Even after ESPN the Magazine writer Molly Knight explained Twitter to Vin Scully earlier this year, the beloved Dodger broadcaster still hadn’t quite mastered it as of earlier this week, when he was charmingly saying such things as “The twit read …” Tonight, however, after Scully received a Twitter refresher course, the social media outlet became the spine of his broadcast tonight.
A.J. Ellis was a major part of tonight’s Twitter talk by Scully, and darned if Ellis didn’t have the most productive game of his career, hitting two solo home runs and singling for a third RBI in the Dodgers’ 6-1 victory over the Cubs.
“They are trending, twittering, tweeting, you name it, about ‘A.J. Ellis’ all over the United States,” Scully said mid-game, before signing deeply, almost exhaustedly, adding, “Ahhhh – he’s a nice boy.”
The way Scully got Twitter talking about Ellis was reminiscent of the way he would get the transistor radio crowd at Dodger Stadium in the 1960s to follow his lead.
Ellis and Hanley Ramirez, who had two hits and two RBI, weren’t the only Dodgers to give fans something to flap their fingers over. Chad Billingsley went seven breezy innings, allowing six baserunners on 105 pitches while striking out seven. In three starts since coming off the disabled list, Billingsley has pitched 20 1/3 innings and allowed only 15 hits and three walks while striking out 13. His ERA in that time is 0.89, and he continues to maintain his season-long progress in attacking the strike zone.
Blue-eyed Gal
Screencap of the magical powers of #vinscully and #ajellis:
http://www.istad.org/ipad/vinscully-twitter-ajellis.PNG
That was so funny that I need to rewatch the last two innings; Twitter was distracting me. i hope we can keep it going until AJ checks his Twitter account!
Anonymous
Vin could get us to stop the earth from spinning on its axis if he wanted to.
Anonymous
Yes, I agree, but perhaps his window for doing so is during Dodger games on the west coast.
peter drysdale
Great to see Bills pitching consistently well. Hope he keeps it up through the playoffs.
Unfortunately,living in MS I don’t get to watch the Dodgers often, and of course never broadcast by Bin, though I do occasionally catch the games on XM. I miss out on so much.
Anonymous
Yes, it’s too bad for those of us who live away from L.A. and don’t want to pay extra for MLB Extra Innings on cable/satellite. Once in a while, the Boys in Blue are broadcast nationally on Fox or ESPN. That extra-inning game against the Mets was a nice surprise, since it was the backup for their weekly Yankees-Red Sox game, which was on a rain delay. Also, if you have a good cable/satellite package, you get the MLB Network. MLB Network posts its schedule at the start of the month, so you can see when our Dodgers are on. For August, it’s only posted through August 18, presumably so they can see which are the most compelling races before deciding on the ones later in the month. The Dodgers are the primary game on August 18. You might also get them as the backup game on August 10, since the primary game has the Braves. Also, if you get WGN (Chicago channel 9) on cable/satellite, last night’s game was on, and they will be carrying tomorrow afternoon’s game as well.
peter drysdale
We do get all the Braves games I think between SportsSouth and Fox Sports South. My cable doesn’t carry MLBN unfortunately and I definitely can’t afford to pay to watch, much as I’d like to.
Anonymous
Pretty amazing flex of the Scully muscle. But, if I may, I don’t like Vin Scully getting hip to the latest fads. Is nothing sacred? There’s something perverse and self-congratulatory – and even though it’s with love, condescending – in everybody’s recounting of Vin’s Victorino “twit” tale (although really, what do you call a Shane Victorino tweet? A twit.) The obtrusively vaunted thrust of social media in baseball is a totally, totally, cringe-inducingly undisciplined, and sucking out all the wonder in baseball.
Just think, all those hours I spent being captivated by a crappy photo of Joe Charboneau on a piece of cardboard could have been spared if only I could have followed him on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.
Anonymous
I’m not too clear on this concept. I dearly WISH I had this kind of instant access to information Back In The Day (in my particular case, the late 1970s-late 1980s). I genuinely wish I had spent less time back then focusing on the backs of my (already out-of-date) baseball cards.
I think I would have been a Crazy Raving Maniac should I have had access to this wonderfount of info back then, but in no way would I view that as a bad thing. Kind of like that scene in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” when McMurphy suddenly realizes that he’s one of the Few who is actually there on the Court’s Orders. The rest are Voluntarily Committed.
He is very unhappy when he realizes/understands this particular factoid.
I am happy that Vin put it out there. He is a wonderful man. They don’t write ’em like that any more.
Anonymous
there goes Donnie switching up HanRam and Cruz at SS and 3B?!? Why is he doing this? Where does this leave Gordon? Sounds like Gordon will now be a Sept callup as pinch runner.
jasonu
LA Times today I believe (just google his name) I read that he will bat 8th. He is still very much in their plans. Shane is just here for 2 months. I think they are wise to play the season as of now as if he will never return in 2012. Same with anybody else such as Lilly. I think you can have an idea of time frames but you just never know
Anonymous
You mean 2013, right? :)
Eric Enders
When he said “the twit said…” earlier this week he was speaking of Shane Victorino’s twitter account, so the phrasing was actually pretty appropriate.
Anonymous
Could the problem be that the verb tweet has not been officially conjugated by (Bob, help me here) the Society of Conjugate? Maybe twit could be a past participle or something.
Anonymous
Didn’t get to see the game last night but am extremely happy with Billingsley’s continued resurgence since coming off the DL.
Was watching the highlights late last night and as was mentioned by WBB – I also could not believe that the Cubs, with one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, didn’t put Hanley on with 4 wide ones to set up the double play. Dumb move.
Anonymous
Especially (despite my regard for Loney), with a hitter who had GIPD’d in his previous AB.
Anonymous
They are the Cubs for a reason, folks.
jasonu
Loney is tied for the lead in the NL in GIDP. He has 15 in 314 plate apperances.
Brandon Phillips is tied with him. He has 401 PA
Anonymous
That doesn’t surprise me. I cringe whenever he’s up with a man on first and less than two outs.
Anonymous
In fairness to Loney, he got the 2B that scored Ramirez and put the Dodgers ahead for good.
Anonymous
I have noticed that the IBB to set up the double play with one out is exceedingly rare, except occasionally with a superstar hitter at bat (that would be Kemp, not Hanley), and even then not often. And I suspect the stats bear that out, that intentionally walking a batter with one out is more likely to score him rather than end the inning, but I don’t know for sure.
Anonymous
Maybe Loney is more respected around the league than he is here by many. He is now hitting the ball hard and his average has been over .300 for more than a month now. Maybe Mattingly will notice as well.
Anonymous
Loney has not hit a home run since May 21. And has a grand total of 2 for the year.
Anonymous
And what has Ethier done lately? Loney is trying to have another second half surge while having to deal with part time playing. Only once that I can think of has Loney hit in front of the Dodgers best hitters and most of the time he has had Kennedy hitting in front of him.
Loney’s bat has only recently put up a whimper of protest but just the same, when things aren’t going well it never helps to be in and out and up and down the lineup.
I think I can hear in Vin’s voice and choice of words that he likes Loney and knows that Loney has not been given the support/patience other veterans usually get.
Anonymous
What was Bills disabled with? I don’t recall.
DougS
Elbow tenderness. And it seems like he wasn’t on the list for very long.
Anonymous
My expert research says sore elbow. I went back to the DT page where Bills was scratched! Quite a few root beer articles :)
Anonymous
Following the All-Star break, which meant he only missed one start if I recall correctly.
Anonymous
You are correct. Bills started July 7, the Saturday before the All-Star break. He was placed on the DL July 17, retroactive to July 8. His next start was on July 23. It was the Dodgers’ 11th game after his previous start; because of the rest provided by the All-Star break, the Dodgers didn’t need to “replace” him until July 17, their 6th game after his previous start, so there was also a slight re-ordering of the rotation after the break.
Anonymous
Vinny mentioned Ellis and Piazza in the same sentence last night :)
Anonymous
Matt Magill had another strong outing yesterday, with 0 ER 12 K 5 H 1 BB in 7.1 IP. At some point we’re going to need to start referring to him as one of our premier pitching prospects along with his fellow Lookouts Lee, Reed, Webster, Miller, and Martin. Oh wait, Martin’s gone (and did quite well in his first start for the Reading Fillies yesterday, with 4 H 1 BB 1 ER in 6 IP).
More on Magill: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120803&content_id=36083946
Anonymous
Dee had that bright green cast removed from his arm on Thursday, but he’s apparently stil weeks away from returning.
veryolddodgerfan
OK, well, Joe Blanton. Not exactly Plan B, but at least he’s not Plan D
Anonymous
Love the move of picking up Blanton – for a mere PTBNL and paying the rest of his contract (showing, along with the claim of Lee, that yes, money is indeed of no concern). In Blanton’s last 3 starts he has averaged 7 2/3 innings and posted a 2.74 ERA – almost as good as Billingsley’s last 3.
Anonymous
Let’s find out who the PTBNL is before we rejoice.
underdog
That was one of the funniest AND sweetest moments of the season so far. I was cracking up and loving it. Almost as much as I loved AJ Ell’s day with the bat,
Anonymous
I can’t believe I missed it.
Anonymous
With all the actions of the new ownership this season, it sure is a great time to be a Dodgers fan. A complete 180 degree turnaround from the last few years of the McCourt Era – and while Ned was able to pull off a few good moves while under McCourts constraints, imagine how he must feel now under Guggenheim – I just hope he doesn’t go overboardand end up like one of the misbehaved kids in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Which begs another question – is it possible to go overboard if indeed money is no concern?
foul tip
Reportedly there are just 8 teams Lee doesn’t have to approve trades to. Anyone have a way to find out who?
The Dodger waiver claim may not necessarily mean they’re on his preapproved list. A few years back there was mention that one of the superstar pitchers didn’t want to play on the West Coast. But that may have been Roy Halladay.
Lee’s a long shot. But kudos to the team for going after him, whatever happens.
Anonymous
I think it was Halladay and it was well publicized. I recall reading that the Dodgers are not on Lee’s no-way list, but I still think it’s unlikely they’ll be able to swing a deal.
Jon Weisman
NPUT