Opinion of Kingman's Performance

Goodbye Old Friend

2021-01-08T09:52:00.002-08:00

I take this moment to return to the blog and say a few words about my friend, Thomas Charles Lasorda. I say “my friend” because even though my interaction with him was brief, he made me feel like a million bucks.

He was a true character of the game. A man who loved the Dodgers and baseball like no other. Opinionated and strong willed. Profane and outspoken in one moment and then kind and tender in others. Lasorda demanded respect, which was something that I believe bothered him in his later years when autograph hounds would attempt to take advantage of his fame with their demands.

I can recount several stories of fans that he treated with extreme kindness in his many years at the helm of the Dodger team. His philanthropy and time shared with countless others, free of charge, need to be acknowledged. Yes, Lasorda loved the celebrity and the limelight that his position granted him, but it cannot be denied that he gave to his community time and time again.

I’m glad he saw one more Dodger championship in his lifetime. If anyone deserved to witness that, it was Lasorda. I’ll be forever grateful to my kind wife who arranged a meeting between Mr. Lasorda and myself in 1997. It was ten minutes that he didn’t have to give me, but he did, because he was that type of person.

To his family, I express my deepest condolences. To Dodger fans, I just say that we should consider ourselves fortunate for having known Tom Lasorda. His managerial decisions I often questioned. His personnel choices I didn’t always agree with. But there is one thing that never could be questioned about the man. He did all in his power to win. He was outright passionate about his loyalty to the Dodgers.

Rest In Peace Sir. You were truly loved by the Dodger faithful. Years ago Lasorda had joked and suggested to Peter O’Malley that he be buried under the Dodger Stadium pitcher’s mound when he died. That wish, of course, won’t be allowed but I’m sure he’d be pleased with settling for the epitaph that the former Dodger owner suggested for him “Dodger Stadium was his address, but every ball park was his home.”

2018 Division Champions

2018-10-01T21:05:00.001-07:00

It took 163 games. It required a full allotment of 40 players on the roster in the end and the team playing essentially a brand of playoff baseball their final five weeks of the season. But the Dodgers did it, and what they accomplished over their final 35 games showed the makings of a championship ball club.

The Dodgers celebrate their 6th straight NL West Division Title (AP Photo by Jae C. Hong)

Finishing 25-10 during the stretch run, including going 6-1 over their division rival Colorado Rockies in the month of September, the Dodgers came out on top. And just barely at that too. Colorado played lights out baseball against every team EXCEPT the Dodgers, and that proved to cost them the division.

This was a Dodger team with deficiencies when hitting with runners in scoring position. This was a team that didn’t perform well in one-run games. Los Angeles’ bullpen showed some vulnerabilities as well. This team had only one starter with double digit victories, and it was a ball club that rarely fielded the same lineup each night. But they overcame it all and were still able to win the division flag in what might be remembered for years to come.

Consider this: runner-up Colorado won eight straight after being practically left for dead in a Dodger Stadium sweep from Sept. 17-19th. With the Dodgers playing a respectable 10-3 over their final 13 games in the schedule, a resurgent and scalding hot Rockies team caught them (and briefly overcame them) in the standings.

With the Dodgers trailing the Rockies in the standings by one game heading into their final series at San Francisco, the whole situation seemed like a recipe for disaster, as many Dodger fans simply hoped for a wild-card birth. The Dodgers have a history of failing against their hated rivals, especially in San Francisco. I have to admit, it didn’t look good. I had tickets to the first San Francisco game on Friday against a a fired up Madison Bumgarner. The Giants ace asked his manager to hold him back a game, giving him the start against the Dodgers in the start of the season's final series.

L.A. held serve. Battling against the lefty as their own southpaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, outpitched him in a 3-1 victory. What was I to do? Two games left, the Dodgers still down 1 game in the standings. I purchased a ticket to the second game. The Dodgers won again in a 10-6 slugfest, catching Colorado who finally lost a game at home against Washington.

Entering game 162 in a dead heat tie with Colorado, the Dodgers decided to pull Walker Buehler from starting the series finale, to hold him back for a potential one-game playoff or possible wild card game start. Rich Hill would start, and I would buy a ticket to the last game.

Chris Taylor is congratulated after scoring the first run in the Dodgers' 15-0 win on Sunday. (USA Today photo)

What a performance it was. With their backs against the wall, the Dodgers destroyed San Francisco 15-0 in an epic and memorable season finish. Hill was stellar and the offense completely superb. The Rockies were up to the task on Sunday as well, demolishing the Nationals in their home finale 12-0 to set up today's game # 163 at Dodger Stadium.

Such was the back-drop before today's historic one-game playoff. With some trepidation, Dodger fans watched today's game recalling Dodger history reminding them of heartbreaking playoff losses in 1980, 1962 and even 1951. Today, October 1, 2018, was different.

Winning as they have all year, with the home run, the Dodgers took game # 163 with a 5-2 victory, backed by an ace-like pitching performance by Walker Buehler and a pair of two-run homers, one each by Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy. Buehler took a one-hitter into the 7th before being lifted with a five-run lead.

Today's win was huge for a number of reasons.

1) A loss meant a wild-card play-in game as a visitor in Chicago. Facing Jon Lester on the road would have been a very tough chore.
2) The ball club gets two days off to set the pitching order in place and rest up after a rigorous stretch run.
3) They clinched a home field advantage in the first series, and against all teams except Milwaukee.
4) They remain at home through Friday night while others are all traveling, a huge advantage.
5) Their first opponent, Atlanta, is a young and inexperienced team, completely beatable. Facing Milwaukee initially would be facing a team even hotter that the Dodgers.

So October baseball has begun. Eleven wins will be required. Last year's team went 10-4 in post season play, one game short of the brass ring. The Dodgers know that there is one thing on their minds and that is winning the whole thing.

On San Francisco radio this morning, former Giant pitcher and current broadcaster Mike Krukow, one who is usually reluctant to spread praise on the Dodgers, did just that.

"They're the best team in the National league. Their offense is hitting it's stride. We just finished a series against probably the best team in baseball. 15-0 tells you that."

Is It Possible that the Dodgers Are Finally Hitting Their Stride in September?

2018-09-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

Some Dodger teams in the past five years during their division title streak have had a tendency to get hot in unprecedented fashion. This is something that has avoided the 2018 ball club. But maybe, just maybe, they are now starting that historic win steak. This time at the perfect time of year.

Few will forget 40 wins out of 50 games in the months of June and July in 2014. And then there was last season's summer run where the Dodgers went 55-11 between June 7th and August 25th. Both were unforgettable hot streaks and at record levels. Most would agree that both those teams peaked too soon. Could you imagine if one of those team had that incredible run in September/October? I may be going out on a limb with this observation, but perhaps we are about to see it now.

2018 has been frustrating for those if us used to watching the blue have a torrid hot streak the past few years. Just when things have seemed to get on track this year, they get swept by the likes of the Cardinals at home. With a crucial road trip in September, they started fine with two wins out of three in Colorado, only to drop two in a row in Cincinnati to the last place Reds. Things looked pretty bleak on Wednesday of this week. By tonight, (Saturday), all those bleak predictions are out the window.

Yasiel Puig hits his third homer of the day (photo by Bill Boyce/Associated Press)

Suddenly, when the team really needs a hot streak, they are on it. It is make or break time. A failure here means no October baseball. After the last four games, none of us can imagine an October without Dodger baseball. These guys are clicking on all cylinders.

How so? Look at these numbers in the last four games:

39 runs scored, including a .348 Batting average with runners in scoring position (15 for 43). This is quite the turnaround. Small sample size? Sure, it's only four games, but a trend is developing. Hitting in the clutch is something that has been lacking all year. Perhaps it is their time now. Look at some of the offensive production over those four games:

Puig 15 AB, 7 R, 9 H, 9 RBI, 5 HR

Turner 14 AB, 4 R, 7 H, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 1 Sac Fly, 3 BB

Machado 17 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 5 RBI, 2 HR, 1 2B, 1 Sac Fly

Bellinger 14 AB, 4 R, 4 H, 6 RBI, 1 HR

Grandal 12 AB, 1 R, 4 H, 3 RBI

Pederson 14 AB, 3 R, 5 H, 1 RBI, 1 HR

Hernandez 10 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 2 BB

Muncy 6 AB, 4 R, 2 H, 1 RBI, 8 BB

What shouldn't be overlooked are the 8 innings of shutout-2 hit ball that Walker Beuhler pitched on Friday night.

There was one event over the past four games that stands out to me, and I'm hoping it will be talked about in the future as the "catalyst" that launched the Dodger championship season. I'm talking about the "At Bat of At Bats" by David Freese.

On Thursday night, with the Dodgers facing a dominating Cardinals club that completely manhandled them in a 3-game sweep at Dodger Stadium in late August, former Cardinal David Freese came to the plate in the first inning with Turner and Machado in scoring position.

This is the typical situation we have seen all year where a Dodger would fail to deliver, stranding runners on base. Not this time.

In a 14 pitch at bat, reminiscent of Alex Cora's 18-pitch masterpiece against Matt Clement back in 2004, Freese laced a triple down the left field line to start the Dodger offensive onslaught this weekend. Cardinal starter Austin Gomber was ineffective after raising his pitch count to over 30 in an effort to get the first three outs of the night.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but the David Freese at bat may turn out to be the catalyst to lift the Dodgers season. Meanwhile, let's sit back and enjoy some pennant race baseball. There are 13 games to go, and if the Dodgers are hitting their hot streak stride right now, October baseball should be mighty fun to watch.

Dodgers Hold Serve with Win Vs. Cardinals, Still 1 1/2 Back in Division

2018-09-14T04:41:00.002-07:00

On August 22nd of this confusing, inconsistent and tumultuous Dodger season I made a mental note that the Dodgers would need to win 24 of their remaining 34 games to qualify for post-season play.

At the time, it seemed like a daunting task. The club was coming off being swept at home by what appeared to be a superior St. Louis Cardinals team. Kenley Jansen was getting smacked around, obviously not himself. The offense wasn't hitting with men in scoring position and the team was a mere six games over .500 at 67-61, 4 1/2 behind first place Arizona. They had a day off to think about things, regroup and start over against a couple of last place opponents, (San Diego and Texas).

So now, 19 games later, the Dodgers have played at a 13-6 clip, still behind in the division standings, but certainly in the running for a playoff spot. They continue to frustrate us losing to cellar dwellar Cincinnati in 6 of 7 on the year, but taking a series on the road from first place Colorado, in a respectable performance over the past weekend. This is a Jeckyll and Hyde team that is impossible to predict. My confidence in them taking the National League Pennant again isn't high, yet then there are signs every once in a while that the magic has returned, only to see the team to fall back into bad habits.

Let's take last night's 9-7 win at St. Louis for instance.

Kershaw started striking out 6 of his first 7 outs recorded, but a homer surrendered to relief pitcher Tyson Ross opened the flood gates. He gave up 4 runs over six innings in earning his 5th straight win. (Associated Press photo)

The team looked fantastic. Kershaw was dominant in early innings. Striking out Cardinals at a clip we hadn't seen all year. The offense clicking, hitting with runners in scoring position, at one point 5 for 7 with men in scoring position. Even hitting back to back sacrifice flys, a rare occasion this year. Up 8-1 in the 5th, this game was in the bag, right? Not this year.

Kershaw started getting hit. The defense sloppy. The base-running, stupid, (what were you thinking Barnes?). Relievers struggling. Offense stranding runners again. Kenley Jansen - lost. By the ninth, this laugher has turned into potential tragedy.

A win in game one at St. Louis should have raised confidence, but the way it ended put a damper on that. Last night's game was 2018 in a nutshell. It should have been an easy win. Instead it was a roller coaster ride.

They go at it again tonight with Walker Beuhler. Another "must" win. With a victory, the Dodgers ensure themselves of at worst a .500 season with their 81st win. I continue to believe that 91 wins takes the division. That'll require an 11-4 close out to the season. Again, not impossible, but a formidable task. Do the Dodgers have it in them? Again, the 2018 team raises doubts.

Changes in the game: How pitchers are used (Part 2)

2018-08-25T14:30:00.005-07:00

(continuation of previous article on changes of the state of pitching in MLB)

Radar gun infatuation:

There was a time when velocity wasn't the first measuring stick used when scouting pitching arms. There was the belief that if a teenager had respectable velocity, that it would eventually develop to major league caliber. Everyone can hit the fastball, but off speed stuff, breaking pitchers and overall deception played a major role when recruiting arms. Not so much anymore.

In 2007 there were only eight major league starters that had a fastball that averaged more than 95 MPH. By 2014, that number rose to twenty. The radar gun readings were difficult to find on major league scoreboards in the 1990s. Now they are a "must see" for fans watching the game in house.

Today when evaluating pitchers, the first measure of consequence for scouts is based on the speed from the radar gun. If you are not hitting 90 on the gun, you probably don't get a second look. This has resulted in the increase in injury and the meteoric rise of ulnar collateral ligament surgery, most commonly known as Tommy John surgery.

As of 2014 it is estimated that 33% of all MLB pitchers have had TJ surgery. In fact, most teams believe that it is only a matter of time before every pitching arm breaks down and requires the procedure. How much of this has to do with overthrowing is unknown, but I'd speculate that the radar gun infatuation of scouts is a major cause.

Then there is the recklessness of young kids who will air it all out in efforts to gain scouts attention because they al know that if they are injured, there is TJ surgery around that can fix them.

(source of information linked here)

The end of the 200 inning starting pitcher and as a result, the big money contracts for starters:

As of today, August 25, 2018, there are only three pitchers in the National League that will likely hit the 200 innings pitched mark. Scherzer (with 181), deGrom (with 174) and Nola (with 169). Perhaps Greinke hits the mark as well, but he'll need to step up his game in his final six outings and average 7 innings per game. Such is the stat of the modern starting pitcher.

(source USA Today Sports illustration)

Arms are fragile, a lot of money is invested in them and management of teams takes a cautious approach to ensure they are able to get their money's worth for these high salaried elite starters. The recent decrease in innings pitched by starters most likely will result in decreases in money spent on these elite starters. As great as Clayton Kershaw has been, his decrease in innings combined with his fragile back and plantar fasciitis has definitely lowered his stock as an elite starters. I doubt he opts out of the $71 million remaining on the final two years of his deal. Seriously, who is going to be willing to pony up more than $35 million a year for a 31 year old pitcher that hasn't pitched enough innings two of the past three seasons to qualify for the ERA title?

Saving the arms, results in more position players taking the mound:

As of July 24, 2018, forty-one position players had taken the mound in what was essentially mop up duty in blow out games. The previous record for a season was 2017 when 31 position players pitched. Then there was the concession game where Dave Roberts put Enrique Hernandez on the mound when he ran out of pitchers in Philadelphia, coughing up the 16 inning July 24th game as a result.

Don't be surprised to see multi-dimensional players that can pitch and hit in the near future. Guys like Shohei Otani. Or players such as Darren Dreifert, Rick Ankiel, James Loney and most recently Alex Verdugo who were all equally adept on the mound as they were with the bat out of the draft. Perhaps teams will seek out players that have the skills to do both in order to save beleaguered bullpens that now pick up many more innings than they used to in the past.

__________________________________________________________________

The current state of the Dodgers appears bleak but when you consider that they only need to make up a game in the standings per week, a post-season appearance is certainly doable. With that said, the troubled bullpen and the lack of clutch hitting has decimated the team this month of August. There's no cushion for error anymore. The boys need to step things up or they will certainly be viewed as one of the largest disappointments of the 2018 season.

It's nice to see blow out games, but the Dodger's inability to push across runs in close contests is proving to be their downfall. 11-1 and 12-2 victories are rather hollow when they come in conjunction with extra inning defeats and late inning one run losses, a rather common thread this season. It is time for this team to dig deep and have a victorious run, particularly against division rivals. All is not lost, but time is running out.

Changes in the Game: Starting Pitching, A Change in Philosophy (Part One)

2018-07-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

The next series of blog pieces will deal with notable changes in the game, particularly with the handling of pitchers. Baseball isn't what it was three years ago and as players salaries rise and injuries are on the upswing as well, primarily to pitchers. As this occurs we are seeing a change in philosophy with regard to their use and the protection of the pitching assets that teams possess.

If trends continue as they are, 2018 will be the first year that a Dodger pitcher will fail to tally a complete game. Is this a result of bad performance? Not likely. It is mainly a combination of several factors.

1) Organizations are coddling arms, meaning that there is so much money spent on high level pitchers, they are to be protected. Walker Buehler never sniffed a nine inning start in the minors. In fact, his longest outing was 5 1/3 innings. That my folks is protecting your assets. Which is why when Buehler had a no hitter through six against the Padres back in May, there was nary a word said when he was removed in the 7th inning.

2) Managers such as Dave Roberts will not allow his starters to make it to the ninth inning, save that their pitch count is extraordinarily low. By extraordinarily low, we are talking about less than 90 pitches, an extremely rare feat through eight innings of work. Even with an established starter such as future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, Roberts will lift him out of concern for their overall health, very often in the 5th and 6th innings. As a result, team hitting strategies are to remain patient against top tier starters. It is imperative to get their pitch count up to remove them from the game.

3) The latest trend in managerial strategy is to remove a pitcher before he faces a hitter for the third time. The metrics show that player batting averages rise significantly the third time around. This makes perfect sense. A pitcher is tiring, a batter has had a couple of looks and notices patterns and recognizes pitches. Now with bolstered bullpens, it is perfectly logical that teams will opt to throw a fresh arm out in the 5th inning to keep the opposition off balance.

4) Bullpens are deeper and roles of bullpen arms are more defined. You've got your long guy, your sixth inning guy, 7th inning guy, 8th inning guy, closer, lefty on lefty guy, ground ball specialist, etc, etc... With these defined roles and relievers that can air it out because they are only facing three or four hitters, it is becoming less advantageous to allow a tiring starter to pitch deep into games when teams have stronger options out there.

"A quality start is shaking hands with the catcher at the end." - Sandy Koufax

5) As time goes on, even the most experienced starters are accustomed to only pitching 7 innings at most. Reigning Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer only has one complete game, and that leads the league. Clayton Kershaw, especially with his recent back problems, now is often out of gas by the 6th inning. Stamina hasn't been built up on many starters, and the past mentality of finishing what you start is for players from a by-gone era. This is shown in the numbers.

Last year there were 59 complete games in the major leagues. In 1979, the Milwaukee Brewers alone had 61 complete games on the season. Just to give you an idea how things have changed, six years earlier in 2011, the total of major league complete games pitched was 173. That 2017 total is a decrease of almost 200%. Last season the most CGs a team had was seven (7) by the Cleveland Indians. Compare that to any Dodger team in the 70s. See below:

Dodger team complete games:
1979 - 30
1978 - 46
1977 - 34
1976 - 47
1975 -51

Compare those numbers to more recent Dodger team totals:
2016 - 3
2017 - 2
2018 - 0 (so far)

With all these changes, a decrease in complete games pitched does not equate to poor performance on the field. To the contrary, the Dodgers won an LA franchise record 104 games last year in the season with a team record number of pitchers used (26) and least amount of complete games (2). Barring a miraculous finish, we won't see a repeat of 104 wins this year, but it still looks to be a Division winning ball club, despite the fact that their starting pitching metrics have changed to mirror those of the modern game.

What to look for in the upcoming blog pieces:

Radar gun infatuation and their ramifications
The end of the 200 IP pitcher
Decreases in spending for starting pitching
More position players will be taking the mound ( and the record number of them this season)
The inevitable change in the National League: The introduction of the designated hitter

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Manny Machado smacked his first home run as a Dodger on July 26, 2018. (AP Photo)

The road trip from hell is almost over. Through nine games, the Dodgers are 6-3 and remain in first place. A trip that possibly could define this 2018 Dodger team. This is a resilient group. Alex Wood has been returning to the 2017 version we saw. Rich Hill and Clayton Kershaw are coming to form. Their early season injuries may have been a blessing in disguise because those starting pitchers don't nearly have the wear and tare that they would normally have as August approaches.

The tough road isn't done yet with one remaining with the Braves in Atlanta and then a difficult home stand vs. Milwaukee and Houston. Then they're back on the road against the two hottest teams in baseball, the Oakland A's and Colorado Rockies. Watch for another key trade deadline deal as the Dodgers front office tries to pull the trigger on a deal to get them that one additional win in the post season.

In Defense of Logan Forsythe

2018-07-22T21:46:00.000-07:00

I have to be honest and say that the outline of this piece was written before Logan Forsythe's three hit game today. The timing of Forsythe's best offensive game this season was appropriate, though it's not as if one day's performance that included a hit off a position player would change anyone's opinion on him.

Uniformly there seems to be one topic of discussion that Dodger fans have agreed upon and that is that Logan Forsythe has to go. His offensive output has been pretty much that, offensive. Social media, specifically twitter, Dodger message boards and blogs, have blasted him for at least two months now. Trade deadline rumors have thrown him into virtually every deal imaginable, as if he was a caveat to any trade in which the Dodgers potentially gave up valuable prospects. ("If we give you prospect A, B and C, you'll have to take Forsythe and his contract along with it." -Those types of deals).

(getty Images

So I'll be the voice of contrary opinion and say that Logan Forsythe can be a valuable member of this ball club. Not only as a defensive rock in a Dodger infield that has its flaws, but as a veteran influence that will deliver and be a valuable piece in this post season run.

Dave Roberts plugs him into the lineup almost everyday and unnoticed by the masses is that Forsythe makes both the routine and difficult defensive plays day after day. Defensive metrics tell the baseball world he has regressed this year with the glove. I don't see it. Metrics told us that Machado was a statue at shortstop, and then we saw unbelievable defense today.

If there are flaws with sabermetric stats, it's on the defensive end of the spectrum. My eyes see a hard hit ball in Forsythe's direction, and usually he comes up big. Can the same be said about infield play by Muncy, Taylor and Hernandez? Let's put it this way. If a spectacular play needs to be made, which Dodger player do you want the ball hit to? I'd put my money on Forsythe over just about any Dodger player outside of Bellinger.

Defensive metrics list his dWAR at 0.1, a significant regression over his career high dWAR in 2017 that was 1.2. This statistical fall off is caused primarily by inconsistent play and 4 errors committed at third base. As the season progresses and his innings in the field increase, these numbers are bound to improve.

I'm not of the position that it is time to let the club's best defensive infielder loose. There is a value to a steady glove down the stretch. There have been players on championship clubs in in the past that served a purpose with steady defensive play, even if they brought little to the team with the bat. Cesar Geronimo with the Big Red machine in the 70s Reds, (two championships and four pennants). Mark Belanger served as a defensive strength around his teammates in Baltimore from the late 60s into the 80s. (one Championship, four pennants). Even the Dodgers of the 70s-80s rode out a long stretch with one dimensional Steve Yeager behind the plate. He was hardly a threat with the bat, but arguably the best defensive catcher in the game during his prime.

With regard to Forsythe's offensive production. He has struggled more than any season he has experienced thus far. He has had reduced playing time, which is undoubtedly a factor. His OBP has decreased due to his failure to keep up with the walks he drew last season. There are those that are quick to criticize him for taking too many pitches. This has probably resulted by his attempt to replicate lat season;s .351 OBP. After todays' game, Logan's OBP is at .280, hardly acceptable but it is a number that is steadily rising in his three games since the break. Perhaps we are starting to see a change in his fortunes.

Are we so quick to forget last year's post season? Forsythe's .425 on base percentage over 14 games was second best on the club (of those with regular playing time). He was amongst the team leaders in several offensive categories. When it was time to shine, Forsythe delivered much more consistently than other Dodger starters. His value in post season play is something that should not be overlooked.

It will be interesting to see if the recently concluded Milwaukee series serves as a catalyst to Forsythe's season. Sitting under the Mendoza line for most of the year, Logan has emerged from the All Star break raising his average to .219. That five day break may have been what the doctor ordered, It certainly will be interesting to see if he's able to go on that offensive run that has been missing all season.

It's Not "Make or Break" Time, But it's Close

2018-07-20T07:11:00.001-07:00

The next 17 days the Dodgers play out a brutal schedule without a day off. They start off today with ten consecutive days on the road, only to return home and play another seven without a break. All this added to the fact that their NL West rivals all have at least one day off. Some having as many as three rest days during this same stretch.

We can complain that this is not really fair, but we all know that the schedule evens out over the 162 game marathon they each play. It's a tough road ahead, but at least they’ll face some weak opponents, right? Au contraire my friend. Here goes:

This afternoon, in Manny Machado's Dodger debut, the Blue Crew faces the Brew Crew. That will be three games at Milwaukee, a resurgent team with a 55-43 record. Add to that they're a hungry team for a victory after being swept in five games at Pittsburgh prior to the break.

Phillie manager Gabe Kapler (AP Photo/Todd Kirkland)

This initial series will be followed by three games at East Division leading Philadelphia, where former Dodger Director of Player Development, Gabe Kapler, has the young Phils playing their best baseball in years. And just when you think the Dodgers would catch a break, they Dodgers fly into Atlanta for four games against a Braves club that is 1/2 game behind the Phillies. They don't call it Hotlanta for nothing too. Humidity in Georgia is expected to be aroung 80%.

The team returns home for a short stretch against the Brewers again for three and then the 2017 World Series rematch against the Astros, another three game series. The Houston series is bound to receive a nationally televised game and inevitable national attention as well.

That’s seventeen games against first and second place clubs with a combined .623 winning percentage. Not ideally what we wanted coming out of the All Star break, but there are two ways to look at this.

1) There is the potential of being buried.
2) There is the opportunity to make a statement.

Let’s hope for the latter.

Manny Machados arrival couldn't have come at a more opportune time.

...and then there were twenty

2018-07-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

The end of an amazing era is approaching. According to my count, only twenty players that wore the Brooklyn Dodger uniform in a major league game remain alive. The youngest of the bunch is Bob Aspromonte at age 80. Sadly, father time is telling us that within the next 10-12 years, there may not be any living Brooklyn Dodger players. I can imagine that as the survivors dwindle down to the last few, there will be some publicity surrounding them, as morbid and unsettling as that seems.

Amongst the remaining of the beloved Brooklyn Bums are Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Tom Lasorda. Additionally former MVP and Cy Young winner Don Newcombe and notable All Star Carl Erskine are still with us. In the past couple of years, some beloved stars have passed. They include Don Zimmer, Ralph Branca and Ed Roebuck.

The remaining players (and their corresponding dates of birth) are:

Eddie Basinski 11/4/1922

At age 95, Eddie Basinski is the oldest living former Brooklyn Dodger. A shortstop and second baseman. Basinski payed the 1944 and 1945 season with the Dodgers as a 21 and 22 year old. He was traded to Pittsburgh in 1946 and only played one more major league season, the 1947 season with the Pirates. A player that wouldn't give up the dream, Basinski continued to play in the minor leagues until age 36 in 1959. He played the last eleven years of his career in the Pacific Coast League, primarily with the Portland Beavers, where his settled and worked in the trucking business until retirement. The PCL was a very competitive league in the 50s and many players made a living in that minor league outpost. Basinski was one of them.

Tim Thompson 3/1/1924

Tim Thompson was signed by the Dodgers in 1947, but he didn't see action with the big club until 1954, and it was a 10 day stint at the beginning of the season. He was used in mainly pinch hitting appearances. There wasn't a lot of room on the roster for catchers during the Campanella years. Thompson was dealt to the Kansas City A's in 1955 where he saw more major league action for an additional two years. Tim was a scout for the Dodgers, Cardinals and Orioles. He coached the Cardinals in the 1981 season under manager Whitey Herzog.

Wayne Terwilliger 6/27/1925

A veteran of 11 major league seasons, Wayne Terwilliger spent only the second half of the 1951 season as a Brooklyn Dodger after being acquired in a multi-player trade with the Cubs. Wayne saw action in only 25 games as a Dodger, and started only 8 of them. He went on to have a legnthy career, mainly as a utility infielder with the Washington Senators, New York Giants and Kansas City Athletics.

Chris Haughey 10/3/1925

Pitcher Chris Haughey may be the "Moonlight Graham" of the Dodgers. On the final game of the 1943 season, Manager Leo Durocher handed the ball on this 18th birthday to Chris Haughey in Cincinnati against Johnny Vandermeer and the Reds. The kid held his own, taking the loss while giving up 3 earned runs over 7 innings in a 6-1 Dodger loss. As expected, this teenager in the bigs had his jitters. Haughey walked ten in his seven innings of work. Interestingly, Al Campanis was his second baseman and Gil Hodges played third. Haughey went off to war and didn't return to organized ball until 1946. He never returned to the majors, playing in four minor league seasons before leaving the game after the 1950 season.

Randy Jackson and Jackie Robinson, 2 former college football stars are with the Dodgers in 1956 (AP Wire Photo)

Randy Jackson 2/10/1926

Randy Jackson was acquired by the Dodgers from the Chicago Cubs organization in 1956. This third baseman played the final two seasons in Brooklyn and the inaugural L.A. Dodger season in 1958 before finisihing his career with the Cleveland Indians. A 2-time All Star with the Cubs, Jackson was acquired via trade with the idea that he would take over third base for an aging Jackie Robinson. Jackson injured his knee in 1957 and never played more than 64 games in a season the rest of his career. He hit the final Brooklyn Dodger home run on September 28, 1957, an 8-4 win over the Phillies. Jackson was a college football star, starting as half back for TCU and then the University of Texas in consecutive Cotton Bowl appearances (1945 and 46). A teammate of NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback Bobby Lane.

2010 photo, Barack Obama and Don Newcombe

Don Newcombe 6/14/1926

Don Newcombe was on his way to a Hall of Fame career before alcoholism derailed it. A great Dodger from 1949 to 1958 (with two years away from the game due to Military Service), Don won the Cy Young Award and MVP in 1956. A career .271 hitter, when Newcombe finished his playing days in Japan, it was as a position player in the outfield and first base, not on the mound. A key contributor in the Dodger front office in Los Angeles, Newcombe is beloved by the organization and has been instrumental in assisting the organization as the team's Director of Community Affairs and later Special Advisor to the Chairman on the Team. The respect he has gained has reached even Presidential levels. In 2010, President Obama told a national audience that because of pioneers like Don and Jackie Robinson, he was able to accomplish the feats he had reached in life.

Bobby Morgan, 1953 (AP Photo)

Bobby Morgan 6/29/1926

Bobby Morgan was a utility infielder for the Dodgers in 1950, 1952 and 1953. Groomed in the Dodger system, he didn't ever really get the opportunity to play full time with them due to the log jam in the infield with Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Billy Cox/Junior Gilliam and Gil Hodges. Traded to the Phillies before the '54 season, Bobby got his chance and became their full-time shortstop while hitting .262. Morgan said the following about his Dodger debut: "We were playing in Philadelphia and I was the starting third baseman. I kind of stood on third base during the national anthem and looked around and said 'Good Lord, look at this. What a dream come true.'" A witness to world history, Morgan as a young soldier was stationed in Nuremberg, Germany where as a G.I. he was tasked with overseeing the Nuremberg war trials.

Carl and Jimmy Erskine with Tom Lasorda (Source: Dodger Insider, linked HERE)

Carl Erskine 12/13/1926

A beloved Brooklyn Dodger through and through. "Oisk" pitched for Brooklyn from 1948 until their departure in '57. His feats included two no-hitters, a 20 win season and a World Series performance for the ages in '53 where he struck out 14 Yankees in a game three 3-2 victory. It was a World Series record at the time. An Anderson, Indiana naive,. Carl has lived a productive life in the insurance industry in his local community. The author of two books on his Brooklyn days, Carl forged a deep connection the the Brooklyn community. He also founded the "Jimmy Foundation," after his son Jimmy Erskine, helping Down's Syndrome children and adults. As a philanthropist, a book could be written about Carl's amazing life. From school donations, the Jimmy Foundation, to the Baseball Assistance League Board of Directors. In 1953, Erskine started the first Dodger game ever played at Holman Stadium in Vero Beach. He also closed out the Dodgers final appearance there in 2008 by playing the National Anthem on his harmonica.

Tommy Lasorda 9/22/1927

Tom Lasorda meandered through the Dodger minor league systems for most of his career, starring for the Montreal Royals in 1953-55. He had two call-ups, one in 1954 and another in 1955 with Brooklyn. In the only game Lasorda ever started as a Dodger, he walked 3, gave up a hit and had 3 wild pitches, ( a major league record). He left the game after gutting out the first inning. He suffering a gash on his leg as he was spiked covering the plate following the final wild pitch that he uncorked and he had to leave the game to get stitched up. Lasorda pitched with grit, soft tossing 80 MPH stuff and a curveball, but he couldn't get past the AAA level. The Dodgers sold him to Kansas City in 1956 where he appeared in 18 major league games without much success. Eventually Lasorda returned to the Dodger organization in 1957, where he remains to this day.

Tommy Brown at 17 years old was the youngest Dodger to appear in a major league game

Tommy Brown 12/6/1927

Tommy Brown served as a vital utility player for the Dodgers from 1944 to 1951 when he was traded to the Phillies. He holds a major league record that will probably never be broken as the youngest player to homer in the majors as a 17 year old in 1945 during years when the majors were depleted of a lot of talent due to World War II. Brown was a home grown player born in the borough of Brooklyn.

Joe Landrum 12/13/1928

Joe Landrum pitched in 16 games for the Brooklynites in 1950 and 1952 between stints in the minors. Joe's son Bill also pitched in the major leagues from 86 to 93 primarilly with Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Joe Pignatano 8/4/1929

Joe Pignatano is the only remaining Brooklynite of the group, that continues to live there to this day. A backup catcher that was with the Dodgers from '57 to '61, Joe finished his career with the lackluster Mets in '64. He was a close friend of Gil Hodges who hired him as bullpen coach with the Washington Senators and eventually the Mets, where in 1969 he earned a World Series ring. Pignatano caught the last four innings at Ebbets Field in 1957 when he entered the game for Roy Campanella. Joe is the cousin of former Dodger/Red and Met John Franco.

Roger Craig 2/17/1930

As much as Roger Craig is remembered by many as the arch enemy Giants manager of the mid to late 1980s, he was a great Dodger. A World Champ with the '55 Dodgers in his rookie year. He was a key component to that championship club. By 1959 he was arguably the staff ace, again winning a World Series ring in Los Angeles' 2nd year at the coliseum. Craig was picked up by the '62 Mets in the expansion draft and was repeatedely a hard luck loser of 24 games with the worst team in baseball history. In '63 he lost 22 games, despite having an ERA of 3.78. Truth is, you have to be quite a talented pitcher to lose twenty games. Craig was that.

Ron Negray 2/26/1930

Ron Negray pitched in four games for the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers. Another player buried in the Dodger farm system, he got his chance in the majors after the Dodgers traded him to the Phillies in 1955. Negray returned to the organization in the Dodger's inaugural season in L.A. in 1958. Negray carries the distinction of being the first Los Angeles Dodger to start an exhibition game, on March 8, 1958, vs. the Phillies in Miami, Florida. In a 2016 interview Ron spoke of his reverence for Jackie robinson. When Negray was overlooked when pennant winning watches were awarded to players on the 1952 roster. Three years later, Negray was a Phillie and Jackie approached him and gave him his.

Ron Negray 2016 interview link

Glenn Mickens 7/26/1930

Glen Mickens had four pitching appearances in July 1953 before being scuttled back to the minors, never to return again to a major league mound. Stuck in a stacked Dodger minor league system, Mickens played the final 5 years of his career in Japan with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1959 to 1963 with much success.

Fred Kipp 10/1/1931

As a Brooklyn Dodger, Fred Kipp only pitched in one game vs. the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He never took the mound in Ebbets Field. As a L.A. Dodger in 1958 he saw action in 40 games before his career fizzled to an end with scarce Major league appearances in 1959 and 60. Kipp is the last living person to play for Brooklyn and the NY Yankees. He wrote a book on his experiences titled "The Last Yankee Dodger," and is doing the book tour circuit as well.

Jim Gentile 6/3/1934

Six time All Star Jim Gentile played only 4 games in Brooklyn and a 12 games in the L.A. inaugural season before being traded off to the Orioles in 1959. He excelled as a fine first baseman in Baltimore where in 1961 he hit 46 homers and drove in a whopping 141 runs.

Don Demeter 6/25/1935

Don Demeter played just three games as a Brooklyn Dodger in 1956 before having a stellar 10 year career from 1958 to 1967, earning a World Series ring with the '59 Dodgers as a frequent outfield fixture. His 18 homers in '59 played a key role in the Dodgers World Series Championship run. After his career ended, Don entered the Ministry where he is currently a Pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, OK.

Rookie Sandy Koufax in 1955 (photo by George Brace)

Sandy Koufax 12/30/1935

A bonus baby signing out of the University of Cincinnati where he was primarily a basketball player. This Brooklyn native and fireballing lefty was signed after a December, 1954 tryout to a $20,000 contract that required him to remain with the big club for two full years. This hindered the young man's career, as he obviously could have used some minor league seasoning. Koufax pitched for Brooklyn from 1955 to 57, showing glimpses of his future greatness, this included two consecutive shutouts in his rookie year, (the first with 14 strikeouts) as a 19 year old. Now known as the greatest pitcher in Dodger history, Sandy has the distinction of winning a World Series ring in Brooklyn though he never sniffed the mound on either Brooklyn team he was a part of that played in the fall classic. Of the remaining Brooklyn Dodgers still alive, Sandy is the lone Hall of Fame player remaining, (with Lasorda earning the honor as the L.A. Dodger manager).

Bob Aspromonte 6/19/1938

With a long and distinguished major league career, Bob Aspromonte had 4,799 plate appearances over 13 major league seasons. Only one was as a Brooklyn Dodger, and it was in the 8th inning of a 17-2 Dodger blow out over the St; Louis Cardinals on September 19, 1956. Bob struck out. Aspromonte eventually made it to the majors by 1960, and in '61 he was left unprotected in the expansion draft, selected by the Houston Colt 45s. Bob led off for Houston in their 1962 debut, being the first batter in their franchise history. He spent the remaining years in the majors with Houston, Atlanta and eventually closed out his career in 1971 was a New York Met. He is the last Brooklyn Dodger to play in the majors, having faced Hall of Famer Steve Carlton in his final game, on September 28, 1971 at Shea Stadium.

Trade Deadline Run...That Time of Year

2018-07-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

Here come the asinine trade deadline proposals. Some enjoy this time of year. I, on the other hand, cringe as I follow twitter feeds in the final hours of the trade deadline season. It is a time to fear the type of acquisitions that often are regretted for years to come.

So we approach the final weeks before the trade deadline. That annual event when cellar dwellers attempt to strip the Dodger farm system cupboard bare. As always, it's a sellers market and often times, teams tempted to go for the brass ring at all costs show a willingness to peddle off two or three times the talent they would get in a typical off-season deal.

The latest lackluster franchise trying to rip off the Dodgers this go-around is the Baltimore Orioles. With shortstop Manny Machado out there for the taking. Teams know he is is a two month rental before he enters the free agent ranks with Dan Lozano as his representative.

We can argue until the wee hours about Machado’s value to the Dodgers, but short of bringing them a World Series championship, it may be unwise for L.A. to give up Alex Verdugo, Yadier Alvarez and more for this guy. A name like Rancho Cucamonga starter Dustin May comes to mind. Manny Machado's offensive prowess is unsurpassed, but do the Dodgers really need to trade away the farm for a guy that won’t be a Dodger after 2018? Or do they risk allowing him to sign with Arizona and possibly losing their 5 year reign on the Division Title?

Alex Verdugo, possible trade bait at the deadline (photo by Jon SooHoo/L.A. Dodgers)

If you recall last season, the Dodgers were apparently a player in the J.D. Martinez sweepstakes before the Diamondbacks landed him. He then absolutely raked in the N.L. West. As good as that move was, it still didn’t get Arizona the Division, nor a deep entrance into post season. This is the conundrum that the Dodger brass must face. They can pay big for a chance at the brass ring or ride the ponies that are already in place.

Yadier Alvarez has been rehabbing at Camelback Ranch this year. This fireballer is rumored to be dealt at the deadline (photo by Jason Vinlove/USA Today Sports)

It can be argued that the Dodgers already have enough to win it all. Muncy has shown he’s the real thing. Kemp is comeback player of the year. Pederson and Enrique Hernandez are proving to be extremely valuable pieces. Bellinger, Turner, Puig, Taylor, Barnes and (dare I say it?) Forsythe have yet to hit their stride. Some are severely underperforming and all are most likely to improve in the second half. Those in-house improvements in individual performance might be enough to get them over the top. The key word there being “might.”

There is little doubt that an addition of a premium bat in that lineup will really help, and infuse enthusiasm in the entire ball club. This could be the type of impetus that puts them over the top. This Dodger team is made up of professionals, veterans that have now experienced that taste of an N.L. championship, and they were within an eyelash of winning the whole thing. They shouldn’t require that emotional lift, but they’re human too. We’ve all seen what an offensive addition at the deadline can do. Remember 2008 and Manny Ramirez?

With the starting pitching beginning to come around, and some bullpen guys such as Alexander and Hudson hitting their stride, the starting pitching arms look to be lined up for the stretch run. Perhaps the injuries were a blessing in disguise as hurlers like Kershaw, Hill, Maeda and Beuhler should not be fatigued with heavy inning loads by September.

We all saw that some of the pitching was on fumes in the 2017 post season. Aside from the aforementioned starters, L.A. is looking at the possible return of Ryu and Urias as well. Emergent and surprising ace Ross Stripling will likely be fatigued, but hopefully others picking up the slack will allow him to not be pressed into as many high stress innings as he has this first half. He is a pitcher that has matures and come into his own in 2018.

Zaidi and Friedman have utilized the ten day DL to grant relievers some rest. Guys like Fields, Cingrani, Alexander, Liberatore, Goeddel and Paredes have had their share of rest and bounces back to the minor leagues. Another key bullpen acquisition may be in the cards, but it may have already occurred with the acquisition of Dylan Floro from Cincinnati.

The coming weeks will also play a part in the Dodgers midseason trade activity. If the ball club continues to excel as it has for the past six weeks, the urgency for change may not be as apparent. Undoubtedly this all plays a role in the psyche of the front office as the deadline looms but this Dodger club continues to be on the cusp of another pennant and potential World Series Championship. There are those that argue that the Dodgers would have the World Series ring had they not made the deadline deal for Yu Darvish. It is interesting argument, that's for sure.

Love Him or Hate Him, Puig is Unique

2018-07-01T19:41:00.001-07:00

"Until we walk a mile in another man's shoes, we don't really have any clue to say anything about him." Terry Mark

Yasiel Puig celebrates after scoring in the 8th inning of today's 6-4 win over Colorado. (source: photocapture from SportsnetLA)

Back in 2012 when I initially wrote about a young Dodger signee out of Cuba named Yasiel Puig, I knew they had found a great talent. While most of the baseball world coveted a power hitting outfielder eventually signed by the Cubs named Jorge Soler. Puig flew under the radar of many scouts for a number of reasons. Primarily because of his inactivity from baseball due to his banishment from the Cuban League caused by attempted defections. His signing to a 40 million dollar contract in 2012 was scoffed at by most of baseball's establishment.

"We think he's actually better than Soler," said then Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti at an appearance before Dodger bloggers in July of 2012. "Our guys see a lot of potential in the young man," he added, "he just needs some minor league seasoning." (July 14, 2012 piece LINKED HERE)

Looking at grainy footage from Cuba of an unpolished outfielder with a rocket arm showed signs of promise. My visit to Camelback Ranch in 2013 chronicled the young man's potential. Though maybe my initial assessment was too optimistic, facts are his talent was seen immediately. (2013 Spring Training article)

Vin Scully saw it early as well, dubbing him the "wild horse" in his first week of play. He was essentially a wild mustang full of potential that needed to be tamed and shown the ropes. Looking back at Puig's start, it is really unfair that the Dodgers moved him almost immediately to the highest level of play. Yasiel Puig became a major leaguer with 14 games experience at High A in 2012 and 40 games at the Double A level at the start of the 2013 season. His immediate impact on the league was of historic measures, drawing comparisons to hall of famers such as Roberto Clemente. Inevitably the league scouted him with intensity and then started exploiting his weaknesses.

Love him or hate him, Puig is unique. And the hatred is out there. Detractors have criticized him from the beginning. Some will never come around and accept his talent. Some will always look at his antics as showboating instead of attempting to understand where he comes from.

Who gets the rounds of boos in opposing ball parks the most? Who rankles the emotions of opposing rivals and pitchers such as Madison Bumgarner and former Giant 3rd base coach Tim Flannery? Who is the Dodger player that has been the center of mini brawls and verbal jawing over the years? Who raised the ire of teammates and even both Don Mattingly and Dave Roberts?

Yes, it is Puig.

Call him immature if you will, but the truth is, Yasiel is misunderstood. And as the quote about walking in a man's shoes states, none of us and I repeat NONE OF US can even come close to experiencing the horrors that Yasiel Puig faced in his trek to the United States. Few big leaguers were fast tracked as quickly as Puig was to the Major Leagues. Add that he had to learn a new culture, and language. He went from having virtually nothing in earthly possessions, having his life threatened, held hostage by smugglers, being kidnapped, threatened. Experiencing the dregs of human traffickers to being a multi-millionaire over night with very little seasoning and instruction. None of us can even come close to understanding Yasiel Puig's thought process. Perhaps one day we'll know his whole story. It would be fascinating.

There is one thing that we can understand. The man plays with passion. He cares about his performance. He wants to win. He has a love for the game. Some may view his antics in a negative light, but perhaps they are the ones that should learn something about the man's background. If you haven't walked in his shoes, how could you possibly understand?

An exuberant Puig, July 1, 2018 (photo capture form SportsnetLA)

So though today's antics after stealing a run on the base paths with the celebratory flailing of his arms will probably have repercussions when he plays the Rockies in the future. The truth is, Puig doesn't care. He is is exciting, excitable and an amazing talent. As his baseball IQ rises, so will his impact on the game.

Yes, he's a wild horse and he always will be, but he's "our" wild horse, and for that reason, he's either loved or hated. I'll choose the former.

Putting the June Homers in Perspective

2018-06-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Through 21 games in the month of June, the Dodgers are on pace to possibly make history by hitting the most home runs by a team in a month. They need 55 dingers tie the N.L. record and after tonights 2-1 win over the Cubs thanks to the Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor solo shots, they are at 48. That means the club needs seven homers to tie and eight to break the record in their final six games. Piece of cake right? After all, they hit seven alone on Sunday at New York.

Enrique Hernandez following his third home run against Chicago in the 2017 NLCS Game 5 (Getty Images)

Last year’s pennant winning team had a club record of 221 homers. As good as the Dodgers are looking now, they find themselves behind last year’s home run pace. At their current 2018 rate, they will finish the season with 217 homers. That’s not too bad when you consider the Dodgers entered the month of June with a mere 56 home runs. So in a 21 game period in June the Dodgers have hit 46% of their homers.

221 homers in a season may seem to be off the charts, but it is hardly close to the all time season record for a team. The '97 Mariners had 264 homers. Last years total lands the Dodgers in 22nd place all-time. It should be noted though that 16 of those teams that hit more than 221 home runs in a year were steroid era teams (1996-2007), so it is safe to say that most of those power laden ball cluns produced tainted stats.

Now to take these numbers into the Ross Porter realm of statistical analysis, consider this: No Dodger team in Brooklyn or Los Angeles is even close to 221 home runs in a seasonhese. Not the Snider/Campanella/Hodges Brooklyn teams in the 50‘s that led the NL in homers for seven consecutive seasons, nor the 1977 club that featured 4 players with 30 homers or more (Garvey, Cey, Reggie Smith and Baker). Neither did the Shawn Green/Beltre/Sheffield teams in the early 2000s, and not the ’74 pennant winning club with the Toy Cannon in CF and an emerging young MVP named Steve Garvey. The 2017 and 2018 Dodgers teams are the cream of the crop when it comes to round trippers.

It is highly likely that eight players on this year’s club will finish with twenty homers or more and if Justin Turner gets hot in the second half, there may be nine. That’s quite the feat and something that not even the 1997 Seattle Mariners with their team record setting 264 homers could achieve. (Seattle had six players with over 20 homers, but Griffey had 56 and Jay Buhner added 40).

Oh, one more thing of the importance regarding the June home runs. The Dodgers are winning, and of course in games which they homer they are 15-3. In the three homerless games in the month, they have a winless 0-3 record. It is safe to say the 2018 Dodgers may end up have the greatest power numbers in franchise history. Even with the inevitable power drop-off that will occur, a mediocre home run pace will put them right near where they finished last season.

June Home Run Stats:

Pederson - 9

Muncy - 8

Kemp - 7

Bellinger - 7

Hernandez - 5

Puig - 4

Grandal - 3

Turner - 2

Taylor - 2

Forsythe - 1

Home Runs of the road - 30
Home Runs at home - 18
Grand Slams -2
3 run homers - 2
2-run homers - 12
Solo homers - 32
% of runs scored attributed to home runs: 53%

Games remaining in June (all at home): 3 vs. Chicago, 2 vs. Colorado
Home runs needed to break the National League record for most homers in a month: 8
Home runs needed to break the Major League record for most homers in a month: 11

Return To Action, the OKP Blog is BACK!

2018-06-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

After what amounts to almost a four year hiatus, the Opinion of Kingman’s Performance blog is resurfacing. My overseas assignments and vocational time constraints forced me to cease writing with any form of consistency. Periodically I’d provide a guest post at Ron Cervenka's Think BlueLA blog, but for the most part I have been inactive with regards to Dodger opinions and posts. Now that I’m back stateside and have formed a more consistent routine, I’d like to start this up again. I definitely cannot post at the daily consistency that I once did, but once or twice a week shouldn't be out of the ordinary. All I ask for is a little bit of patience. Getting back into the swing of things, self-editing, remembering how to link photos and articles and upgrading the site may take some time.

With that said, I must say that with the 2018 season a mere 5 games away from its midpoint, the Dodgers are in good shape. Once again in the midst of a winning run (with 25 victories in their last 34 games), it’s only a matter of time before they find themselves in the division lead. This is a team snakebit by decimating injuries. Yet they are so loaded on the 40 man roster, that they are able to overcome decimation. It is hard to imagine that this team could overcome the loss of both Corey Seager and Clayton Kershaw, but they have as they find themselves rolling and only 2.5 games back.

The second half will see the return of Walker Buehler, Hyun-Jin Ryu and ultimately Julio Urias. Combine them with Rich Hill, Alex Wood, surprising ace Ross Stripling and Kershaw, all Dodger faithful should be feeling real good about their chances in the stretch run. That’s a lot of pitching and plenty of arms to keep the club strong in the stretch run.

The power surge of the offense has been nothing beat short of amazing. This is a ball club that will have eight players with over 20 homers. 46 home runs in the month of June, and a league leading 102 homers for the season. There is Comeback Player of the Year Matt Kemp who may win a batting title and MVP. Five guys will have OPS over .850. And we haven’t even seen Justin Turner get started, meaning he’ll probably be heating up right around the right time in September.

As bad as things looked when the club found themselves ten games under .500 at 16-26 on May 16th, the resurgence with this club will likely put them at over 95 wins by season’s end. This has been a remarkable turnaround and the front office needs to be recognized for finding that annual surprise impact player that makes a big difference. 2018’s version is Max Muncy.

(USA Today Sports, photo by Brad Mills)

Muncy has been a journeyman AAAA player that never was expected to be more than a possible September call up to give guys some needed once the division was clinched. Now he’s a vital offensive force who has pretty much replaced the impact bat of Corey Seager.

Weaknesses? There are some. Everything isn’t positive. The bullpen has some holes. The offense still lacks when hitting with runners on base. Dave Roberts has a tendency to rely too much on the pen, something that could come back to haunt him when the stretch drive hits and too many arms are tired. But there may be relief coming at the trade deadline. With all things considered, the positive far outweighs the negative. This Dodger club is in a good position to repeat as NL Pennant winners. You can’t ask for much more than that.

A Better Man Than Most...Remembering Ralph Branca

2016-11-24T09:46:00.001-08:00

In March, 2013 I posted the following piece on Ralph Branca. Sadly he passed away yesterday. I'll repost the article. Re-reading it I see some typos and a few flaws, but for the most part, I think it's a fair representation on this amazing man's life. May God keep him and bless his family in tis difficult time....

******************************************************************************************** Posted originally on March 7, 2013

Last week I ordered the book, A Moment in Time, the Ralph Branca Autobiography and I received it yesterday. I have literally been unable to put it down. It's an amazing story told by a Dodger that was about as good a man as we would ever know. I met Ralph Branca very briefly in 1998 when I had a day in FLorida and I drove over to vero Beach right when the Dodger Adult Baseball Camp was going on. I sat in the Holman Stadium stands and watched Ralph Branca interact with the campers. I struck up a conversation with him when I retrieved a few foul balls and brought them back to him at the dugout. He was outgoing, friendly and kind.

I knew he had been through quite an ordeal, but I had no idea at the time that he knew that he had been cheated out of the pennant and that he had chosen to not expose the cheating Giants. He kept the secret for almost 50 years. This story needs to be re-told. It isn't possible to do it in one post. I apologize for breaking away from Spring Training news, but there are enough blogs out there that provide the daily dose of Camelback Ranch news. I take a respite from that for a few days and write about Ralph and his life. (Please note that any quotes referenced in this piece come from Branca's book, published by Simon and Schuster, 2011 autobiography, A Moment in Time, by Ralph Branca and David Ritz)

-----------------------

Imagine if you will that you were the victim of a colossal fraud. It was something that happened to you in a public setting. So public a setting that millions upon millions saw it. To make matters worse, the world blamed you for what was perceived to be your mistake. Your failure. You are seen as a person that choked under pressure. You are the poster boy for “goats.” No matter how many successes you have in life, (and there are many), you are solely remembered for what everyone thinks was your screw up.

You shoulder the burden of your failure, because you were unaware of the fraud that was perpetrated against you. Years pass and the stigma of your failure hangs with you. Your name is recognized by many, but not for your successes, but that one incident that everyone saw. You come to realize that you will forever be remembered as a negative footnote in history and that when your obituary is written, that lowlight in your life will be the primary focus of nearly everyone.

And here’s the kicker. You find out a few years later about the fraud. You know that they cheated to wrong you. You realize that the exposure of the hidden scandal will exonerate you and clear your name. But you choose to remain silent. You choose to bare the brunt of criticism for years because your pride and integrity will not speak out and make excuses.

That is the story of a real man, One who swallowed his pride and took criticism as the biggest goat in baseball history because he knew the truth and that was all he needed to live with himself. He knew what the real truth was.

Ralph Branca, now entering his 88th year on this earth decided to finally open up and let the world know what's on his mind. In a 2011 autobiography, A Moment in Time, he tells his story. As the hurler that served up Bobby Thomson’s “shot heard round the world” in the 1951 pennant clinching playoff, Branca who was for over fifty years labeled as the despondent loser in that historic playoff loss is now finally able to give the world his perspective, not only of that historic game at Coogan’s Bluff, but of his entire life.

He has a self-professed photographic memory, which explains why he was the all time winner on the NBC game show, Concentration (with 17 consecutive wins). That memory proves valuable as he recounts his long and interesting life.

Branca is a good man. A religious person that hasn’t missed mass in years. One of 17 children raised in a good family in Mt. Vernon, New York. An honest person that learned to give an honest effort and not be judgmental of his fellow man at an early age in life. The son of a first generation Italian immigrant father and a Hungarian mother. Branca’s home was open to friends of all religions, races and ethnic backgrounds. “I cannot remember an incident of racial prejudice,” he says today. “I was taught to love my neighbors, and because I knew no better, I did just that.”

With older brothers that taught him the ins and outs of football, basketball and baseball. Branca was a fine athlete and he was the largest Branca boy in stature, eventually sprouting to 6’3” and well over 200 lbs. He naturally developed into a power armed right handed pitcher with a blazing fastball. After his sister reached out to the three New York teams regarding tryouts, the lone team that called him back was the Brooklyn Dodgers.

As a 17 year old in 1944, Branca had his eyes set on joining the Army in tail end of World War II, but an asthmatic condition and punctured ear drum made him ineligible for any of the branches of service. Instead came a letter to him from Branch Rickey requesting that he report to the Dodgers Montague Street offices in Brooklyn, and that he bring an adult gaurdian along with him to grant him permission to sign a contract. Rickey cut to the chase and offered Ralph a $90/month contract to play with the Dodgers D league team in upstate Olean, New York. Branca eagerly accepted the deal with his mother’s consent.

Ralph’s 1944 season as a 17 year old was nothing real impressive. He had a 5-5 record with a 4.63 ERA, but that off season he physically grew. Ralph arrived at Spring Training having added four inches in height and he estimates that his fastball velocity increased five or six MPH in speed, probably to the mid 90's. The major leagues were depleted of many stars due to the war effort. In 1945 he was up with the big club as an18 year old. He bounced between Triple A Montreal and Brooklyn but he was around enough to start 15 games for the Dodgers going 5-6 with a 3.04 ERA over 109 innings.

Still a teenager. Branca took a bus and two different subways to travel to Ebbets Field for games. He continued to do so up until he was married following the 1951 season a full six years later. With his increasing salary as the years passed, he bought his parents a larger home in Mt. Vernon and he continued residing there with them.

Branca was a kid. He was only a few months removed from being a fan. He soaked in the special experience and enjoyed it from the word go. He talked of how he’d jump on the subway on the way back home and kids would engage him in conversation on public transit almost all the way back to his home. “They’d walk me to the subway and several would actually ride the train with me through Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx. They were young teenagers, 12, maybe 13 years old-and of course I was still a teenager myself. They’d ask questions about the game. How do you pitch to Stan Musial as opposed to Mel Ott? How do you throw a slider. What’s it like to be on the same team as Dixie Walker? I loved talking to those kids, I enjoyed their company. It was only a few years before that I was their age, dreaming the same dreams dancing through their heads. This was a time when players were approachable and actually moved and worked among the fans.” It's hard to imagine a similar circumstance with players today.

He tells the story of Hilda Chester and her loud demeanor at games. Branca claimed that he learned from veterans to ignore comments from fans, as it was taboo to acknowledge that they were heard and that they could effect the players in any way. But Hilda was insistent with him one day. “Ralph Branca, look at me when I’m talking to you!” She screamed at him incessantly. He eventually relented and she gave him a note and instructed him to give it to his manager Leo Durocher. “I walked over to the dugout and handed the note to Leo,” he said. “He read it and made a pitching change. The reliever bombed and we lost the game. Back in the clubhouse I heard Leo say, ‘From now on, any time I get a note from Rickey, I’m gonna tear it up.‘ ‘It didn’t come from Rickey,’ said Branca, ‘It came from Hilda.’ “Why didn’t you tell me?” he barked. ‘You didn’t ask.’”

As young as Branca was, he was immediately recognized for his leadership qualities. You’d think that Pee Wee Reese would be the man that took the lead with regard to the Dodger players, but when he returned from the war, he approached the young Branca who was 20-21 years old and asked him to be the “team rep” they called it. It wasn’t a position that carried a lot of weight in the pre-union days, but Branca took up causes on behalf of the players such as getting the Cubs to add a restroom adjascent to their dugout and representing the players in minor grievance issues.

This leadership role would follow Ralph throughout his career and later in life as he helped organized the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT) to aide retired players that were experiencing financial problems and were in need of medical/psychological assistance.

What few seem to remember was the influence Branca had in assisting the acceptance of Jackie Robinson as he entered on to the scene. Not only did he serve a leadership role and as an example in that aspect with the Dodgers in 1947, but it would coincide with his greatest season in the majors.

Jackie Robinson, Ralph Branca and Pee Wee Reese (photo from Walter O'Malley.com archives)

When Jackie Robinson emerged on the scene in 1947, it was Ralph Branca that argued with a handful of players who had ingrained racist sentiments that opposed his roster addition. Yes, Leo Durocher challenged the whole team that dared submit a petition against the move and there was Pee Wee Reese who put his arm around his teammate before a crowd of racist hecklers in Cincinnati. Each scenario played a pivotal role in Jackie's acceptance with the team, but when death threats flowed into the Dodgers mail room claiming Jackie would be shot on the field on his first day in uniform, only one player made it a point to be by Jackie's side when the players lined up and were introduced on opening day. That was Ralph Branca.

A few days earlier, when it was announced that Jackie was on the opening day roster, Branca made it a point to be the first player to shake his hand. Ralph felt he had to take a stand for the right and he took his team rep position seriously attempting to smooth over relationships from some of the players on the team with roots from the south. Branca freely admits that it was Robinson’s play and integrity that cut down the barriers and gained him acceptance.

All the while that Robinson was on his way to winning the first ever Rookie of the Year award in '47, Branca was having his best season ever. He started the All Star game and he finished 21-12 with a 2.67 ERA, (third best in the league). At age 21, he was the youngest pitcher to ever start Game 1 of the World Series. It was a disappointing World Series for Ralph, as the Dodgers lost 4 games to 3, and he faltered in game one. Burt Shotten failed to start him again after the game one loss.

It’s a decision that irritates him to this day. He was the ace of the Dodger staff, a 21 game winner, and after one bad outing against the Yanks, even though he was well rested, the decision was made to not start him again in the series. Ralph is convinced that the Dodger first World Series championship would have been in 1947 had he started another game in that series.

Seasons of 14-9 and 13-5 followed Branca’s 1947 season. He was an all star representative in each season, but arm problems plagued him due to overuse that occurred in his first years. Branch Rickey believed that starting pitchers needed only two days rest and in Ralph’s second year in organized ball, he used him as a test case for his theory.

When Branca was sent back to the minors in Montreal during the 1945 season, he started 11 games in less than a three week period. What resulted was he threw 71 innings over a 21 day period. The experiment most likely caused permanent damage to Ralph’s arm due to the overuse. When Branca told Rickey that he needed more rest, the Mahatma’s response was “that’s what all pitchers say.” Branca politely responded, “I don’t mean to be imprudent, Mr. Rickey, but those pitchers are right.”

Now, a full six years later, after a 20 win season, three all star appearances and numerous arm ailments, it was1951 and things were looking up for Ralph Branca. He was pitching well and the ball club was way ahead in the pennant race. His sore arm was feeling better during the year and he was engaged to Ann Mulvey, the daughter of one of the Dodger chief executives.

That ’51 Dodger team was loaded. It had a starting staff of 20 game winners Preacher Roe and Don Newcombe. Branca was the number three man on the staff and Clyde King and Carl Erskine started a number of games too. Roy Campanella was the league MVP. Jackie Robinson hit .338. Gil Hodges hit 40 homers. Duke Snide and Pee Wee had stellar years as well. You had Carl Furillo with 24 outfield assists and Clem Labine posting a 2.20 ERA out of the bullpen. That team should have been in the World Series. They were 13 games ahead of the Giants on August 11th. Chuck Dressen said the immortal phrase “the Giants is dead.”

And then the cheating happened.

Sal Yvars, a Giants reserve catcher on their '51 ball club and boyhood friend of Branca was interviewed about the cheating tactics 50 years later, when a Wall Street Journal article in 2001 by Joshua Prager exposed the entire fraud. Yvars, who passed away in 2008, was interviewed with John Vorperian, Beyond the Game video segment in 2001 and he had this to say:

“You’re gonna hear the real story. I’m going to give it to you from A to Z. We were 13 1/2 games behind...Leo Durocher would try to beat you any way he could possibly do. So we got a kid from the Chicago Cubs, Hank Schenz was his name. A utility ball player, and he goes to Leo and says ‘look, I was in the Navy and we had a telescope that could look 25 miles out to sea and pick a crystal out of that water.’ He says ‘why don’t you install this in Leo’s office, (which was 600 feet away), and you can get the signs and attach a buzzer to the bullpen and a buzzer to the dugout.’

“So Leo Durocher, believe me John, he’s the biggest crook, thief, gambler, that ever existed... Anyway, they did it. I said ‘I’ll be damned, they did it.’ They attached a telescope. Herman Franks was taking the signs from the catcher. After one inning he had the signs...we knew every pitch.

“Bobby Thomson was in a slump. The time up until he hit the home run (in the playoff game), he gained about 60 points (on his batting average). He admits this himself....he says ‘I was taking the signs up until this time that I hit the home run, but, but, but‘ and he stutters a little bit, ‘I could say yes, I could say no.‘ This is actually in print. In the big papers in New York. And he says, ‘I’d rather say no.‘ He should have said, ‘I know Ralph is a fastball pitcher and he has a little curve but to get me out he’s gonna throw his best pitch, I was looking for the fastball.‘ If he said that and stopped, that would have been fine.

(He continues, talking about the famous home run) “So he took the first pitch, it was a fastball and he did nothing. Right down the middle. The next pitch it was a little higher, letter high...and he smacks it out of the ball park.. Now the thing is, we win, we get into the World Series. We won the playoff 2 out of 3 against the Dodgers. Now in the World Series we didn’t use it because you had too many guys floating around in the clubhouse and all during the games...John, we had the signs, the guys used them, and there’s no way we should have won the pennant...We won 37 out of 43 and 16 in a row at home.”

So without going into the details of how they got there, I quote Ralph in his own words as he goes through the events on that fateful day, October 3, 1951. Branca was called in to relieve Don Newcombe in the 9th. The Dodgers led 4 to 2. Two runners were on base, one out and Bobby Thomson was coming to the plate. Dodger manager Charlie Dressen decided to remove a tiring Newcombe and bring in Branca.

“That walk from the Polo Grounds bullpen was the longest in the world, but my pace stayed steady.”

“I passed by Pafko, who said, ‘Go get ‘em Ralphie.’ I entered the infield and passed by Jackie, who said, ‘Let’s get ‘em Ralph.’ I passed by Reese, who said, ‘No butterfies, Ralph. You’re gonna get ‘em.’ As Newk left the mound, I told him, ‘Don’t worry, big fella. I’ll get ‘em for you.’”

“Dressen handed me the ball. For a second I wondered if he was going to tell me to walk Bobby Thomson to get to Willie Mays, I’d had good luck with Mays. But all Charlie said was, ‘Get him out.’ That figured. You don’t put the winning run on base.”

“Thomson represented the winning run at the plate. I was facing Bobby Thomson, more determined than at any moment of his life, and I prepared to pitch.”

“I inhaled. I exhaled. I checked the runners, Lockman at second, Hartung at third.

I looked for a sign. Fastball.”

“I delivered a fastball directly over the plate. It couldn’t have been any more down the middle. Thomson looked at it. Strike one!”

“The Giants bench started screaming at Thomson for letting the pitch go by, They rode him hard. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ I heard Leo screaming at Bobby.”

(Note: had the Giants not known that that first pitch was going to be a fastball, would they really have gone nuts after the first pitch? It’s doubtful)

“I got away with one. I couldn’t get away with another. I inhaled. I exhaled. I checked the runners, Lockman at second, Hartung at thrid. I looked for the sign. Fastball.”

“I threw it high and inside. Thomson was waiting for it. Thomson attacked it with an uppercut swing, connected and drove it to left field.”

“I turned and followed the ball’s trajectory. I thought it was going to sink. It had to sink.

‘Sink, sink, sink!’”

“I watched Andy Pafko running back to the wall...‘Sink, sink!’”

“But the ball stayed up and cleared the wall by about six inches, landing in the left field seats...There was pandamonium. There was hysteria. There was Thomson rounding the bases. There was Durocher jumping up and down from the third base coach’s box like a crazy child. There was confetti flying.”

“After the ball sailed into the seats, I’d inadvertently picked up the rosin bag and threw it down in disgust. Head down, I headed for the centerfield clubhouse. Jackie had the presence of mind to make sure Thomson touched every base. He did. We were defeated. Undone.”

Branca was inconsolable. Once in the clubhouse, he buried his face on the floor. His teammates left him alone. Jackie eventually approached him and said, “Ralph, it it weren’t for you, we would have never made it this far.” Seeking out his intimate friend and parish priest, Ralph was told that “God chose you because He knew you’d be strong enough to bear this cross.” He had to go on. Life would have to go on. He had to put on the good face.

Earlier in the day he had made a dinner commitment with his fiance Anne and Rube Walker and his wife for after the game. He hated to go, he wanted to bury his head in the sand and disappear for a long while. Having to show up in public after the worst moment in his life was an unbearable thought, but he went. He kept his commitment. He received a standing ovation at the restaurant when he walked in. That was Brooklyn.

Vin Scully, who wasn’t calling that particular inning of the game remembered that Branca’s fiance, Anne Mulvey was seated right near the press box where he was situated. He knew her well as the entire Dodger family was extremely close. His immediate thoughts went to her as the shock of the homer occurred. Sixty years later he remembered that moment as it was yesterday. “I looked down and saw her. I can still see her now. With great dignity, she slowly opened her purse, reached in, and took out a white handkerchief. Then she closed the purse and placed it on her lap. She opened the handkerchief and placed it over her face for a very few seconds. Those few seconds said everything.”

Ralph Branca and his wife Ann. They were married 17 days after the fateful home run against the Giants.

I’d love to say that Branca came back strong and that his career recovered, but such was not the case. He was never a successful pitcher in the big leagues again. At the time of the Thomson homer, Ralph was 25 years old. A freak accident in which he slipped on a coke bottle messed up his back during spring training in 1952. By July, adjustments in his mechanics to compensate for the hurt back had injured his arm. His season was limited to 61 innings. Then seven games in to the following season before the Dodgers traded Ralph to the Tigers.

He was devastated. The ’53 team may have been the best Brooklyn club ever, but Branca’s injuries were just too much. He faltered in Detroit and by 1954, the Tigers released him. He made a brief comeback attempt after Casey Stengel agreed to try him out and by September, he was a Yankee, where he pitched well during his one month stint with the club in September. But as dumb luck would have it, that happened to be the lone season that the Indians beat out the Yanks for the A.L. pennant. It was during the previous year though, when Branca's life took a turn due to a simple conversation with a teammate, affecting him the rest of his life.

When the ever personable Branca languished in Detroit on a second division team that ended up 40 games out of first place in 1953, he struck up a very strong friendship with teammate Ted Gray. Gray was his roommate and confidant while he played in the Motor City. It was during one of those long road trips that Gray told him that he had received second hand news from a former Giants player (Earl Rapp) that indicated that the Giants had stole the pennant in ’51 by using a sophisticated method of sign stealing. It involved using a high powered telescope and electronic buzzer system.

Ted Gray, Branca's roommate with the Tigers, informed him of the cheating scandal that the Giants pulled off in 1951.

Ralph was floored. He asked a number of questions to Gray that only someone on the inside could answer. It was also reported that the players on the Giants bench would say key words such as “sock it!” for fastball, “be ready!” for curve and “watch it!” for change up. Another fail safe measure was backup catcher Sal Yvars in the bullpen that would provide visual signs (such as tossing a ball up and down, or folding his arms while standing in the far off bullpen in order to indicate what pitch was coming). Electronic signals, a telescope, verbal commands, visual signals. There were so many mechanisms in place. No wonder the Giant dugout went nuts when Thomson took a fastball right down the heart of the plate on the first pitch.

“I couldn’t sleep at night,” wrote Branca. I couldn’t sleep the next night. I kept tossing and turning. After the initial shock, my first reaction was rage. I was infuriated.” So he called his boyhood pal, former Giants backup catcher Sal Yvars (quoted above). Sal was now a Cardinal and Ralph knew he felt no loyalty to Durocher.

“Say it isn’t so, Sal,” said Branca. “Who told you,” he responded.

“Earl Rapp told Ted Gray and Ted told me.”

After a pause, Yvars said, “Earl should have kept his friggin’ mouth shut.”

“So it’s true.”

“Sure it’s true.”

“And you didn’t feel bad about it, Sal?”

“I felt bad for you, Ralph, when Bobby hit that homer. You got a bad rap--that’s for sure.”

“But none of you objected to Leo?”

“Come on, Ralph, There was no arguing with Leo. Leo loved the whole thing--especially when it turned our season around. But Leo also got worried we’d get found out. So if we were ahead by five or six runs, he’d tell Al Dark or Eddie Stanky to swing and miss real bad on a curve--even if they knew the curve was coming. Then if we were ahead by seven or eight, we’d stop stealing them altogether. But if it was a close game, you better believe we’d be in on every pitch.”

“And the big game in ’51. The October 3 game, Sal. You were stealing signs that game?”

“Are you kidding? Why wouldn’t we be stealing signs in the biggest game of the year?...Look, Ralph, you’re a good guy and I wish it hadn’t been you who threw that pitch...Hope you don’t hold it against me, Ralph, but you gotta understand--I was just the messenger. Besides, you know Leo. If he thought it meant winning a game, he’d murder his mother.”

Sal Yvers, the Giants bullpen catcher that relayed signs was also Ralp Branca's boyhood friend from Mt. Vernon, NY.

Branca came to find out from Yvars that the sign stealing with the telescope was expanded to when they were on the road too. It was more difficult to pull off, and they obviously didn't have a buzzer system, but there would be signs relayed from the outfield telescope holder to the bullpen, then relayed by signs and verbal mechanisms in the dugout. The whole thing was very sophisticated.

What would have happened had Branca reported the incident? That’s tough to say. A possible investigation, or maybe the commissioner’s office turning a blind eye to it and stating it was a case of sour grapes on Branca’s part. It is now known that not only was the entire Giants team and coaching staff involved, but even Giants owner Horace Stoneham was in on it. Electricians were used. Cabling had to be run. This was a job that required a lot of work and some skills.

Sanctions against the Giants? Having a public disclosure that would have tarnished the game, in a similar vein as the Black Sox scandal. Then there was Durocher, who already had been suspended for a year once. He would probably face a lifetime banishment. It's important to remember that the Thomson home run was already known in the baseball world of probably the most famous homer ever hit. How kindly would the baseball hierarchy have taken the news that their greatest moment was perpetrated through fraud? It might destroy the sport. Branca had to be looking at the big picture. His complaints very likely would have fallen on deaf ears.

Ralph never even considered reporting the incident. If someone else did, that would be their business. But he wouldn’t do so. His wife suggested he file a complaint with the commissioner’s office. “I don’t want to be seen as a sore loser,” he replied. Weeks later he told his brother, John, in confidence. His brother was livid.

“This rap you’ve been getting, Ralph, this idea of you being the goat is all based on b.s...you were the victim of a calculated scheme. You need to get the truth out there...”

But he refused. He let the truth sit until someone else reported it. He waited 50 years. 50 years! Kept it inside. Incredible.

Branca played a minor role helping the Dodgers win the '55 World Series, providing a detailed scouting report of his former Yankee teammates.

In ’55 when the Dodgers faced the Yankees again in the World Series. Dodger coach Bily Herman called on Branca to provide a detailed scouting report on the Yankees, since he played with them the year before. Branca obliged and it was very detailed down to the lowliest hitter on the bench. The Brooklyn Dodgers won their first and only World Series. It was nice to know that Ralph played a small part of that, evenif he didn't play. He sat in the stands and watched his friends celebrate. It was bitter sweet.

The next year, after a long lay off, his arm felt a lot better. He would come down to Ebbets Field and pitch batting practice for the club. Buzzie Bavasi signed him to a September contract and he pitched twice. Those were his final major league appearances, against the Giants. He took the trip to Japan with the club after the series and proudly wore the Dodger uniform one last time, but his arm was killing him. In Spring Training 1957, Ralph retired from the game for good. He was happy that it was as a Dodger.

What followed was a very successful career in insurance sales. Working in an office above Grand Central Station in New York City, Branca became a skilled salesman. It helped that he had a known baseball name and that fact would often give him an opening to a sales pitch. Even if the potential buyer mentioned the Thomson homer, it didn’t matter. Ralph had a connection and ability to close a sale.

He raised his family with Ann and remained in New York. Able to survive in the business world and become highly knowledgable in the insurance industry, the Brancas lived a comfortable life and also remained connected with baseball. He participated in Mets activities and had some TV opportunities with the new club. Gil Hodges and the Brooklyn connections kept him engaged in baseball. The controversy of the Thomson homer lingered though.

In 1963 Howard Cosell interviewed him and brought up the possible cheating scandal that the Giants had engaged in during the ’51 pennant stretch. He had done some research and received information about the telescope and buzzer system. When interviewed, Ralph took the higher ground, saying he heard something about it, but wouldn’t talk. As Cosell prodded further, Branca became more insistent. “Howard, What part of I don’t want to talk about it don’t you understand?” he said. Surprisingly, Cosell backed off. When Durocher and Thomson were questioned about the cheating, they denied it occurred. The press backed off too and the story went no where. But it never completely went away and connections between Branca and Thomson would surface again and again.

Ralph was bitter about the whole thing. When he’d run into Thomson, he became more distant with him. It ached him that he was shaking the hand of a man that knew he had cheated him. Bobby wasn’t too comfortable in those settings either. At an Old Timer’s game at Shea Stadium, Branca faced Thomson and the crowd really lit in to Ralph. A lot of negative insults were shouted his way. Durocher, who was present, wouldn’t look Branca in the eye and avoided him at all costs. When Ralph's granddaughter asked about it, Ann told her that people just don't understand what the truth is.

1991 AP photo of Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca on the 40th anniversary of the home run. At the time, the cheating scandal had still not been exposed but Branca and Thomson were friends.

It wasn’t until the 1980s that things between Ralph Branca and Bobby Thomson became less frigid. A promoter asked Ralph to participate in a card show with Thomson. Card shows were a new phenomenon and they were great money making opportunities for ex-ball players. Branca agreed to sign a bunch of pictures for an hour with Bobby for $1,000. “Maybe it’s time to let bygones be bygones,” he thought. He attended and the two men sat at a table together and sincerely talked for the first time at length. The event was a tremendous success and fans loved it. Before long, the two former rivals were friends. They got to know each others families. They joked. They laughed. They talked about everything almost, everything except the cheating scandal.

Branca negotiated their signing deals at Thomson's behest as he was an extremely skilled negotiator. They made hundereds of thousands of dollars over the years. It was about twenty years later when the Prager WSJ article surfaced in 2001, they finally talked about it the topic that had nagged Ralph for 48 years.

“I think, Ralph, that you must feel exonerated,” said Thomson.

“I don’t feel exonerated, but my tongue is definitely loosened, “ he replied.

It’s accurate to say that Branca and Thomson’s relationship soured a little bit after the exposure of the cheating was made public. Branca talked about how he had been robbed. Thomson avoided the topic as much as he could and never publicly admitted that he knew the pitches Branca would throw. There was a slight rift between the two, because Ralph wasn't about to back down. He knew Thomson wasn't being forthright and now he could finally speak out. Eventually things calmed again as the years passed and they resumed their friendship. When Thomson died in 2010, they were back on good terms again. Looking at the whole situation from Bobby Thomson’s angle, it is understandable that he wouldn’t be pleased about talking about the incident as his achievement was certainly diminished. There is no doubt though, even if he knew the pitch was coming, he still had to hit it. But Branca pointed out the indelible truth, “but it sure made it easier.”

****************************************************

One last story about Ralph Branca.

We all are aware of the movie "42" that will be coming out in April on the life of Jackie Robinson. I have to wonder how Ralph will be portrayed in the movie or if he even was consulted while it was made. In Jackie's rookie year as a Dodger, there was a pop up that he chased down near the dugout at full speed. As he caught the ball he came barreling hard into the Dodger dugout. It was Branca that tackled him before he fell into it to potential injury. It was a gesture that Jackie appreciated, as it was early in the year and there was still some tension with teammates. Branca joked to Jackie that he was one of the few people on earth who could ever successfully tackled Robinson, referring to his days as a half back with UCLA.

In 1972, after Gil Hodges died suddenly of a heart attack during Spring Training while he was manager of the Mets. It was a shock to many and several of Gil's old teammates attended the ceremony. When Ralph drove to Brooklyn to attend the wake, he noticed as he approached the church, Jackie Robinson was driving in the lane next to him. Ralph honked, but Jackie was focused on the road and took no notice of him. He found out why when they both pulled into the parking lot. Jackie's diabetes had really affected his eye sight and it took total concentration for him to drive as he focused on the road. He was really struggling as he got out of the car, having difficulty steadying himself as he walked, bracing himself against his parked vehicle. Ralph approached and they embraced, and Ralph latched on to Jackie's arm. He was having trouble walking on the uneven sidewalk.

"It's the diabetes, Ralph, it's affecting my vision." They entered the grounds of the church and Jackie stumbled on the uneven pavement, but Ralph was able to hold his arm tight and catch him before he fell.

"Just like '47, Ralph," he said, "When you tackled me before I crashed into the dugout."

He had remembered that incident like it was yesterday. Six months later, Ralph was a pall bearer at Jackie's funeral.

This is it

2016-10-22T06:47:00.004-07:00

"There've been times in my life

I've been wondering why.

Still, somehow I believe, we'd always survive..."

I don't think there's been a season ever like this Dodger 2016 season has been. A team that was down and out, 8 games in the standings, with their ace shelved for what looked to be the rest of the season. A ball club with extreme weaknesses against left handed pitching and a lack of dependable starting pitchers that could go deep into games. It looked like the season was doomed.

It was a time to soul search and dig deep inside, and these guys did it. The date was June 26th and the Dodgers had just been swept in Pittsburgh. They had a 41-36 record while the Giants were playing phenominally, with the 2nd best record in baseball at 49-24, a mere 1/2 game less than the Cubs record.

"Are you gonna wait for a sign? You're miracle,

Stand up and fight!"

There was no team meeting. No panic. The guys dug deep and started winning. Winning a lot in fact, to the tune of 50-35 for the remainder of the season.

So with their backs to the wall facing elimination, and no place to go, the Dodgers send their ace to the mound again. Kershaw has yet to participate in a losing effort this post season. In fact, with the exception of Rich Hill's win in game three of this NLCS, the ONLY Dodger wins in the post season have had Kershaw's signature in them. That is a good sign for tonight's contest. Clayton Kershaw on full rest.

"The waiting is over, no where to hide,

No time for wondering why.

It's here, the moment is know, about to decide.

Let 'em believe.

Leave 'em behind.

But keep me near in your heart,

Know whatever you do, I'm here by your side."

The Dodgers entire Wrigley where 40,000+ fans and an entire nation of Cubs bandwagoners rooting for a Dodger defeat. But there is that almost tangible pressure that the Cubs will be facing. It's called history. It's called failure. It has lingered with them for over a hundred years. Sure, if they weren't facing the Dodgers, I'd root for them. But they aren't.

I'm in the cafeteria in the U.S. Embassy in Argentina and the topic of conversation is the Cubs. Here on the opposite side of the planet. "The Cubs are finally going to do it," people say. "They've never been this close." Oh, how easy it is to forget. 1984, 1989, 2003, 2015. I know there are other heartbreak sasons, those just come to mind. So many times on the verge of a World Series birth, only to fall short and suffer more heart break.

With a Dodger lead, that crowd will be silenced. Hands in faces. Shock and disbelief. We've seen it a number of times. I can picture it tonight. A Kershaw win, and game seven pressure that will be difficult to overcome.

"Make no mistake where you are,

(This is it)

Your back's to the corner

(This is it)

Until it's over and done

(This is it)

One way or another

(This is it)"

This is it. Dodger take the series in seven games.

(Words and Music to "This Is It" by Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, 1979)

Home Field Advantage - NLCS Notes and Opinions

2016-10-17T16:08:00.002-07:00

It's now the best three out of five and we have the home field advantage. It is also most likely going to be two Kershaw games, two Hill games and one Urias game. I like our chances.

Javier Baez is a beast. A baseball savvy, pesky, patient, intelligent, never makes mistakes playing, October peaking beast. This is the Daniel Murphy of the Cubs and he should be dealt with very carefully. The remainder of the Cub lineup seems to be controllable. Bryant is a true MVP, but can be neutralized. Rizzo is in a horrid slump from which we hope he doesn't emerge. Dexter Fowler, a good leadoff man but not nearly as imposing of a threat as Trea Turner was. Addison Russell has pop, but if you can keep him int he park, he's usually an out. The rest of the guys seems to be manageable. Zobrist can be clutch and should be pitched carefully, which they did a good job of doing. What I'm trying to say is that the Washington lineup seemed to be much more imposing and the Dodger pitching staff should be able to contain the Cubs.

Adrian Gonzalez's homer accounted for the only run of game two of the NLCS. (photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Now it's time for the Dodger bats to wake up, and Jake Arrieta will be a difficult number to face, but this is very doable. Arrieta isn't as intimidating as last year and he has been beaten. Lefties have been hitting him, and we know the Dodgers have plenty of those. Fangraphs addressed his declining K/BB rate and hot hitting zones, (Linked here)
Watch for pretty much the same lineup to start against Arrieta as did the one against Hendricks. They'll have to be swinging at the meat Arrieta throws middle-in and low and stay of the high heat.
A lot will be determined by the strike zone that Gary Cederstrom has established tomorrow. Cederstrom has a reputation as a plate umpire that has a rather liberal strike zone in favor of pitchers, but we'll see. He was behind the plate in that wild game six of the 2011 World Series, the 28 hit, 19 run affair between the Cards and Rangers when David Freese was the hero. I only bring that up because that game was an offensive juggernaut and very little went the way of the pitchers.
Joe Maddon was asked about his young players that are in slumps and if he needs to change the lineup to shake things up. He responded that "you've got to play through the bad lie...it is what it is, you stay with your guys." So while their manager waits for Rizzo, Russell, Zobrist and Heyward to wake up, the Dodger pitching needs to keep doing what they are doing and shut those guys down. Some are bound to wake up eventually, but it's on the Cubs to start playing well offensively, something they really haven't done this post season with the exception of Bryant and Baez. Slumps are contagious and have a tendency to stick around for a few days.
All the games are shadow games, and the Dodger pitching should be able to take advantage of them. They've played a lot more of these games lately and it is an advantage they have over the Cubs that played all their games under the lights.
Aroldis Chapman can certainly be intimidating to some Dodger hitters, but the veterans such as Turner and Gonzalez are not intimidated by the man, unlike Pederson, Seager, Puig and Grandal.
The pitching rotation will be dependent on the results, but is it possible that Maeda is passed over in game 5 for Kershaw on short rest again? I think so.

The True Test of a Champion

2016-10-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

Andre Ethier's pinch homer in the 5th inning cut the Chicago lead to 3-1 (photo by Janathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Without going into the details of last night's crushing loss in Chicago, I will just make one point.

In 1988, when Kirk Gibson homered to shock the A's, many believe that the series was over and that the A's were defeated from that point on. That turned out to be true as the Dodgers won three of the remaining four games and won the Series and Oakland never offered much of a challenge from that point on.

The question remains now if the Dodgers are shell-shocked by that Miguel Montero blast, so much so that they won't recover.

All signs point to "no," because they actually rallied in the top of the ninth and continued tattooing pitches up until the last out was recorded on Utley's blistered liner that resulted in a double play.

We will see tonight how affected they are as Kershaw toes the rubber again on short rest, again. A Dodger win tonight and game one is forgotten. A second loss in a row and things could spiral downward. For that reason, tonight's game can be viewed as the Dodgers true test of a champion. They will need to dig deep inside and win the second contest of this series or risk being labeled going into next season as the team that was mentally defeated by the grand slam.

By the way, the Dodgers had a great comeback and proved that they could solve the Aroldis Chapman dilemma. Let's see if all that labor last night was for naught. L.A. hit the ball hard all evening and walked away with a defeat. Luck wasn't on their side, but a series split after two games can completely change the outlook on the series. Game two is crucial to their psyche.

Euphoria and Now Back to Business

2016-10-15T03:52:00.001-07:00

(AP Photo)

Winning a post season series is complete elation. It was a wonderful thing, but the excitement of that tense and pressure packed game five is now in the rear view mirror. Now as things have settled, the team is in Chicago and the short two days comes to a close this evening. The Dodgers are back to the business at hand of winning the pennant.

With a well rested Chicago Cubs team awaiting their opponent, Los Angeles starts the National League Championship Series a notable disadvantage. They are a team that should be exhausted and spent with a pitching staff handicapped with a closer just having thrown 51 pitches a mere forty-four hours before game time. Their number one and two starting pitchers each have already pitched on short rest and they need time off, at least another 24 hours. The rest requirement probably can be argued for the beleaguered bullpen, that racked up a little over 28 innings of work out of a possible 45 during the series.

A rainout would seriously help this team out, but as much as the forecast is saying it is possible, don't count on MLB postponing the game anytime soon due to the prime time schedule broadcast and the logistical problems of rescheduling the rest of the series that a rainout would cause. Nevertheless, the weather forecast is as follows at game time:

Cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 63F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

Experts are starting to make the lineup comparisons and predictions. As can be expected, the lovable Cubs, a team "destined" to win it all after so many years of despair in Chicago, is favored by nearly all to win this series going away. They certainly could do that, but this Dodger team has somehow clawed and scratched its was through the season with a tenaciousness that few Dodger teams have possessed in the past.

They enter into the next phase with another formidable challenge in their hands. Walking away from these first two games with a split should be the goal.

A few positives to note:

John Lester is the only Cub lefty in their rotation
The Cubs bullpen is not as strong as the Nationals, (with the exception of their closer-Chapman). This means that pitch counts should be worked and getting the Cub starters out of games will be extremely important
Some Dodger hitters seem to be heating up. Most notably Pedersen and Reddick
Dave Roberts has proved that he's willing to manage unconventionally, so expect the unexpected
It's the Cubs, and they haven't been to a World Series in 76 years, so there's an pressure factor that they must overcome
Kershaw says that his appearance on Thursday night was his "side session" and that he feels good. Translation: Expect him to pitch game 2, game 6 and be available to relieve in game 7
Hill should be rested for a game 3 start at Dodger Stadium, followed by game 7
The Dodgers were not overwhelmed by the Cubs in the regular season, and know they can compete

Strap on your seat belts. This is going to be an exciting week of Dodger baseball.

As Dodger Fans...This is What We Live For

2016-10-12T14:51:00.001-07:00

We can't argue about the suffering and excruciating tense pressure that this series has brought us. It has been full of tense moments and controversial calls and hit batsmen, pitching changes, and hit batsmen and pitching changes and hit batsmen. Then there's the occasional clutch hit from a Dodger and the inevitable one from Daniel Murphy or Jayson Werth.

(While I mention Werth, I just want to remind everyone that when Ned Colletti let him walk after an injury plagued season due to a broken wrist that never healed, I knew it was going to come back to bite us. Werth is that rare type of hitter that seldom strikes out, works counts, and isn't afraid to go with a pitch and lace it to right field. Our front office let him walk in favor of signing Luis Gonzalez ten tears ago, and he was making the major league minimum at the time).

Anyway, back to the series...

We live for this. Or should I say "die" for it? It's time to be honest. Do we really enjoy post season baseball? I know I don't. These games are about as enjoyable as a root canal. During the regular season, your team loses a game and the mentality is, "we'll get 'em tomorrow," because there's almost always a tomorrow in a 162 game season. In the playoffs? There rarely is a tomorrow and there definitely are consequences to losses. Every pitch is magnified, every call from the umpires crucial, each mistake made by a manager augmented. You can multiply the enormity of it all ten-fold and it doesn't do justice to the importance of it all.

So here we are, ready to watch our "one game season," vs. the Nationals. Odds don't look great. We have about 10 different arms available to take on Scherzer. Based on how things have gone so far, we'll need everyone of those arms, (except those that belong to Maeda and Baez). The Nats have a solid lineup. Trea Turner - practically an automatic run each time he gets on. Harper - a former MVP and threat to put a pitch in the bleachers every at bat. Werth - absolutely clutch. Murphy - possibly the greatest post season hitter I have seen. Rendon - a constant danger with tremendous power. Zimmerman-having a down year but a player that can't be taken lightly. There are two holes: Espinosa and the catcher spot. Not a lot of room for error and the Nats have made the Dodgers pay.

Washington is a good ball club that is where they are for justified reasons. 95 wins happened for a reason.

The Dodgers certainly haven't been world beaters of late, but we know the talent is there. Here we are, tied at two games a piece in a series that statistics will tell you the Nationals have dominated. That domination can easily be tossed aside with a good day at the office tomorrow. The only stats that really matter have to do with the amount of runs crossing the plate at the end of the day.

The Dodgers backs are against the wall, but if they break out to a lead, we'll see a Washington team forced into a corner. Will Dodger pitching finally solve the Daniel Murphy puzzle? Can they keep Trea Turner off the base paths? Will Jayson Werth be contained? All the above needs to occur for the Dodgers to have a chance.

Enjoy...err....survive the night folks. Break out the rolaids. It's going be about 4 hours of tense, tense baseball.

Game 2 NLDS Recap=LOB City II

2016-10-09T15:40:00.001-07:00

The bad news:

In post season play, when you load the bases three times over the first five innings, you have to cash in some runs. The Dodgers continued to hit poorly in key situational spots going 0-5 with the bases loaded and 1-9 with runners in scoring position. A total of 12 men were left on base, 11 of them over the first six innings.

Despite their first place finish, the Dodgers have been extremely weak offensively with runners on base hitting a putrid .206 with runners in scoring position and two outs, and .208 with the bases loaded. In both scenarios, finishing 26th and 27th in MLB in those categories.

Squandering these offensive opportunities proved to be the Dodgers undoing as Jose Lobaton lofted a Rich Hill hanging curve into the left field stands to put Washington ahead for good 3-2 in the fourth inning. It was the second time this year Hill has given up a homer on a curve, the first being a Jose Altuve homer back in May when Hill was pitching for Oakland.

Now the good news:

Returning home tied at 1-1 is something the ball club should feel good about, as they have secured home field advantage for what now is a best two out of three series. On top of that, Kenta Maeda makes the start with 8 days of rest, and that is a good sign for a pitcher that did have difficulties adjusting to pitching every 5th day. Maeda with over six days rest has a .210 batting average and .247 OBP against him. Compare that to when he had four days rest, .247 BA, .320 OBP. Those numbers are significant.

What to watch for:

Let's watch Maeda's pitch count. He has proved to be effective in the early innings, but once he gets past 75 pitches and through the batting order twice, teams tend to start hitting him. Maeda should be on a short leash, with the hope that he gives six strong innings and that the Dodgers have spotted him a lead by then so that the bullpen can take over.

Expect Kenley Jansen to be inserted for a 2 inning save, and be very concerned if Trea Turner reaches base while he's on the mound. Jansen has been awful at keeping base runners from running on him.

Again Facing left hand pitchers:

Gio Gonzalez takes the mound against the Dodgers after a sub par year. He has only worked 4 innings this year with Pedro Severino behind the plate, and he got lit up for 6 runs that one time. Working with Lobaton, Gio has a respectable 3.81 ERA over 81 innings of work. Gonzalez beat the Dodgers earlier this year with 6 innings of 1 run ball, on July 20th in Washington. In three lifetime starts at Dodger Stadium, he is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA with 20 innings pitched.

It should be noted that this will be the first time that Kenta Maeda has ever faced the Nationals.

Dave Roberts - Managing Like a Seasoned Veteran

2016-10-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

If there is any doubt about Dave Roberts as a strategic manager after leading the Dodgers to the divisional title, I will point to game 1 of the 2016 as proof that this man knows how to make the right moves under pressure. There were some critical decisions made that many of us questioned during the game, but Roberts stuck to his game plan and as a result, the Dodgers took a 1-0 series lead.

Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw had nothing working. The radar gun is the witness. Kershaw's fastball was as hard as he's thrown it all year, but it was missing spots. His sinker was off kilter, His curve was inconsistent. Then he has the 3/4 side arm thing that wasn't doing much. Even after striking out the side in the first inning, it could be see that Kershaw was struggling as he went deep in counts and exposed his entire arsenal of pitches in the first inning. Kershaw's pitch count was up and they were high stress pitches from the get go.

With a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth and his pitcher's place in that batting order come up, I was all for pulling Kershaw after four innings of work, but Roberts had a plan and a 4-inning Kershaw start wasn't it. He stuck with his ace, and even though inning number five provided another tightrope walk for the 3 time CY Young award winner, Roberts allowed him to continue and work his way out of it. This was classic Kershaw striking out Danny Espinosa with the tying run on third with his best curveball of the night as he closed out the 5th on his 101st and final pitch.

Double-switchamania

There are those that can argue that Toles is needed for defense over Kendrick at the end, and the same with Utley over Culberson. Well, neither of these switches came back to bite Roberts in the behind and the Culberson move might have saved the game as he made an amazing snatch and tag on the Daniel Murphy steal attempt in the bottom of the seventh. It might be the most under-rated play of the game because a lot of time that catch and tag from the errant throw is simply not made.

Bullpen Usage

Roberts has had plenty of practice this year, as starters going 5 innings was often times the norm. In any event, the usage of Blanton, Dayton, Baez and Jansen for the 5 out save was masterful. There are those that will argue that by going with Jansen for the long save, Roberts put himself in a position that he might be forced to bat him in a crucial situation, (which turned out to be true). I will argue that Jansen was 7 hitters away from being used as a hitter when he was brought in, and sometimes those are the risks you take. In the end, Roberts had his ace closer in the game facing the dangerous top of the order. That's exactly what you want and it turned out to be the difference. Kenley had his grade A stuff for game one.

Mental Preparation
Dave Roberts reached out to former Laker coach Pat Riley earlier this week and a few minutes before the game. How can that not hurt? He is treating this post season as a championship manager, seeking guidance from winners and applying philosophies and strategy that has worked for him.

On to game two...

Yasiel Puig : This Year Will Be Crucial

2016-01-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

There's no doubt that 2016 is a "make or break" year for Yasiel Puig. The player that I named the second coming of Roberto Clemente when he broke in has not produced as expected. Virtually everyone agrees that it is his lack of maturity that has hindered his progress. The questions being posed by many are: Has he finally understood this? Has he adjusted his attitude to have that break out season that so many of us expected out of him?

Reports are that Puig has taken to an intense workout regimen and has lost weight. Reporting to the Dodgers strength and conditioning staff, Andrew Friedman claimed that things were going as planned back in November. Historically, Puig has always reported to Camelback Ranch overweight, weighing as much as 251 pounds after his rookie season and first full off-season of indulging in the U.S. culture.

This has been an off-season of drama surrounding Yasiel, (specifically a night club altercation and reports of teammates wanting him traded), and it is comforting to see that Puig has made positive strides towards improving in 2016. Now recent reports of Puig reaching out to Maury Wills for base running assistance is reported.

Let me return to the Clemente comparison.

Roberto broke in the big leagues in 1955, literally stolen by Branch Rickey from the Dodger organization in a rule-5 theft. What resulted were a number of lackluster seasons initially, and cultural challenges for the young Puerto Rican, who struggled with the language and biases of the era.

In Puig's case there are some similarities, but he certainly didn't have it as difficult, being embraced by the fans and showered with millions of dollars. He didn't face nearly the same cultural struggles as Clemente who broke in during the era of challenges faced by many on civil rights issues. In Puig's case, his challenges had to do with the absence of contact with his family (at first), and the massive changes regarding living conditions, temptations and an adjustments to capitalistic culture that he had never experienced. Many fans simply don't understand those challenges that Cuban players experience when arriving in the United States and for that reason, I always thought that Puig got unfair treatment by many writers that should have understood his plight.

Both Clemente and Puig had their initial successes and struggles in the show.

Clemente was immediately recognized as a five tool potential star, but he had his struggles at the plate hitting .255 his rookie year with an abysmal .284 OBP. Signs of brilliance were there and a significant improvement to a.311 avg. in his sophomore season, but he regressed the following year (1957) as he suffered with injuries and got the reputation that followed him his whole career that he was a hypochondriac and "soft" when it came to playing through injuries. Clemente really didn't establish himself as a perennial all star player until in his 6th year in the big leagues at age 25. That year he started in the All Star game and finished in contention for the MVP on a World Series Championship ball club.

Puig, now 25 years of age, is entering his 4th season in the big leagues. He has had his flashes of brilliance, with stretches of greatness accompanied by mental blunders and maturity issues that exposed his weaknesses on the field. Often making aggressive mistakes, Puig hasn't grown and matured as expected, still making the same mistakes that he made during his rookie year on the base paths, defensively and at the plate. Adjustments need to be made, specifically:

discipline to nutrition and fitness
maturity and composure on the field
willingness to listen and adhere to coaches and veteran teammates that reach out to help him
patience and willingness to allow injuries to heal

I don't know if my criticism is being unfair to this extraordinary talent, as no player has faced this type of scrutiny on the Dodgers in recent memory. But Puig is so gifted with five tool talent, fans of the game are awed by his potential. If he could ever put it together, he could really be an MVP player for years to come.

Clemente got it by 1960, and he never let up after that. Twelve All Star appearances, Twelve gold glove awards, 1 MVP award, 2 World Championships, 4 batting titles, 1 World Series MVP award and the inevitable Hall of Fame induction after his tragic death on New Years Eve, 1972. Is this the year that Puig is able to turn the corner and become the Hall of Fame type of player that so many of us saw when he arrived on the scene? Losing weight and arriving to camp in shape will be a true positive sign, and carrying around about 25 lbs. less should make a difference on those questionable hamstrings that have curtailed his career recently.

Click here to see Puig's "workout" Instagram post on Christmas day, 2015

The "Untouchable" Prospect that Few Talk About

2015-12-20T06:04:00.000-08:00

So there's a young southpaw from Mexico that scouts project to have at minimum, number two starter stuff. But he's not the guy.

There's that shortstop with a pedigree from North Carolina that has hit at every level, including the majors in his September call up. It's not him eiher.

Jose DeLeon? Brett Holmes? Ross Stripling? Cody Bellinger? Jharel Cotton? Alex Verdugo?

All highly touted and I'd hate to lose any of them. But none are the the player I identify either.

If there are position areas where the Dodgers seemed to have weak spots after the 2014 season, they were probably identified as catcher and second base. In one full swoop, the Dodgers filled both those holes with the acquisition of that rare commodity, a Catcher/second baseman by the name of Austin Barnes

Barnes isn't expected to be on the big club to start the season, but it isn't because he's not ready. To the contrary. There are some in the organization that believe he should be the starting catcher right now.

As his name is tossed around in trade rumors, I can't help but cringe. This is a team leader and the type of player you can build a franchise around in my opinion. Don't believe it? Well look at the numbers. Coming into his own at age 25, Barnes was a middle infielder at Arizona State that the Marlins immediately converted to catcher because of his athleticism and basbeall IQ.

A lifetime .300 hitter with the overly impressive .390 OBP over four minor league seasons. That isn't a small sample size. Barnes has 2,190 plate appearances during that time. He works counts, gets on base, all the while with OPS in the mid .800's. He can drive in runs, hit the clutch homer and steal the occasional bag, along with steady defense where scouts rave about his soft hands, strong arm and game calling skills. Add to that the fact that he has thrown out an impressive 30% of runners attempting to steal on him. Barnes is the real deal, but the one thing that isn't shown in his stats is that "leadership" intangible factor.

"The one that stood out to me the most was Barnes. I like him. He looked like a real good ballplayer. I think we'll seem him playing real good in the big leagues someday."

Carl Crawford after spending July at AAA Oklahoma City during a rehab stint.

"He gets to know all his pitchers. He really goes out of his way to find out what type pitcher you are."

Pitcher Mike Bolsinger on his Triple A catcher

Barnes, the nephew of former Oakland Athletic Mike Gallego, has that other intangible factor that few have noticed: He's a winner at all levels in the minors. Leading his teams in Greensboro, Jupiter, Jacksonville and Oklahoma City all to winning records and two division championships. This is the type of player that the Dodgers need during the upcoming years when the youngsters develop.

A cerebral player. A guy that puts in his work and studies the game. A leader by example. You don't trade someone like this away, especially when AJ Ellis is on the verge of retirement and Yasmani Grandal is a huge question mark after his injury plagued second half.

Austin Barnes is the Dodgers catcher of the future, and he shouldn't put his fielder's glove away either, because if the injury bug hits, we just may see him at 2nd or 3rd base if needed. Maybe as soon as 2016.

Guest Post at ThinkBlueLA.com

2015-12-06T06:22:00.002-08:00

This morning I provide a guest post over at Thinkbluela.com.

Take a look at my position regarding the D-Backs signing of Zack Greinke to a record-setting contract.

Right Now is NOT the Time to Trade Puig

2015-11-29T07:36:00.001-08:00

I think its fair to say that Yasiel Puig is lacking in common sense. He is his own worse enemy and his off-field exploits over the past three years are too numerous to accept. I'll be the first to stand up and say I like the man. I want him to succeed. I believe he's misunderstood and a lot of that misunderstanding is based on cultural misconceptions, BUT...

(photo by USATSI)

The man has been warned numbers of times. He has been told to toe the line and he makes the same mistakes over and over. I've seen the other bloggers and their name calling. "Knucklehead," "Idiot," "Clueless," "Immature," and worse. A lot of those names are justified. Here is my advise to the troubled Dodger outfielder.

"Yasiel, alejate de las discotecas, y la bebida..."

Puig needs to steer clear of bars and clubs. Additionally, he needs to be kept from getting behind the wheels of automobiles. Now he may need to be told to stay away from his own family members. All seem to be a rather toxic situations for him. Get him to lock himself on his compound with his personal trainer and get in shape both physically and mentally. If he doesn't, his career will flounder and eventually fizzle out.

The truth of the mater is Puig is seriously blowing it and his hopes of landing future earnings in the hundreds of millions of dollars are getting slimmer as time passes.

With that said, Yasiel Puig's value as a player has reached all time lows, which is the precise reason that the Dodgers should NOT trade him. It's not like the Raiders are in MLB. But I guarantee you this, if a team could have him for next to nothing, there are a number of them out there that will probably attempt to strike a deal with the Dodgers.

Puig would comes to them super cheap. Five tool players with a ceiling in the stratosphere are not easy to find. Players of that ilk making 7 million/year are just not out there too often. Remember, he's still not 25 years old until next month. It would be borderline stupid to deal him now.

Puig could be a bust and never surpass his amazing rookie season. In that scenario, the Dodgers lose out on the $23 million he is owed over the next three years. Either that or the marginal player they could get in return for him if he was traded tomorrow. Neither is that great a loss. The Dodgers spend much more that $23 million on scrubs, scrapped and injured players year in and year out.

On the other hand, Puig could also turn things around, work hard and be an MVP candidate for years to come. The risk/reward needs to be fully evaluated when considering losing Puig now. Do the Dodgers want to be looking back ten years from now saying "what if" we hadn't traded Puig, the former WS MVP and 7 time all-star? All of which is possible. I sure would hate to be thinking of Puig as we currently remember Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez today.

At age 25, it is silly to even consider the fact that this grown man still is in need of a mentor on the team that serves as his babysitter, something that Juan Uribe did fairly well. The man needs to grow up, and maybe a dose of humble pie will do that. Is that a minor league designation? I surely doubt it, but this will be the first true challenge of the new manager, Dave Roberts, a man that everyone lauds for his in-person skills with players.

Meanwhile Yasiel Puig needs to remain a Dodger. He needs to arrive at Spring training svelte and in the best shape of his life. He needs to buckle things up. Stop partying and get serious about his career. If he doesn't, his days as a Dodger are done, and he'll become that "what if" story that will be talked about for years on end.