Dodger Thoughts

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

Tag: Tracy Woodson

The Dodgers’ Fast Burn All-Stars

Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers

Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers

Mariners at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Jimmy Rollins, SS
Yasmani Grandal, C
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Andre Ethier, RF
Scott Van Slyke, LF
Juan Uribe, 3B
Joc Pederson, CF
Brett Anderson, P

By Jon Weisman

This post is anything but a critique of Alex Guerrero, whose potential legitimacy as a Major Leaguer I have championed this year — in fairly lonely fashion until this week, really.

But even though Guerrero has started the season by going 5 for 12 with a double and two home runs in his first four games, the heated demands on Twitter to push him into the starting lineup — as if it were a crime to question the rush to coronation — got me wondering about other Dodger hot starters.

So, here’s an All-Star team of Dodgers who went wild in their first games of the year, then didn’t quite live up to that promise. We’ll even raise the stakes to 10 games played — more than twice the duration of Guerrero’s hot launch.

C — Kevin Pasley, 1976 (6 for 16, three walks, .911 OPS)
1B — Tracy Woodson, 1987 (6 for 21, one homer, .924 OPS)
2B — Elian Herrera, 2012 (12 for 33, three doubles, .887 OPS)
SS — Luis Maza, 2008 (8 for 20, one homer, 1.005 OPS)
3B — Andy LaRoche, 2007 (6 for 23, 12 walks, .818 OPS)
LF — Jerry Sands, 2012 (8 for 31, five doubles, .753 OPS)
CF — Mike Ramsey, 1987 (11 for 33, .765 OPS)
RF — Jason Repko, 2005 (8 for 26, three homers, 1.092 OPS)
P — John Ely, 2010 (Elymania)

Every one of these guys did or have done more in their baseball careers than 99.9 percent of the world — Sands, for that matter, was at it again this past week, starting 2015 with Cleveland by going 5 for 13 with two doubles.  Some were productive for weeks, maybe even a couple of months. Sometimes it was injuries, rather than ability, that got in the way. But excitement soon gave way to retreat.

Alex Guerrero might well be a starting third baseman someday, and it will be thrilling if he is, but a certain amount of healthy skepticism is probably useful. Believe me, I have to remind myself of that sometimes. In the meantime, everyone can be happy he’s been so productive off the bench, part of the crew helping keep the Dodgers in every game.

Time’s up: 10 reasons the 1988 Dodgers won’t make it to the World Series

136_88_NLCS

Team of destiny, or team of doom?

By Jon Weisman

Well, here we are at the end of the 1988 regular season, and pennant fever is high in Los Angeles. And why not?

It’s been seven long years since the Dodgers went to and won the 1981 World Series. In the 26 years since Dodger Stadium opened, the Dodgers remain stuck on seven trips to the Fall Classic — barely one every four years — and a mere three World Series titles. That kind of drought just isn’t the Dodgers’ style.

Now, led by shutout streaker Orel Hershiser and the gritty but productive Kirk Gibson, the Dodgers are back in baseball’s Final Four, four games away from a National League pennant and eight games away from a parade. There’s no limit to what the Dodgers can do in the coming postseason.

But just as a reality check, here are 10 reasons that the Dodgers will have to wait another year to hang any banners. Take a deep breath and read on …

Read More

Walter O’Malley congratulates Don Larsen

Walter O’ Malley can be seen receiving a signed baseball from Don Larsen after the Yankee pitcher’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series, in this unpublished Life Magazine photo. I found it after looking through this unpublished photo gallery of candids from the 1961 Yankees, that I visited thanks to a link from Baseball Musings.

Elsewhere …

  • Former Dodger Tracy Woodson, who can be seen bear-hugging Kirk Gibson after his 1988 World Series home run, is now the baseball coach at Valparaiso. Phil Stanton of College Baseball Insider has an interview with him. If you want more, here’s a 2008 conversation with Woodson.
  • A left oblique strain ended Alex Castellanos’ Arizona Fall League season, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Gurnick now writes that the Dodgers have considered moving Castellanos to first base, which seems more feasible but less sensible all at once. Not sure what to make of that.
  • Former Dodger executive Kim Ng will interview for the Angels’ general manager job. Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com makes the case that she would be a great hire for the Angels.
  • Bronx Banter founder Alex Belth published a guest piece from his brother Ben on playing ball with his son in the suburbs.

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