June 2016 – Page 2 – Dodger Thoughts

On June 27, 2016

In Pregame

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Dodgers at Pirates, 9:35 a.m.
Kiké Hernández, LF
Justin Turner, 3B
Trayce Thompson, CF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Scott Van Slyke, 1B
A.J. Ellis, C
Chris Taylor, SS
Scott Kazmir, P

By Jon Weisman

This is going to sound particularly banal, but as I’ve pondered what to write before today’s getaway-from-Pittsburgh game, I’m stuck on how change is a way of life in baseball.

Players and teams go up and down, without exception, and a season is really about who gets a few more ups than the rest.

The Cubs, thought to be indomitable, have lost six of seven. Bryce Harper, looking in April like an MVP for the next 10 seasons, has a .680 OPS over the past six weeks.

I’m not saying that it’s impossible to tell the difference between an aberration and a trend. But some players are performing uncharacteristically, and reversals of fortune shouldn’t be ruled out.

Just as you shouldn’t expect Corey Seager or Justin Turner to hit seven or eight homers every month, there are other players whom you shouldn’t expect not to turn it around.

Kershaw has rare stumble in loss to Pirates

On June 26, 2016

In Postgame

Justin Berl/Getty Images

By Jon Weisman

Ever so rarely, Clayton Kershaw will be less than perfect, and the baseball world will scramble its jets to understand why.

Almost without fail, the why is beside the point. The essential answer is that nobody is always perfect. Not even Kershaw.

In the second inning tonight, the Pirates ambushed the likely National League All-Star starter, scoring every run that it needed in a 4-3 victory, Pittsburgh’s eighth straight home win against the Dodgers.

Kershaw has lost two of those games, allowing four runs on nine hits with two walks in each. In only one other game in the past 12 months has Kershaw allowed at least four runs.

The unabridged list of Clayton Kershaw walks in 2016

On June 26, 2016

In Pregame

Click to enlarge.

Dodgers at Pirates, 5:07 p.m.
Kershaw CCLVIII: Kershaws I Lay Dying
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Scott Van Slyke, 1B
Clayton Kershaw, P
Note: Dave Roberts told reporters today that Adrian Gonzalez will be out of the starting lineup tonight and Monday.

By Jon Weisman

There’s the list, the list of the seven times in the 2016 baseball season any of the 414 batters Clayton Kershaw has faced managed to get a base on balls.

They haven’t come in consecutive starts since the first week of the campaign. At his stingiest, Kershaw walked one person (David Wright) in a 156-batter, 33-day stretch.

None of them have scored, with two reaching scoring position.

Chris Taylor promoted, Nick Tepesch designated

On June 25, 2016

In Pregame, Transactions

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Dodgers at Pirates, 4:15 p.m.
Kiké Hernández, 2B
Justin Turner, 3B
Corey Seager, SS
Trayce Thompson, CF
Adrian González, 1B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Scott Van Slyke, LF
A.J. Ellis, C
Kenta Maeda, P

By Jon Weisman

Chris Taylor, the infielder acquired by the Dodgers from the Mariners six days ago for Zach Lee, has been promoted from Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Nick Tepesch, who went four innings in the Dodgers’ 8-6 loss Friday to Pittsburgh, has been designated for assignment.

In three games with Oklahoma City since the trade, Taylor has gone 6 for 12 with three doubles, three RBI and a stolen base, along with four strikeouts.

Dodger winning streak ends at six

In Postgame

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

By Jon Weisman

Despite 13 hits — including four by Corey Seager and a single and homer by Yasiel Puig — the Dodgers couldn’t quite complete one of their recent rallies, falling tonight to the Pirates, 8-6. Los Angeles has lost six straight games since July 2014 at Pittsburgh, allowing 50 runs in the process.

Seager is 14 for his past 25 with two walks, five doubles and a homer, for a .560 batting average, .593 on-base percentage and .880 slugging percentage. Puig is 5 for 11 since returning from the disabled list, including the home run, which went 439 feet.

In his Dodger debut, Nick Tepesch gave up five runs on four singles, two doubles and a home run over four innings. The Dodgers’ six-game winning streak came to an end, despite twice coming within a run of the Pirates after trailing 4-0 in the second inning.

Frankie Montas has another rib injury

In Health/injuries

Frankie Montas signed autographs with Yasiel Puig at FanFest in January. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

By Jon Weisman

Right-handed pitcher Frankie Montas, who seemed to moving fast toward at least a temporary spot in the Dodger starting rotation a week ago, has re-aggravated a stress reaction in his rib, the Dodgers said today.

The team added he will undergo further diagnostic testing, and no timeframe has yet been given for his return.

The 23-year-old Montas, who missed the start of the 2016 season because of surgery to remove a rib in February, has 22 strikeouts in 16 minor-league innings since his return, with a 2.25 ERA. He fanned 20 in 15 innings after making his MLB debut last year with the White Sox, before he came to Los Angeles in the trade that included Trayce Thompson and Micah Johnson.

Side note: Ross Stripling is back in action, throwing three innings in an Arizona League game Thursday.

Farm Fresh: June 23 Dodger minors highlights

In Minor leagues

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By Miranda Perez

Highlights from the Dodger farm system for June 23, including Hyun-Jin Ryu’s latest rehab outing and two walkoff wins …

Will Venable designated for assignment

In Pregame, Transactions

Dodgers at Pirates, 4:05 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian González, 1B
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Yasiel Puig, RF
Nick Tepesch, P

By Jon Weisman

To make room for tonight’s starter Nick Tepesch on their 40-man roster, the Dodgers have designated outfielder Will Venable for assignment.

Venable signed with the Dodgers 10 days ago. His main contribution was on June 17, when he doubled to lead off the bottom of the 10th in a tie game against Milwaukee, before scoring on Justin Turner’s walkoff single.

The 33-year-old Venable was also hit by a pitch in his 11 plate appearances.

Also: The Dodgers signed 40-year-old left-hander Randy Choate to a minor-league contract. Choate, who in 2012 with the Dodgers pitched 36 of his 672 career Major League games, is in Arizona on a rehab assignment but expected to move next to Double-A Tulsa.

Postscript: A.J. Ellis and the mythical stolen base

In Baserunning, History

By Jon Weisman

In today’s feature on A.J. Ellis, the Dodger catcher said he had no idea how high he ranked among the franchise leaders in games caught.

But there was one piece of history that Ellis was acutely aware of. That’s when I asked him if he remembered his last stolen base.

“That hasn’t happened in the Major Leagues, I know that,” Ellis said. “I think I’m top five without a stolen base for as many (times on base) as I’ve got.”

Most times on base with no steals, MLB history
1) 835 Russ Nixon (1957-68)
2) 818 Aaron Robinson (1943-51)
3) 801 Chris Snyder (2004-13)
4) 710 Johnny Estrada (2001-08)
5) 632 A.J. Ellis (2008-)
6) 620 Wilson Ramos (2010-)
7) 607 Ryan Garko (2005-10)
8) 541 Al Ferrara (1963-71)
9) 515 Jack Hiatt (1964-62)

He was exactly right. Ellis has reached base 632 times in his career, without a steal. In MLB history, only four steal-heeled players, led by Russ Nixon (835), have been on the bases more — though Wilson Ramos, the opposing catcher in the recently completed series against the Nationals, is coming up, well, fast behind Ellis.

Ellis has a firm grip on the Dodger franchise record, having sped past Al Ferrara.

How badly does Ellis want to get a steal before his career is over? Or does he even want one?

“It’s kind of getting to that point now where it’s a fun fact about me,” Ellis said, “but, no I do. I’m always looking. I want to get one off somebody that it would really tick off. Like I want to get one off (Madison) Bumgarner, I think. That would really tick him off, to see that I stole on him. But he’s tough.”

As others gush about his future, A.J. Ellis stays in the present

In Profiles

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

You hear it all the time. It’s almost like his name isn’t his name anymore.

He’s not A.J. Ellis. Nope, not just.

He’s “A.J. Ellis, he can do anything he wants in the game after he retires.”

The entire baseball world is like a grandmother gushing about her son’s son, so proud and so eager to show him off: “You’ve got to come and see the A.J.”

Also read:
A.J. Ellis and the mythical stolen base

For good reason. Smart, affable, funny: Ellis is a dream candidate for a post-playing position. Baseball has seen its share of player-managers, but Ellis walks onto the field before a game, dons a headset for an interview, and just like that, you’re wondering if there could ever be an announcer-manager.

The only thing is … Ellis isn’t there yet. Not nearly.

Even at age 35, his mind is still focused between the lines. He has never been one for looking too far beyond, and he’s not starting now.

“I try not to,” he said earlier this week, shortly after a workout in Dodger Stadium’s sudden summer heat. “If you’re too worried about the future, your anxiety will just destroy you as well. So I do my best really to just stay in the present, and try to get better every single day.”

In short, his ballplaying mortality will have to wait.

This isn’t a personality shift, a shield he has thrown up to hide from his birthdays. Ellis has been this way since before he turned pro — before he knew he’d even have the chance.

Farm Fresh: June 22 Dodger minors highlights

In Minor leagues

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By Bart Harvey

Highlights from the Dodger farm system for June 22, including Brandon McCarthy’s latest rehab outing and a Double-A walkoff homer …

Dodgers feeling a little Tepesch for a starter course

In Transactions

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

By Jon Weisman

Nick Tepesch, whom the Dodgers signed to a minor-league contract June 6, has been added to the 40-man roster and will start Friday’s series opener in Pittsburgh.

The transaction will officially take place Friday, when a corresponding roster move will also be announced.

The 27-year-old Tepesch, who was born the day of Orel Hershiser’s 1988 National League Championship Series Game 7 shutout, has a 2.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP with 17 strikeouts in 18 innings (three starts) for Triple-A Oklahoma City. He had been cut loose by the Texas Rangers’ Round Rock affiliate, for whom he had a 4.11 ERA.

Tepesch pitched in the Major Leagues in 2013-14 for the Rangers, with a 4.56 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 219 innings.

With Tepesch pitching Friday, the Dodgers can use Kenta Maeda and Clayton Kershaw on five days’ rest over the weekend, then Scott Kazmir on Monday to conclude the wraparound four-game series against the Pirates.

Rook steady: Seager becomes a Dodger centerpiece

Read the entire story by clicking here.

In Publications

By Jon Weisman

Something else nearly buried by Wednesday’s theatrics: Corey Seager remains on a tear.

Seager hit his 16th home run of the season, putting him within three of the Dodger franchise record for shortstops for a season (Hanley Ramirez, 19 in 2013). Seager could break the record by the All-Star Game.

In the past week alone, Seager is 12 for 29 with two walks, four doubles and the home run, giving him a .452 on-base percentage while slugging .655.

So, yeah. Seems like as good a time as any to present the cover story from the most recent issue of Dodger Insider magazine …

Beginning this year, the Dodgers merged their previously separate Playbill and Dodger Insider magazines into one publication (at least 80 pages per issue) with a new edition available each homestand plus one in October, 13 issues total. It is distributed at auto gates (one per vehicle) and via Fan Services for those who use alternate transportation. Dodger Insider magazine includes news, features, analysis, photos, games, stadium information and more. Fans who still wish to subscribe can do so at dodgers.com/magazine.

In case you missed it: That post-Puig, post-sweep glow