Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Tag: Don Drysdale (Page 2 of 3)

Remembering ’65: See-saw second half of August

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By Jon Weisman

When might you be having a charmed season? When you’re scoreless with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Sandy Koufax bats for himself and walks, and then Roberto Clemente — of all people — drops a fly ball to allow the game-winning run to score.

That’s what happened August 14, 1965 at Dodger Stadium to allow the Dodgers to win, 1-0.

“It was sinking all the way,” Jim Gilliam, who hit the ball at Clemente, told Frank Finch of the Times. “Clemente first had his glove up in front of his chest, but at the last moment had to shift it. That’s when he muffed the ball.”

Said Clemente: “I was groping for the ball. I lost it.”

Though there were still many skeptics about the ’65 Dodgers, one who saw their potential was Pirates third baseman Bob Bailey.

“They’re not just giving an 80% effort like some teams,” Bailey told Times columnist Sid Ziff. “They go all out. They go for the extra base, the squeeze bunt, the impossible catch. And, of course, they’ve got tremendous pitching.”

But rather using the Clemente game to launch like a rocket to the National League pennant, the Dodgers would have one of their bumpiest weeks of the year.

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Remembering ’65: Summer of spitballs?

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By Jon Weisman

Along with everything else in a hot pennant race 50 years ago, a spitball controversy revved up between the Dodgers and Milwaukee Braves.

“Drysdale may call ’em sinkers, but I got three wet ones in a row when he fanned me in the third,” Hank Aaron told Frank Finch of the Times after a 4-3 victory Milwaukee victory August 4.

Aaron’s comments might have been calculated at least in part to take the spotlight off Braves manager Bobby Bragan, who was in the midst of a spitball controversy of his own.

“How long is NL president Warren Giles going to allow Bobby Bragan to flout authority by publicizing the fact that he has his pitchers under orders to throw spitters?” Finch had asked in print two days earlier. “To be sure, every club has spitball pitchers, but they don’t advertise.”

For his part, Bragan remained sanguine about the whole thing.

“If a pitcher can control the spitters, he’s crazy not to throw it,” Bragan told Finch. “Sure, we’ve got a couple of guys who throw it real good. Dan Osinski told a writer that he’s been using one for seven years.”

If you want to call it praise, Bragan added that Drysdale “throws the best spitter in the game,” according to Finch.

Whatever the case, it didn’t help Drysdale in Milwaukee that August 4. Allowing homers to both Aaron and Gene Oliver, Drysdale pitched an eight-inning complete game but took the loss.

Here’s what else was happening with the Dodgers, who were 1 1/2 games ahead in the National League on August 1 and 1 1/2 games ahead in the National League on August 15.

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Remembering ’65: When Koufax hit

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By Jon Weisman

Sandy Koufax wasn’t much of a hitter in his career, but in July 1965, he arguably had the greatest clutch at-bat by a starting pitcher in Los Angeles Dodger history.

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Dodgers Franchise Four: Drysdale, Koufax, Robinson, Snider

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Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider were announced during tonight’s All-Star pregame as the winners of MLB’s Franchise Four balloting, which basically picks the equivalent of the franchise’s Mount Rushmore from its history of players.

Among those with Dodger ties, Mike Piazza was chosen for the New York Mets, Pedro Martinez for the Boston Red Sox, Frank Robinson for the Baltimore Orioles, Paul Konerko for the Chicago White Sox, Jim Thome for the Cleveland Indians, Rickey Henderson for the Oakland A’s, Adrian Beltre for the Texas Rangers, Luis Gonzalez for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Greg Maddux for the Atlanta Braves, Gary Sheffield for the Miami Marlins and Gary Carter for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals.

— Jon Weisman

Remembering ’65: Jim Murray and fellow critics scorn first-place Dodgers

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By Jon Weisman

Dodger fans anxious about their first-place team? It’s a time-honored tradition.

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Zack Greinke’s ERA puts him in rare air

Los Angeles Dodgers during game against the Miami Marlins Sunday, June 28, 2015 at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. The  Dodgers beat the Marlins 2-0 . Photo by Jon SooHoo/©Los Angeles Dodgers,LLC 2015

first half ERABy Jon Weisman

In the history of the Dodgers, only one time has a pitcher had a better ERA in the first half of a season than Zack Greinke’s 1.58 with the Dodgers today.

That pitcher was Don Drysdale, the year of his record streak of 58 consecutive scoreless innings. Drysdale had a 1.37 ERA before the All-Star Break, before finishing the year at 2.15.

If Greinke, who extended his own scoreless innings streak to 20 2/3 innings in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory Sunday over Miami, can maintain his current ERA over what figure to be his two remaining starts before the All-Star Break, it would only be the 15th time in the past 50 years that any MLB starting pitcher has had an ERA below 1.60 at the break (minimum 75 innings).

15 in 50

If you really want to get ahead of yourself, nine starting pitchers — none of them Dodgers — have finished a season with at least 150 innings and a park/era-adjusted ERA better than Greinke’s today. The best was Pedro Martinez (1.74 ERA, 291 ERA+). Greinke’s current ERA is lower than Martinez’s, but the easier pitching enviroment puts Greinke’s ERA+ at 235.

Don’t expect Greinke to keep his 2015 ERA below Robert Hoover’s grade-point average at Faber College, but it’s still fun to think about.

Remembering ’65: Before perfect game, Drysdale, Osteen and Koufax were low-hit wonders

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By Jon Weisman

Next to the World Series title, 1965 will always be remembered most by Dodger fans for Sandy Koufax’s perfect game. In fact, Los Angeles came within a hair of having four no-hitters that season — including two one-hitters that took place 50 years ago this week.

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Remembering ’65: Memorial Day time capsule

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By Jon Weisman

The 1965 Dodgers spent the last 28 days of May in first place — including Memorial Day, May 31, when 50,997 at Dodger Stadium saw the Dodgers and Reds split a doubleheader — but it was hardly an uneventful month. Here’s a word album of what was happening 50 years ago …

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Remembering ’65: Marichal threatens Drysdale, Drysdale blows bubbles

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juan_marichalBy Jon Weisman

Nearly three months before his fateful encounter with Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro, Giants righty Juan Marichal of the Giants “declared war on Don Drysdale.”

According to Frank Finch of the Times, the challenge came following a “knockdown” pitch Drysdale allegedly threw at Willie Mays in a series-opening game against San Francisco.

After Mays flied out to end the top of the eighth inning of that April 29 game, Drysdale then led off the bottom of the eighth inning and was plunked by Giants reliever Bobby Bolin, but that didn’t satisfy Marichal.

“For five years I’ve been here (in the NL) I’ve seen too much of this,” said Marichal.

“Drysdale has hit Felipe Alou, Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda. I’m not saying he tried deliberately to hit them, but he has too good control to be so far off the plate.

“Next time, if he’s pitching against me and he comes close — we’ll see what happens. He’ll get it. And real good, too.

drysdale_pitch_high_frontDrysdale’s repsonse? Finch wrote that the Dodger righty “promised to plug four Giants for every time Marichal hits him.” But Drysdale also felt that Mays’ style of bailing out confused the issue.

“I don’t say Willie is putting on an act when he goes down, it’s just his way of getting out of the way,” Drysdale told Times columnist Sid Ziff. “John Roseboro, for instance, will stand there and move his chin. But in the same situation, Willie will go down. I’d say, he is the hardest in the world to hit.”

Added Ziff: “I wouldn’t say Drysdale was exactly upset by the threat, but when he blew on his bubble gum, the bubbles came out the size of beach balls.”

For what it’s worth, in 46 innings against the Giants in 1965, Drysdale didn’t hit a single batter with a pitch. And after April 29, the Giants didn’t hit Drysdale either.

In 243 career plate appearances against Drysdale, Mays was hit by two pitches.

The Marichal-Roseboro incident would take place August 22, though the players eventually made peace.

Remembering ’65: Spring Training optimism

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By Jon Weisman

Periodically this year at Dodger Insider, we’ll flash back to 1965 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that World Series title for the Dodgers. You all know how it ended, but do you remember how we got there?

Today, we’ll check in on how things were sounding from Dodgertown in Vero Beach. Opening Day 1965 on April 12 was still about two weeks away, so while the Dodgers were coming off an 80-82, sixth-place finish in 1964, Spring Training’s power of positive thinking was in full swing. This was particularly the case with the pitching staff, as evidenced by two pieces that ran in the Times’ editions on March 28, 1965.

Roseboro head shot

John Roseboro

Dodger catcher John Roseboro, entering his ninth season, told beat writer Frank Finch of the Times that the 1965 pitching staff was the best he’s handled.

“We have an overabundance of left-handers,” Roseboro said, implicitly acknowledging the offseason trade of Frank Howard for Claude Osteen, who joined Sandy Koufax and Johnny Podres in the four-man rotation, “but we have more depth now and won’t have to depend on two starters (Don Drysdale and Koufax) like we did most of last year.”

Drysdale threw 321 1/3 innings across 40 starts in 1964. Koufax averaged 7.9 innings per start with a 1.76 ERA, but his 1964 season after a 13-strikeout shutout August 16.

Assessing those top two pitchers in the midst of exhibition play, Roseboro was upbeat even if his glasses weren’t entirely rose-colored.

“Sandy’s just about ready to go nine strong innings. He’s throwing well, but his control is off a bit,” Roseboro said. “The last time I caught Don he looked ready for nine. Then he hit the ‘dead arm’ stage against the A’s. His control is good.”

Times columnist Sid Ziff reported even more positivity about the pitching, with a Dodger spokesman telling him it was “by far” the best it had ever been in Los Angeles. Of bigger concern was addressing 1964’s defensive shortcomings. The spokesman didn’t mince words.

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Jim Lefebvre

“Our defense was horrible last year, but John Kennedy and Jim Lefebvre will help to correct that situation,” he said. “If Lefebvre doesn’t stay with the club, shame on us. There was a rumor he might be farmed out for another year of experience.”

Lefebvre made his Major League debut on Opening Day and went on to play 157 games and win the National League Rookie of the Year award. (Coincidentally, 50 years ago today, it was reported Lefebvre had escaped injury after being beaned in the helmet during an exhibition game against Detroit by former Dodger pitcher Larry Sherry.)

“We aren’t set in right field yet,” the spokesman continued, “but no matter who plays there, he’ll be a defensive improvement over Frank Howard. The way it looks now, Wes Parker has the best shot at it. He looks like a real hitter.”

Parker ended up settled at first base, with Ron Fairly taking the bulk of right-field action.

Also of concern was the clubhouse atmosphere and perceived undermining of manager Walter Alston. Leo Durocher, in particular, was famous for challenging Alston’s authority.

“Alston is finally on his own as a manager,” said the spokesman (who Ziff said wanted “to remain unidentified because it wouldn’t do for him to show so much confidence.”) “Now he doesn’t have to defer, subconsciously or otherwise, to any of his coaches. … The Bragans, Dressens and Durochers are all gone. There’ll be no other ‘managers’ in the dugout this season. We think it has taken a load off Alston’s shoulders. He has already assumed more authority.”

The idea that Alston, only one season removed from his third World Series title, was so under the gun shows you that it never really gets easy for a manager. But 1965 would indeed prove rewarding for Smokey.

In case you missed it: Blowin’ in the wind

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Cubs at Dodgers, 1:05 p.m.
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Andre Ethier, DH
Juan Uribe, 3B
Joc Pederson, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
(Brandon McCarthy, P)

By Jon Weisman

How many steps must a man run down
Before he realizes he’s not going to catch that home run by Howie Kendrick?

The answer, my friend, is 11. That’s about how many footprints Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin made before he watched forlornly as Kendrick’s homer sailed about a first down or two beyond the outfield fence.

Here is some postgame reaction, from Pedro Moura of the Register:

It was 11 a.m. Tuesday, two hours before the Dodgers were to play the Texas Rangers here, 20 minutes away from their spring-training home, and Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins had made plans to carpool.

Kendrick was dressed and ready to go; Rollins was still in his workout gear, needing to shower. They chided each other in the clubhouse, Rollins telling Kendrick to slow down, Kendrick telling Rollins to speed up. That’s the relationship the two men have developed in three weeks as teammates after almost a decade of mutual, cross-league admiration.

So, after Kendrick smashed perhaps the longest homer of his pro career Tuesday, at least 440 feet to dead center off Rangers left-hander Joe Beimel, no one in the Dodgers clubhouse was better suited than Rollins to provide perspective.

“Actually, I kind of thought I missed it a little bit,” Kendrick tried to say. “I guess the wind was blowing today.”

Rollins interjected: “In other words, I’ve never hit one that well.” …


Click here to read the entire article.
And now, here are some more morning links …

  • Baseball Prospectus gives the Dodgers an 89.7 percent chance of making the playoffs and 17.6 percent for winning the World Series, significantly higher than the other 29 teams. Will Leitch writes about the playoff odds today at Sports on Earth.
  • MLB.com offers a sortable Milestone Tracker (link via Openers), putting the spotlight on future achievements great and small. Here are the lists for Dodger hitters and for Dodger pitchers. Now you know when Jimmy Rollins will enter MLB’s all-time top 50 in steals.
  • J.P. Howell warmed up too long during the Dodgers’ seven-run fifth inning, the pitcher and Don Mattingly told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. On the bright side, Howell a) learned his lesson and b) doesn’t figure to make many appearances after the Dodgers score seven runs in an inning.
  • Hyun-Jin Ryu’s fluctuating velocity (well, the fluctuating velocity of Ryu’s pitches, not Ryu himself) is the subject of this piece by Eric Stephen at True Blue L.A.
  • Andrew Friedman on meeting Sandy Koufax, via J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News:

    “It’s very rare in life where you have incredibly high expectations for someone and they actually exceed them,” Friedman said. “It’s really all encompassing — the type of person he is, the way he articulates his points, the knowledge he has, the way he’s able to question things in a very thoughtful way. I had so many different conversations over the span of that week that were incredibly thought-provoking and got me thinking.”

  • Today is the 60th anniversary of Koufax’s first game at Spring Training in Vero Beach, we were told by Historic Dodgertown in a press release. At age 19, he faced seven batters, walking two and striking out five. In the same game, 18-year-old Don Drysdale pitched four innings and struck out eight.
  • Brandon Beachy threw off a mound Tuesday for the first time since his second Tommy John operation, reports Gurnick, who adds that Beachy was both excited but keeping his enthusiasm in check.
  • Director of player development Gabe Kapler is a big booster of social media for athletes. At his blog Kaplifestyle, he explains why.
  • No more hanging chads at the ballpark: All-Star Game balloting is going all digital, notes Mike Oz at Big League Stew. End of an era …
  • Finally, we’re looking ahead to today’s biggest contest …

Update:

More from Hoornstra here.

Don Drysdale’s 1968 Vitalis commercial

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPUDhIPpAnA&w=550&h=413]

Don Drysdale threw a lot of mean pitches in 1968, but he didn’t throw any greaseball. Thanks to Mark Langill for passing this along.

— Jon Weisman

An eye-opening look at the Koufax-Drysdale holdout

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By Jon Weisman

Here is a fascinating time capsule from the Sandy Koufax-Don Drysdale era of the Dodgers from the front office perspective.

Buzzie Bavasi, general manager of the Dodgers for the bulk of the 1950s and 1960s, wrote a lengthy, first-person article in 1967 for Sports Illustrated describing the events before, during and after the Koufax-Drysdale holdout of the previous year. Be sure to click to read the entire story.

Bavasi makes no bones about his efforts to clear or correct the record, including what Koufax himself wrote (or had ghost-written). “I’m not saying that the chapter (on the holdout) is untrue,” Bavasi states. “I’m just saying that my memories of the double holdout and Sandy’s memories are two different things.”

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Andre Ethier poised to become HBP champ

Andre Ethier tied the Los Angeles Dodger record for career HBPs with this plunking on June 13. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Andre Ethier tied the Los Angeles Dodger record for career HBPs with this June 13 plunking. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Dodgers at Pirates, 4:05 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Matt Kemp, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Scott Van Slyke, CF
Juan Uribe, 3B
Carl Crawford, LF
Miguel Rojas, SS
Drew Butera, C
Dan Haren, P

By Jon Weisman

This week seems like as good as any to post a list of the Dodgers’ all-time leaders in hit by pitches. One list features the expected — the other, perhaps, a surprise.

The Plunkers
154 Don Drysdale
82 Henry McIntire
79 Jeff Pfeffer
74 Chan Ho Park
73 Nap Rucker
70 Dazzy Vance
65 Orel Hershiser
62 Don Sutton
56 Burleigh Grimes
53 Ramon Martinez
49 Charlie Hough
45 Oscar Jones
43 Chad Billingsley
40 Darren Dreifort
38 Jeff Weaver

Drysdale’s spot on the chart might be the least surprising piece of trivia you’ll see for some time, but even Drysdale would have to tip his hat to McIntire, who hit a better nearly every other game for Brooklyn (179 games in all). And Park amassed his total in even fewer innings than McIntire.

The Plunkees
73 Zack Wheat
72 Jackie Robinson
52 Andre Ethier
52 Alex Cora
47 Carl Furillo
43 Ron Cey
41 Willie Davis
39 Whitey Alperman
37 Lou Johnson
37 Jake Daubert
36 Bill Russell
35 Mark Grudzielanek

Yep, that’s Andre Ethier quietly bruising his way up the list — with his next HBP, he’ll become the franchise’s all-time leader in Los Angeles. Ethier tied Cora when Chase Anderson nailed him on June 13, immediately after a Matt Kemp home run. Ethier earned 25 percent of his total in one season — 2009, while Cora set the Los Angeles single-season record with 18 in 2004.

Wheat got his Dodger-leading total in 18 seasons; Robinson came within one despite playing only 10 years in Brooklyn. Cora, somewhat amazingly, averaged an HBP every 13.1 games, while Sweet Lou was soured every 10.5 games as a Dodger.

* * *

Dodger team historian Mark Langill is a participant in this ESPN 30 for 30 documentary short, “The High Five.” It’s a story that most Dodger fans know very well, but it never hurts to revisit.

March 5 pregame: Inside-the-park homerless runs

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Dodgers vs. Reds, 6:05 p.m.
Dee Gordon, CF
Carl Crawford, DH
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Juan Uribe, 3B
Joc Pederson, LF
Alex Guerrero, 2B
Tim Federowicz, C
Miguel Rojas, SS
(Hyun-Jin Ryu, P)

By Jon Weisman

I keep risking a jinx, but 60 innings into the exhibition season, the Dodgers haven’t allowed a home run. They’re the only team that hasn’t been taken yard in 2014.

The shot that Joc Pederson flagged down in the video above wouldn’t have been a home run, but it’s about as far as anyone has hit one against Los Angeles so far. Let’s see what happens in the Dodgers’ first night game.

  • Scheduled to follow Hyun-Jin Ryu to the mound today are Jose Dominguez, Javy Guerra, Matt Magill, Paco Rodriguez and Carlos Frias.
  • Ross Stripling had to have arthroscopic surgery today before he can have his Tommy John surgery on a future date. Ken Gurnick has details at MLB.com.
  • Zack Greinke threw off a mound today for the first time since injuring his calf February 27, Gurnick reports.
  • And to complete a Gurnick hat trick, a nice feature providing some welcome background on Dodger pitching prospect Red Patterson. Check it out.
  • Spring Training stats: All-glove, no-hit Miguel Rojas is batting .444 and fielding .895.
  • Former Dodger Trent Oeltjen will play for Team Australia in the March 20 exhibition against the Dodgers in Sydney, notes Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.
  • Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale are pictured during their 1966 holdout with David Janssen on the set of the movie “Warning Shot” in a post by Scott Harrison at Framework.
  • Peter Gammons has a long piece on the 2014 Dodgers at Gammons Daily.
  • Eric Gagne is managing the Team France baseball team that began a five-game Cactus League tour with an exhibition game today against Dodger minor leaguers.
  • Today in 1961 primary source material on the Dodgers at Ernest Reyes’ Blue Heaven: Gil Hodges.

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