Put my little girl on a plane today with two grandparents and a cousin for her first real trip away from us. A week.
She’s about the same age I was, 8 going on 9, when I first went away to sleepaway camp, a journey that I greeted with almost equal parts excitement and anxiety. But from the moment this trip was first put on the table nearly a year ago, to the moment she hugged first my wife and then me goodbye around dawn today, this girl, who sometimes trembles over things you and I would laugh at, never had a single moment of trepidation. Not one.
She shrugged her shoulders for months when we asked if she were ready to go, then when the time came, gave us hugs with nothing but smiles.
I can remember the tears when I first said goodbye to my parents. I can also remember something similar the first time I had to go on a plane and leave my wife and then-newborn daughter behind. But my girl was only looking forward. I have to say, I really admire it.
But … four years, one month and nine days until she’s a teenager. Oh boy …
Danny Moloshok/APLogan White welcomes newest Dodger Chris Reed to Los Angeles before tonight’s game.
Uh-oh or 0-0, it was the Dodgers and the Astros.
Not shockingly, two of the weaker lineups in baseball went into extra innings before they scored a run. Fortunately for the home team, it was Los Angeles that finally scored for a 1-0, 10th-inning victory over Houston.
Dodger rookie Nathan Eovaldi lowered his ERA after two starts to 1.64 with six shutout innings, meaning that 10 of the 11 innings he has pitched in the majors have been scoreless. Tonight, he walked four but allowed only two hits, striking out three.
Eovaldi’s biggest jam was in the fourth inning, when he walked Carlos Lee with first base open to load the bases with one out, but the youngster retired J.D. Martinez and Jimmy Paredes.
But there was similarly little offense behind Evoaldi and one-inning relievers Matt Guerrier (who struck out the side), Mike MacDougal and Javy Guerra. The Dodgers did not get a runner to third base until Rivera’s fourth career triple, just beyond the reach of diving Astros center-fielder Jason Bourgeois, leading off the ninth. Remarkably, even for this offense, the Dodgers didn’t score. After Houston walked James Loney and Dioner Navarro intentionally, Tony Gwynn Jr. struck out, Jamey Carroll weakly grounded into a force at home and Aaron Miles grounded to second.
After another shutout inning by Josh Lindblom to start the 10th, Casey Blake tried to get things going again with a leadoff double sliced down the right-field line. Reliever David Carpenter went 3-1 to Andre Ethier before throwing an intentional ball four, preferring to face the right-handed bat, however dangerous, of Matt Kemp.
(An intentional walk to Kemp to load the bases was an option, even with first base occupied, given that Eugenio Velez was on deck. You know Velez and the fates wanted that opportunity.)
Kemp didn’t hit it hard, but he pushed an 0-2 pitch over first base and down the right-field line as well, and that was it. The Dodgers had completed their rout.
Justin Sellers has officially become the 46th member of the 2011 Los Angeles Dodgers, replacing the disabled Dee Gordon. Sellers is making his major-league debut tonight.
Sellers, 25, has a .400 on-base percentage and .537 slugging percentage for Triple-A Albuquerque this season, after going ..371/.497 in 2010. His road OPS this season, however, is .668.
Elsewhere:
Chris Reed’s deal with the Dodgers was made official today, and he’ll be introduced to fans at the ballpark tonight. Here’s the newbie.
Former Dodger Mike Marshall (the second) and former Angel Tony Phillips brawled, and Steve Dilbeck of the Times has posted video.
Good news on the health front from fellow baseball writer Dave Cameron, accompanied by the best Win Probability chart ever.
For any of you with kids or interested in a fun animated show, I’ll be moderating a panel on the Disney Channel series “Fish Hooks” on Saturday at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills. That panel’s preceded by one on “Phineas and Ferb,” moderated by my former Variety colleague Michael Schneider.
Former Dodgers announcer Ross Porter has taken a position with Interactive Broadcast Network Sports (iBN) as a studio host and play-by-play announcer covering high school and college football and basketball.
Porter, whose 28-year tenure with the Dodgers ended after the 2004 season, has been running Real Sports Heroes since 2007. He starts his new job August 26, the day that IBN launches its 2011 prep football coverage. The network also covers sports including mixed martial arts and minor-league baseball.
Chris Reed is expected to make his first official appearance at Dodger Stadium before Friday’s game, coinciding with the announcement that the first-round pick has signed with the Dodgers. From Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com:
Reed accepted a signing bonus of a little less than $1.6 million just four days before Monday’s deadline for signing this year’s draft picks.
The deal is expected to be announced on Friday. The agreement became official after Reed passed a physical examination on Thursday.
The Dodgers now have signed nine of their first 10 picks, the exception being fourth-rounder Ryan O’Sullivan, a right-hander out of Oklahoma City University.
Reed will attend Friday night’s game at Dodger Stadium between the Dodgers and Houston Astros and is expected to be made available to the media either before or during that game. Shortly thereafter, he will report to the team’s advanced Class A affiliate in Rancho Cucamonga, two levels higher than where collegiate draft picks usually begin their careers. …
Reed won’t attend the Dodgers’ Instructional League camp in Arizona after the season because, as part of the agreement, he will be allowed to return to Stanford in the fall to continue working toward his college degree. …
Eugenio Velez gets the star treatment in this month’s edition of Dodger Cogs and Dogs.
Velez, as you’re probably aware by now, is threatening to have a historic season. He is 0 for 21 as a Dodger. Only three players in Dodger history have ever had more at-bats while registering a .000 season: outfielder Jose Gonzalez (28 in 1991, before he was sent to Pittsburgh) and pitchers Sandy Koufax (26 in 1957) and Brett Tomko (24 in 2007).
Now, Velez is a career .247 hitter, so the idea that he will go the final seven weeks of the season without a hit remains remote. So the hope is that he would get released right after breaking the record, but the continued injury problems of Dodger infielders seem to be preventing that (not that he shouldn’t be released anyway).
Nevertheless, hope remains that Velez will set a futility record before he’s done as a Dodger. Former Brooklyn catcher Bill Bergen has the longest streak of hitless at-bats by a non-pitcher, 46 – that’s the record that Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell recently threatened. What you might not realize is that Velez went hitless in his final nine at-bats as a San Francisco Giant last year, which means he’s 0 for his last 30. That puts him within flailing distance of Bergen.
In fact, if not for a 12th-inning single on May 18, 2010, Velez would be riding a hitless streak of 47 at-bats. There but for the grace of Cesar Ramos goes he.
* * *
As always, the ratings below are a combination of subjectivity and objectivity. And as has been the case for the past few editions, a dose of impatience as well.
Today
7/21
6/30
6/16
5/26
5/5
4/28
4/7
Player
Comment
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
Matt Kemp
Hasn’t homered in past 10 games, but still has .873 OPS in that time.
2
2
2
2
2
4
4
1
Clayton Kershaw
His 13 HR allowed matches career high, with seven weeks to go.
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
Hiroki Kuroda
Leads NL in wild pitches with 11, has 23 in past two seasons.
4
4
4
5
4
2
2
3
Andre Ethier
Next double (No. 194) will tie him for seventh in L.A. Dodger history with Wes Parker.
5
5
5
4
5
9
6
5
Jamey Carroll
Best perfect season in steals in L.A. Dodger history is Eric Karros and Greg Brock with eight; Carroll is 10 for 10.
6
11
12
10
19
—
—
—
Javy Guerra
Has 0.55 ERA, 9.4 K/9 since June 11.
7
9
11
22
17
18
20
24
Kenley Jansen
His 14.8 K/9 leads MLB pitchers (minimum 30 innings).
8
8
9
8
22
—
—
—
Rubby De La Rosa
Ends up striking out 112 in 100 2/3 pro innings in 2011. Will still only be 24 in 2013.
9
6
6
7
13
20
21
20
Aaron Miles
.238 OBP, .286 slugging since All-Star break.
10
29
—
—
—
—
—
—
Juan Rivera
In less than a month, has matched or surpassed Thames in virtually every category.
11
10
10
15
15
10
15
22
Blake Hawksworth
Lefties were 6 for 60 with one homer against Hawksworth in 2011 before Phillies teed off in sixth inning Wednesday.
12
7
7
16
6
6
7
18
Chad Billingsley
In 0-for-15 slump at plate with eight strikeouts.
13
24
21
23
21
—
—
—
Scott Elbert
Opponents have .239 OBP, .244 slugging against Elbert since June 12.
14
16
14
11
—
—
—
—
Josh Lindblom
No homers allowed and has lowest WHIP on Dodger staff: 1.00 in 15 innings.
15
13
23
19
8
11
11
13
Mike MacDougal
Has 9.53 ERA in ninth inning, 0.98 ERA rest of time.
16
17
15
12
16
7
5
10
Casey Blake
Thanks for signing a baseball for my son Tuesday, Casey.
17
20
17
6
10
17
18
14
Ted Lilly
NL’s first 25-25 pitcher (homers-steals) since Padres’ Chris Young in 2006.
18
12
18
29
28
14
17
12
Tony Gwynn Jr.
Three hits, nine strikeouts in past 21 at-bats.
19
21
19
13
9
13
9
6
Rod Barajas
Has 10 HR, seven 2B. Rick Monday had 11 HR, one 2B in 1981.
20
25
26
21
14
12
12
8
Matt Guerrier
Eyeing sixth consecutive year with exactly one save. No MLB reliever has ever had seven.
21
18
24
18
11
5
8
—
Jon Garland
His 1.4 K/BB ratio (before injury, of course) worst since 2002.
22
19
16
30
—
—
—
—
Trent Oeltjen
Had two SB in MLB debut, has three in 65 games since.
23
22
22
17
7
16
14
—
Jerry Sands
1.096 OPS at home, .640 OPS on road in Triple-A.
24
14
13
9
—
—
—
—
Dee Gordon
Current 6.0 SB/BB ratio (12/2) is top-five in NL history.
Almost a year to the day after the Dodgers blew a seven-run lead to the Phillies and lose, 10-9, they blow a six-run lead to the Phillies and lose, 9-8.
Last year, the loss was bitter. This year, it feels just like another day among hobos and drifters.
It was more surprising to see the Dodgers build their 5-0 first-inning lead than lose it. Matt Kemp drove in Casey Blake with the first of four hits, moving Andre Ethier to second base and setting up Juan Rivera’s three-run home run, only the Dodgers’ fifth three-run homer of 2011.
And the team wasn’t done, with Dioner Navarro doubling in James Loney. Navarro was thrown out at third base, however, robbing the team of an additional run when Jamey Carroll then tripled.
And go figure, it mattered.
Chad Billingsley’s day got off to an unusual start thanks to a 15-pitch duel with Jimmy Rollins — if a leadoff hitter for either team in a Dodger game has had a longer at-bat, I don’t remember it. Billingsley escaped that and the next two innings unscathed, but the fourth brought a leadoff walk to Ryan Howard, a two-run homer from Hunter Pence and an unearned run thanks to a Loney error.
In the fifth, a Casey Blake error contributed to two more unearned runs, Billingsley exiting after 99 pitches and zero strikeouts (for the fourth time in his career) with the lead reduced to 6-5. The struggling Hong-Chih Kuo got the Dodgers out of that inning, and the Dodgers even extended their lead to two runs on an RBI double from Loney.
But then the invisible roof that has hovered over the Dodgers all season long did its very visible cave-in, with a Howard homer capping a four-run top of the sixth.
The outcome of today’s game ties into what I wrote Tuesday night: It’s not the margin of defeat for the Dodgers so much as the general reliability of it.
Silver linings are harder and harder to come by: Ethier can no longer even claim the longest hitting streak in the majors this year, now that Dan Uggla has reached 31. We did have Kemp’s 30th stolen base and a day at the plate that moved him within .016 of the National League lead.
And perhaps Dee Gordon’s move to the disabled list should be considered a silver lining of sorts, given that the alternative would be him continuing to aggravate his right-shoulder injury with his all-out style of play.
In football, the good teams beat the bad teams 49-0 or 62-21.
In baseball, the good teams might only beat the bad teams 5-3 or 2-1. The difference over nine innings might not actually be that much. But the real difference is that the good teams just find the way to have that edge again and again and again.
The Dodgers are 23 1/2 games worse than the Phillies this season, but in five games, Los Angeles has yet to lose by more than two runs. Philadelphia is beatable when it plays the Dodgers.
But beatable doesn’t mean deficient. We’re all beatable. In the end, the question is just whether or not you’re beaten. And this is one beaten Dodger team.
The Dodgers will celebrate the life and career of the late Hall of Famer Duke Snider with pregame ceremonies honoring the franchise’s all-time leading home run hitter and special presentations throughout the game. In addition, fans at the game will receive a Duke Snider bobblehead, presented by State Farm, and will be able to pose for photos with Snider’s Hall of Fame plaque (in Lot G Autograph Alley area from 5:10 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.), which is making a rare trip to Dodger Stadium from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York for the event.
Snider’s wife Bev, four children, Kevin, Kurt, Pam and Dawna, several grandchildren and other family members will all be at the game and will participate in the pregame ceremonies.
Also participating in the Kids Run onto the Field segment tonight will be Young Master Weisman. Running across the field in unpredictable directions was one of his favorite things to do at the end of coach-pitch practice, so it seems fitting. He’s excited.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesMatt Kemp, who went 2 for 5 but stranded five runners, reacts to his inning-ending double play in the first inning.
Anatomy of a loss:
First inning: Two on, one out, Matt Kemp grounds into double play. (0/2)
Second inning: James Loney stranded after singling with one out. (0/3)
Third inning: Two on, two out, Kemp pops out. (0/5)
Fourth inning: no baserunners. (0/5)
Fifth inning: Second and third with one out, Dodgers get one run on an RBI grounder by Casey Blake. (1/7)
Sixth inning: Leadoff singles by Kemp and Aaron Miles, wasted. (1/9)
Seventh inning: Two on, one out, Andre Ethier fouls away a 3-0 pitch, hits into double play on 3-1 pitch. (1/11)
Eighth inning: Leadoff singles again by Kemp and Miles, who singles in Kemp from second. After Rod Barajas walk, Miles scores on Juan Rivera single. Two runners stranded. (3/15)
Ninth inning: Leadoff single by Blake, Ethier pops out, Kemp strikes out, Miles grounds out. (3/16)
Thirteen hits, three walks, no extra-base hits, no victory. Believe it or not, the Dodgers haven’t had a game quite like this all year: getting at least 16 baserunnners while scoring less than four runs. According to Baseball-Reference.com, it was also only the fourth time this century that the Dodgers had at least 16 baserunners without an extra-base hit.
It was a new kind of run non-support for losing pitcher Hiroki Kuroda.
I have a little confession to make. Sunday afternoon, I was plotting the idea of making the Dodgers’ three-game series with Philadelphia that starts tonight into a mini-National League Championship Series showdown — in my mind.
Though I basically gave up hope for the Dodgers’ reaching the playoffs weeks and weeks ago, I was thinking that I might give the series with the Phillies some actual meaning. The rationale?
Los Angeles had won 10 of 15 games to eliminate exactly one-third of its 13 1/2-game deficit in the NL West.
With Clayton Kershaw on the mound against Arizona and San Francisco playing the Phillies, there was a decent chance that the Dodgers would close the divisional gap to eight games with eight weeks to go.
If the Dodgers won the series from the Phillies, that would most properly considered a fluke, but it would also, however temporarily and minimally, mark the Dodgers as a team looking for a glass slipper.
Sunday’s turnaround loss sapped much of my drive for my mini-NLCS frame of mind. I don’t think I’m going to be much more invested in this series than I was going to be before this flight of rather delusional fancy.
Knowing that the Dodgers actually could have stayed in the race does haunt me a little bit. One more week of winning combined with a week of losing by the division leaders, and the entire division would be thrown into doubt. It really hammers home just how absolutely awful the Dodgers had to be this year to be considered out of the running for a division title with so many games to play.
* * *
ESPNLosAngeles.com has launched the ESPN Los Angeles Hall of Fame, with 20 initial nominees for five spots. Nominees could not be active, which explains why Vin Scully isn’t present.
I’d have been happy to vote for all 20, but forced to pick five, I went with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Sandy Koufax and John Wooden. Yes, I’m aware I did baseball a disservice in the process.
* * *
Yes, a $27 million loss does seem like a lot. My recollection is that losses were routine when Fox owned the team, but the company was large enough to withstand them to some extent (Piazza trade notwithstanding).
Everything was falling into place for the Dodgers’ first road sweep of the season. Clayton Kershaw, after allowing a walk and home run to his first two batters, was on a roll, retiring 18 of his next 21 batters, while the Dodgers pushed across one run in the fifth inning (on a rare James Loney home run) and two more in the sixth to take a 3-2 lead.
But after Collin Cowgill singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Cody Ransom came to bat. Ransom had 26 home runs this year, but all of them were in the minors, where he had spent the 2011 season until two weeks ago.
The ball went out of the park, and so did the Dodgers’ sweep. Kershaw and Los Angeles had lost, 4-3.
Kershaw took a lead into the seventh inning or later for the 16th time in 24 starts this season, and this was only the third time that he had let a slip away. More than that, it was the first time all year that Kershaw was charged with a loss after having led a game in the seventh inning or later.
April 21 vs. Atlanta: One strike away from a complete-game, 2-1 victory, Kershaw allows a two-run single to David Ross. But the Dodgers tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and win in the 12th on a Matt Kemp walkoff home run.
June 9 at Colorado: Leading 4-0 in the sixth and 7-3 in the seventh, Kershaw allows seven of nine baserunners to reach base over the course of those two innings. Six of them score in what becomes a 9-7 Dodger defeat.
Suffice it to say, what happened to Kershaw today was pretty shocking. And yet, given the Dodgers decidedly uneven fortunes this season, not too shocking.
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.
Thank You For Not ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Attendance
1991-2013
Dodgers at home: 1,028-812 (.558695)
When Jon attended: 338-267 (.558677)*
When Jon didn’t: 695-554 (.556)
* includes road games attended
2013
Dodgers at home: 51-35 (.593)
When Jon attended: 5-2 (.714)
When Jon didn’t: 46-33 (.582)
Note: I got so busy working for the Dodgers that in 2014, I stopped keeping track, much to my regret.
