Dodger Thoughts

There have been Dodgers who have had their downs and ups, but I can’t remember such a purely bottom-to-top tale of redemption as the one of Juan Uribe.

Uribe’s season-long renaissance, in the third year of his three-year contract with the Dodgers, reached full flower tonight, with a double, triple, home run and seven RBI in the Dodgers’ 10-2 rout of San Francisco.

It was an astonishing performance but bearly out of the blue the way it would have been in 2011 or 2012, when Uribe hit a combined .199 with a .262 on-base percentage and .289 slugging percentage. Despite being on the roster all season last year, Uribe had one plate appearance after August 27.

But practically from day one in 2013, Uribe has brought plate discipline to his game, already surpassing his 2011 and 2012 totals in walks, and when he has swung, he has made an impact – to the point where Dodger fans have slowly learned not only not to fear his at-bats, but to embrace them. Last summer, Dodger fans were begging for his release; his 2013 OPS is now exactly .800. Combine that with the fielding that was always solid – in his latest exploit, he turned a bullet by Matt Cain tonight into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play – and the Dodgers have had, believe it or not, a productive third baseman.

Tonight, with the Dodgers trailing 1-0 in the second inning, Uribe worked the count to 2-1 in his favor, then delivered a two-run double to left field. Then, with the bases loaded and one out in the third, Uribe worked the count full before sending a hard, sinking liner into left field that Carlos Gonzalez of Colorado might have caught, but he was yesterday’s opponent. Cole Gillespie dove for the ball and missed, and Uribe had his first triple since July 28, 2010.

Uribe’s two-run homer in the seventh not only helped him match his career high in RBI in a game, it put him a single away from hitting for the cycle. Alas, Uribe went down in the ninth on a check-swing strike three.

But back to the original point. What Dodger endured two miserable years, while collecting a big paycheck, before putting it together in his third season? Looking at this list of Dodgers in the post-1975 free-agent era, no one with the profile of Uribe leaps to mind. It’s not like Dave Goltz, Don Stanhouse, Mike Davis or Eric Davis turned it on in Los Angeles after stinking for two years. But Uribe has.

It’s remarkable.

This week, in five different games, Dodgers have been within single hits of hitting for the cycle. Yasiel Puig needed a home run one game and a triple the next, Hanley Ramirez needed a triple Wednesday, Adrian Gonzalez needed a triple Thursday, and now Uribe’s missing single.

The Uribextravaganza and the final score would indicate a night of complete celebration for the Dodgers, but that’s not the case. Two innings into the first game in which the Dodgers had Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp on their active roster, Kemp irritated the AC joint in his left shoulder with a swing. He is day to day.

Dodgers at Giants, 7:15 p.m.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter for more frequent Dodger and baseball tidbits. Some samples:

Scully talks Dodgers, reflects on legendary career http://t.co/PVCRHb2kfO via @dodgers

— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) July 5, 2013

As expected, Crawford activated, Van Slyke optioned. Now, the OF juggling act begins, though one of them could be traded for Ramon Hernandez

— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) July 5, 2013

Crawford on bench for his first game back. #Dodgers probably want to see if Kemp stays hot, and Either has great history against Matt Cain.

— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) July 5, 2013

Yasiel Puig is in the biggest slump of his career: 2 for his last 9. He has still reached base in 27 of 29 career games. #dodgers

— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) July 5, 2013

Hanley Ramirez as a Dodger: .354 on-base percentage, .527 slugging in 364 plate appearances. Ramirez, who will turn 30 in December, can become a free agent after the 2014 season, during which he will earn $16 million.

Randy Choate as a Dodger: 4.05 ERA, 24 baserunners against 11 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings, before becoming a free agent. (With St. Louis this year, Choate has a 2.00 ERA with 19 baserunners against 11 strikeouts in 18 innings, in the first year of a three-year, $7.5 million contract).

Nathan Eovaldi as a Marlin: 3.89 ERA, 117 baserunners against 54 strikeouts in 81 innings (5.4 innings per start). Eovaldi has the second-worst winning percentage (6-15, .286) of any major-leaguer since 1980 with a career ERA below 4.00, ahead of former Mets pitcher Anthony Young. Since making his first major-league appearance of 2013 on June 18, following a bout with right shoulder inflammation, he has three starts with a 2.00 ERA with 17 baserunners against 10 strikeouts in 18 innings and a reportedly improved fastball. Eovaldi is under Marlins control through 2017 and becomes arbitration-eligible after the 2014 season.

Scott McCough as a Marlin: The 23-year-old righty reliever has a 2.22 ERA with 47 baserunners against 41 strikeouts in 44 2/3 innings with Double-A Jacksonville this season.

In short: Everyone seems to be prospering right now, but thanks to Ramirez’s supreme resurgence, Dodger fans have every reason to be pleased with the trade.

Happy Independence Day!

Dodgers at Rockies, 5:10 p.m.

Will it be a short stumble or a big tumble?

Will it be the bullpen, the fielding, the injuries, the sluggers’ return to earth – or all of the above?

It takes nothing away from the Dodgers’ hot streak to say that it won’t last. The end could come tonight, or the next day, or next week. But they’ll return to earth.

It’s the nature of the fall that I wonder about, whether it will feel temporary or permanent, shallow or deep.

In 1982, the Dodgers advanced 12 1/2 games in the standings in 13 days, moving from 10 games out to 2 1/2 games up in the National League West, then fell back out of first place, then regained first place, then fell back out again, before Joe Morgan finished their season.

In 2006, Los Angeles went from fifth place to first in 10 days, during an astonishing 17-out-of-18 streak (immediately after losing 13 out of 14), played leapfrog with the Padres day by day and, in the 4+1 game, inning by inning, and finished on top in the division.

In 2008, the Dodgers were five games under .500 on August 29, won eight straight and 12 out of 13, and didn’t look back until the National League Championship Series.

The 2013 season has already put Dodger fans through the ringer. But in a way, it has only just begun.

The reconstruction of the bullpen looks helpful, but there’s an inherent chaos that makes it impossible to trust. The fielding isn’t really any more reliable. You know the injuries will find themselves again. You know Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez will have their slumps. So, for that matter, will Stephen Fife.

The good and the bad of the Dodgers are in an ongoing battle for supremacy. The difference right now, compared to two weeks ago, is that it finally looks like the good can put up a fight.

This week, the Dodgers could be in a different place in the National League West standings for five consecutive days.

They went to bed last night in fifth place and could conceivably pass San Francisco tonight, San Diego on Wednesday, Colorado on Thursday and Arizona on Friday.

We’ll see. In the meantime, Mike Petriello runs down the Carlos Marmol acquisition at Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness.

Dodgers at Rockies, 5:40 p.m.
Kershaw CLXVII: Kershawnder the Dome

Phillies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

The Dodgers just aren’t the same without Luis Cruz.

Hours after the struggling infielder was, as expected, designated for assignment, the Dodgers were absolutely pounded by the Phillies.

Los Angeles surrendered 12 runs on 15 hits in the first six innings tonight before scoring their first run, trailing 12-1 at press time. Now, you want me to believe that’s a coincidence? You must think me quite naive, sir.

Philadelphia had 29 hits in their first 15 innings in Los Angeles.

Phillies at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

The Phillies hit Zack Greinke and the Dodgers from pillar to post. The Dodgers took the pillar and the post and ignored everything in between, quite happily.

Despite making 15 straight outs at one point, the Dodgers rode a big first inning and a two-out, 0-2 single by Yasiel Puig in the seventh to a 6-4 victory over the Phillies, giving Los Angeles their sixth straight victory.

Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier combined for five hits (of the Dodgers’ seven) – and made each one count.

Los Angeles absoutely hammered Phillies starter (and Placentia-born) Jonathan Pettibone in the first inning. After a leadoff walk to Skip Schumaker, Puig scorched one off Pettibone’s foot, the ball taking a fluke bounce to shortstop Jimmy Rollins for a force out. But Gonzalez knocked a single, and Kemp and Ethier followed with hard doubles to put the Dodgers ahead, 3-0. Pettibone might have been in jeopardy of completing the first inning had Puig’s ball gone through, or if A.J. Ellis’ long fly to right hadn’t been flagged down by Delmon Young’s running catch.

From the second inning through the sixth, however, Pettibone retired his final 15 batters, allowing time for the Phillies to come back and take the lead. Greinke picked off one batter, saw another caught stealing and induced two double plays in seven innings, but that only partially mitigated the 12 hits he allowed, the last a two-out, tiebreaking home run by Chase Utley in the seventh.

Puig smashed into the wall in a vain attempt to catch that drive, the latest scary moment for the Dodger daredevil. But he was not done shaking up the stadium.

In the bottom of the seventh, relief pitcher Justin De Fratus walked Ellis on a 3-2 pitch. With two sacrifices in the past four seasons, Juan Uribe was asked to bunt. He not only put it down, but he reached first base after Ryan Howard fell down trying to field it. Pinch-hitter Hanley Ramirez was walked intentionally, and then Schumaker struck out.

That set the stage for Puig.

He swung and missed badly at two not-so-pretty pitches, and the next was so far off the plate, it looked like a fan heading for the exits. But Puig reached indelicately and somehow pulled the ball sharply through the hole into left field for a two-run single, rallying the Dodgers to a one-run lead.

J.P. Howell and Ronald Belisario combined for a scoreless eighth, and the Dodgers manufactured an insurance run when, in his second full game back from the disabled list, Kemp and his hamstring singled, stole second and third, and scored on Ellis’ sacrifice fly.

Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth, and despite tallying half the Phillies’ 14 hits, the Dodgers had another sweet victory.