Dodger Thoughts

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

Category: Postgame (Page 19 of 21)

Kershaw still effective despite extra-base spike

By

On May 28, 2014

In Postgame

By Jon Weisman

Clayton Kershaw struck out nine for the fourth time in six Major League starts this season tonight and would have left tied, 2-2, if not for a sixth-inning wild pitch that could have been ruled a passed ball on Drew Butera.

But Kershaw has allowed extra-base hits at an unusual rate in May. Put it this way: Cincinnati had five extra-base hits this evening (four doubles and Brandon Phillips’ two-run, first-inning home run), a total that matches the number of extra-base hits Kershaw allowed in all of April 2013.

With the Reds racking up 14 total bases in 28 at-bats against Kershaw tonight, opponents have slugged .464 (52 for 112) against the lefty this month, compared with a career opponents’ slugging of .314 and .277 last season. Of course, this month’s figure was influenced by the highly unusual second inning at Arizona on May, when he allowed three triples and a double in a stretch of six batters.

Overall, Kershaw was a strong pitcher in May, throwing four quality starts with a 2.00 ERA in non-Arizona games and striking out 39 in 28 2/3 innings (12.2 K/9). His strikeout-walk ratio of 6.6 to date is the best of his career. It’s that remarkable when opponents can touch him at all.

As for the Dodgers themselves, they scratched across a run in the fifth and got a Yasiel Puig homer in the sixth, but twice stranded Dee Gordon at third base with one out, in the first and eighth innings. Aroldis Chapman, throwing his fastball in the triple digits, put out the Dodgers in the ninth.

More no-hitters, Ryu-vous-plaît? Nearly …

By

On May 26, 2014

In Postgame

[mlbvideo id=”33202719″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman

I haven’t had my heart beating in the middle innings of a game in May like that since I don’t know when.

Read More

Josh Beckett no-hits Phillies!

By

On May 25, 2014

In History, Postgame

[mlbvideo id=”33159573″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman

It’s been nearly 18 years since Dodger fans could exult in a Dodger no-hitter. Thank you, Josh Beckett.

Beckett threw the first Dodger no-hitter in 17 years, eight months and eight days, since Hideo Nomo’s at Colorado on September 17, 1996. The 17 1/2-year gap between no-hitters was the longest in Dodger history, surpassing the 17 years and eight days between Nap Rucker on September 5, 1908 and Dazzy Vance on September 13, 1925.

photoThe right-hander, coming back from an injury-shortened 2013 season, threw 128 pitches. Beckett threw 100 pitches through seven innings, then needed only 16 to get the next five outs. But then we really got down to the nitty gritty.

He was within a strike of completing the no-hitter but lost Jimmy Rollins for a two-out walk in the ninth (Beckett’s third of the game) then fell behind Chase Utley in the count 3-1. But a beautiful 71-mph curveball at 3-1 dipped in for strike two, and then Utley took a strike three on the bottom line of the strike zone for the final out.

Beckett walked Utley in the first inning and Marlon Byrd to lead off the second, but then retired the next 23 batters he faced before the walk to Rollins. Domonic Brown had a hard-hit fly ball to left field in the sixth, but there were no diving plays or near-misses to jeopardize Beckett’s bid for history.

He lowered his ERA for the season to 2.43. Last year, he had a 5.19 ERA in eight starts.

“The surgery’s been a blessing for me,” Beckett said after the game, referring to the operation that ended his 2013 season 10 1/2 months ago.

Beckett surpassed his previous career high in pitches of 126; his high as a Dodger was 113 on May 2. In his most recent start, Tuesday in New York, Beckett threw 99 pitches, his lowest total of the the month.

Beckett’s previous low-hit complete game was a one-hitter for Boston at Tampa Bay on June 15, 2011. Beckett walked none in that game.

A.J. Ellis ties obscure, quirky MLB record

By

On May 23, 2014

In History, Postgame

Ellis x 3By Jon Weisman

In the bottom of the fourth inning of tonight’s 2-0 victory over Philadelphia, the Dodgers recorded all three outs on Clayton Kershaw strikeouts in the dirt that required A.J. Ellis to throw out the runner at first base.

Ellis became the second Dodger catcher and first since Bruce Edwards on August 15, 1946 to rack up three assists in one inning. And according to Baseball Almanac (though I don’t know how up to date that site is), Ellis is the seventh MLB catcher and first since 1976 to do so.

Update:

Screen Shot 2014-05-23 at 8.34.12 PM

Timmermann found at least two other instances of catchers getting three assists in an inning, including Drew Butera’s father Sal on September 7, 1981.

Update No. 2: Having gone through the records with Timmermann, I’m confident, if not completely sure, that Ellis is the first catcher ever to get three assists in one inning on strikeouts that required throws to first.

Speaking of threes: Kershaw pitched three innings before a 43-minute rain delay and three innings after, and his strikeout total for the game was 3×3. Dee Gordon stole three bases in three tries. Yasiel Puig raised his batting average to .343 with a rhyming 3-for-3.

And Brandon League put three runners on base in the seventh inning, before J.P. Howell got three consecutive outs to end the threat, the start of three shutout innings by the Dodger bullpen, to complete the combined three-hit shutout.

Double-doubled Dodgers go in and out of victory

By

On May 22, 2014

In Postgame

[mlbvideo id=”33080459″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

By Jon Weisman

Not since that sunny day in San Francisco have we taken such a big bite out of the entire Yasiel Puig experience, but my takeaway from tonight’s 5-by-3 loss is that Puig’s experience is just a drive-thru of everyone’s experience.

Puig comboed his great catch with a double, but was twice grilled onions on the bases. Justin Turner made a cheesy error and hit a two-run home run. Zack Greinke was left unbunned by the Dodgers’ protein-style defense for two unearned runs, but was also served by Puig’s second-inning spread. Daniel Murphy of the Mets had his own glop of animal-style fielding and went 0 for 4, but by July, he could be going to the All-Star Game.

Nobody’s perfect, nobody’s worthless. It’s not chocolate or vanilla – it’s a black-and-white. What matters is whether we taste the good or the bad in the end. For the Dodgers, the good has had the edge, but not enough to satisfy even themselves.

That’s what baseball is all about.

For second time in 2014, Dodgers win without a single

By

On May 21, 2014

In Postgame

By Jon Weisman

It had happened only five times in the past 30 years, but now it has happened twice in two months. As they did on April 6 against the Giants, the Dodgers won tonight without a single one-base hit.

Los Angeles defeated New York, 4-3, on the strength of solo homers by Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez (the latter two back to back) and doubles by Matt Kemp and Chone Figgins (the latter coming home on an eighth-inning fielder’s choice).

The April 6 game is the only time the Dodgers have had more than five hits in a game without a single. Of course, it was only six years ago that the Dodgers won with no hits at all.

Other tidbits from tonight:

  • Hyun-Jin Ryu, who came off the disabled list with a season and career ERA of 3.00, maintained that by allowing two runs in six innings. Ryu struck out eight in his first four innings and nine overall, but his road scoreless streak ended at 33 innings when Eric “Don’t call me Earl” Campbell hit a two-run, sixth-inning home run.
  • The maligned Dodger bullpen had thrown eight consecutive shutout innings, before a one-out triple by Juan Lagares in the ninth inning off Kenley Jansen led to a run. Jansen fanned David Wright to end the game.
  • Brandon League escaped the seventh inning despite runners on second and third and two out, extending his personal streak without an earned run to 21 1/3 innings.
  • Figgins’ double raised his season on-base percentage to .444. As a pinch-hitter, Figgins has reached base in 9 of 19 plate appearances.
  • Puig pushed his slugging percentage past .600, while Gonzalez has homered in three straight games.

No more waiting for Beckett

By

On May 13, 2014

In Postgame

By Jon Weisman

Hi, I’m Josh Beckett. (Note: This isn’t really Josh Beckett.)  I had no wins and one rib lost last year. People didn’t expect much from me this year. And sure enough, in my first start of 2014, I only lasted four innings and gave up four earned runs.

Oh, but here’s what I’ve done in my six starts since, including tonight’s 7-1 victory over Miami: 37 2/3 innings, 39 baserunners, 36 strikeouts and a 1.67 ERA.

That’s right, suckers. Sure, it’s my first win since 2012, but that’s a dumb stat anyway. (Note: I don’t know if Josh Beckett really feels that way, but he should.) Time for the baseball world to stand up and notice. I’m kinda back.

Kershaw returns, the center holds

By

On May 6, 2014

In Postgame

[mlbvideo id=”32662043″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

By Jon Weisman

Clayton Kershaw came back from a 6 1/2-week absence and kept the Washington Nationals as quiet as a Sunday morning snow flurry.

He blanketed them. He turned Nationals Park into the house on the Night Before Christmas. He pitched in such a way that I wouldn’t have trouble believing that Kershaw could bound from chimney to chimney, delivering toys to every home on the globe, while also making compensatory adjustments for non-participating households.

There were nine hits against him. I’m trying to reconcile the nine hits against him. I may actually be having an existential crisis over the nine hits against him. I’m not trying to deny them, not trying to deny that in a game that was scoreless until the sixth inning, there was actual peril – the same way there was peril in not knowing whether Rudolph’s nose might conk out somewhere over Greenland.

There was even this. Comedy.

[mlbvideo id=”32655707″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

Still, still, it was the way Kershaw made you feel watching him, the way from the first strike he made you feel safe and secure, that baseball was once again a gift, that the stray brushstrokes were all part of the show, that even in a busy and converging world, there can be peace.

Camille_Pissarro_002

It doesn’t stay that way. But that it circles back that way, maybe that’s enough.

Domination and redemption

By

On May 3, 2014

In Postgame

[mlbvideo id=”32585911″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman

What can you say about Dee Gordon?  He goes 5 for 6 with two RBI and three steals, while also making a huge defensive play.

And what can you say about Brandon League? Is he on the Juan Uribe redemption path? On a night the Dodgers were trying to buy Kenley Jansen another day of rest, League stepped in after Brian Wilson, Chris Withrow and Chris Perez couldn’t hold a 7-2 lead, and shut out Miami in the 10th and 11th innings of a 9-7 Dodger victory. League has now thrown 11 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.

And while we’re at it, what can you say about Carl Crawford? Coming off the bench in the midst of a terrible slump, he blasted a two-run homer in the top of the 11th to lift give the Dodgers to victory one day before they face Marlins ace Jose Fernandez.

No, it wasn’t a walk in the park after Yasiel Puig’s titanic three-run homer. It was another extra-inning slog for a weary team. But that’s baseball – comedy, tragedy and triumph all rolled into one.

On their way to Miami, Dodgers get a good night’s sweep

By

On May 1, 2014

In Postgame

[mlbvideo id=”32526835″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

By Jon Weisman

With a 4-3 victory tonight over Minnesota, thanks to 12th-inning home runs by Scott Van Slyke and Drew Butera, the Dodgers sweep a doubleheader for the first time since April 28, 2002 at Wrigley Field.

Even on 0-for-5 day, Gordon’s speed a factor in Dodger victory

By

On May 1, 2014

In Postgame

Gordon speed

By Jon Weisman

For the second game in a row, Dodger bats were hot in the cold, the team reaching base 21 times — led by Yasiel Puig with five — in a 9-4 victory over Minnesota to start today’s doubleheader.

Because I featured Puig on Wednesday, let’s focus on a huge play in the game that came early, after the Dodgers made two errors in a two-run first inning for the Twins.

Andre Ethier and Juan Uribe singled to start the top of the second, and Miguel Olivo (2 for 3 with a sacrifice fly in his Dodger debut) walked to load the bases. Carl Crawford grounded into a force at home for the first out.

Dee Gordon came up and hit what appeared to be a sure double-play grounder to short. But with his amazing speed, he narrowly beat the throw to first base, scoring a run and keeping the inning alive.

Puig then slammed a double to deep left-center to score Crawford and Gordon, and the Dodgers were on their way.

Gordon also stole his 14th base of the season, giving him 80 for his career in exactly 100 attempts. You do the math.

With four hits and a walk, Puig, whose OPS has risen to .900, became the first Dodger to reach base five times in a game since Carl Crawford on August 7. Juan Uribe had three hits (his seventh such game in 2014), while Adrian Gonzalez had a single and three walks. Hanley Ramirez went 0 for 5 but had two sparking plays on defense, one a glove flip to Gordon for a double-play, with an assist from instant replay.

Dan Haren allowed three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven. Chris Perez earned an unusual save, because he entered the game in the bottom of the eighth with the tying run on deck and then finished it out in the ninth.

Um, so, Yasiel Puig is having a good season

By

On April 30, 2014

In Postgame

Screen Shot 2014-04-30 at 8.25.34 PMBy Jon Weisman

So yeah, Zack Greinke is amazing and yeah, Adrian Gonzalez keeps on rockin’ and yeah, Dee Gordon is greased lightnin’.

So who is quietly – that’s right, quietly, off the radar, with little fanfare or media attention – one of the Dodgers’ top contributors in 2014.

Some guy named Yasiel Puig.

According to Fangraphs, Puig was the 2014 Dodgers’ fourth most valuable position player entering play tonight, trailing Gordon, Juan Uribe and Gonzalez. He was also neck-and-neck-and-neck with Ryan Braun and Jason Heyward for third place among National League right fielders.

And that was before Puig went 2 for 4 in the Dodgers’ 6-4 victory over Minnesota, raising his on-base percentage to .364 and slugging percentage to .471.

But you wouldn’t know it, given that almost all the discussion about Puig this year has been about his shortcomings and other off-the-field stories.

Admittedly, with three home runs in 27 games, it doesn’t really feel like Puig has unleashed the power the way he did upon his arrival in 2013. On the other hand, we keep hearing about pitchers are adjusting to Puig, and he hasn’t exactly fallen apart. Far from it.

Tonight was Puig’s 190th game on American soil, including Double-A, Single-A and the Dodgers’ Arizona Rookie League team. That’s it. It’s still reasonable to say the guy is just getting started, and his career Major League OPS remains above .900.

With Clayton Kershaw passing his latest test, Greinke extending his authoritative pitching with a six-inning, one-run (unearned) outing, the offense amassing 16 baserunners and the franchise recording its 10,000th NL victory, it was a good night. Even if the bottom of the ninth was an adventure.

Beckett a ray of sunshine for dampened Dodgers

By

On April 25, 2014

In Postgame

[wpvideo ESpd9PmX]

By Jon Weisman

In general, rain is as welcome in Southern California as an eight-inning, two-run outing by Josh Beckett is welcome to the Dodgers.

The combination of the two certainly made for strange bedfellows Friday, punctuated by the Dodgers setting a modern franchise record by playing their sixth extra-inning game of April (according to my research at Baseball-Reference.com).

Tonight, it was the Dodgers who ended up all wet, falling 5-4 in 11 innings, despite a two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th by Adrian Gonzalez, his team-leading seventh of the year.

In the past 17 days, Dodgers have lost their past five extra-inning games, their longest streak since they lost five overtime games in a similarly shocking short stretch, from August 7-25, 2009.

Don’t blame Beckett. The righthander, coming back from season-ending injuries nearly a year ago, gave up two solo home runs in the second inning but allowed only two other baserunners, a fourth-inning single by Justin Morneau and an eighth-inning single by DJ LeMahieu. In between those last two hits, he retired 11 in a row, and when he got Charlie Blackmon to ground out to second to end the eighth inning, he had lowered his ERA to 2.45.

This was Beckett’s longest outing since losing an 8 1/3-inning complete game on April 14, 2013 and the longest outing by a Dodger this year. And Beckett did it with only 99 pitches. In his past three starts, Beckett has gone 18 innings, allowing two runs (1.00 ERA) on seven hits and seven walks with 17 strikeouts.

But what could have been a tidy, sub-3:00 victory instead extended to extra innings, with the Dodgers scoring two runs in regulation themselves — both driven home by Yasiel Puig. Puig hit a solo homer in the first inning, and then, after Dee Gordon’s remarkable infield double — yes, that’s right — Puig hit an RBI single in the third.

Gordon doubleIt’s only April, and Dodger Stadium this year has seen rain, an earthquake and a giant sheet of ice (and just barely inside the time limit on this Friday Night Fireworks night, giant sparks of light shooting in the sky). What lies ahead, one can only wonder … although signs of an approaching Clayton Kershaw are getting brighter and brighter.

Dodgers let it go: The Cole never bothered me anyway

By

On April 23, 2014

In Postgame

Screen Shot 2014-04-23 at 9.49.50 PM

Here he stands, in the light of day (well, night).

By Jon Weisman

Cole Hamels could have been trouble for a Dodger team feeling a bit frozen at the plate. But Zack Greinke brought the heat against the Phillies.

Greinke struck out 11 batters in seven innings, giving him 40 in 29 2/3 innings this season and a whopping 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings, in the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory over Philadelphia.

Last year’s Silver Slugger winner also contributed a walk and a double, the latter leading to the third run the Dodgers needed to end their two-game losing streak.

But Greinke didn’t have to go it alone. Dodger outfielders Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp also got in on the act. Puig drove home the Dodgers’ second and third runs with a two-out single in the fifth and a two-out triple in the eighth. Kemp had two doubles to raise his slugging percentage to .473.

Meanwhile, Hanley Ramirez shushed the skeptics about his health with a sixth-inning double and an eighth-inning home run, and Drew Butera added his second two-hit game of 2014. Twelve hits in all for the boys in white and blue.

Living and dying in the dream state

By

On April 22, 2014

In Postgame, Thinking out loud

field

By Jon Weisman

More times than I can count since the Dodgers hired me nearly six months ago, I’ve been told I have a dream job, and I’m in no position to dispute that.

But landing employment in your own personal Neverland doesn’t diminish the stakes of your work. If anything, it heightens them, because if you can’t do the job at the place you love, there must be something wrong with you, right? You live from one “What have you done for me lately?” to the next.

Everyone on the Dodger roster has a job they dreamed of as children, a job they have spent their lives working toward. When I walk into the Dodger clubhouse, I never fail to be struck by the sense of accomplishment of everyone in it. On Monday, Jose Dominguez walked in, the latest to serve as the last man on the squad, but no less someone who is where he aimed to be. And you have to pay homage to that.

Then the “games” start. Games … dream job … play ball … but what have you done for me lately?

The grounded people find a base camp in the effort they make, in their inner John Wooden. (“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”) That can comfort you through an 0-for-4, or run-scoring single you didn’t want to allow or the error you can’t believe happened.

But let’s be real here. You don’t make all that effort to come up short. You make it to win. You are constantly aiming to conquer expectations, driven from within or without.

When you dream — more to the point, when you fantasize — do you dream of effort? Or do you dream of results?

On a night like tonight, when the Dodgers lose on an unearned run in the 10th inning, you’re reminded again that dreams still bring their share of heartbreak.

Page 19 of 21

← Previous

Next →

Buy ‘The Catch: A novel’

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.

Click here to order The Catch in paperback.

Click here to order The Catch on Kindle.

Buy ‘Brothers in Arms’

‘Brothers in Arms’ coverage

Instagram

Twitter

Recent posts

Other writing by Jon

Archives

Commenting guidelines

Thank You For Not ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with

Attendance

1991-2013
Dodgers at home: 1,028-812 (.558695)
When Jon attended: 338-267 (.558677)*
When Jon didn’t: 695-554 (.556)
* includes road games attended

2013
Dodgers at home: 51-35 (.593)
When Jon attended: 5-2 (.714)
When Jon didn’t: 46-33 (.582)

Note: I got so busy working for the Dodgers that in 2014, I stopped keeping track, much to my regret. 

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén