History – Page 20 – Dodger Thoughts

On July 4, 2014

In Analysis, History, Pitching

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By Jon Weisman

What’s the best part of Clayton Kershaw’s 36-inning scoreless streak, now the third-longest in Dodger history after his latest magical act, taming Coors Field in a 9-0 Dodger victory?

That he’s struck out 35 percent of the batters he has faced?
That opponents have an OPS against him – not batting average, but OPS – of .292?
That 18 of the 36 innings have been perfect innings?
That while opponents are batting .124 against him, Kershaw has hit .273 against his opponents?

For me, I think it’s this:

Dodgers Top 40: The best plays of the first half

On June 27, 2014

In Defense, History

By Jon Weisman

How exciting a 2014 has it been for the Dodgers? I started out planning to pick out the top 10 plays of the first half of the season, then (after realizing that Dee Gordon could practically fill that quota by himself) saw that list balloon to 40.

So here, in all their glory (and in an unplanned tribute to Casey Kasem), are the biggest thrills of the first 81 games. Thanks to MLB.com for the videos, as well as pieces of text here and there.

Now, prepare to lose yourself …

* * *

March 30 at San Diego: Hyun-Jin Ryu fields a sharp comebacker and throws to home to start a double play and escape a bases-loaded jam in the first.
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In 365 days, 103 victories

On June 22, 2014

Dodgers at Padres, 1:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Scott Van Slyke, CF
Justin Turner, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Hyun-Jin Ryu, P

By Jon Weisman

It began, like today begins, in San Diego.

The Dodgers were 30-42, last in the National League West, 9 1/2 games out of first place, 5 1/2 games out of fourth place.

You might be aware of this year’s inability to win four consecutive games. A year ago at this time, the Dodgers hadn’t won three straight games since early April. I was telling people that it was too much merely to be asking for waffles. I was writing about “The Pit of Despair.”

Here’s one for you: Forget about the playoffs for a moment. Forget about .500. The Dodgers need to play .450 ball over their remaining 90 games to reach 70 wins. Will they do it? …

… I don’t know when the losing is going to end for this current brand of Big Blue Wrecked Crew. I do know that in Los Angeles, things tend to reverse course in a hurry, good to bad, bad to good. We’ve really seen it all in the past 25 years – all except for a World Series.

Perhaps it will come in a year when we least expect it.

When they took the field against San Diego on June 22, 2013, the Padres were in second place, 38-36, 2 1/2 games behind Arizona. San Diego had dumped the Dodgers by three runs on each of the previous two nights. Reaching the fifth inning in a scoreless tie with the Padres – against Edinson Volquez, even – no doubt felt to some like an achievement, to others like par for a miserable course.

In the top of the fifth, Volquez retired Mark Ellis, and then, improbably even for the future past Dodger, walked Juan Uribe, A.J. Ellis and Zack Greinke in succession to load the bases. Skip Schumaker hit into a force play at second base but stayed out of an inning-ending double play, with Uribe scoring for a 1-0 lead.

In a sense, from those humble beginnings, the Dodgers did not look back until October.

Six straight wins, 10-1 in 11 games, 16-3 in 19 games, 23-5 in 28 games, 32-7 in 39 games. They lost to St. Louis to put them at .800 ball over a 40-game stretch … then ripped off 10 more wins in a row. The magic figure: 42-8. And even after the flame was turned down from high, the heat continued all the way to the NLCS.

This year has not been without its frustrations, but on June 22, 2014, the Dodgers find themselves with the third-best record in the National League, four games behind San Francisco and five behind Milwaukee. Over the past 365 days, the Dodgers have gone 103-63, the best record in the Majors and 12 more wins than any other NL team.

To say the least, there has been plenty to celebrate since June 22, 2013 … and something even bigger to yearn for. Hopefully, the bonus candle on the cake will come this fall.

June 22, 1964: 17-year-old Willie Crawford signs with the Dodgers

On June 22, 2014

By Jon Weisman

Fifty years ago today, the Dodgers signed 17-year-old Fremont High School outfielder Willie Crawford to a bonus contract worth $100,000.

That might not seem so unusual in this era of seven-figure contracts for teenage amateur ballplayers. But less than three months later, just nine days after his 18th birthday, Crawford made his Major League debut with Los Angeles.

Crawford’s signing on June 22, 1964 was headline news in the Times, which cited assistant general manager Red Patterson as saying Crawford had “lucrative offers” from 16 MLB teams. The Times added that Crawford “has been clocked in 3.1 seconds going to first base,” which would be faster than Dee Gordon on his Little League home run last week.

Dodger scouts Al Campanis, Kenny Myers and Tom Lasorda worked as a team to sign the highly prized athlete at his parents’ home, 1447 E 69th St.

Even Charley Finley, the controversial owner of the Kansas City Athletics, made a last-minute personal appearance at Crawford’s home Sunday in an effort to sign him. …

… The club said it believed this was the highest bonus ever paid a Negro. It is the second highest ever paid out by the Dodgers, Frank Howard having received $107,000.

The most dominant pitching performance in Dodger history?

On June 18, 2014

By Jon Weisman

It was the strikeouts.

For nearly the entire night, Colorado’s hitters simply could not find the ball.

Right or wrong, when I imagined Clayton Kershaw throwing a no-hitter — and how often, how very often I imagined it — I imagined he’s get his seven or eight strikeouts, but the majority of the outs would be of efficient dispatch. Lots of first-pitch groundouts.

Instead, the strikeouts came by the bushel, so much so that with four outs remaining in the game, Kershaw had a chance to tie the franchise record of 18 strikeouts in a game, held by Sandy Koufax and Ramon Martinez.

Kershaw did break one record of some obscurity but significance nevertheless. His Game Score of 102 was the highest in Dodger history, higher even than Koufax during his 14-strikeout perfect game, and a concise testimony to his dominance. Only Kerry Wood, in his 20-strikeout game, had a higher Game Score.

He was the first player ever to strike out at least 15 without allowing a hit or walk.

And the 26-year-old lefty finished it off on only 107 pitches. There were nine groundouts, and only three balls in the air all night. I counted only one three-ball count for Kershaw tonight, to Josh Rutledge in the second inning.

Clayton Kershaw was walking on the sun.

Remembering Bob Welch, 1956-2014

On June 10, 2014

In Farewells, History

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By Jon Weisman

Bob Welch was much more than a single strikeout of Reggie Jackson.

He pitched three one-hitters; I was at one of them, a 15-year-old trying to explain to the people he was with why the game was special. He pitched a shutout against the Reds in 1983 and homered off Mario Soto for the only run of the game. He had a 3.14 career ERA with the Dodgers, then moved on to Oakland and had a Cy Young Award-winning season when he won 27 games. After retiring, he became the pitching coach for the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, who won the World Series.

He was also someone who shared his personal life and battle with addiction in the book, “Five O’Clock Comes Early,” and as recently as this year, he was sharing difficult details of his life so that it might be of help to others.

It was hard not to be a fan of Welch, long after he faced down Jackson from 60 feet, six inches away.

Nevertheless, that strikeout looms so large in the legacy of Welch, who has passed away at the age of 57. Before Jose Lima, before Orel Hershiser, before Jerry Reuss, before anyone, it might be the singular postseason pitching moment in my lifetime of following the Dodgers.

Here’s my chapter on that event, from 100 Things Dodgers …

Maury Wills’ advantage over Dee Gordon

On June 7, 2014

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Dodgers at Rockies, 1:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Andre Ethier, CF
Justin Turner, 3B
Tim Federowicz, C
Zack Greinke, P

By Jon Weisman

Dee Gordon is on pace for 93 steals and has an outside shot at Maury Wills’ team record of 104, but Wills ended up with an edge that Gordon won’t have.

Because the Dodgers played in a three-game playoff with the Giants that counted in the 1962 NL regular-season standings – and because Wills was an iron man that year – Wills played in 165 games in his record-setting season.

Wills stole four bases in those extra three games, with three of the steals coming in game 165, when he went 4 for 5 in the Dodgers’ ill-fated, thank-goodness-Twitter-didn’t-exist, 6-4 loss to San Francisco.

Wills scored the Dodgers’ final run of 1962 in classic fashion: he singled to left, stole second, stole third and came home on a throwing error by Giants catcher Ed Bailey.

MauryWills.com

That gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead, which they took to the ninth before they allowed four crushing runs.

Vin Scully remembers D-Day

On June 6, 2014

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Spoken on June 6, 2013.

– Jon Weisman

Video: Vin Scully and the Dodgers’ 10,000th NL win

On June 4, 2014

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Tonight, the Dodgers celebrate the franchise last month’s 10,000th National League victory with a commemorative pin giveaway. The video above, narrated by Vin Scully, seals the deal.

— Jon Weisman

Memories: 42 years since 42

On June 4, 2014

Today is the 42nd anniversary of the Dodgers retiring No. 42 (in addition to Nos. 32 and 39), on June 4, 1972.

Here’s to Jackie, Roy and Sandy.

— Jon Weisman

Sandy Koufax at the plate, age 8

On June 4, 2014

#throwback @Dodgers Sandy Koufax batting when he was 8 years old. (via @AP) pic.twitter.com/YqnbiFd2Z0

— Sports Photos (@sportsphotos) June 3, 2014

The phenom’s curse

On June 2, 2014

Sunday’s Jon SooHoo photo highlights can be found at LA Photog Blog.

White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Kershaw CLXXXIX: Kershawnnie Get Your Gun
Chone Figgins, 2B
Matt Kemp, LF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Scott Van Slyke, CF
Justin Turner, 3B
Drew Butera, C
Clayton Kershaw, P

By Jon Weisman

“I talked about this with Rickey Henderson. Rickey Henderson could do so many things, it’s almost a curse sometimes, because we always ask for more. Yasiel hits .350 — now we want him to be a perfect basestealer. He does that — now we want him to do this. With all that talent, you think there’s still more there, and at times, we ask a lot.”

— Don Mattingly, on Yasiel Puig

Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams … and Yasiel Puig

On June 2, 2014

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Yasiel Puig (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

By Jon Weisman

“I think Puig is definitely in this family of nearly mythical characters.”

— John Thorn

Ted Williams, c. 1940 (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The next time someone suggests Yasiel Puig is unlike anyone who has come before, or that he’s dangerously cavalier about baseball’s unwritten rules, think of Ted Williams.

Ted Williams, commander of respect, massively serious student of hitting … so much so that in his early years in the Major Leagues, he would take practice swings in the outfield when the other team was at bat.

“He was thought to be nearly demented,” Major League Baseball official historian John Thorn says. “He was absolutely in his own head. … Because we hold Williams in such reverence today, those who don’t have a grasp of the full history of the man will not recognize that he was made fun of when he was brought in.”

Adds FoxSports.com senior baseball editor Rob Neyer: “When Williams came up, he didn’t seem to know what the rules were. He would speak to veterans as if they were underlings or inferior to him. He would practice his swing in the outfield between pitches. These were things you weren’t supposed to do. … The culture sort of beats those things out of you, which is kind of a shame for fans.”

Williams is far from the only one. As unique as Puig has been in his first 365 days in the Major Leagues, a stroll through baseball history brings a line of baseball giants who, before they became legends, were heartily mocked or criticized.

Once upon a time, Old School was itself New School, and head-scratching, larger-than-life figures existed as much then as now, if not more so.

June 1 pregame: Notes, notes, everywhere

On June 1, 2014