Longtime Reds reliever and “Airplane” icon Pedro Borbon, whose son pitched for the Dodgers, has passed away at the age of 65 from cancer.
“He was always talking about that,” his son told The Associated Press. “A lot of people remember him by that. He liked that.”
As Harvard-Westlake righthanded pitcher Lucas Giolito fell into the teens of the 2012 MLB draft, I began to wonder – and I’m not sure why this didn’t occur to me sooner – whether the Dodgers might go after him.
Giolito had been projected as a potential No. 1 overall pick this year before he came up with an elbow injury that hinted at the potential need for Tommy John surgery down the road. That poses a fear factor, but I wasn’t sure it would be enough to dissuade prep pitching fan and occasional daredevil drafter Logan White of the Dodgers.
As it happened, only two slots before the Dodgers’ selection at No. 18, Giolito was plucked by the Washington Nationals, who will potentially line him up with post-TJ ace Stephen Strasburg. And so came a different sort of twist. For the first time since James Loney in 2002, White began his draft with a position player and the intention of keeping him there: 6-foot-3 Corey Seager of Northwest Cabarrus High in Concord, North Carolina – the younger brother of Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager.
“(Seager) has similar pure hitting ability while projecting to hit for more power and a better frame,” than his brother, writes John Manuel of Baseball America. “Seager has a chance to play shortstop as a pro but likely slides to third base and has the pop to fit the profile. He has a smooth, powerful swing, and the consensus was he’d have to go out in the first round to keep him from attending South Carolina.”
Here’s ESPN.com’s take: “Corey is bigger and more physical than his brother. Corey could be a tough sign here with a strong commitment to South Carolina, but you have to think the Dodgers are confident they can get him signed. Seager is a very projectable athlete that plays shortstop now but projects to move to third base, where his above-average hands, smooth feet and plus arm will make him an above-average defender. He shows an advanced feel for hitting with a sweet swing from the left side and average present raw power that could be plus as he fills out his broad shoulders, giving him All-Star upside if he develops as scouts project.”
Though it will be years before Seager is big-league ready, assuming that day comes, I’m sure many Dodger fans are heartened to finally see the team draft some offensive help. White is typically adamant about taking the best player available, and if he thought an infielder was that guy, well, that gives me some amount of optimism.
With their second pick, coming in the supplemental round before round two, the Dodgers went with another infielder with major-league bloodlines: Jesmuel Valentin of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy. Conor Massey of Baseball America did a story in May about the son of one-time Dodger Jose Valentin.
“Jesmuel has a similar build to his father at 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds,” Massey wrote. “He’s primarily a shortstop, but plays a lot of second base in deference to his high school teammate at Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, Carlos Correa. He’s a smooth defender with a strong arm and is an average runner with good instincts on the bases. Valentin said he doesn’t particularly care which position he plays—which must run in the family.”
What an exciting, rewarding finish to tonight’s Dodger game for fans scarred by their trips to Philadelphia in the past several years.
With the score tied 3-3, oft-maligned shortstop Dee Gordon’s second hit of the game was a triple to lead off the ninth inning. Listening to the play in my car, I had dreams of him rounding the bases for a game-winning inside-the-park home run, but I had barely had time to be disappointed that he only made it to third base, because Elian Herrera hit the very next pitch from Jonathan Papelbon for a single to score Gordon and break the tie.
The bottom of the ninth began with the Dodgers leading by the same score that they marked the start of the final frame of the heartbreaking Game 4 of the 2009 National League Championship series. The echo reverberated in my brain. Kenley Jansen struck out the first batter, but the second hit a sinking line drive, recalling a similar ninth-inning shot by Gary Carter off Orel Hershiser that turned around Game 1 of the 1988 NLCS.
Herrera, the hero from Nowhereville finding himself in center field tonight only because Tony Gwynn Jr. was a mid-day scratch, came charging in and glided into a dive, snaring the ball without a care in the world. Two out.
Jansen then went 3-1 to Hector Luna, moving within one pitch of putting the tying run on base. But Jansen blew Luna away on two cutters, and the Dodgers had a big win in Philadelphia, 4-3.
The reaction to the Dodgers’ recent losing stretch (six of seven, eight of 11) has been predictable and understandable, if unpleasant. Insecurities about the team have come out, and there’s a reason those insecurities are there. The 2012 Dodgers barely looked like a playoff team with Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp at full strength. With Kemp on the disabled list, Kershaw struggling to avoid the meltdown inning and other problems materializing, it’s understandable to wonder how long they can hold things together. Put them in a stadium that’s not far from a chamber of horrors for Los Angeles, and tempers are going to be short and not sweet.
We can all see the weaknesses. And so when they overcome them, it’s just so damn pleasing.
Last year, on June 4, Clayton Kershaw allowed six runs in 6 2/3 innings in Cincinnati. In his next start, he allowed six runs in six innings at Colorado.
His ERA on June 9 last year stood at 3.44.
Admittedly, his strikeout rate is down in 2012, which is not fun to contemplate, but contrary to popular recollection, Kershaw was hittable in the first half of last season. His Cy Young run began June 14, when he began a streak in which he allowed 24 earned runs in his final 19 starts.
Dodgers at Phillies, 4:05 p.m.
Kershaw CXXVIII: Kershmokey and the Bandit
Dee Gordon, SS
Elian Herrera, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Juan Rivera, 1B
Bobby Abreu, LF
A.J. Ellis, C
Jerry Hairston Jr., 2B
Adam Kennedy, 3B
Clayton Kershaw, P
We expected a busy day because of the MLB Draft, set to begin at 4 p.m. Mark Appel is expected by many to be the third overall No. 1 pick from Stanford this year, following Andrew Luck in the NFL and Nneka Ogwumike in the WNBA.
However, the Dodgers made it even newsier by not only activating Juan Rivera but issuing a promotion — long-awaited by many of us — to strikeout-mad reliever Shawn Tolleson. Javy Guerra has gone on the disabled list with right knee inflammation, Scott Van Slyke has been optioned to Albuquerque and Matt Guerrier has moved to the 60-day disabled list.
Tolleson’s childhood buddy, Clayton Kershaw, is looking to avoid losing three consecutive starts for the first time in his career against a team he is 0-4 lifetime against with a 5.18 ERA (and 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings).
One potential new concern: Tony Gwynn Jr. was in the original Dodger starting lineup against Phillies righty Vance Worley announced today but was later scratched without an immediate explanation.
Update: Dylan Hernandez of the Times reports that Gwynn has a tight hamstring. How cliche …
It’s a struggle right now, but I’d rather have a struggling team with 33 wins banked in 54 games than a team with fewer.
When I looked online for a video for “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams,” I had no idea this is what I would end up with. This should give you something else to talk about besides the Dodgers in this woeful week.
Nathan Eovaldi pitched well enough to win in his 2012 Dodger debut, throwing six shutout innings after giving up a two-run homer to Ryan Braun in the first inning, and finishing with five baserunners allowed in seven frames.
But in his first start of 2012, Michael Fiers pitched a little better, allowing only one run on five baserunners in seven innings.
That left the Dodgers trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, which began with newly activated Matt Kemp lacing a double to left-center against Milwaukee closer John Axford to end a nine-pitch at-bat. Axford hit Andre Ethier (2 for 3 with an RBI double) with the next pitch.
In a way, though, hitting Ethier was like a well-placed intentional walk. Jerry Hairston Jr. tried to bunt, went to two strikes, then hit into a double play. With A.J. Ellis on deck, the Brewers smartly went after James Loney, who grounded out to end the game.
Fiers (89 pitches) and Eovaldi (90) maintained a quick pace in a game that was in the eighth inning when it hit the two-hour mark.
Brewers at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Tony Gwynn Jr., LF
Ivan De Jesus Jr., 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Jerry Hairston Jr., 3B
James Loney, 1B
A.J. Ellis, C
Dee Gordon, SS
Nathan Eovaldi, P
The Vin Scully bobblehead will be given away August 30. Individual game tickets are not available. “The only way to guarantee tickets to this game, and the Sandy Koufax Bobblehead game on August 7, is with a season ticket plan or the 10-game Flex Plan,” say the Dodgers. More information here.
Cody Ransom doesn’t have many good memories of Dodger Stadium. It was his ninth-inning error on October 2, 2004 that helped keep the Dodgers’ comeback hopes alive long enough for Steve Finley to hit his division-winning grand slam. Ransom had struck out in four of five career at-bats at Chavez Ravine going into tonight’s game, then struck out three more times and grounded into a double play this evening.
But when Ransom does produce against the Dodgers, he makes it count. His only home run of 2011 beat Clayton Kershaw last August, and he made two big defensive plays in the bottom of the ninth tonight, shorthopping a Dee Gordon grounder on the run and diving for another by Tony Gwynn Jr. to create a force play, that helped preserve Milwaukee’s 3-2 victory over the Dodgers.
The Brewers broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with two unearned runs that followed a leadoff error charged to Aaron Harang when his throw to first base pulled James Loney off the bag – at least according to first base umpire Todd Tichenor. Replays showed otherwise. A walk, RBI single (the last of Milwaukee’s four hits), sacrifice and sacrifice fly followed, and that was enough.
The final run might have been prevented had Javy Guerra thrown to third on the sacrifice instead of going for a 1-6-3 double play and only succeeding on the 1-6 part, but such is life.
The good news for the Dodgers is that Matt Kemp, who homered in both his rehabilitation appearances with Albuquerque, is expected to be activated before Tuesday’s game.
Brewers at Dodgers, 5:10 p.m.
Tony Gwynn Jr., CF
Elian Herrera, 2B
Bobby Abreu, LF
Andre Ethier, RF
Jerry Hairston Jr., 3B
James Loney, 1B
A.J. Ellis, C
Dee Gordon, SS
Aaron Harang, P
Ted Lilly has gone on the disabled list with left shoulder inflammation. Michael Antonini has been called up to work out of the bullpen if needed tonight, with Nathan Eovaldi set to take Lilly’s scheduled start Tuesday.
So far in 2012, Eovaldi has a 3.09 ERA for Double-A Chattanooga with 30 strikeouts against 45 baserunners in 35 innings.
* * *
An exhibition of baseball-related art, Baseball: The All-American Game, will take place at the Craft and Folk Art Museum on Wilshire Boulevard across from the The Tar Tar Pits through September 9. Ron Cervenka of Think Blue L.A. has more details.
The Dodgers lead the majors this year in Ultimate Zone Rating, according to Fangraphs (via Baseball Musings), by a significant margin. Tony Gwynn Jr., Mark Ellis and James Loney lead the contributions.
* * *
At my Variety blog The Vote, I have a post about Sunday’s episode of “Mad Men” that, if you’ve seen the episode, you might find worth your time.
I mean, are you kidding me? Holding your own with “Between Two Ferns?” I’m in heaven.
(First seen on Sons of Steve Garvey.)
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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