Ross Stripling, whose season began with 7 1/3 no-hit innings April 8 in San Francisco, pitched three shutout innings Sunday in his relief debut. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
Regrouping after throwing 582 pitches in three games at San Diego — and losing one of their pitchers to the disabled list in the process — the Dodgers are bringing up two fresh arms for their pitching staff.
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By Kevin Cook
Besides an Adrian Gonzalez home run or the mere mention of Vin Scully, what else gets Dodger fans excited when they visit Dodger Stadium? The Hat Shuffle, of course.
Maybe I’m biased. I’m the senior motion graphics designer for the Dodgers, and I’ve designed the Hat Shuffle for the past seven seasons. I also might just be the Hat Shuffle’s biggest fan.
It didn’t start out that way. When I first joined the Dodgers in August 2009, I didn’t quite get the allure of the game, I think mainly because most Hat Shuffle games I’d seen at other sports stadiums were either too easy or impossibly difficult.
But done right, the Hat Shuffle is a really fun game, and when you visit Dodger Stadium, you should expect to have fun regardless of the score. Realizing that fun is the main priority of what we do here was a good first lesson in my new job and one that I haven’t forgotten.
So I didn’t just want to do the same old Hat Shuffle that I’d seen elsewhere. Our in-house creative team here is constantly pushing itself to do something different every season and better than the previous season. That same effort goes into the Hat Shuffle. There’s been an evolution of complexity to the game every season, and that isn’t by coincidence.
By Jon Weisman
When it was all over, Yasiel Puig and Dave Roberts discussed the highs and lows of Puig’s day after today/tonight’s 17-inning Dodger victory.
His ninth-inning baserunning mishap during A.J. Ellis’ bunt was in the back of Puig’s mind when he drove in the game-winning runs, eight innings later, according to The Associated Press:
Yasiel Puig points back to the dugout after hitting a tiebreaking two-run single in the 17th inning. (Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers won.
They won, 9-5, over San Diego, in 17 innings, despite the albatross of a bad week and a rough season hanging over them. They won, despite the specter of a third consecutive walkoff loss howling all around them.
By Jon Weisman
It has been, if one weren’t to mince words, an ugly time.
The Dodgers have lost four straight, six of their past seven, 16 of their past 25.
Since April 25, when they were 12-7, the Dodgers have played .360 ball and have lost eight games in the standings to the National League West-leading Giants, who are 17-8 in that span.
On Saturday, the Dodgers lost when Chin-hui Tsao threw 12 of his final 14 pitches of the game out of the strike zone, forcing in the game-winning run.
“We’re finding different ways to lose games and I haven’t seen this one,” Dave Roberts said afterward. “It’s a tough one and to try to defend it, having a hard time.”
The only thing harder to watch than the final score of the games has been the frustration of the fans, because that’s really whom the games are for.
I’ve been blogging about the Dodgers a long time now, coming up on 14 years. This is when I usually step up and make my attempt at “it’s always darkest before the dawn” arguments. I’ve hesitated, not because I believe any less in those arguments, but because I believe less that the audience for those arguments is willing to hear them.
Nonetheless, there are certain fundamental things I feel worth saying, however succinctly. You either buy in, or you don’t …
Denis Poroy/Getty Images
By Jon Weisman
Alex Wood struck gold as he struck out almost every San Diego Padre he faced tonight.
In only six innings, the 25-year-old set a career high with 13 strikeouts, then left the game with two runners on and the Dodgers clinging to a 2-1 lead. San Diego would then tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, and for the second night in a row, the outcome was left to the teams’ bullpens.
By Jon Weisman
Adrian Gonzalez is in the Dodger starting lineup for the first time since Monday, ending his longest absence since.
Gonzalez, who came off the bench in the eighth inning of Friday’s game, went 8 for 21 with a homer, two doubles, three walks and a sacrifice fly (1.059 OPS) from May 10-15, but then left Monday’s game in the sixth inning with lower back pain after going 0 for 3.
The 34-year-old leads the Major Leagues with 1,629 games played since 2006 and hasn’t missed more than six games in a season since his rookie year in 2005.
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Yasiel Puig homers in the fifth inning. (Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
By Jon Weisman
Kenley Jansen had allowed one run in the first 42 games of the season. Then he allowed two runs with one swing.
In a game that was topsy, turvy and topsy again, Melvin Upton Jr.’s two-run homer off Jansen, after an odd, pop-fly single that second baseman Chase Utley couldn’t corral, gave the Padres a walkoff a 7-6 victory at San Diego over the Dodgers.
It was the first walkoff homer Jansen allowed in his seven-season MLB career.
Upton’s homer negated a two-out, two-run homer by Justin Turner in the eighth inning after Carl Crawford’s pinch-hit single that had rallied the Dodgers to a 6-5 lead.
Frankie Montas at Spring Training in February, post-surgery. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
Frankie Montas, the fireballing right-hander acquired with Trayce Thompson and Micah Johnson from the White Sox, has been a mostly forgotten man since he had rib resection surgery February 12.
But Montas threw two innings Thursday in an extended Spring Training game Thursday at Camelback Ranch, the Dodgers said, and is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Saturday with Double-A Tulsa.
A potential starter or reliever, the 23-year-old struck out 108 in 112 innings with a 2.97 ERA for Double-A Birmingham, before striking out 20 in a 15-inning trial with the White Sox. In his last appearance of 2015, he struck out seven in four innings of one-run ball October 4.
Today, we remember Alan Young, the “Mr. Ed” actor who passed away Thursday at age 96. Young and his horse companion made a memorable visit to Dodger Stadium for the 1963 season premiere, highlighted above. Sandy Koufax, Willie Davis, Leo Durocher, Johnny Roseboro and more appear.
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In a quiet, semi-private but warm gathering before Thursday’s game, the Angels honored Vin Scully, who made his last regular-season trip to Anaheim as a broadcaster.
Former Dodgers including Mike Scioscia, Alfredo Griffin, Mickey Hatcher and Ron Roenicke were joined by Mike Trout and Jared Weaver in making a lovely presentation.
Fabian Ardaya of MLB.com has a story to complement the video above, and Jon SooHoo has a picture at the Dodgers Photog Blog.
— Jon Weisman
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Dodger bench coach Bob Geren rides his bike from Pasadena to Dodger Stadium (and then in Dodger Stadium) before almost every home game. SportsNet LA has a fun time telling the story in the video above.
It’s also a good reminder that, if you can handle the final uphill climb, cycling is one of the alternate means of transportation to the ballpark.
— Jon Weisman
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
Mike Bolsinger will return to the minor leagues after making a spot start Wednesday for the Dodgers, with reliever Chin-hui Tsao joining the roster from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Tsao, who turns 35 in June, has a 3.31 ERA and 1.35 WHIP with 14 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings this season, and has been unscored upon in his past eight appearances.
Last year, returning to the Majors after an eight-year absence, Tsao pitched seven innings for the Dodgers, with a 2.84 ERA in his first four games before allowing six runs in two-third of an inning July 25 against the Mets. He also doubled in his only at-bat.
Making his first MLB start in nearly eight months and his first since recovering from a March oblique injury, Bolsinger went 4 1/3 innings and was charged with two earned runs in the Dodgers’ 8-1 loss to the Angels, allowing nine of the 21 batters he faced to reach base, while striking out two.
Photos: Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
Here’s a fun comparison* between arguably baseball’s best closer, Kenley Jansen, and baseball’s best starter, Clayton Kershaw.
In the late innings (i.e., after the sixth), they have both been brilliant — and nearly identical.
*partially inspired by Jayson Stark’s ESPN.com column, which names Kershaw the best National League pitcher of the quarter-season.
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
Mike Bolsinger has been officially reinstated from the disabled list to start tonight’s game in Anaheim against the Angels, with infielder Charlie Culberson being optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
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