By Jon Weisman
You can’t stop a former third-base coach from giving out a sign.
Local media were informed today that the Dodgers will stage a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new plaza areas behind the outfield, featuring the Tommy Lasorda Trattoria behind right field and the Think Blue BBQ behind left field, on Wednesday.
More information on the plazas can be found here.
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.
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By Jon Weisman
Until the end, the Dodgers breezed in their second game of 2014, finally dispatching Arizona in a 7-5 victory, one in which they had 23 baserunners. Ken Gurnick recaps the particulars for MLB.com.
As the Dodgers completed their two-game sweep and prepared for a happy flight home, you could find that already, several players were already tasting both the ups and downs of the baseball season.
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.
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By Jon Weisman
No, I don’t imagine many Dodger games have started on one date in Los Angeles and another at the ballpark.
Matchups against right-hander Trevor Cahill of Arizona for tonight/tomorrow’s second game of 2014 move Dee Gordon and Mike Baxter into the Dodger lineup in place of Opening Day starters Justin Turner and Game 1 star Scott Van Slyke, who combined for four of the Dodgers’ eight times on base.
Cahill is 6-0 with a 2.01 ERA in his career against the Dodgers, notes J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News. Last year, Cahill allowed the Dodgers four earned runs in 25 2/3 innings, despite striking out only 12. Los Angeles hit one home run against him.
The next time the Dodgers face a righty hurler, against the Padres in a little more than a week, expect Carl Crawford in the lineup. The anticipated birth of his son, Carl Leo Crawford, came this morning, and we send our sincere congratulations.
I have EXCITING NEWS! Thank you God for my blessing! Read here —-> http://t.co/7WfNcyNoy8
— Evelyn Lozada (@EvelynLozada) March 22, 2014
Opening Day through the lens of Jon SooHoo.The triple crown bid begins for @ScottVanSlick. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/0wWEj8cCVv
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) March 22, 2014
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By Jon Weisman
In a weirdly joyful way, Scott Van Slyke was the starter, Clayton Kershaw provided the middle relief and Chris Perez, Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen were together the closer.
For fans of the theater, it made for a nice play in three acts, this 3-1 Opening Day victory (recapped here by Ken Gurnick of MLB.com) by the Dodgers over Arizona.
Overture
“It has been a marvelous week. The weather has been splendiferous.” – Vin #Dodgers
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) March 22, 2014
By Jon Weisman
I really can’t recall a time the Dodgers faced such high expectations.
They have been division favorites, but I can’t remember them being division favorites the way the Showtime Lakers were.
As far as a World Series title goes, expectations are tempered, but hardly crushed. Washington and St. Louis are among the top threats from the NL, though the list doesn’t seem to run much deeper. As guarded as people might be on the Dodgers’ World Series chances, few if any teams draw more enthusiasm.
This latest bit from Baseball Prospectus is striking, but not the least bit surprising given what we’ve seen this offseason. A total of 39 contributors to the site predicted who would win the National League West, and 38 picked the Dodgers. Twice as many picked the Dodgers to go all the way as any other team.
And yet, at the same time …
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen people question the Dodgers’ bench, their dilemma at second base, the perils of their outfield – too much talent one day, too little the next – the ability of Juan Uribe to maintain his 2013 performance, and so on. Look around the comment sections of national sites, and it’ll take you about three seconds to find someone snickering about the Dodgers’ Opening Day lineup relative to the team payroll.
It’s easy to find potential weaknesses among the strengths in the Dodgers. It’s only after you step back and compare them to the strengths and weaknesses of the other 29 teams that you realize, yeah, maybe the high expectations are justified.
The Dodgers won’t have one outfielder play 162 games, but they could easily get quality outfield play for 162 games, times three.
They don’t figure to have an All-Star at second base, but one position won’t sink a team. And the chance to play matchups there could yield surprising results.
Then there’s the pitching. Knock on wood, the pitching really could be great and squash a lot of trouble elsewhere. The best pitcher in baseball at the front of the rotation, strong veterans behind him, competition at the back of the rotation and identifiable reinforcements from Chad Billingsley to Zach Lee materializing as the season progresses. You’ll find a similar story in the bullpen from Kenley Jansen down to Jose Dominguez.
In Major League Baseball, the very best teams typically lose at least 60 games. They’ll trail in, what, 100 or more? That’s a lot of time to grit your teeth and pull your hair out. As I wrote in the first Dodger Insider post in January …
There are no straight lines between January and October, no steady-as-she-goes escalators. It’s a zig-zag journey, the longest of heavyweight fights where the best you can hope is you’re still standing after absorbing every imaginable face and body blow. You try to win every moment, knowing that you can’t possibly win every moment. And you try to smell the roses, win or lose. (It’s a game, after all, however much it means to us.)
At the start of the season, you just want as much hope as possible. And with the 2014 Los Angeles Dodgers, you’ve got as much hope as you’ve had in some time.
I suppose one could look at that as the greatest potential for disappointment as you’ve had in some time, but you’ve spent the past 25 seasons getting used to that. You’re prepared. So instead, amid all the inevitable ups and downs, enjoy the possibility of greatness.
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By Jon Weisman
Like the saying goes, “It’s Opening Day somewhere …”
“We’re not going to know the benefits of this game on Sunday night,” Archey said. “It’s long term. It can be generational.”
MLB was paid by a promoter to open its season in Sydney, but Archey said that wasn’t the league’s motive for coming. “This is not about money,” he said. “This is about the future. It’s about developing the market for bigger business and it’s about developing the market for more players.”
MLB has opened regular seasons in Mexico, Japan and Puerto Rico. What makes Australia different is that baseball doesn’t have a large fan base.
The Dodgers were also involved in MLB’s last venture into a nontraditional market. That was in 2008, when the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres played a two-game exhibition series in China.
Archey views that trip as a success. MLB now has 11 television partners in China, where it funds three youth academies and a 60-school intercollegiate league.
“None of this existed prior to that game,” Archey said.
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
By Jon Weisman
Hey, there’s a blast from the recent past: former Dodger executive Kim Ng, next to Don Mattingly and director of team travel Scott Akasaki.
By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers have the best odds of any team in baseball to win the World Series, according to the 2014 preseason Playoff Odds Report from Baseball Prospectus.
The analytical site gives Los Angeles a 83.6 percent chance of reaching the National League Division Series and 17.9 percent chance of winning the World Series. The latter figure is more than twice as high as any other NL team, with Detroit coming in as the American League favorite at 10.7 percent.
Baseball Prospectus’ simulation has the Dodgers winning 93 games. In the NL West, next behind the Dodgers are the San Francisco Giants, with 85 wins.
Read more about the Playoff Odds Report here.
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By Jon Weisman
Appropriately, it didn’t get talked about all that much, but you could still catch some people muttering and snickering about Yasiel Puig’s homerless sub-.150 Spring Training batting average.
By Jon Weisman
I don’t think anyone that’s on this trip to Australia will ever forget it, from the beach to the Cricket Grounds and sights in between.
I don’t think I’ll forget it either, even though I’m in Los Angeles. I’m not complaining – I get to be in town for my littlest one’s sixth birthday Thursday and his birthday party Saturday – but I can’t say I don’t feel the twinge of jealousy as I see all the pictures and videos from the land far away.
The Dodgers have certainly made things interesting, not only scheduling a 1 a.m. Pacific exhibition game the morning of Youngest Master Weisman’s birthday, but putting the regular season opener at the same time Saturday, where it will end just hours before a 9:30 a.m. birthday party for the little one.
It’s a taxing existence, being a Dodger-watching dad, but I’ll take it. I’m ready for some baseball, sunlight or moonlight.
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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