Ben Platt/MLB.com
Yasiel Puig went 0 for 2 with a walk and was left standing in the on-deck circle when Colorado’s Justin Morneau lined into a game-ending double play in the MLB All-Stars’ 2-0 loss to Samurai Japan in Game 1 of the Japan Series in Osaka.
– Jon Weisman
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Ben Platt/MLB.com
By Jon Weisman
Yasiel Puig had the first RBI of the game with this single to right field in what ultimately became an 8-7 exhibition victory in Japan for the MLB team over a team made up players from the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants.
Puig’s Dodger teammate Drew Butera had a key play after an 8-1 MLB lead had been cut to a single run. Butera picked off the tying run at second base in the bottom of the eighth inning.
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Puig went 1 for 4 in the game, while Butera, who entered in the seventh inning, struck out in his only plate appearance.
An enthusiastic Yasiel Puig took part in welcome ceremonies after the MLB team’s arrival for this week’s Japan All-Star Series. Thanks to Ben Platt of MLB.com for the photos.
— Jon Weisman
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By Jon Weisman
The GIBBY Awards aren’t named after Kirk Gibson specifically, though the awkwardness of the full name — Greatness in Baseball Yearly — suggests a determined attempt to arrive at that acronym. In any case, the Dodgers are nominated for several in 2014, and you can vote online through November 7. (Winners will be announced December 6.)
Clayton Kershaw and Yasiel Puig were each nominated in three categories. Here is your full list of Dodger nominees:
Yasiel Puig had a .356 BABIP despite declining from 2013. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
Were they feeling lucky?
The Dodgers had a team batting average on balls in play of .318, which was third in the Majors but the franchise’s highest in 84 seasons, since the Brooklyn Robins had a .321 BABIP in 1930.
In general, the Dodgers’ BABIP has trended upward in recent years, thanks in part no doubt to strikeouts becoming a larger percentage of outs. It was a different story, for example, in the 1960s, when the Dodgers’ BABIP bottomed out at .266 in 1967 and .268 in 1968.
The oddity is that several prominent Dodgers underperformed their recent or career BABIP marks in 2014 …
By Jon Weisman
You might have heard Jimmy Sheckard’s name once or twice this summer, and even so, if you’re a Dodger fan under the age of 120, it was quite possibly the first time you ever heard it.
Largely forgotten among Brooklyn stars of the past, Sheckard hit three triples for the Superbas in one game on Opening Day 1901 at age 22, a feat that went unmatched until 23-year-old Yasiel Puig did so against the Giants on July 25.
That 1901 season was Sheckard’s best in a career that had more than a few highlights. Sheckard led the National League with 19 triples and a .534 slugging percentage, while finishing second in home runs (11) and total bases (296), third in batting average (.354) and OPS (.944), tied for third in RBI (104), fifth in runs (116), sixth in on-base percentage (.409) and stolen bases (35), seventh in doubles (29). In September, Sheckard also became the only player ever to hit inside-the-park grand slams in consecutive games.
Sheckard also had a run-in with an ump that surpasses any mess Puig has gotten into, according to Baseball Library.com:
For more photos from Monday, visit LA Photog Blog.
By Jon Weisman
Yasiel Puig, who has a .774 OPS in the National League Division Series but has struck out in eight of his past nine at-bats, has been replaced in the Dodger starting lineup by Andre Ethier.
Ethier will bat sixth, while left fielder Carl Crawford moves up to the No. 2 spot behind Dee Gordon.
Since August 29, Ethier has made one start in a game that had meaning for the Dodgers, going 0 for 2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch September 7 against Arizona. In his final 46 plate appearances of the regular season, Ethier went 12 for 39 with a .413 on-base percentage and .436 slugging percentage, then went 1 for 2 in Game 1 of the NLDS.
* * *
A few pieces related to starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw to pass along.
While A.J. Cassavell breaks down the risks of pitching on three days’ rest at MLB.com, Russell A. Carleton at Baseball Prospectus notes that the Cardinals do not own Clayton Kershaw.
… When we look at Kershaw’s performance against the Cardinals, we see that his BABIP is quite high at .343. I know that during the postseason everyone likes to pretend that games are won and lost based on magical fairy dust, grit, and character. But frankly, a lot of what drives a baseball game is dumb luck. That’s not comfortable for people to hear, but the sooner that you accept that, the sooner we can have a real conversation about baseball. …
Clayton Kershaw has gotten very unlucky over the last four years against the St. Louis Cardinals, and luck is not a character trait. Luck just kinda happens. If you made bets on a series of coin flips and won seven in a row, that would be an unlikely event (though possible). Yes, you still have the money you just won in your pocket, but it’s not because you have a special skill for calling coin flips or because you are a morally righteous person. You caught a run of good luck. Congrats. Don’t expect it to last. …
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By Jon Weisman
Right now, it feels like it’s the uniform. I’m not sure Mariano Rivera wouldn’t give up a home run coming out of the Dodger bullpen right now.
I don’t really believe slumps are contagious, but right now, Dodger relievers are spreading illness like a certain disease the world is beginning to reckon with. Even by the most negative appraisal of their performance in the regular season, the bullpen has been unreal in how fast it has allowed critical runs this postseason.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a91WQYj0TXI&w=550&h=309]
In all three games of the National League Division Series, the bullpen has given up a homer before getting an out. That’s not normal, for anyone.
Tonight, in the seventh inning of Game 3, Scott Elbert used three pitches against his first three batters. Yadier Molina doubled on the first. John Jay sacrificed on the second. And Kolten Wong, while not exactly auditioning for the role of Ozzie Smith, hit his fourth career home run off a left-handed pitcher, putting St. Louis ahead to stay in a 3-1 victory.
I find my comfort in how ridiculous this has all been. Dodger relievers have allowed six runs on three home runs in 4 1/3 innings, a 12.47 ERA and 6.5 homers per nine innings which, I don’t think I’m wrong to say, is atypical. It’s not unlike Yasiel Puig’s stunning streak of seven straight strikeouts, followed by his booming triple to right that helped tie the game for the Dodgers in the sixth. Players performing at their worst don’t figure to stay at their worst.
By Jon Weisman
The Dodger offense has been setting the table, but that table has been upside-down.
Thanks to A.J. Ellis, Clayton Kershaw, Andre Ethier and Zack Greinke, the bottom two slots in the Dodger batting order have combined to go 8 for 13 with a walk, two doubles and a home run in the National League Division Series. Overall, Dodger hitters have a .388 on-base percentage and .493 slugging percentage through the first two games.
The top of the order has been less consistent. Dee Gordon is 1 for 9 with a walk and four strikeouts. Yasiel Puig started off 2 for 3 with a walk and that pitch that hit him, but since then he has struck out five consecutive times, immediately re-launching the easy narrative that he has become too emotional and undisciplined.
While Puig’s swing zone has become too wide, he hasn’t been going down easy.
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
At the halfway point of the 2014 season, we gave you the Dodgers’ top 40 plays of the first 81 games. Without further ado, as part of our drumbeat of excitement heading into the postseason, here are the Dodgers’ top plays of the second half — with a bonus 10 to deliver a nice 50.
Yeah, you’re gonna want to be here a while …
* * *
June 29 vs. St. Louis: Adrian Gonzalez teaches the Cardinals a lesson about the shift.
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By Jon Weisman
With the MLB playoffs comes the national spotlight for the Dodgers. With the national spotlight comes the attempts to tell the story of the Dodgers by those who only have a passing acquaintance to them, to those who only have a passing acquaintance with them.
So for the benefit of baseball’s fans and media galaxy-wide, here are three storylines that are sure to be shared about the 2014 Dodgers — and the reasons why they are largely bogus.
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By Jon Weisman
The costly (though thankfully not injurious) mishap between Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp in the third inning Monday belied the smooth communication the Dodgers have had in the outfield since Puig became their center fielder.
Though casual observers might naturally assume, based on the stereotypical fears about Puig’s style of play, that Kemp and Carl Crawford have been playing DodgePuig for the past two months, Monday’s misplay was as unusual as it was harmful to the final score.
In the immediate aftermath, there was considerable debate over who was at fault. Watching the play live and then numerous times on replay, I see two players both approaching the ball at fairly similar speeds — it was in the air long enough to be caught by either. (It’s not as if Kemp is at a standstill and Puig arrives like a freight train.)
Fundamentally, this is the center fielder’s ball if he wants it. So the only question in my mind is whether Puig called for it or not. If he did, then it’s his — if he doesn’t, then he needs to get out of Kemp’s way. Puig didn’t give a demonstrative hand signal the way Kemp did, but whether Puig called for it verbally, I don’t know. The play might have been as simple as Puig calling for the ball and Kemp not hearing him, though Puig isn’t exactly volume-challenged.
Whatever went wrong, hopefully it will be addressed and corrected. It was an unfortunate play, and hopefully it’ll remain as unusual as it was.
A little infield with Kershaw and Billingsley … https://t.co/TdX3Mvxjxs
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) September 22, 2014
For photos from Sunday, visit LA Photog Blog.
By Jon Weisman
Tuesday brings the first official day of fall, but this afternoon at Dodger Stadium felt like the real beginning. Shadows had crept all the way to the baselines by the time Don Mattingly’s pregame press session broke, the burning rays of last week’s heat wave a fully distant memory.
And with the Giants in town and the stakes never higher with six games remaining in the season, this entire week could be considered the eve of October.
For more photo highlights from Wednesday, visit LA Photog Blog.
By Jon Weisman
I remember thinking in 2008, when Andruw Jones was in an ugly slump, that the Dodgers had no choice but to stick with him, because they weren’t going to win anything if he didn’t right himself. And then, as it turned out, the Dodgers created another choice, named Manny Ramirez.
But I also remember, in 2014, calls to bench Carl Crawford and Matt Kemp when they were struggling.
On June 4, a week after Crawford had gone on the disabled list, Kemp had a .291 on-base percentage and .398 slugging percentage. The cries for Joc Pederson were probably never louder. Since that time, Kemp has a .380 on-base percentage and .535 slugging percentage (a .915 OPS) while finding a home in right field.
It was even worse in Crawford’s case. On May 2, Crawford had a .212 on-base percentage and .259 slugging percentage. He then started 17 of the Dodgers’ next 23 games — playing nearly every day against righties — and had a .389 OBP while slugging .565.
Crawford went on the disabled list for six weeks, and when he came back, the stats would indicate he was lost. On August 9, he was down to .268/.333 on the season — a .601 OPS. And people wondered aloud why Andre Ethier wasn’t playing.
But Don Mattingly saw good at-bats amid those struggles, and committed to Crawford. The reward: the hottest hitter in the majors, a .478 OBP and .614 slugging percentage, including an astonishing 9-for-12 with a walk, four doubles (three in Wednesday’s 4-0 victory) and home run in this week’s Padres series. On the just-concluded homestand, Crawford had a .533 OBP and slugged .897.
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People will criticize Mattingly for this and that, but rarely does he get credit for what turned out to be something quite savvy — recognizing that it was too soon to forsake Crawford and Kemp, even when others would have.
It’s hard to watch someone who has been as important to the Dodgers over the past decade as Andre Ethier languish on the bench. It’s natural to wonder what would happen if he received the everyday opportunities that Crawford, Kemp and Yasiel Puig have since the All-Star Break, and whether that would have made a difference in a season that has stuck him with a sub-.700 OPS. (As it happens, Ethier is 9 for 25 with a .448 on-base percentage off the bench since August 17, evidence that he has made the best of a reserve role and/or an argument that he should play more.)
I would only say that it’s also natural to wonder what Puig is capable of when he comes out of his own long slump, and based on what happened with Crawford and Kemp, it would be odd to assume he won’t. In other words, unless you think 2014 Puig is 2008 Jones, it might be worth waiting this one out.
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By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers added an extra outfielder and perhaps more importantly, a pinch-runner, in bringing up Roger Bernadina from Triple-A Albuquerque.
The 34th player on the active roster, the 30-year-old Bernadina has stolen 59 out of 71 bases (83.1 percent) in a 539-game Major League career, as well 204 out of 261 (78.2 percent) in the minors. A reserve with the Isotopes this year who started the year with Cincinnati, Bernadina had a .380 on-base percentage and .351 slugging percentage in 71 plate appearances.
Bernadina has also played more than 1,000 innings in center field in his career. He was signed to a minor-league deal in July.
Speaking of center field, Yasiel Puig is suffering from a stomach ailment, according to manager Don Mattingly, who moved Joc Pederson back into the starting lineup. Mattingly said that the Dodgers would learn later today whether Puig would be available off the bench.
Mattingly said he chose Pederson over Andre Ethier for defensive reasons, adding that he loves Ethier and knows that being relegated to the bench is not a great situation for him, but that there are only so many spots available.
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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