May 2015 – Page 5 – Dodger Thoughts

By Jon Weisman

Wednesday’s game against the Miami Marlins has the unusual Dodger Stadium weekday start time of 4:50 p.m. To make sure you don’t miss it, here’s a series of notes to hammer that point home.

Combined weight of Clayton Kershaw and Yasmani Grandal: 450
Career MLB hits for one-time Dodger outfielder Marcus Thames: 450
Marquis Grissom’s slugging percentage as a Dodger from 2001-02: .450
Van Lingle Mungo’s ERA for the Dodgers in 1941: 4.50
Duration of the Phillies’ 15-12 victory over the Dodgers on May 19, 1990: 4:50
Dodger uniform numbers of Duke Snider, Juan Uribe and Al Oliver: 4, 5, 0
Linescore of the Dodgers pennant-clinching victory in Game 4 of the 1977 National League Championship Series: 4 5 0
Cost of a ticket to see the Beatles at Dodger Stadium on August 28, 1966: $4.50
First, fourth and seventh letters of the last name of Bruce Caldwell, who had one hit for the 1932 Brooklyn Dodgers: CDL
Score of the Dodgers’ 2014 season finale: 10 to 5.

Remembering ’65: Tommy Davis goes down, ‘Sweet Lou’ comes up

By Jon Weisman

On May 8, 2015

In History, Remembering '65

By Jon Weisman

By May 1965, the Dodgers had already survived one major injury scare with Sandy Koufax, who came back to pitch 29 innings in the first month of the season with a 2.17 ERA and 29 strikeouts.

With outfielder Tommy Davis, they would not be nearly so fortunate.

Davis, who had 574 hits and a 132 OPS+ over the previous three seasons, started slowly in ’65 — 9 for 49 with one double and two walks through April 28 — but he had begun to come out of it by going 6 for 10 with a triple and a steal in his next three games.

Then came May 1. May Day.

Wrote Frank Finch in the Times:

The Dodgers beat the Giants for the third straight time Saturday night, 4-2, but they may have lost the pennant.

Cleanup hitter Tommy Davis, major league batting champion in 1962-63, broke and dislocated his right ankle on an ill-fated slide into second base in the fourth inning.

Dr. Robert Kerlan said the big bopper will be out of action for at least three months and, possibly, the rest of the season.

Tommy, who’d made six safeties in his last nine trips, beat out an infield hit and on Ron Fairly’s bouncer to Orlando Cepeda he took off for second base.

Davis hit the ground prematurely, his spikes caught in the dirt, and he never reached the bag. … Trainer Wayne Anderson sprinted over to take care of Tommy.

“When I got there, the bone was sticking out at a right angle, and I popped it back into place,” said Andy.

Carted off the field on a stretcher, the 26-year-old slugger said ruefully, “I don’t know what happened. I thought there was going to be a play on me and I came in with a new kind of slide. When I looked down, I thought my ankle was in rightfield.”

Three days later, the Dodgers brought up Lou Johnson from Spokane. Johnson was 30 but hadn’t been in the Majors since 1962 and in his entire big-league career had played only 96 games with 47 hits.

“I thought Peter O’Malley was kidding when he telephoned me Monday and told me I’d been purchased by the Dodgers,” Johnson told the Times.

Said Pete Reiser, who began the season as Spokane’s manager: “Lou’s a good hitter and outfielder, but you’ve got to play him day in and day out.”

In fact, Johnson came off the bench in five games before making his first Dodger start on May 10, singling and scoring the winning run in the 10th inning of a 3-2 victory over Houston. By May 19, when he went 4 for 6 with two doubles and a game-tying eighth-inning single in what would be a 14-inning Dodger victory over the Astros, “Sweet Lou” was a fixture in the Dodger lineup — and of course, a future World Series hero.

Coincidentally, the Dodgers moved into a tie for first place in the National League the day Johnson arrived, took over sole possession the night of his first game and didn’t give up the lead for more than two months.

Yasmani Grandal soaring up the charts

By Jon Weisman

On May 7, 2015

In Profiles

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By Jon Weisman

After going 4 for 4 with two walks, two three-run homers and career-high eight RBI — one of the greatest days by an MLB catcher ever — in the Dodgers’ 14-4 victory over Milwaukee today, Dodger catcher Yasmani Grandal is 16 for 37 with five doubles, three homers and eight walks in his past 12 games — good for a .533 on-base percentage and .833 slugging percentage.

Yasmani Grandal has the fourth 4 3 4 8 boxscore line in @MLB history. Strangely, three of the four are catchers. http://t.co/HR7B8v9my3

— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) May 7, 2015

Even including his slow early season start, Grandal has a .414 OBP and .534 slugging percentage in 2015, while taking about 75 percent of the Dodgers’ innings behind the plate. As of this writing, his OPS is 10th in the National League. Grandal entered today leading NL catchers in weighted on-base average (wOBA, minimum 80 plate appearances) at .353, a figure will be even higher once the computers do their work.

Below, enjoy our Dodger Insider magazine feature from April on Grandal (click images to enlarge).

Video: Vin Scully guests on Letterman, 1990

By Jon Weisman

On May 7, 2015

In Television

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XJHfgGuurI&feature=youtu.be&t=25m29s

I wonder if David Letterman thought he’d retire before Vin Scully when they met up for this 1990 interview.

Pace of play is part of the conversation, and — go figure — so is the Grateful Dead.

(Thanks to Tom Hoffarth of the Daily News for the link.)

— Jon Weisman

Dodger minor league report No. 4: Seager adjusting to Triple-A

By Jon Weisman

On May 7, 2015

In Minor leagues

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Dodgers at Brewers, 10:40 a.m.
Joc Pederson, CF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Alex Guerrero, LF
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Uribe, 3B
Kiké Hernandez, SS
Carlos Frias, P

By Jon Weisman

Though the Pacific Coast League has put a slight break on the rapid rise of Corey Seager, it wouldn’t be fair to say he’s lost all momentum.

Seager, who turned 21 last week, is 5 for 20 with a double, a walk and four strikeouts since his promotion to Triple-A Oklahoma City from Double-A Tulsa. Seager had hits in two of his first three at-bats, then went 0 for 9 (with his one walk). But in his last two games, Seager is 3 for 8 with a double and two RBI, heading into tonight’s game against New Orleans.

On to this week’s roundup …

Video: Someone order the Joc on two slices of Pederson?

By Jon Weisman

On May 6, 2015

In Uncategorized

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By Jon Weisman

The Dodgers lost tonight, 6-3, but as a consolation prize, Joc Pederson hit his eighth and ninth homers of the year –- his sixth and seventh homers since his last single. In between, he also made another crazy catch.

It’s just crazy, man.

The last MLB player who homered for seven straight hits was Jay Bruce in June 2013, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last Dodger was beloved first baseman in June 2005.

(Man, how good a season is Adrian Gonzalez having that his OPS is still 110 points higher than Pederson’s?)

Dodgers continue to play total recall

By Jon Weisman

On May 6, 2015

In Health/injuries, Pregame, Transactions

Joe Wieland has allowed 17 hits and walked only two in 20 innings — striking out 22 — with Triple-A Oklahoma City this season. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Dodgers at Brewers, 5:10 p.m.
Joc Pederson, CF
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Justin Turner, 3B
Andre Ethier, RF
Scott Van Slyke, LF
A.J. Ellis, C
Joe Wieland, P

By Jon Weisman

With Joe Wieland coming up to start tonight’s game at Milwaukee to become the Dodgers’ ninth starting pitcher of the season — and Chris Heisey in the clubhouse, apparently waiting to be take the roster spot of a pitcher before Thursday’s game — these thoughts start to crystalize.

The Dodgers’ use of Scott Baker, Mike Bolsinger, Carlos Frias, David Huff and Wieland isn’t out of desperation, but almost a way of extending Spring Training evaluations, taking a look at a number of starting pitcher candidates before making a commitment.
As long as they’re willing to pay the travel and administrative costs, the Dodgers can continue to use player options to alternate at least Bolsinger, Frias and Wieland through the rotation, essentially enabling them to use their roster spot for an extra position player or reliever in between their starts.

Any time you send a player back to the minors, he has to remain there for at least 10 days unless he is coming back to replace a player going on the disabled list. But with multiple optionable players at your disposal, the 10-day requirement becomes a footnote rather than a barrier.

Hypothetically, Wieland could go back down to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Thursday, and Heisey could be activated. Then on May 12, Heisey could be sent down and Bolsinger recalled. Then the next day, Bolsinger could be sent down and replaced by another position player or reliever. Then as soon as May 17, Wieland could be back, and the cycle would renew.

I’m not saying the Dodgers will actually follow this plan, but it’s hard not to appreciate the way that the team’s depth enables it, or the front office’s willingness to exploit it.

Transaction fever might break by June, as the Dodgers firm up their evaluations, and also perhaps try to give some of the principals at Oklahoma City some stability. Wieland, for one, has been noticing, though he isn’t complaining.

“Down there, we honestly expect anything to happen – because just about everything has happened,” Wieland told Bill Plunkett of the Register on Tuesday. “We’ve seen guys go up (to the big leagues) for one day and then come right back. You’re here one day – then you’re outrighted. We’ve had three or four starters on hold, pushed back a day (from their scheduled day to pitch) and then nothing’s happened.

“We see it but we’ve kind of come to expect it. It’s not as big an issue as it was in the beginning.”

Health will play a big role in how much maneuvering the Dodgers continue to do. For example, Yasiel Puig will begin his rehab assignment as a designated hitter for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, and could be back in action as soon as next week. So could Kenley Jansen, who gave up three runs in his rehab outing today but told Ron Cervenka of Think Blue L.A. he would be “ready to come back next week.”

After throwing 25 pitches today, Kenley Jansen's back-to-back test is pushed back to Saturday and Sunday, Mattingly said.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) May 6, 2015

On the other hand, Hyun-Jin Ryu is still weeks away from a return after showing decreased velocity in his most recent bullpen session Friday, according to Plunkett, so the Dodgers could be rotating starting pitchers well into next month.

And as if that weren’t enough mystery, check out the weather report for the Dodgers’ upcoming Friday-Sunday series in Colorado:

Roster turnover is the new normal. Meet your new 2015 Dodgers, same as your old 2015 Dodgers.

Dodger hitters dominating righties in 2015

By Jon Weisman

On May 6, 2015

In Offense

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As a Dodger, Justin Turner is slugging .538 in 233 at-bats against right-handed pitchers. (Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers)

By Jon Weisman

When Justin Turner bashed his three-run home run to center field off Matt Garza in the sixth inning Tuesday, propelling the Dodgers toward an 8-2 victory at Milwaukee, there was something both noteworthy and increasingly mundane about it.

The home run came against a right-handed pitcher, just as Turner’s previous three homers in the past week have. Despite having only 38 at-bats against righties this season, Turner is tied for third on the Dodgers in home runs against northpaws.

That’s no small feat. So far in 2015, 82 percent of the Dodgers’ plate appearances have come against right-handed pitching, as well as 86 percent (36 out of 42) of their home runs.

Overall, the Dodgers are torching right-handed pitchers to the tune of an .841 OPS, which is .001 behind the club-record .842 set in 1953. If it were to hold up, the 2015 team’s .495 slugging percentage against righties would break the team record by .018 and the Los Angeles record by .048.

Righties had actually allowed 90 percent of the Dodgers’ home runs this year before Brewers lefty Neal Cotts entered the game with one out in the seventh inning and gave up home runs to two of the first four batters he faced, Jimmy Rollins and Adrian Gonzalez.

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Gonzalez’s home run, which hit the scoreboard dozens of feet above the center-field wall, was the first home run by a left-handed batter against a left-handed pitcher for the Dodgers this year. In 26 games this season, there have been only 55 plate appearances by Dodger lefty batters against Dodger lefty pitchers — 49 if you limit the count position players.

Dodger righty batters haven’t been similarly protected. They have come up 341 times against righty pitchers, producing an impressive .779 OPS. To put that in a little bit of perspective, no other National League offense has a .779 OPS, even when including situations in which they have a platoon advantage. Dodger right-handed pitchers have allowed only a .584 OPS to right-handed batters this year.

Leading the way for the Dodger righties against righties are names like Turner (1.179 OPS), Alex Guerrero (1.130 OPS) and Scott Van Slyke (.979 OPS), names that in other years might rarely be allowed to bat against same-sided pitchers. Small sample size warnings should be noted, of course — for example, Guerrero is already sliding, with a single, a walk and six strikeouts in his past 15 at-bats. But clearly, ruling their righty-vs.-righty matchups has been a key to the Dodgers’ early season success.

Glenn Burke elected to Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals

By Jon Weisman

On May 5, 2015

In Awards

By Jon Weisman

Former Dodger outfielder Glenn Burke has been elected to the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals, along with legendary local minor-leaguer Steve Bilko and baseball cards godfather Sy Berger.

The trio will join 48 others who have been inducted into the Shrine of the Eternals since elections began in 1999, including such Dodger family members as Dick Allen, Bill Buckner, Roberto Clemente, Jim Eisenreich, Jim “Mudcat” Grant, Dr. Frank Jobe, Manny Mota, Lefty O’Doul, Jackie Robinson, Rachel Robinson, Casey Stengel, Fernando Valenzuela, Maury Wills and Don Zimmer.

“Criteria for election shall be: the distinctiveness of play (good or bad); the uniqueness of character and personality; and the imprint that the individual has made on the baseball landscape,” according to the Baseball Reliquary website. “Electees, both on and off the diamond, shall have been responsible for developing baseball in one or more of the following ways: through athletic and/or business achievements; in terms of its larger cultural and sociological impact as a mass entertainment; and as an arena for the human imagination.”

Among those finishing in the top 10 in voting percentage this year was Charlie Brown.

Cooking at home, cooked on the road? Nah …

By Jon Weisman

On May 5, 2015

In Status report

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Dodgers at Brewers, 5:10 p.m.
Joc Pederson, CF
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Justin Turner, 3B
Andre Ethier, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Alex Guerrero, LF
Zack Greinke, P

By Jon Weisman

While the Dodgers were taking an early lead Monday against the Brewers, I was researching a couple of facts about the Dodgers’ odd 2015 start: 13-2 at home, 3-6 on the road.

After surrendering that lead, the Dodgers are now 3-7 on the road, making them something like 3 percent more odd.

Anyway, the trivia still makes for good conversation starters:

This is the first Dodger team since 1941 to amass 13 home wins in team’s first 24 overall games.
The 2015 Dodgers have three road wins entering tonight. The 1939 Dodgers won their third road game on May 30, beginning their season 2-12-2 on road.
Here are the biggest home-road disparities in Los Angeles Dodger history:

Considering that no Dodger team has ever played more than .600 ball at home while remaining below .400 on the road, expect at least some moderation in the Dodgers’ home-road divergence.

In other notes …

Joc Pederson, the first batter Monday after Yasmani Grandal’s walkoff homer Sunday, also homered. That gave the Dodgers their first walkoff/leadoff back-to-back homer combo since Nomar Garciaparra ended the September 18, 2006 4+1 game with a homer and Rafael Furcal homered the next day. (Note from the Elias Sports Bureau via the Dodger PR department.)
Pederson is 6 for 26 with six walks since his last single on April 25. He has a double and five homers.
Dodger rookies Pederson and Alex Guerrero have combined for 12 homers in 25 games this season. Last year, the Dodgers got two homers from rookies in 162 games: one each from Miguel Rojas and Carlos Triunfel.
Don Mattingly’s ejection Monday was the Dodgers’ first of 2015.
Sixty years ago today, Tommy Lasorda made his first and only start for the Dodgers — and was injured in the first inning. Houston Mitchell of the Times has more.
The Dodger bullpen’s 26-inning scoreless streak, which ended Monday, was the team’s longest in 17 years (via Dodger PR).
Adrian Gonzalez on Monday became the first Dodger ever with zero at-bats, three walks and an HBP in a game.
Yasmani Grandal is 7 for 9 with two doubles, a homer and a walk in his past three games, raising his OPS to .792.
The first four batters for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Monday — Darnell Sweeney, Austin Barnes, Buck Britton and Chris Heisey — were all hit by pitches by New Orleans’ Pat Misch. That, to say the least, set a record. Corey Seager followed the HB4P with a two-run single, and Oklahoma City went on to a 5-2 victory.

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We should all have slumps like Clayton Kershaw

By Jon Weisman

On May 5, 2015

In Uncategorized

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Someday, it will happen. Someday, age will catch up with talent, and like every pitcher before him, Clayton Kershaw will become ordinary.

That day has not yet arrived.

This is what Kershaw has done over his past four starts: 26 1/3 innings, 2.73 ERA, 12 singles, three doubles, two triples, four homers, two walks, 37 strikeouts.

That’s not an ordinary pitcher. That’s an All-Star.

Even including his singular worst start of 2015, when he allowed five earned runs in 6 1/3 innings April 11 at Arizona, Kershaw leads the Major Leagues in xFIP (1.88) and is 14th in FIP, according to Fangraphs.

David Schoenfield of ESPN.com’s Sweet Spot took a look at Kershaw’s season, focusing mainly on his home runs allowed, and other than some stumbles in location, discerned the following:

… Batters are having more success early in the count against Kershaw, hitting .407 and slugging .852 when putting the first pitch in play, compared to .291 and .464 a year ago. Of the 27 balls in play against Kershaw on a 0-0 count, 24 have been fastballs. That’s similar to last season, when 105 of the 114 first pitches in play against Kershaw came against his fastball, so that doesn’t necessarily suggest batters have been more aggressive against the fastball. They just haven’t been missing.

When Kershaw gets to two strikes, he’s still been dominant, although not quite as dominant:

2014: .114/.147/.178

2015: .141/.212/.269

The home run to Blackmon was the first he’d allowed to a lefty with two strikes since 2012.

Overall, Kershaw should be fine. He’s made some mistakes and got a little unlucky with some of the fly balls leaving the park. After Monday’s game in Milwaukee, he told reporters, “I don’t feel like answering questions right now. I don’t want to analyze it right now. Thanks.” He did apparently apologize for his terse response but it speaks to his frustration level.

Kershaw has raised expectations so high for himself that anything short of start-to-finish dominance is jarring, and anything that evokes the late-inning struggles from last year’s playoffs can make you queasy. But there is no crisis here.

It has been 50 weeks since Kershaw allowed three triples in a seven-run third inning at Arizona, and alarm bells rang from here to Phoenix, ignoring the possibility that sometimes a bad inning is just a bad inning. After that game, Kershaw had a 4.43 ERA. From that point on, his ERA was 1.43.

It’s not that the same thing is guaranteed to happen this year. It’s that it doesn’t really make sense to assume the worst, especially when he’s still nearly as dominant as any pitcher in the game.

Given that Kershaw has made three consecutive starts looking for his 100th win and the Dodgers have lost each game by one run, I’m most reminded of his arrival in the big leagues. It took the future three-time Cy Young Award winner no fewer than 10 tries to get his first victory in the big leagues. Nine games and two months into his MLB career, Kershaw was 0-3 with a 5.18 ERA. We know what happened next.

Keep counting out Clayton Kershaw, and one day you’ll be right. But you’ll be wrong many, many times before then.

Gonzalez, Guerrero win NL honors for April

By Jon Weisman

On May 4, 2015

In Awards

Photos: Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Not only has Adrian Gonzalez has been named National League Player of the Month, but Alex Guerrero was named NL Rookie of the Month.

Gonzalez had a .432 on-base percentage and NL-best eight homers and .790 slugging percentage in April, while Guerrero led NL rookies in home runs with five (remember, Joc Pederson’s fifth and sixth homers came in May), slugged 1.077 and OPSed 1.505.

Dodgers make deals, call up Coulombe

By Jon Weisman

On May 4, 2015

In Pregame, Transactions

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For photos from Sunday, visit LA Photog Blog.

Dodgers at Brewers, 4:20 p.m.
Kershaw CCXV: Kershawzing Saddles
Joc Pederson, CF
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Scott Van Slyke, LF
Andre Ethier, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Juan Uribe, 3B
Clayton Kershaw, P

By Jon Weisman

The transaction-happy Dodgers actually went the entire series against Arizona without making a move. But in the aftermath of their 13-inning walkoff shutout victory Sunday over the Diamondbacks, there has been some shuffling.

Most relevant in the short term is that the Dodgers have called up lefty reliever Daniel Coulombe from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Coulombe has 1.74 ERA in 10 1/3 innings this season, allowing nine baserunners while striking out 16. In fact, the 25-year-old has retired 23 of the last 25 batters he’s faced, striking out 14 without allowing a hit.

Coulombe will take starting pitcher Scott Baker’s spot on the 25-man roster. Baker, who has one of the four seven-inning starts by a Dodger pitcher this season but was hit hard Saturday, was designated for assignment Sunday when the Dodgers acquired first baseman Andy Wilkins from the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations.

Wilkins, 26 years old and born the day of Ramon Martinez’s only career Major League hold, had 30 homers and an .896 OPS in Triple-A last year. He went 6 for 43 with two walks in his MLB debut last fall.

But wait — that’s not all. Today, the Dodgers acquired right-handed reliever Matt West from Toronto, also in exchange for cash considerations. West, 26, has pitched 12 1/3 scoreless innings for Double-A New Hampshire this season with 17 strikeouts against 14 baserunners. A converted third baseman, West allowed seven baserunners in four innings while making his Major League debut for the Rangers in 2014, striking out three.

Hyun-Jin Ryu has been moved to the 60-day disabled list. He remains eligible to come off the DL before the end of May.

Other notes for today:

Tonight’s opponents, the Brewers (7-18) and the Dodgers (16-8), are already 11 1/2 games apart in the standings.
The Dodgers released new Brewers manager Craig Counsell (who is replacing another old friend, Ron Roenicke, at the Milwaukee helm) on March 15, 2000 at age 29, after he OPSed .626 in 1999. Counsell played 11 seasons and amassed 1,037 hits after that.
Though the Dodger bullpen pitched seven innings Sunday (extending its scoreless streak to 26), no reliever threw more than 15 pitches, and only Juan Nicasio and Yimi Garcia have worked consecutive days. With the addition of Coulombe, that leaves seven reasonably rested relievers behind Clayton Kershaw today.
Yasmani Grandal’s home run in the bottom of the 13th Sunday gave the Dodgers their longest walkoff shutout victory ending on a home run in team history, surpassing Carl Furillo’s 12th-inning homer for a 2-0 victory 60 years and one day earlier, during the 1955 championship season.
Sunday’s 13th-inning tag by J.P. Howell still amazes me — and frankly, the dish to the dish by Grandal is a thing of beauty as well.

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Brett Anderson looks to ground Diamondbacks

By Jon Weisman

On May 3, 2015

In Pregame

Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers

For more photos from Saturday, visit LA Photog Blog.

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 1:10 p.m.
Joc Pederson, CF
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Alex Guerrero, LF
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Uribe, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Brett Anderson, P

By Jon Weisman

As he ventures into his first start of May, Brett Anderson will be looking to pump some life back into his strikeout and groundball rates, and in turn pitch deeper into games.

Anderson hasn’t gotten more than 15 outs in a start since the first week of the season. The 27-year-old lefty is typically as one of the Majors’ top pitchers at keeping the ball down, but according to Baseball-Reference.com, his ratio of groundouts to air outs through four starts in 2015 is 1.09, the lowest of his career and less than half the ratio between 2011-14 (2.33).

In addition, Anderson has struck out 12.8 percent of the batters he has faced (5.0 per nine innings), also the lowest of his career.

Two starts ago, on April 21 against the Giants, Anderson was snakebit in San Francisco. He allowed only six balls hit in the air, but San Francisco still cajoled nine hits off of him, striking out once.

In a rematch April 27 at Dodger Stadium, Anderson shut out the Giants over the first four innings despite being out of whack, inducing three groundouts in the process compared with five balls caught by outfielders (including Joc Pederson’s first-inning catch near the wall in center that started a double play). Anderson then got two groundouts to start the fifth inning, but a walk to No. 8 hitter Brandon Crawford preceded two groundball singles, then an RBI double to deep right.

It’s encouraging merely to see Anderson take his regular turn on the mound week after week — the next step is for him to deliver a dominating performance. We’ll see if that comes today.

As Pederson delivers again, Dodger bullpen on 19-inning scoreless streak

By Jon Weisman

On May 2, 2015

In Bullpen

By Jon Weisman

With homers in four straight games, including a game-tying shot in tonight’s 5-4 Dodger victory over Arizona, Joc Pederson is on a planet by himself these days …

National League OPS leaders, 8:45 p.m. May 2, 2015:
1) Adrian Gonzalez
2) Joc Pederson pic.twitter.com/YpIPzuw6ql

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) May 3, 2015

Joc Pederson (23 years, two weeks) is the youngest Dodger ever to homer in four straight games, passing Bill Sudakis (23 years, 4.5 months).

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) May 3, 2015

… but can we also spare a congratulatory moment for the Dodger bullpen?

Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Month: May 2015 (Page 5 of 6)

A 4:50 p.m. Wednesday game at Dodger Stadium? How will you remember?

Remembering ’65: Tommy Davis goes down, ‘Sweet Lou’ comes up

Yasmani Grandal soaring up the charts

Video: Vin Scully guests on Letterman, 1990

Dodger minor league report No. 4: Seager adjusting to Triple-A

Video: Someone order the Joc on two slices of Pederson?

Dodgers continue to play total recall

Dodger hitters dominating righties in 2015

Glenn Burke elected to Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals

Cooking at home, cooked on the road? Nah …

We should all have slumps like Clayton Kershaw

Gonzalez, Guerrero win NL honors for April

Dodgers make deals, call up Coulombe

Brett Anderson looks to ground Diamondbacks

As Pederson delivers again, Dodger bullpen on 19-inning scoreless streak

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