By Josh Tucker
It’s Opening Night in the U.S. for the Dodgers, and Juan Uribe came prepared. For what, we’re not sure. This outfit would make Barney Stinson proud because it is legend…
Wait for it…
Vestimenta de Juan Uribe causa impacto entre sus compañeros #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/xhD1mmpbFz
— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) March 30, 2014
…dary! Legendary.
By Jon Weisman
Major League Baseball and the Players’ Association have agreed on stiffer penalties for using performance-enhancing drugs, as Paul Hagen writes for MLB.com.
A first-time offender will receive an 80-game suspension, up from the previous 50 games. A second violation will result in a 162-game suspension and a loss of an entire season (183 days) of pay, up from 100 games. A third violation will lead to permanent banishment.
Any player disciplined for a violation involving performance-enhancing substances will not be allowed to participate in the postseason and will not be eligible for an automatic playoff share.
Scott Miller quotes the positive (pun not intended but acknowledged) reaction to the changes from A.J. Ellis and Adrian Gonzalez at MLB.com.
By Jon Weisman
Considering he left the game trailing 4-1 after five innings, Zach Lee can take something positive away from his Dodger Stadium debut tonight.
For one thing, he made his Dodger Stadium debut tonight. Let’s not pretend that’s not meaningful for an up-and-coming big leaguer.
But beyond that, after giving up a leadoff walk to Kole Calhoun, a single to Albert Pujols and a rock-solid home run to Josh Hamilton in the first inning (and then committing a throwing error to start the top of the second), Lee battled back and showed off some resiliency.
He allowed one run on three hits and a walk over his final four innings, striking out two. He induced inning-ending double-play grounders in the second and fourth innings, along with four other individual groundouts. He finished his night with a perfect fifth inning, capped by getting ahead of Pujols in the count 0-2 on his way to a grounder to second.
Would Lee like that first inning back? Sure. But he’s faced Pujols and Co. at a Major League park and lived to tell the tale. Something to take with him as he moves closer and closer to his official big-league debut.
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By Jon Weisman
Watch the video above. Hanley Ramirez hits one about eight rows from the back of the left-field bleachers.
In the screen shot below (click to enlarge), it’s the white speck in between State Farm and @Dodgers.
Picture the scene from “Animal House” where Boon hooks a golf ball into the cafeteria soup. We almost had a similar moment with the sauce at the Think Blue BBQ.
It was Ramirez’s second home run of the night.
By Jon Weisman
To accommodate Carl Crawford’s return from paternity leave, the Dodgers have as expected optioned Alex Guerrero, to Triple-A Albuquerque.
Hyun-Jin Ryu greets Seth Rosin after the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory over Arizona. Jon SooHoo’s photos from the second game of the season can be found here.
By Jon Weisman
As I write this, it has only been 16 hours since the Dodgers recorded the final out of a 241-minute game in Australia, showered and then headed to the airport for a flight home that, thanks to the International Date Line, will almost allow them to turn back time.
And in a way, turning back time is a bit what the coming week is like for Los Angeles.
By Jon Weisman
When shortstop Hanley Ramirez ended the fifth inning of the second game between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks by starting a 6-3 double play, it stopped something of a bizarre streak for the Dodger infield.
To that point, neither Ramirez, second baseman Dee Gordon or third baseman Juan Uribe had a putout or an assist behind starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu.
Ryu doesn’t exactly specialize in inducing wormkiller after wormkiller, but the second-year lefty from Korea did have a groundball percentage of 50.6 last year, according to Fangraphs. This game was something different.
Through three innings, the only grounder off Ryu was a first-inning single by Paul Goldschmidt, and the only ball a Dodger infielder touched was a line drive by Miguel Montero that was caught by Adrian Gonzalez. Ryu had three strikeouts and five outfield putouts.
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In the fourth, it really started to seem like Gordon, Ramirez and Uribe had made some kind of weird pact. Goldschmidt hit a line drive that Gordon allowed to go off his glove for an error. Then, after Ryu struck out Martin Prado, Ramirez fielded what should have been an inning-ending double-play ball, but didn’t throw to Gordon coming across and didn’t step on second base in time to even get one out.
Forced essentially to retire five batters in the inning, Ryu got Trumbo to fly out to a running Yasiel Puig, then struck out Gerardo Parra.
Finally, in the fifth, the Australian tide turned. After Didi Gregorious’ drive to Andre Ethier for the Dodgers’ seventh outfield putout, Ryu had a rare lapse in control, walking Arizona reliever Josh Collmenter on nine pitches. Then A.J. Pollock hit it on the ground to Ramirez, who broke ranks and made the double play happen.
The extra work that Ryu had to do in the fourth and the fifth might have forced him out of the game an inning early. Ryu finished his first outing of 2014 throwing 87 pitches, allowing only two hits and the walk while striking out five — and also singling to lead off the top of the third for good measure. The Dodgers led, 6-0, when Ryu’s day ended.
Behind Chris Withrow in the bottom of the sixth, Ramirez then started all three outs, beginning another 6-3 double play with runners on first and second and none out, and then ending things with a 6-3 assist on Montero.
Uribe, meanwhile, still waited for some action, any action at all, at third base.
By Jon Weisman
I see this image, and I hear Vin Scully’s voice after the Dodgers won the 1959 pennant. Check out the rest of Jon SooHoo’s photos from the Dodgers’ cruise here.
#Dodgers expected #OpeningSeries lineup: pic.twitter.com/rt6Q2GXX8g
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 21, 2014
Against Arizona lefty Wade Miley, the Dodgers plan to go with Justin Turner at second base and Scott Van Slyke in left field.
– Jon Weisman
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Shut down the Internet: pic.twitter.com/z2vlYQ9ko5
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 19, 2014
Another gem from tonight: pic.twitter.com/aSQFkVnT3N
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 19, 2014
“So when he wrote his name in capital letters in the record books, that “K” stands out even more than the O-A-L-A.”
Vin Scully has always taken the time to celebrate the cute ones in the crowd. It’s no different in Australia, as Josh Tucker’s tweets show us.
Meanwhile, here are the Dodgers all dressed up with some place to go – the MLB gala in Sydney, brought home to us by Jon SooHoo’s photos.
– Jon Weisman
By Jon Weisman
Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles, J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News, Steve Dilbeck of the Times and Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. wrap up Julio Urias’ spring debut, coming in the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory over San Diego (recapped here by Tyler Emerick of MLB.com).
From Saxon:
A veteran major-league scout, sitting behind home plate, watched Urias’ 14 pitches and typed in his first impressions of the youngest prospect in the game, in a text message. One of the first words he came up with is “Poise.”
“Stuff was good,” the scout added. “He pitches to both sides of the plate, with tail and sink. He has deception with his changeup.”
Introducing Erisbel Arruebarrena: pic.twitter.com/S0UeoROZrk
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 13, 2014
More on the newest Dodger from Jon SooHoo here.
— Jon Weisman
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By Jon Weisman
Second batter of the game, and our baseball world went wild.
Trout hit the ball about 360 feet, ran about 360 feet, and was out after about a 360-degree review.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) March 6, 2014
For what it’s worth, I don’t think much more time, if any, was taken by the replay process than would have been taken by a garden variety argument anyway.
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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