Billy Hamilton – Dodger Thoughts

Dee Gordon in a stolen-base race with Billy Hamilton

On September 9, 2014

For more photo highlights from Monday, visit LA Photog Blog.

Padres at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, RF
Carl Crawford, LF
Juan Uribe, 3B
Yasiel Puig, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Roberto Hernandez, P

By Jon Weisman

The Major League stolen base title is nearly up for grabs, though it would be an exaggeration to say Cincinnati outfielder Billy Hamilton is coming up fast on Dodger second baseman Dee Gordon. Each player has one stolen base in the first eight days of September, with Gordon ending a seven-game drought in the first inning Monday.

Gordon now has 59 steals and Hamilton 55. After Gordon stole five bases in three games from August 13-15 to take a 12-steal lead, Hamilton narrowed the gap in the last half of August, stealing 11 bases to Gordon’s three.

Neither, clearly, is going to have the kind of September that Maury Wills had in 1962, when he stole 27 bases in the Dodgers’ final 27 scheduled games, to reach 100 on the nose. Wills then stole four more bases in the three-game playoff against the Giants, October 1-3.

Both Gordon and Hamilton do remain likely to become the first players to steal at least 60 bases in the big leagues since Michael Bourn in 2011. The last Dodger to do so was Juan Pierre, who stole 64 bases in 2007, and the last Dodger to get more than that was Davey Lopes with 77 in 1975.

Gordon’s rate of success has fallen from 83 percent before the All-Star Break (43 of 52) to 67 percent since (16 of 24). Opportunities have declined in part because he has walked four times with 38 strikeouts since the All-Star Break.

* * *

Captured in photography: Clayton Kershaw tosses the Dodgers’ three-error play to the past. Photo by Juan Ocampo (click to enlarge).

Dee Gordon’s stolen-base lead tenuous, but All-Star candidacy robust

By Jon Weisman

On June 30, 2014

In Baserunning

[mlbvideo id=”34162951″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman

Dee Gordon’s lead in the Major League stolen base race, which was 14 when June began, is down to only four. And yet, his case for making the National League All-Star team as a reserve has perhaps never been stronger.

Thanks in no small part to becoming the first player since Ray Chapman in 1917 to have four consecutive multisteal games, Houston’s Jose Altuve has nearly flagged down Flash Jr., who has one steal since June 21. And Cincinnati’s Billy Hamilton has made up nearly as much ground.

Jon SooHoo/© Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

The Irony Committee notes that this has been happening while Gordon has had a rock-solid month at the plate, with a .316 batting average, .371 on-base percentage (including eight walks) and .495 slugging percentage. However, after success in 34 of his first 37 steal attempts this year, Gordon has only been safe in six of his past 11.

Altuve, who was an NL second baseman less than two years ago before the Astros moved to the American League, has hit a scorching .424/.455/.511 in June, with Reds outfielder Hamilton at .330/.351/.509.

Nevertheless, Gordon has moved up to second place in Wins Above Replacement among NL second basemen, according to Fangraphs, trailing only position voting leader Chase Utley of Philadelphia. Gordon is rated the No. 1 offensive second baseman in the league and No. 1 at baserunner, and league average on defense (frequent spectacular plays notwithstanding).

The Mets’ Daniel Murphy and Brewers’ Scooter Gennett, neither of whom have any more of an All-Star pedigree than Gordon, are ranked third and fourth at second base by Fangraphs behind Gordon.

In short, by continuing to hone all aspects of his game, Gordon has become every bit the legitimate candidate to join the NL team in Minnesota in two weeks.

Home, home on the strange

By Jon Weisman

On July 15, 2012

In Dodgers

One time during my junior year in college, I failed to set the parking brake on my Scirocco, and it rolled into the middle of an alley. I got a knock at my door saying that a policeman was giving me a ticket.

Don Mattingly had that moment where he made two trips to the mound at once, costing the Dodgers a relief pitcher.

I’m sure we’ve all had such a brain cramp, more times than we’d care to admit, and now Kenley Jansen has had one as well – allowing a steal of home and topping that with a throwing error that left the Dodgers, one strike away from victory, with a 7-6 loss to the Padres.

The defeat came on a night in which the recently recovered trio of Mark Ellis, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier each reached base three times, with Ethier (four RBI) hitting a two-run home run that seemed to be a game-winner in the sixth inning.

Chad Moriyama looks at all the things that went wrong on that single play. Not to be forgotten is that the Dodgers also allowed a run-of-the-mill unearned point in the first inning.

* * *

Wanted to send along belated best wishes to Javy Guerra, who is in Mexico tending to his father, who suffered a heart attack. Guerra pitched Friday with the knowledge that his father was stricken. He has now taken literal and metaphorical line drives to the jaw this year, not to mention surgery on his knee, and it’s pretty impressive how he’s handled it.

And congrats to Josh Wall for his promotion to the big leagues. Wall’s Albuquerque stats aren’t impressive except for his 9.0 strikeouts per nine innings, so I’m not sure how much we’ll see him during this initial stint, but I will certainly look forward to it.

* * *

The Dodgers have had more games with extra-base hits than you might expect, notes David Pinto of Baseball Musings. Only five times this year have they gone extra-base-hitless, and that includes a no-hitter against them.
The Dodgers had their annual night for independent bloggers. Ron Cervenka of Think Blue L.A. offers a recap.
Rob Neyer of Baseball Nation passed along a 26-minute 1946 Pacific Coast League promotional film.
Minor-league basethief extraordinaire Billy Hamilton was the subject of a nice profile by Steve Dilbeck of the Times.
Newly released documentary “Ballplayer: Pelotero,” about two teenagers in the Dominican Republic with big-league aspirations, is getting largely positive reviews according to Metacritic.
One-time Baseball Toaster star Bob Timmermann has toed his way back into blogging with The Portable Griddle.

Uribe’s pursuit of Andruwza Line continues

By Jon Weisman

On July 3, 2012

In Dodgers, Health/injuries

Reds at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, SS
A.J. Ellis, C
Bobby Abreu, LF
Juan Rivera, RF
Adam Kennedy, 2B
James Loney, 1B
Luis Cruz, 3B
Tony Gwynn Jr., CF
Chris Capuano, P

Juan Uribe’s journey to ignominy looked like it might make another rest stop at the disabled list, with the infielder having sprained his right ankle while getting thrown out on the bases in Monday’s 8-2 Dodger loss to Cincinnati. However, Uribe is back in tonight’s Dodger starting lineup, thrilling legions of Dodger fans.

With Mark Ellis nearing a return from the DL at second base, the timing for a Uribe injury wouldn’t have been so bad (if it could ever be). His 2012 OPS has fallen to .539, below last year’s .557 and only 34 points above the Andruwza Line of .505, established by Andruw Jones in 2008.

In fact, Uribe is ahead of Jones’ pace — the latter came off the disabled list on Independence Day four years ago with a .543 OPS (unless you take into account the entirety of Uribe’s 119-game Dodger career, in which case his OPS skies to .551).

Update: Uribe was scratched from the Dodger lineup shortly before 4 p.m. and replaced at third base by Luis Cruz.

Update 2: Todd Coffey has gone on the disabled list, with Shawn Tolleson headed back to Los Angeles for the time being, according to Dylan Hernandez of the Times. Uribe is day-to-day.

Meanwhile, Andre Ethier is probably headed to the disabled list as soon as Wednesday, according to Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.

* * *

Dodger prospect Raydel Sanchez threw seven innings of no-hit ball for Great Lakes on Monday.
The legend of the 21st-century Billy Hamilton grows. In his 78th game of the year Monday, the Reds minor-leaguer stole his 100th base.
Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post and Rob Neyer of Baseball Nation provides an update on the Rockies’ attempt to move to a short-outing four-man starting rotation. “Through the first 10 games of the grand experiment,” writes Renck, “the Rockies’ rotation, on a flexible 75-pitch limit that will grow if the starters become more effective and more durable, posted an 8.56 ERA, compared with a 6.28 ERA for the starters in the season’s first 65 games.”

Dodger Thoughts

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

Tag: Billy Hamilton

Dee Gordon in a stolen-base race with Billy Hamilton

Dee Gordon’s stolen-base lead tenuous, but All-Star candidacy robust

Home, home on the strange

Uribe’s pursuit of Andruwza Line continues

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