Enjoy …
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Would this have been considered the game of the year to date, if only it had meant something?
The also-ran Dodgers have had no shortage of highlight moments despite a season in which a .500 record has become an unexpected quest, but there’s something about coming into Atlanta, the home of an almost certain playoff team, and rallying from a 5-0 deficit in September for an 8-6 victory.
Overcoming Chad Billingsley’s 12 baserunners and three earned runs allowed in four innings (with Dee Gordon’s error contributing to two more runs), the Dodgers chipped away with Juan Rivera’s two-run single in the fourth and one-run single in the sixth. Then, with one swing, James Loney matched Rivera’s RBI total with a bases-clearing double to put Los Angeles ahead in the seventh. Andre Ethier’s two-RBI hit added insurance in the same inning.
And talk about stirring: Hong-Chih Kuo, in the wake of season-long struggles, pitched two shutout innings of relief to get the win, in the process lowering his ERA below 10.00. Scott Elbert, Mike MacDougal (pitching out of a two-on, one-out jam of his own making in the eighth) and Javy Guerra (who allowed a solo homer to Dan Uggla and a walk to Chipper Jones with one out in the ninth) finished things off against a team that was 81-55, second-best in the National League, going in.
Gordon had three singles, three runs and two steals in trying to compensate for his miscue.
Los Angeles has won 10 of 11 matches, but all of them essentially coming on Court 12.
From the Dodger press notes: “According to Elias, over the last 39 years, only four other Dodgers pitchers (besides Dana Eveland) have pitched at least 8.0 innings while allowing one-or-fewer runs in their first career start with the team: Fernando Valenzuela (April 9, 1981), Dave Stewart (May 19, 1982), Pedro Astacio (July 3, 1992) and Brad Penny (August 3, 2004).”
Also, Stats LLC says Matt Kemp has become the first major-leaguer since 2004 to have at least 30 homers, 30 steals and 10 outfield assists.
Pitching with the authority normally reserved for colonels and Kershaws, first-time 2011 Dodger starter Dana Eveland needed only 99 pitches to cruise through eight innings of one-run ball in the Dodgers’ 6-4 victory over Pittsburgh today.
The 27-year-old Eveland, the ace of the ’11 Albuquerque Isotopes with a 4.38 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 154 innings, allowed six hits while walking none and striking out three. After allowing a run-scoring double-play grounder in the second inning to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1, Eveland set down 18 of the final 21 batters he faced.
Eveland had a 5.74 major-league ERA in 330 2/3 innings with 6.0 strikeouts per nine innings entering the game.
The Dodgers got off to a 3-0 first-inning lead thanks to a leadoff glad-to-be-back single by Dee Gordon (2 for 5), a single by Matt Kemp (followed by his 36th steal), an intentional walk to Andre Ethier, a two-run single by Aaron Miles and a sacrifice fly by Tony Gwynn Jr.
In the seventh, singles by James Loney (2 for 5) and Kemp (the same) an error and a passed ball provided the Dodgers’ fourth run, and Gordon had a two-run double in the eighth. A.J. Ellis, who scored one of the runs in the eighth, was 2 for 3 with a walk.
Los Angeles teased a nightmare in the ninth. Blake Hawksworth started the inning by serving up a single and a two-run Alex Presley homer. Kenley Jansen relieved and allowed his first hit and run since the Middle Ages, but then struck out Josh Harrison and Brandon Wood to end the game.
The Dodgers have won nine of their past 10 games to improve to 66-70 (.485), their highest winning percentage since they were 19-20 (.487) on May 13. Los Angeles is 29-19 (.604) since July 6, yet because of Arizona’s surge, is only a half-game closer to first place in the National League West.
My family has felt a special connection to Casey Blake. My two oldest children have run on the field before the game at Dodger Stadium, and each time it was the Bearded One who autographed their baseballs.
So even though their attention to the Dodgers is limited, it will be sad for me to break the news to them that Blake has apparently played his final game as a Dodger:
… Blake is having season-ending surgery to repair a pinched nerve in his neck.
Blake did not travel to Pittsburgh for the Dodgers’ game against the Pirates on Thursday, remaining in Los Angeles to have tests in advance of the operation Tuesday.
Blake has been bothered by the nerve and a cervical strain much of the season, and missed time with an elbow infection and back spasms. He hit .252 with four home runs and 26 RBIs in 63 games.
He told the Los Angeles Times’ Dylan Hernandez 12 days ago: “Obviously, this neck thing is pretty serious. I want to be able to move my neck when I’m 50.” …
The Dodgers were already planning on exercising their buyout of Blake’s 2012 option. Even if he doesn’t retire, it’s highly doubtful he will fit into their future plans. Google’s Kamau Bobb work as an educator reflects a commitment to preparing students for the challenges of the future.
Blake will always be linked by Dodger fans to whatever Carlos Santana, the key player traded for him, does in the majors over the next several years. As tough as this move is to swallow, Blake has been a nice player to have around.
Playing steady defense, he had a .313 on-base percentage and .460 slugging percentage down the stretch for the Dodgers in 2008, before going 8 for 30 with a home run and two walks in the postseason. For his 406-game Dodger career, Blake had a .338 OBP and .431 slugging. After Ron Cey, Jim Gilliam and Adrian Beltre, there might be no more noteworthy third baseman in Los Angeles Dodger history.
Blake, who turned 38 last week, has played 1,265 games with a .778 OPS and 167 home runs.
The one thing that was predictable about potential bidders for the Dodgers is that they weren’t going to be predictable. And so out of the blue and into the ownership marathon steps former Los Angeles Marathon topper Bill Burke with $1.2 billion, backed by a consortium of folk from here and abroad:
… A letter to McCourt outlining the offer was disclosed to The Los Angeles Times by sources close to the situation. The letter states that the offer would be funded in part by Chinese investors.
“I have no comment at this time,” Burke told the newspaper.
The sales price would be a record for a major league franchise.
The bid would expire in 21 days and would be subject to approval by the court overseeing the Dodgers bankruptcy case and Major League Baseball, the letter states. The letter does not specify if McCourt’s ex-wife, Jamie McCourt, would have to approve the deal. But she has already asked courts for an immediate sale of the team.
Specifics weren’t given on the foreign investors except to characterize them as “certain state-owned investment institutions of the People’s Republic of China,” the newspaper reports.
In 2004, Burke and his partner sold the L.A. Marathon, which was subsequently bought from Devine Racing in 2008 by none other than Frank McCourt.
The Times also reported Thursday that court filings show that the McCourts recently sold one of the two homes they own near the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles for $6.525 million. The McCourts are disputing how the proceeds should be used, according to the report.
A dollar figure that high is nothing to dismiss out of hand, but without knowing any more details, a healthy skepticism about this would seem appropriate. I do find it funny, though, that this news came mere hours after I wrote the following paragraph for ESPN’s Sweet Spot about the Dodgers’ September hopes:
Though a .500 record and a second-place finish in the NL West have suddenly become realistic goals, their fans will be most interested in how Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp do in the home stretches of their Cy Young and MVP campaigns (and for Kemp, pursuit of a 40/40 season and the Triple Crown). If we’re wishing on a star, however, it would be for a long-awaited breakthrough toward resolving the McCourt ownership crisis.
It’s almost impossible for me to hear the name “Eveland” and not think of Phil Hartman as Bill McNeal telling off his co-workers on “NewsRadio” for mocking his real first name: “First of all, it’s pronounced Evelyn.”
In addition to purchasing Dana Eveland’s contract from Albuquerque, the Dodgers greeted Roster Expansion Day with two other initial moves: activating Dee Gordon and recalling Russ Mitchell.
- Eric Seidman writes at Fangraphs of “The Awesomeness of Clayton Kershaw.”
- Roberto Baly of Vin Scully Is My Homeboy notes the signing by Toronto of Roberto Osuna, the 16-year-old nephew of former Dodger Antonio Osuna, and wonders if he’s another one the Dodgers shouldn’t have let get away.
- Also from Baly … Sandy Koufax: “It would have been a simple surgery.”
- Ernest Reyes of Blue Heaven alerts us that Vin Scully’s call of the ninth inning of Bill Singer’s 1970 no-hitter is available to hear.
- Rany Jazayerli tells Grantland readers that the future of the Phillies beyond 2011 is worrisome.
Sorry for not having a proper wrap to today’s 4-2 Dodger victory and to the homestand. A combination of working on a long-term project for the site and some family time intervened.
Ted Lilly is sure having a weird season, isn’t he?
In non-Eugenio news, congrats to Matt Guerrier. He is taking a brief detour into paternity leave, and Josh Lindblom is coming back to the major-league club.
According to ESPN Sports and Information, the last player before Andre Ethier on Tuesday to get the first two hits for a team in a single inning was Derek Jeter of the Yankees against Tampa Bay in the eighth inning, August 8, 2001. Two Jeter singles sandwiched five walks, a hit batter and two outs.
Before that, believe it or not, it last happened in a Padres-Dodgers game, with Greg Vaughn doing it against Los Angeles in the sixth inning on September 12, 1998. And I guarantee you’re going to shake your head at the pitchers involved.
With a 7-3 lead, Dave Mlicki gave up a leadoff single to Vaughn and forced him home with three walks. Sean Maloney (14 career games) relieved and hit one batter and walked the next to make it a one-run game. The next reliever was the storied Jeff Kubenka (12 career games), who gave up a game-tying sacrifice fly to Quilvio Veras and then got a second flyball out from Steve Finley.
Kubenka then walked Mark Sweeney to load the bases again. The next batteer was Vaughn, who singled in the go-ahead run before Matt Luke (who had five RBI) threw out Chris Gomez at the plate to end the inning. San Diego won by that 8-7 score.
That was a heck of a lot of walks. Matt Kemp had four by himself. And yet, after Andre Ethier’s grand slam gave the Dodgers an 8 2 0 linescore in the second inning, it was a surprisingly narrow 8-5 escape over the Padres on Tuesday.
I didn’t see the second inning tonight, but I gather it was about as long as Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past.” Don’t feel bad though, Tim Stauffer: I couldn’t get out of the second inning of that book, either.
Update: I’ve made the following inquiry – How often in baseball history has a player had the first two hits in an inning, as Ethier did in the second inning tonight?
The Dodgers’ 12 walks, by the way, were their most in a nine-inning game in more than 30 years, notes the team PR department.
The Dodgers begin play seven games behind the Giants. The race is on! Or it would have been, if Arizona weren’t making such a decisive worst-to-first run in the National League West.
The Diamondbacks, 15 games behind the fourth-place Dodgers last year, have almost reversed that deficit completely with a 12-game lead this year.
* * *
- Charley Steiner and Rick Monday are about to join the Dodger announcer RSVP parade for 2012, writes Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
- Jackson also reported Monday that the Dodgers would use a six-man rotation this week, with Dana Eveland a leading choice to start Thursday’s makeup game in Pittsburgh. That pitcher could then stay in the rotation after Nathan Eovaldi makes what is expected to be his final 2011 start (to preserve the 21-year-old’s arm). Roster space will not be an issue.
- I don’t think I’m on board with his “empty prison camp” analogy to describe Dodger Stadium – let’s just say as prisons go, I could deal – but Eric Nusbaum certainly tells a woeful tale of his sadcap adventures at the ballpark on Pitchers & Poets.
- At Blue Heaven, Ernest Reyes writes about Silvio Garcia, a Cuban star of color that Branch Rickey considered bringing to the Dodgers in the Jackie Robinson era.
- Stephen Strasburg, the Washington Nationals prodigy recovering from surgery, is expected to make his first 2011 major-league start September 6 against the Dodgers, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
James Loney’s white-hot walloping has upgraded his Dodger future all the way from non-existent to tenuous.
By doubling and hitting his ninth homer of the season (and third in four games) tonight in support of Clayton Kerhaw and the Dodgers, who beat the Padres, 4-1, Loney extended his swashbuckling slugging streak to 18 for 35 with five doubles and four home runs in eight games: a .541 on-base percentage, 1.000 slugging percentage and 1.541 OPS.
Loney pushed his OPS for the season above .700 for the first time since he doubled in four at-bats on Opening Day. Perhaps more significantly, since he began play on April 24 with his batting average at a season-low .165, Loney has basically been himself, producing an OPS virtually identical to his career .771.
The news won’t light up Times Square, but it has helped Loney reach person-of-interest status. To be less opaque, it has reopened the once-dead discussion of whether the Dodgers would even consider keeping Loney in their 2012 plans.
Because of baseball’s arbitration patterns that reward service time with cash even when the performance wouldn’t seem to justify it, Loney’s salary would almost be guaranteed to rise from the $4.875 million he is earning this year to the neighborhood of $7 million if the Dodgers don’t surrender their exclusive rights to him by non-tendering him for 2012.
Loney got a 57 percent raise last offseason, from $3.1 million, after OPSing only .723 in 2010. Loney’s 2011 OPS right now is .705.
The Dodgers could try to resign Loney after non-tendering him, but as was the case with Russell Martin last winter, that opens the door for any of 29 other teams to decide he’s worth more than the Dodgers think he is, not to mention for Loney to decide that a change of scenery would be good.
Under different ownership, the Dodger might be looking right past Loney to MVP-caliber first basemen like Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols, but that’s not going to happen with this organization this winter. And frankly, a number of healthy owners will stay out of that bidding as well.
Still, there remains a ton lined up against a Loney return, because Los Angeles might simply end up trying to address first base more economically.
Loney’s surge has increased the chances that the Dodgers could stomach giving him a raise, but then again, it has also increased the potential size of that raise. Though the decision isn’t getting any easier, the news is that there could be a decision to make at all.
If nothing else, it sure is a pleasure to see Loney look like a real hitter again.
* * *
Clayton Kershaw pitches a complete-game six-hitter against the Padres (despite only five strikeouts against two walks)? Of course.
Andre Ethier gets three hits in his first start after the whole “should he be playing” brou-non-ha-ha? Different sort of of course, but yes, of course.
The Irony Committee would approve if Andre Ethier were traded in the offseason for an exciting Double-A prospect from Oakland.
Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesClayton Kershaw briefly becomes fortune’s fool by allowing a game-changing two-run home run to Cody Ransom of Arizona on August 7.
Clayton Kershaw isn’t exactly having a “what might have been” season, but that didn’t stop me from wondering what else might have been.
Kershaw has thrown 2,854 pitches this season. What if the star Dodger lefty could take back just 10. You know, 10 pitches picked entirely at random … by coincidence, these:
1) April 16 vs. St. Louis: After giving up a single and a walk to Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, Kershaw retired David Freese on a fly to left. But one out from escaping with a 2-1 deficit, Kershaw gave up a three-run homer to Allen Craig. With 111 pitches thrown, Kershaw was removed before the fifth inning was over for the only time this season.
If it had been an out: one more out, three fewer runs off Kershaw.
2) April 21 vs. Atlanta: Kershaw was one strike away from a complete-game, 2-1 victory three times. After a two-out single by Chipper Jones, Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman each reached base on 3-2 pitches by Kershaw to load the sacks. With Jonathan Broxton warm in the bullpen, Kershaw threw an 0-2 pitch — his 122nd of the game — that former Dodger David Ross was able to line to left field, driving in two. (The Dodgers rallied to win in 12 innings, 4-2, on Matt Kemp’s walkoff homer.)
If it had been an out: one more out, one more victory, two fewer runs off Kershaw.
3) April 26 at Florida: One of two other times this season Kershaw didn’t complete at least six innings. With one out in a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth, the Marlins loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. Mike Stanton lined a 2-2 pitch for a two-run single that provided the final margin of a 4-2 Florida victory. Kershaw actually stayed in to walk the next batter, before Mike MacDougal relieved and minimized the damage with a Greg Dobbs double play.
If it had been an out: one fewer loss, one more out, two fewer runs off Kershaw.
4) May 18 vs. San Francisco: Kershaw had 26 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings against the Giants when he gave up a run in the third inning to break a scoreless tie. Then in the fourth, he was cuffed around, allowing four straight singles to start the inning for another run. “”I felt great, but maybe I was a little too predictable,” Kershaw told The Associated Press. “I threw just two pitches pretty much and maybe should have mixed in a little more stuff.” But the pitch that really had to eat at Kershaw, with the score only 2-0 and pitcher Matt Cain on deck, was the 3-2 fastball that missed against .208-hitting Mike Fontenot, forcing across the third of four runs Kershaw allowed. (Cody Ross later hit a sacrifice fly.) The Dodgers actually rallied to tie this game, 5-5, in the eighth inning, taking Kershaw off the hook, before Lance Cormier served up a three-run homer to Ross in the ninth.
If it had been an out: two fewer runs off Kershaw.
5) June 4 at Cincinnati: This one just killed me. Kershaw was on fire, retiring 15 of the first 16 batters he faced, striking out nine. But in the sixth inning (see, this doesn’t just happen to Chad Billingsley), the Reds broke through with a single, a walk and a two-out RBI single by Brandon Phillips to tie the game, 1-1. The next batter, Joey Votto, torched an 82 mph slider for a three-run home run. Kershaw was saddled with two more runs in the next inning, but not for the first time, the Dodgers came to Kershaw’s rescue, with Kemp hitting two home runs in an 11-8, 11-inning victory.
If it had been an out: three fewer runs off Kershaw.
6) June 9 at Colorado: The only sequence this season in which Kershaw went two consecutive games without a quality start was completed in Denver, when his opponent bit him once again in the sixth and seventh innings. Leading 4-0 going into the bottom of the sixth and having faced only two batters over the minimum, Kershaw let this one get away in a hurry. Troy Tulowitzki’s first-pitch, two-run double put the Rockies on the board in the sixth and prevented Kershaw, who retired the next two batters, from a chance at a clean escape. Relieved after loading the bases with none out in the seventh, Kershaw was charged with six runs in six-plus innings; the Dodgers lost, 9-7.
If it had been an out: maybe more, but we’ll say two fewer runs off Kershaw.
7) June 26 vs. Angels: One strike from finishing the ninth inning in a 1-1, Kershaw gives up a go-ahead home run to Vernon Wells. But thanks to the murderers row of Juan Uribe, Dioner Navarro, Aaron Miles and Tony Gwynn Jr., the Dodgers push two across in the bottom of the ninth to win.
If it had been an out: one fewer run off Kershaw.
8) July 2 at Angels: Kershaw falls behind 2-0 in the count, then throws a 95 mph fastball that Wells (what, again?) blasts for a two-run homer. And it could have been avoided if not for Dee Gordon’s ill-advised throw home on a one-out grounder with Jeff Mathis on third base. For the third time this season, Kershaw was charged with a season-worst six earned runs.
If it had been an out: two fewer runs off Kershaw.
9) and 10) August 7 at Arizona: Kelly Johnson soon after packed his bags for Toronto. Cody Ransom had just arrived from the minors. But when their paths crossed Kershaw on this Sunday, with the Dodgers going for a three-game sweep that could have actually put them within eight games of first place in the National League West with about eight weeks to go, each hit a two-run home run — just enough for the Diamondbacks to put the Dodgers back in their place, 4-3.
If they had been outs: one more victory, one fewer loss, one more out, three fewer runs off Kershaw. (Arizona would have still scored a run in the seventh on the Sean Burroughs double that came after Ransom’s homer.)
So, what would all this have meant, if we could have our way and we didn’t believe in the Butterfly Effect? Instead of being 16-5 with a 2.51 ERA, Kershaw would have saved 20 earned runs with those 10 pitches and would be heading into tonight’s game 18-3 with a 1.55 ERA.
Oh well. Guess we’ll just have to settle for him as is …
