with James Loney (6-for-13, .462 with a double, triple) at first base.
Anonymous
Vogelsong is an unpleasant individual who deserves to get raked today (and every day).
Anonymous
My views are about the same as WBB’s here.
Anonymous
What makes Vogelsong unpleasant?
Anonymous
A snarky sense of entitlement. He thinks he should have been comeback player of the year in 2011, when the only thing he came back from was Japan (his previous major league accomplishments were virtually nil). He also thinks LaRussa should have named him to this year’s all-star team because he was the beneficiary of Bochy’s homer pick in 2011. I don’t care for LaRussa, but he’s certainly right on this one.
veryolddodgerfan
WBB tell me you aren’t complaining about snarkiness.
Anonymous
The enemy of my enemy is. . . Ryan Vogelsong?
Anonymous
I admire LaRussa’s concern over stray animals, but that does not extend to self-serving chirps.
Casey Barker
He’s a Gnat.
veryolddodgerfan
Who determines what “luck” is?
Anonymous
Lady luck
Anonymous
COTD candidate!
Onlyatriple
Re the last post from Jon about Ken and Josh — just a compliment to them if they are reading. Best DT hosts ever, I really miss you guys on the air. There have been many hosts that I enjoyed over the many years, some I turn the dial to avoid, but you two were really outstanding. Informative, patient, funny, knowledgable, willing to buck the conventional wisdom. Josh, I hope you get your chance soon to do pbp with a big league team. You really deserve it
Anonymous
really awesome to here Lilly & De La Rosa are on there way back.
Jeffrey Thomas III
Old friend James McDonald has completely lost the great control he had earlier this year. Today he has walked 6 in 4 innings against Houston. He has walked 18 batters in his last 19 2/3 innings. He has been killing my fantasy team lately.
Anonymous
Thanks to Mr. Selig and his preposterous policies, I will not see today’s game despite my investment in MLBTV.
Anonymous
Anyone know what happened to Tony Jackson at ESPN?
Jeffrey Thomas III
I just noticed he hasn’t been posting articles for the ESPN LA Dodgers blog, looks like he hasn’t tweeted in over a month either. Not sure what’s going on. Maybe Jon knows.
Brian Johnson
I’ve ben concerned with the same thing. I’ve asked several of the beat writers and bloggers. No answers. I hope it’s nothing serious and he’ll be back soon covering the Dodgers.
Anonymous
Very accommodating of Bochy to leave Theriot in the No. 2 spot today.
Casey Barker
Your post made me recall this: http://i50.tinypic.com/a57qqv.jpg
Anonymous
oh man, looks like clouds over Frisco. Will that help the pitchers or hitters.
Anonymous
Steinered again.
Anonymous
has AJ ever hit first? wonder how progressive Don Mattingly is.
veryolddodgerfan
happy to see they are already writing poems and singing songs for EO. The Miami folk mentioned some positive stuff you never or hardly heard from the Dodgers.
Anonymous
wondering if its PR lingo, you just never know unless your in the firing lines, sure wish him the best though, tons of talent & potential man.
veryolddodgerfan
just glad they’re not saying he has a low ceiling because he doesn’t strike out people and has only 2 pitches.
Casey Barker
Miami Marlins fans have a lower standard for success.
KT
Hanley was safe on the steal attempt…I rewound and slowed down
veryolddodgerfan
way safe
veryolddodgerfan
hellacious pitch on loney though
KT
3 times the Gnats feed just showed it again….safe each time
Anonymous
Unfortunately, Selig has blacked me out, so I couldn’t tell. But it’s always a surprise if their part-time “catcher” manages to throw out a baserunner.
KT
for some reason they are blacking out the PT feed in SD so I have to watch the CSN feed
veryolddodgerfan
posey threw it well. just that he was safe. and by Posey you mean the catcher that everyone would much rather have than A.J.?
Anonymous
Absolutely, he’s terrible behind the plate, and he’s a wimp on tag plays.
Anonymous
I would be willing to bet that he is following team orders on plays at the plate
Anonymous
Perhaps, but that makes it easy for opponents to take advantage of him.
Anonymous
way to pick up Cruz there Kershaw. 2 outs.
Anonymous
the out seems even bigger now, YIKES. 3 outs now, no harm no foul.
KT
Come on Luis start it off
KT
Good eye AJ
Come on Clayton
Anonymous
man love towards Vinnie.
Jeffrey Thomas III
AJ had to wait and see if that was caught, otherwise Scutaro doesn’t get him.
Anonymous
Didn’t see Scutaro’s play, but we can be sure Fatsoval never would have made it.
Anonymous
man, M. Ellis was really really mad at the plate umpire. never seen that before.
veryolddodgerfan
it was a horrendous call
veryolddodgerfan
almost hit him in the knee
Anonymous
great curve by Kershaw, some of his other curves didn’t have the same bite this last one had to strike out Cabrera.
KT
Good hit Juan
Good hit Matty
Come on Dre
KT
Come on hanley bring him home
KT
YES!!! RBI
Anonymous
1-0 on what should have been a DP, nice hustle by Hanley Ramirez.
Anonymous
When you say should have been a DP, remember who the Gnat 2B is.
KT
Got to love it!!!
Come on Luis
Jeffrey Thomas III
12 game hitting streak for Cruz now!
KT
LUIS!!
Come AJ
KT
Come on Clayton…Help yourself and make them pay for disrespecting you
Anonymous
at least he gave it the good ‘ol college try. nice swing.
Anonymous
love how Luis Cruz kept it fair, that thing was really inside…
Anonymous
does the ball die in Frisco, it seems like we hardly ever hit dingers here.
KT
the park this year is noted for the least amount of HR’s by both the home and the visiting clubs
Anonymous
Heavy marine layer, ball does not carry except to straightaway left.
KT
Good inning Clayton
Jeffrey Thomas III
Really let Vogelsong off the hook with that inning..
KT
Another good inning Clayton
Anonymous
if i ever to Frisco i want to sit way up in the nose bleeds & cheer for the Dodgers from way up there.
Anonymous
Once I asked WBB, for whom I do have affection, if he could try to put his hatred of the SF baseball team aside and be objective about their players. He replied that he did not hate the Giants (please don’t think those are quotes for either me or him; it’s just the gist)
I would like to raise the respect due the Dodgers if they beat Vogelsong today by presenting some facts which is not to say WBB didn’t present facts but on Vogelsong they were facts that I,not being a resident of the Bay Area, do not know independently of reading them here.
Vogelsong, before today’s game, led the NL in home ERA at 1.41, his team has not lost a home game when he starts since May 3.
Here is a headline and byline from last post-season:Jacoby Ellsbury Wins, Ryan Vogelsong Robbed
By Rob Neyer – National Baseball Editor
a portion of that article: ( in my opinion Neyer, while not writing for DT, violates rule 1 but I have seen commenters get away with it so perhaps Jon doesn’t think it a violation)
“this is a good time to revisit an idea I floated three months ago: the WTF Award. Because shouldn’t there be something for guys like Ryan Vogelsong and Bartolo Colon, who were on nobody’s radar screen before the season? Ellsbury was still supposed to be good, if he could play. And Berkman got $8 million from the Cardinals last winter. Doesn’t it seem just a little odd to give the Comeback Player of the Year Award to a guy who was deemed worthy of an $8 million salary, just before?”
I have more to say on Vogelsong later but now back to following the Dodgers more intently
veryolddodgerfan
TL/DR
Anonymous
Birdsong is a fluke who has pitched way over his head and is likely to be out of baseball sooner rather than later.
Anonymous
You have posted the exact words before and they are true but only because of his age since the words are true of any 35 yo pitcher. He is 4th in the NL in WAR. He as done it for over a year and a half. I will embarrass you (which doesn’t seem possible anyway) by listing all the wrong predictions about Giant players you have made here. If the had turned out correctPosey nor Bumgarner would be in MLB.
Anonymous
I think they’ll both have short careers, Birdsong because he’s a fluke and Posey because he’s so fragile (his inability to block the plate will eventually make him useless there, and he’ll have to move to another position permanently). He’s also a poor-throwing catcher.
Jeffrey Thomas III
Don’t you have to have been good in the first place to get a comeback player of the year award? Vogelsong never had an ERA lower than 4.4 or WHIP lower than 1.5 in his previous major league experience. He then went away for 5 years and finally had his first good season last year. What did he come back from? Sucking his entire career?
Anonymous
exactly, it is something to be admired don’t you think even if you don’t think it suits the name comeback award
Jeffrey Thomas III
Maybe he deserves a most improved award, or out of the blue award. But not comeback player of the year award. Again, that implies that he was ever good before, which he wasn’t until last season.
KT
Good hit Dre
Come on James
KT
Good hit James
Come on Luis
Anonymous
hate to say it but, nice pitch sequence by Vogelsong.
Anonymous
to Cruz
KT
Get them this time clayton
Anonymous
Kershaw batting, giving Vogelsong a hard time.
KT
vogelsong @104 pitches
Anonymous
I find that a bit of a disappointment. Kershaw has batted with a bunch of guys on base, and that last at bat facing what looked like a cripple.But this young athletic guy looks like a pro pitcher who gave up thoughts of hitting ML pitching years ago.
Jeffrey Thomas III
Great play Mark!
Anonymous
man, we’re just getting all the breaks today.lol.
KT
Liked the way blanco was so happy to get on…It made it that much nicer to double him off 1st
Anonymous
don’t know if this is factual or not but Kershaw seems to be pitching to contact today.
KT
Where Volgelsong is @ 104 through 6
Kershaw is only at 78 through 6
KT
Nice hit Mark
Come on Juan
KT
Come on Matty
KT
Good hit Matty
Come on Dre
Anonymous
hit it to the pacific ocean Ethier!!!
veryolddodgerfan
pacific ocean wrong way. hit it across the bay to oakland maybe. to WBB’s house
Anonymous
the legend of R.A Dickey lives on, winning against Zona.
Anonymous
Too bad he won’t also pitch against the Gnats, who will probably finish third behind the Snakes.
KT
That pitch hit kershaw in the right wrist
Anonymous
Well, at least it was his offhand.
KT
Beautiful Pitch Clayton
veryolddodgerfan
lot easier to be himself when it’s not 100 degrees and 80 percent humidity
Anonymous
Not funny.
Okay, maybe a little bit funny. But less so to anyone who was actually there in the heat.
veryolddodgerfan
sorry dude.
Anonymous
i wonder if they get a runny nose with such disparate in temperature, at work we have the AC full blast then we go out for break & i get a runny nose for what ever reason.
KT
Nice hit James!!
Jeffrey Thomas III
Pujols grounds into double play to end the game in Anaheim. Halos lose 2-0 despite 7 good innings from new pitcher Greinke.
Anonymous
Steinered again!
KT
Luis!!
Anonymous
the hot hand.
KT
yes buddy
Anonymous
que bueno, we needed that extra cushion. 3-0 Dodgers.
Anonymous
Cruz is unstoppable!
Anonymous
It’s going to be hard to casually dismiss Cruz!
Anonymous
Through 88 PAs, Herrerra had a.293.391.373 line. I fully expect Cruz to fall off at some point.
Anonymous
Too bad we don’t have a real good pinch hitter. Imagine their surprise if we used him here.
Jeffrey Thomas III
Except then you’d be taking out Ellis whose defense could be key the next two innings.
Edit: And Mark does it with the bat anyways!
Anonymous
Yes he does!!
Anonymous
Very wild game in Milwaukee today. Could César Izturis win it with a walkoff in the 11th?
Anonymous
Nope. The Nats (gnot the Gnats) hang on 11-10 in a home run derby.
Anonymous
>> gnot the Gnats
LOL!
KT
Good Job Mark!!
Jeffrey Thomas III
Nice Tony, I doubt Rivera catches that.
Anonymous
Just got to work, seems like we are doing Ok!
KT
good catch Tony
foul tip
Just now able to check in. Apparently, the broom looms….
Anonymous
Hard to believe they left the lefty Blanco in!
Anonymous
Efficient outing so far for Kershaw- 98 pitches in 8 innings. I hope he gets a chance to finish it.
underdog
This is fun! :)
Fun to hear Mike Krukow sound depressed, fun to hear Giants fans freaking out, but more positively, fun to see Dodgers playing well again especially after that last horrible series in SF.
Anonymous
It’s great that we appear to be drawing level at the top, when the worst case scenario could have seen us 6 behind
Anonymous
Unfortunately, I’m stuck with Steiner on the radio feed, but it’s still gratifying.
Anonymous
Yeah, its wonderful. I think SF went into this series with all the psych. advantage. But these “great adversary” series are very strange. I can remember when the Reds were the biggest enemy (Big machine days). I think they were in the Western division then, and for years the two teams would sweep series back and forth with no apparent regard for home field advantage. Oh, the arguments with midwesterners at college!
Anonymous
>> fun to see Dodgers playing well again especially after that last horrible series in SF.
And fun to see Dodgers playing well again especially after that last horrible series in STL.
KT
Nice hit Dre!!
Casey Barker
Gnats’ TV guys wenton and on yesterday about how the D’s have a much tougher September schedule. Is this just wishful thinking by Gnats’ homers, or is it true?
Anonymous
From August 27 through the end of the season, the Dodgers will have a home and away series against each of their divisional opponents. The other series they have in September are against the Cardinals (home), Nationals (road), and Reds(road).
Casey Barker
And the Giants were said to have only divisional games. I’m just wondering how many games in the standings is this worth? I would guess about 2-3 game advantage for the Gnats in September beased on schedule.
Anonymous
We play them at home in 4th week in August, then away 2nd week in Sept, then last week-end of season
Aside from that they play Braves 4 we play StL 4;they play Cubs, we play Fla., both teams play SD, they have an extra game with Colo., and 4 extra with Ariz. To make up, we play Cinn. and Wash. so I guess our schedule is somewhat harder unless Ariz starts playing better which we don’t want to happen for other reasons.
Anonymous
That’s open to argument, but the Dodgers have a better team than the Gnats.
Casey Barker
That’s what I thought, too. Likely the schedule advantage that the Giants have would be erased by the talent advantage the Dodgers have. I’d love to see the Dodgers gp up by 7-10 games, but it probably won’t happen.
Anonymous
I expect that, when the Gnats arrive at Chavez Ravine in October, the Dodgers will be announcing their pitching rotation for the post-season.
Anonymous
Eric Karros mentioned it yesterday too., he said that knowing the Dodgers “shopping isn’t over”
Casey Barker
Karros disappoints me so much with his Dodger bashing.
Anonymous
an extra run or two just to play it safe.
Anonymous
nice, guess with a 98 pitch count there letting Kershaw back out there.
Anonymous
I demand a 1-2-3 ninth.
Anonymous
:(
Anonymous
Ending the game with a Poser strikeout would be perfect.
Anonymous
I hope Kershaw is straightening out into a second half like last year. His first half last year was a bit shaky, though not as bad as this year. When I say shaky, it is a relative thing and most pitchers would love to be thus.
KT
How Sweep it is!!!!
Kershaw with the complete game shutout
Dodgers tied for 1st
Jeffrey Thomas III
Clayton sure made up for that St. Louis start today. Great sweep!
Anonymous
Kershaw should pick him off to end the game.
Anonymous
Too late now.
Linkmeister
Ahem. Yabba Dabba Doo!
Anonymous
First place baby! :)
So the Dodgers are 7-3 on the road trip, including 1-3 in the games I attended. :(
I hereby apologize for going to the games and making them lose.
Anonymous
There we go. A shutout for Kershaw! My fantasy team rejoices. More importantly, tied for first place!
Anonymous
I want a six-run ninth from the Dodgers.
Anonymous
man this was nice (love it baby) tomorrow against Zona!
KT
they’re right behind us…time for another sweep
Anonymous
Clayton looks like Kid K again . . . Kemp is hitting again . . . a hitting Ramirez is a Dodger again . . . a hitting shortstop is a Dodger again . . . and it all equals an incredible road trip and a share of First Place!
Anonymous
Well summerised Bob!
Adam Luther
Dbacks coming in – Gibson Night Tuesday. Love Dodger history but it’s been over two decades since their last crown – this is their year!
Anonymous
i’m going to be there Adam! i requested wedsnday off too! so i won’t have to worrie about waking up at 4am in the morning like i usually do!!
Anonymous
Stategy on a starter–I don’t see the Dodgers wanting to give up much for a Shields or a Garza. These are long term guys with~4 era. In this field Lilly and De Ruby and even Webster look good, so why force this. But Dumpster is so hot and short term that he could help them win this year. I’m used to decades where we reached the WS or even won it twice.so I want Dump.
Anonymous
I’m OK with Dumpster as a rental. Shields would be too expensive, and Garza is off the market with swelling in his arm.
Anonymous
Amen
Anonymous
Well that could not have been scripted any better – nice payback for the sweep Dodgers endured a month ago in the same ballpark. A slightly different team with a healthy Kemp & Mark Ellis, and a new SS and new 3b that both smash the ball. FIRST PLACE!
Eric Enders
A fun day to be a Dodger fan. On De la Rosa, is there any real reason he couldn’t start in September if the Dodgers fail to acquire another pitcher? I understand the motivation behind sending him to the bullpen — not to mention which the bullpen could use the help — but if a piece of delicate crystal like Stasburg can come back from TJ surgery to start in September, why couldn’t De la Rosa?
Anonymous
Strasburg started off with a 50 pitch limit that was increased each game. Just anouncing he would pitch meant a whole bunch more of fannies in the stands, so I am going to guess that the way the Nats brought him along may have been influenced by the need to pay for his signing bonus.
Anonymous
I agree. There is no need to push Rubby D. I suppose, if we got the Dump and things broke our way we might be in a race, but I think we have enough options not to push De la!!
Anonymous
I am actually not advocating either way, though there could be an advantage to having an orderly way of bringing him along, instead of looking for a relief spot if and when it comes up. On the other hand, the Nats were not in a pennant race, so there wasn’t much concern about how strategically they used their pitching staff.
Anonymous
Just woke up, so I missed this one as well. Gladly sleep through all of them if it gets these sorts of results.
Anonymous
Loney hitting .328 in July (granted with only a .700 OPS and with a Bapib of almost .400). Now, does that mean that Donnie should be playing him more, or that Donnie is playing him just right?
Anonymous
Donnie is playing him only when the other team’s starting pitcher is RH but not if Rivera has a much better history with that RH pitcher. I vote for just right; but I think Mattingly is doing an incredible job. Here’s a quote from a paean to Mattingly by Richard Justice now at dodgers.com “With pretty much nothing to play for, the Dodgers still went 45-28 after July 7th and won 10 of their last 11 series. Along the way, Mattingly proved himself with the toughest constituency he’ll ever had — his players.”
and a link to the article http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120729&content_id=35795788&vkey=news_la&c_id=la
Anonymous
4 XBH all 2B
Anonymous
and an OBP of only .333!
Anonymous
Nice article by Richard Justice on Mattingly and a bonus video with Colletti and Mattingly commenting on the trade to get Hanley and Choate :
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120729&content_id=35795788&vkey=news_la&c_id=la
Anonymous
Meanwhile, down on the farm…
SVS had a two-run homer in the first game of the ‘topes doubleheader, and Jer-ry Sands had a two-run double. The nightcap is just underway, with Jer-ry hitting a grand slam in the first inning.
Not much to report on the Lookouts game, with a 3-1 loss. Matt Magill took the loss, but his numbers weren’t horrible.
Anonymous
More important: Lilly gives up a double and a walk in the first inning, 1-2-3 in the second.
Rubby: single, K,K and CS in the third, FO, GO, BB,K in the 4th, PO, FO, 1B then SB,GO in the 5th.
score is 5-0 as Rubby leaves in line to get a win.
no pitch counts, FO is fly out as you thought
Anonymous
Ha! – I just noticed I gave a link to a story you had already provided a link for – ya beat me to it – guess I shoulda refreshed before posting it!
Anonymous
great minds think alike I’ve heard said
Jeffrey Thomas III
Jerry just hit his second grand slam of the night cap! Man it would be nice if he could show some of that power in the big leagues.
Anonymous
For those of you who read my in game comments on Vogelsong, after the game I replied to a comment left by WBB that informed him that Vogelsong had the 4th highest WAR in the NL among pitchers. To help show what the team did today here is a long portion of Eric Stevens pre-game piece which has lots of praise for Kershaw as well:
Kershaw has always been good against the Giants, as his 1.45 ERA in 14 career games (including 13 starts) against them would suggest. But last year Kershaw took it to another level with a 5-0 record and 1.07 ERA in six starts against the rivals. He beat Tim Lincecum in all four of their head-to-head matchups, in games that had scores of 2-1, 1-0, 2-1, and 2-1.This year, Kershaw has been very good against San Francisco in his two starts, with 15 strikeouts and just three walks in 14 innings. He allowed two runs in both games, and has allowed two runs or less in 11 of his 13 career starts against the Giants.But in those two games the Dodgers have lost 2-1 and 2-0, with Kershaw getting the tables turned on him. The lack of run support has been largely due to Ryan Vogelsong, who has been the victor in both Kershaw starts this season. Vogelsong starts for the Giants on Sunday.Vogelsong, who hadn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2006 before resurfacing last year, turned down a minor league deal with the Dodgers so he could join the Giants. In five starts the last two seasons against Los Angeles, Vogelsong is 4-1 with a 2.12 ERA. He has allowed one run in 14 1/3 innings against the Dodgers this season, with four walks and four strikeouts.Vogelsong has pitched at least six innings in all 18 of his starts this season, and in 19 games in a row dating back to last season. He has lasted at least seven innings in 14 of his 18 starts this year, tied with Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, and David Price for most seven-inning starts in the majors.Kershaw is one back, with 13 starts of seven innings or more this year.
Anonymous
Interesting – I had not heard that the Dodgers offered him a minor league deal. No question the guy has been on his game for a while now – long enough to categorize it as *no fluke*.
Anonymous
Kinda been curious as to what happened to Yhency Brazoban, looks like he’s playing for the fukuoka Softbank Hawks, signed with them exactly a year ago today.
Anonymous
nsx, the Arizona (rookie) League Dodgers have been postponed the last 2 days. Could this be weather related? I could look it up but you are an expert.
veryolddodgerfan
yes weather related. haboobs abound
Anonymous
Looking back now, it’s no surprise that the Dodgers came away with the sweep – we knew they had packed the brooms from the results of the series in NY.
Seriously though – last time the Dodgers were in SF and got swept, they were slumping and without their best hitter – this time SF was without one of their best hitters in Sandoval. Not saying Sandoval is as good as Kemp, but still – Dodgers took advantage just as Giants took advantage last time…
Makes things about even as far as that goes.
Jon Weisman
Two new posts up top.
Anonymous
ha! i’ve read Jon’s book a few times (100 things) & can’t believe this escaped me> After the Dodgers drafted him, following Lasorda’s encouragement to move FROM FIRST BASE TO CATCHER he became THE FIRST U.S. ballplayer to attend the Dodgers Dominican Republic Academy.
Just watched ‘Pelotero’ which makes it that much more interesting. really cool.
N. Diunte
Ed Stevens had a long career as a player, scout and coach, who was at the wrong place at the intersection of one of baseball’s greatest events. I interviewed him a few years ago and offer this tribute to “Big” Ed –
http://www.examiner.com/article/ed-stevens-87-brooklyn-dodger-first-baseman-supplanted-by-jackie-robinson