Dodger Thoughts

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

Page 170 of 381

Alex Guerrero to resume baseball activities at Camelback

By Jon Weisman

Second baseman Alex Guerrero, who needed surgical repairs on his ear following the May 20 incident with Miguel Olivo, “has reported to Camelback Ranch in Phoenix to resume baseball activities,” Dodger general manager Ned Colletti told Bill Shaikin of the Times.

Shaikin added that “Colletti said Guerrero’s return to the field will depend on how long it takes him to regain his conditioning.”

Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com had more. Heyman spoke to Guerrero’s agent, Scott Boras, who said that the infielder would not need more surgery on his ear.

Guerrero has a .417 on-base percentage and .735 slugging percentage for Triple-A Albuquerque and was at .431/.839 in May. He had six homers in his last six games leading up to May 20.

 

No no-no, but yes on the greatness for Kershaw

Screen Shot 2014-06-24 at 8.01.53 PM

By Jon Weisman

Not intending at all to knock down the no-hit magic, but was Clayton Kershaw that much less impressive in his follow-up tonight at Kansas City?

Screen Shot 2014-06-24 at 8.02.10 PMSeven Royals reached base against the Dodger lefty, two of them in the fourth, two again in the seventh, all with nothing more than a 1-0 lead. And seven were stranded.

Screen Shot 2014-06-24 at 8.03.04 PM
It won’t go down in history, but it will go down as the latest moment of greatness for Kershaw.

Kershaw has a way of putting to rest the kind of doubts that can crop up among even his biggest supporters, myself among them when he came out for the eighth after a heavy-duty seventh that required him to escape a two-on, one-out jam while passing the 100-pitch mark. In that eighth inning, Kershaw found yet another gear, retiring the Royals in order on six pitches, including his eighth strikeout.

In doing so, he made it possible for the Dodgers’ lone run to that point in the game stand up, a run that came thanks mainly to the first batter of the game.

Justin Turner, making his first leadoff start of the year, took Royals starter Danny Duffy to 11 pitches before tripling to right-center, then scored three batters later on an Adrian Gonzalez force out. (Yasiel Puig helped keep the inning alive by narrowly beating out an infield grounder for a single.)

In the ninth inning, the Dodgers bookended their offensive efforts with a walk by Gonzalez and singles by A.J. Ellis and pinch-hitter Andre Ethier, giving themselves a 2-0 lead and sending Kershaw to rest with the following line: eight innings, six hits, one walk, eight strikeouts. Since May 17, Kershaw has thrown 50 innings with a 1.26 ERA and 66 strikeouts against 30 hits and six walks. His past 21 innings have been scoreless.

Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth to save the Dodgers’ victory, improving their record to 43-36 and Kershaw’s to 8-2. Despite missing more than a month of the season, this is the earliest in his career that Kershaw has been credited with eight wins, showing once again that wins march to the beat of their own drummer.

Then again, so does Kershaw.

Dodgers support of Kershaw to be tested tonight

[mlbvideo id=”33980397″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

Dodgers at Royals, 5:10 p.m.
Kershaw CXCIII: Kershawmnibus
Justin Turner, 3B
Matt Kemp, LF
Yasiel Puig, DH
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Scott Van Slyke, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Jamie Romak, RF
Carlos Triunfel, SS
Miguel Rojas, 2B
(Clayton Kershaw, P)
* * *
Don’t forget: $22 discounted tickets for Clayton Kershaw’s next scheduled home start on sale

By Jon Weisman

On a night that the Dodgers send out a lineup with one 2014 MLB homer in the final four batting slots, you might be wondering about the run support for Clayton Kershaw.

We’ll see about this evening’s affair with the Royals, but so far this year, Kershaw has little reason to feel deprived. He enters tonight’s game enjoying the best run support of his career, 4.9 runs per start, including eight in last week’s no-hitter.

Oddly, despite missing more than a month of the 2014 season, Kershaw in 10 starts has been already credited with seven wins, a total he didn’t reach last year until his 18th start July 2, and in 2012 on his 19th start July 13.

(More trivia: The Dodgers are averaging 5.0 runs per game in Romak’s three starts and 4.3 runs per game in Rojas’ eight starts. So watch out for lots of scoring, fans of correlation.)

Yasiel Puig, who went 0 for 4 Monday despite ripping two balls to the outfield, takes the designated hitter spot today in one of the more unusual Dodger lineups this year.

The keystone combo of Hanley Ramirez and Dee Gordon starts the game on the bench, next to Andre Ethier. Gordon’s and Ethier’s absence is more likely than not because of the lefty (Danny Duffy) on the mound for Kansas City, but Ramirez’s would be health-related.

Ramirez hit a two-run double in his final swing of Monday’s 5-3 loss.

Romak, making his second start of 2014 in right field, is one of seven players this year to start in the outfield for the Dodgers. (You haven’t forgotten Mike Baxter, have you?) One who hasn’t been in a Dodger lineup is Joc Pederson, the highly regarded minor leaguer. We’re currently awaiting news on Pederson’s health, following reports that he injured his right shoulder diving for a ball in the first inning of Albuquerque’s game today.

Juan Uribe is reportedly close to coming off the disabled list, especially so if the Dodgers choose to have him fly to Kansas City for one game before returning to Los Angeles for the start of the next homestand Thursday.

Dee Gordon, through the air

Sometimes I wonder how Dee Gordon will survive a full season with his body intact.

— Jon Weisman

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Photos taken June 20, 2014. As always, check out Jon SooHoo’s work at the LA Photog Blog.

Yasiel Puig’s margin in All-Star OF balloting: 6,600 votes

All-Star  vote

It’s looking like it will go down to the wire in the National League All-Star voting for the starting outfield. Yasiel Puig’s lead has been reduced to 6,654 votes out of nearly 2.5 million, and his margin for a starting spot is only about 338,000, leaving Giancarlo Stanton, among others, to push him aside. Balloting for the All-Star Game ends July 3.

 

All-Star Game could be interesting wrinkle in Clayton Kershaw’s schedule

[mlbvideo id=”33850863″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

Dodgers at Royals, 5:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, DH
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Andre Ethier, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Miguel Rojas, 3B
Carlos Triunfel, SS
(Zack Greinke, P)

By Jon Weisman

One month ago today, Clayton Kershaw was heading into a rain-soaked May 23 start at Philadelphia with a 4.43 ERA in only 22 1/3 innings and the thought of his fourth straight All-Star Game far from anyone’s mind.

Then Kershaw dampened the Phillies with six shutout frames, starting a personal run of 42 innings with a 1.50 ERA and 58 strikeouts against 29 baserunners (13 singles, eight doubles, three homers, five walks). That’s right: a 2:1 ratio of strikeouts to baserunners.

To put that in perspective, no starting pitcher in MLB history has ever had such a ratio over an entire season. (It helps to throw a near-perfect game into the mix.)

Aside from reclaiming his position as the backbone of the Dodger rotation, Kershaw’s return to top form has made the week before the All-Star Break considerably more interesting for the Dodger starting rotation.

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Plucky young Kershaw named NL Player of the Week

LAD_14_POTW-Kershaw-1024x512
By Jon Weisman

Did you know? Last week, Clayton Kershaw faced 28 batters and was not charged with a hit or a walk. He was credited with what was called a “no-hitter.”

By virtue of this noteworthy accomplishment, Kershaw has been named the National League Player of the Week. It’s a nice little honor for the up-and-coming 26-year-old … although research finds that he has previously won this award in 2013, 2012 and 2011. Along with, let’s see, a couple of Cy Young awards.

And that’s not all. Despite not making an appearance between his March 22 and May 6 starts, and then getting clobbered by Arizona on May 17, Kershaw is back to climbing up the statistical charts. At 64 1/3 innings so far this year, Kershaw does need some additional catch-up work to qualify for the league leaders in rate stats. But for NL pitchers with at least 60 innings in 2014, here’s where Kershaw stands:

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Sunday afternoon victory postgame notebook

By Jon Weisman

Some notes following the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory at San Diego today:

  • Los Angeles remained four games behind the Giants in the National League West and atop the NL wild-card standings, three games ahead of Atlanta. The Dodgers would face St. Louis in the wild-card game if the season ended today.
  • The Dodgers are tied with Toronto and the Angels for the fifth-best record in the Majors. The Angels host the Rangers tonight.
  • Kenley Jansen pitched for the third consecutive game, the first time he has done that since saving three games from August 31-September 2.
  • Jansen, who underwent a mechanics tune-up this weekend, perfect inning today ended a streak of five consecutive outings without one.
  • Brian Wilson pitched a scoreless two-thirds of an inning but walked Everth Cabrera, OPSing .561 this season. Wilson has a 0.64 ERA in 14 innings since May 16, allowing 12 hits but walking seven while striking out 14. Both his inherited runners have scored in that time.
  • J.P. Howell, who retired all four batters he faced today, has a 1.61 ERA and has stranded 20 of 22 inherited runners this year.
  • Hyun-Jin Ryu has matched Zack Greinke with a 9-3 record, putting the pair on pace for 19-6 seasons. Ryu lowered his season ERA to 3.05 and his career ERA to 3.02.
  • Ryu, who allowed a run on four hits and a walk while striking out two, pitched exactly six innings for the fifth straight game. Only Randy Wolf, from April 3-25, 2007, has done that in Dodger history.
  • Dee Gordon, who drove in the Dodgers’ second run today, now leads Dodger regulars with a .355 batting average with runners in scoring position.
  • Hanley Ramirez went 2 for 4 and is 17 for 50 (.340) in his past 15 games with three doubles, two homers and nine walks (.433 OBP/.520 slugging).
  • Scott Van Slyke singled and walked twice, raising his OBP to .430, tops among non-Carlos Triunfel Dodgers.
  • The Dodgers are 10-4 in their past 14 games, matching the 1977 Los Angeles Rams.

In 365 days, 103 victories

 

LOS ANGELES DODGERS VS SAN DIEGO PADRES

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

Crawford batting poseBy 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.

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Taking a drink of wRC cola

LOS ANGELES DODGERS AT SAN DIEGO PADRES

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

Dodgers at Padres, 7:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Andre Ethier, CF
Justin Turner, 3B
Drew Butera, C
Josh Beckett, P

By Jon Weisman

Scott Van Slyke, Justin Turner and Matt Kemp have been the Dodgers’ most productive offensive players in June, while Yasiel Puig, who has been bothered by a strained hip flexor, has been struggling.

Kemp, with a .411 on-base percentage and .578 slugging in June, leads Dodger regulars this month with 14 wRC and 177 wRC+, according to Fangraphs, in 73 plate appearances.

Weighted Runs Created (wRC) is an improved version of Bill James’ Runs Created (RC) statistic, which attempted to quantify a player’s total offensive value and measure it by runs.  In Runs Created, instead of looking at a player’s line and listing out all the details (e.g. 23 2B, 15 HR, 55 BB, 110 K, 19 SB, 5 CS), the information is synthesized into one metric in order to say, “Player X was worth 24 runs to his team last year.”  While the idea was sound, James’ formula has since been superseded by Tom Tango’s wRC , which is based off of wOBA.

Similar to OPS+Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) measures how a player’s wRC compares with league average.  League average is 100, and every point above 100 is a percentage point above league average. For example, a 125 wRC+ means a player created 25% more runs than league average. Similarly, every point below 100 is a percentage point below league average, so a 80 wRC+ means a player created 20% fewer runs than league average.

In part-time action, Van Slyke and Turner each have 10 wRC. Van Slyke’s wRC+ is 230, while Turner is at 190.

Hanley Ramirez (10 wRC, 132 wRC+) and Dee Gordon (8 wRC, 113 wRC+) are both above average in June, while Puig (7 wRC, 95 wRC+) is fighting to get there. Farther down the list in June are Andre Ethier (3 wRC, 54 wRC+) and Adrian Gonzalez (3 wRC, 44 wRC+).

Ethier, whose career wRC+ against right-handed pitching is 140, a total he has matched or exceeded every year since 2008, is at 102 against righties this year.

Oh, those Petco Park effects

Dodgers at Padres, 7:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, LF
Andre Ethier, CF
Justin Turner, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Dan Haren, P

By Jon Weisman

Just a friendly reminder: Don’t count on the Dodgers scoring a ton of runs at San Diego this weekend.

The years and players come and go, but one thing remains fairly constant — Petco Park is where offenses go to wilt.

For an amuse bouche ahead of tonight’s series opener against the Padres, I put together the following little chart, comparing the Dodgers’ scoring at San Diego with their scoring at Colorado since 2004.

For example, the Dodgers have been shut out 12 times at Petco in this period, compared with three times at Coors Field. They have never scored 13 runs or more at Petco, a figure they have reached or surpassed three times at Coors.

At San Diego and ColoradoLos Angeles has been held to three runs or less 53 times in 94 games at Petco (56.4 percent of the time). The Dodgers are 10-43 (.189) in those games, winning three 1-0 games.

In Colorado, the Dodgers have been held to three runs or less 30 times in 95 games in Colorado (31.6 percent). The Dodgers are 5-25 (.167) in those games, all when they have scored three runs. When they have scored two runs or less at Coors, the Dodgers are 0-19.

It’s not impossible to score bunches of runs in San Diego. It’s just pretty darn challenging.

$22 discounted tickets for Clayton Kershaw’s next scheduled home start on sale

COLORADO ROCKIES AT LOS ANGELES DODGERSAnother no-hitter, another special Dodger ticket offer.

In celebration of Clayton Kershaw’s first career no-hitter last night, the Dodgers will offer a limited number of $22 tickets to Kershaw’s next scheduled home start, June 29 vs. the Cardinals at 1:10 p.m.

A limited number of $22 Infield Reserve (reg. $30), Preferred Reserve (reg. $25) and Left Field Pavilion tickets for the June 29 game are available for purchase now, while supplies last, by visiting www.dodgers.com/nohitter or by calling 866-DODGERS.

— Jon Weisman

Hi, I’m Clayton Kershaw — I’m on top of the world and have absolutely no idea that gallons of colored liquid are about to attack

Jon SooHoo/© Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Jon SooHoo/© Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC 2014

Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter, Twitter-style

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