February 2020 – Dodger Thoughts

Corey Seager, a slider and the Dodgers’ October bubble

On February 28, 2020

In Dodgers, Philosophy, Postseason, Thinking out loud

Carrie Giordano/Los Angeles Dodgers

It was drowned out by the Howie Kendrick grand slam, by Juan Soto teeing off on the fattest pitch of Clayton Kershaw’s career, by Anthony Rendon taking a golf swing at a Kershaw pitch near his shins.

It was smothered by a National League Division Series Game 5 that tore the Dodgers and their fans apart.

But before NLDS Game 5, there was Game 2. And in Game 2, there was one inning, arguably one pitch, that speaks as much to the Dodgers’ Job-like journey through the Octobers of the past seven seasons as any other.

Andre Ethier had the most to lose from the Astros’ scandal, but he is far from bitter

By Jon Weisman

On February 19, 2020

In Dodgers, Sign-Stealing Scandal

Andre Ethier with his family at his Dodger Stadium retirement ceremony in 2018.
(Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

For most players on the 2017 Dodgers, the sign-stealing scandal perpetrated by the Houston Astros jeopardized a tremendous chance for Los Angeles to win the World Series.

For Andre Ethier, it was his last chance.

The Astros deserve harsher punishment, but beanballs are not the answer

By Jon Weisman

On February 15, 2020

In Dodgers, Other teams, Sign-Stealing Scandal

When he thought he was being traded to the Angels, Ross Stripling started wrestling with whether he would intentionally throw at an Astros hitter to retaliate. He concluded he probably would, at the right time, in the right place. I think it’s a fascinating question.

— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) February 14, 2020

“I would lean toward yes,” Stripling said. “In the right time and in the right place. Maybe I give up two runs the inning before and I got some anger going. Who knows? But yeah, it would certainly be on my mind.”

* * *

No active Astro player has been punished for the sign-stealing scandal, and that’s wrong. Something should happen, right? Even the kinds of cheating that baseball holds in a warm place in its heart, like scuffing a baseball, get sanctioned when the details come out in the open.

Understandably, into that vaccum, calls for frontier justice have increased, as you can see from the Ross Stripling quote above. If Stripling, one of the most cerebral players in the game, is thinking an eye for an eye, you can imagine what a large cross-section of ballplayers are pondering — not to mention aggrieved fans out for blood.

As much as the impulse is understandable, this can’t happen.

Dodgers’ winter of discontent gives way to auspicious spring

By Jon Weisman

On February 12, 2020

In Dodgers, Playoffs, Postseason, Status report, Transactions

It feels like 10 years since I last saw a Dodger game.

It feels like we’ve lived through an entire era of baseball in the four months and three days the Dodgers last walked off the field, heads bowed. It feels like we’ve aged a generation.

As I hibernated with other activities, I watched Dodger fans descend in to a deep well of anger and despair. The winter of our discontent barely seems adequate to describe it. Behind center field, offseason construction tore a hole in Dodger Stadium, delivered directly from Metaphors ‘R’ Us.

The bitterness of the Dodgers’ shocking Game 5 loss in the National League Division Series lingered like a slow-acting toxin, blackening the rose petals of fandom.

The unrequited pursuit of big-name talent, Gerrit Cole in particular, generated a sense of Kafkaesque imprisonment, blinding the reality that none of the Dodgers’ top rivals except the Yankees had improved their rosters. Then again, if the Yankees become the team to beat, isn’t that anguish enough?

Then the earth trembled, the ground beneath our feet cracked open and the void opened.

Dodger Thoughts

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

Month: February 2020

Corey Seager, a slider and the Dodgers’ October bubble

Andre Ethier had the most to lose from the Astros’ scandal, but he is far from bitter

The Astros deserve harsher punishment, but beanballs are not the answer

Dodgers’ winter of discontent gives way to auspicious spring

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