There’s little I can tell you that you can’t see for yourself. This will be the opposite of profound.
A good player who had a tense couple of days and hit a rough patch at the plate was held out of the starting lineup, then fined for being late to the ballpark. But the manager kept things in perspective and put the player into the game at a moment when he was needed, and the player hit a game-winning home run.
What did he gain by sitting? What did he lose by playing? I don’t know. I do have an instinct that the situation was handled well, and the favorable outcome to the game for the Dodgers was a bonus.
I like leadership that has a cool head. I think that’s what the Dodgers had today.
Los Angeles put 21 runners on base but used a third as many pitchers, needing Kenley Jansen to come in for the save in the ninth. It was a nailbiter most of the way against a last-place team in a crowd-challenged stadium. But the Dodgers can sleep tonight, then wake up to Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw for the next two games.
KT
Lat’ed Los Angeles Dodgers @Dodgers2m
RECAP: @YasielPuig goes yard as #Dodgers trump Marlins, 6-4: http://atmlb.com/18IVCsi pic.twitter.com/YJieno4SDE
ASW1
Guess Puig only needed 5 innings to get his head straight instead of 9.
KT
Love that it played out that way for Yasiel
Bob_in_Vegas
— and the Dodgers!
John_from_Aus
I was thinking he would either homer or flail wildly at strike 3. I’m pleased it was the former.
A slight problem with my computer prevented me from posting that preview before the event :)
KT
We believe you John ^_^
nsxtasy
>> a crowd-challenged stadium
Paid attendance was 25,690 which is about 7,000 more than the Marlin have been averaging this season.
KT
Dodgers are a hot draw
KT
Jon Weisman @jonweisman3m
The hot Arizona #Diamondbacks have won 9 of past 13 games (.692) and fallen two games further behind the #Dodgers.
WBBsAs
A song for Puig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmBxVfQTuvI
DS1981
To me the Puig debate comes down to how one views baseball. I and i think most people view baseball as just entertainment, nothing more. I don’t look to baseball for lessons in morality, ethics, right/wrong behavior, etc, and Puig entertains me more than any Dodger player has in a long time. In a sport mostly populated by cliche speaking robots, when a player comes on the scene who isn’t a cliche speaking robot, i choose to celebrate him.
Then there’s a small but very vocal group of fans for whom baseball is obviously much more than just entertainment. People who are actually IN baseball of course also view it the same way. These people view baseball as something sacred, something they feel they should protect. These people apparently like that most baseball players look and act like they just came back from a funeral of a close relative. This funeral atmosphere at most ballparks is something they apparently like. Players shouldn’t smile, in fact they shouldn’t show any emotion, they should take a very specific amount of time in running around the bases after a home run, even throwing the bat away should be done a certain way. Meanwhile most fans just want to be, you know, entertained. What these people don’t realize is that their precious game is becoming a niche sport. The new hockey if you will. Intensely followed in a few parts of the country, absolutely irrelevant everywhere else.
Jon Weisman
I see baseball as a stage where all of life’s comedies and dramas are played out, and the responses to those comedies and dramas are as a result just as varied – and often disappointing – as you’d expect.
WBBsAs
Life is a metaphor for baseball.
Spence
I agree. There’s also something about the sports media (and even fans too) that want to hold good to great players to a standard of perfection. Its apparently not enough for Yasiel Puig to have one of the greatest starts to a career, but he also has to be perfect in all aspects of his game as a rookie. I just dont get it.
If the media wants to rag on guys that should be playing better, write some articles on the bottom 3 guys in the bullpen and even Adrian Gonzalez (who still only has an 804 OPS with a boatload of errors this year). Get on Matt Kemp for having a waste of year. Ask Andre Ethier where his power has gone.
But no, lets get on Yasiel Puig because he misses a cutoff man. Its terrible journalism.
Spence
I was looking up articles on Xander Bogaerts, and I found this one that had a great quip from a scout that went to see him before signing him:
http://m.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/alex-speier/2012/06/11/next-hanley-why-red-sox-prospect-xander-bogaer
Lord had some video from the performance. His reports on amateurs were usually lengthy, meticulous. But he e-mailed Craig Shipley (then the VP of international scouting for the Sox) with an uncharacteristically brief message: “Ship, watch this.”
“In about two seconds, my phone starts ringing,” said Lord. “He’s like, ‘Holy cow, where did you find this guy?’ ”
Shipley immediately booked his flight to Aruba. Lord and Shipley built a relationship with the family, and by the time other teams had discovered him, it was too late. Once he finished high school that summer, both Bogaerts brothers would sign with the Sox, with Xander receiving a $410,000 bonus and Jair (who was dealt to the Cubs this spring as part of the compensation agreement involving Epstein) getting $180,000.
Technically, Lord discovered him. But while the former scout takes immense satisfaction in the fact that he is credited with having signed the young shortstop, and that he built a meaningful relationship with the family (Bogaerts’ mother, Sandra, remains in touch with Lord via e-mail), he downplays the notion that this was a scouting revelation.
“As soon as you saw him, you were like, ‘Yeah, this doesn’t come along too often,’ ” said Lord. “It’s like watching Cindy Crawford walk into a dive bar. You’re like, ‘Who’s the best-looking one in the bar?’ Well, that girl right there is. It’s pretty easy to see. It’s not like I had to dissect it.”
John_from_Aus
Is that Aussie Craig Shipley, who used to play?
Spence
yep same guy.
KT
Jon SooHoo @JonSooHoo4m
8/20/13-Something Current-LAD-6,MIA-4 by Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers http://wp.me/p1rXwm-8YU5
JonnyTAFKAJ
“And, exhale” …………
….
Great title…. made me laugh…. so simple, but so appropriate.
Bob_in_Vegas
I totally agree with — and lived! — the title of this post.
But no one said we inhaled . . . !
Jon Weisman
NPUT