Unless they know something about the history of the game, many younger folks would simply think Joe DiMaggio was the Mr. Coffee guy. But to more than a generation of Yankee fans, he was one of the best that ever wore the pinstripes. Players like that are few and far between in today’s game. His type of player would be a dinosaur.
He struck out only 369 times in his entire 13-year career. Some players accomplish that in 2 seasons. A career .325 hitter, graceful in the field, and he wanted to beat you every time he walked onto the field. He lost 3 seasons to the war, and he only batted under .300 twice, 1946, the year he came back from the war, and his last season, 1951.
The only thing DiMaggio did not do well was stealing bases. He stole 30 in his career. The Yankee Clipper was all class. Some of the younger talents in the league could learn a lesson in baseball etiquette from Joe. I know society is a lot different now, but sometimes I think there are players in the majors who just do not respect the game. There is way more showboating in the game today, the bat flips, beating one’s chest, all the different handshakes and high fives … and standing there and admiring a HR that travels a long way.
Players do not just drop their heads and run the bases. There always seems to be some sort of celebration. As good as Ricky Henderson was, I had a hard time liking the guy. He was one of the most self-promoting players I have ever seen. LeBron is the same way. The unwritten rules get ignored a lot. Not embarrassing the opposition is on that list, but you see it all the time.
I was too young to see DiMaggio, but I watched Koufax most of his career. Sandy was another player who had a lot of class. Sandy would never think of hitting a player on purpose, conversely, Big D would hit anyone he felt was digging in on him, and taking away the inside of the plate. And woe be unto those who plunked a Dodger player. Drysdale would send a laser their way without batting an eye.
I also think if one is doing something that might bring embarrassment or bad publicity to the organization, then usually, one is thinking about themselves and not the consequences that come with those kinds of behaviors. Back in the early ’50s, the Yankees had some players who were heavy party animals, among them Mantle and Martin. The Yankees ended up trading Martin because they felt he was a negative influence on Mickey. But in later years, tales of their nightly escapades became known, and it tarnished some reputations.
Whitey Ford was in that bunch too, and to look at him, it would be hard to believe. Whitey just always looked so respectable. Then you have players like Justin Turner and Clayton Kershaw. Both are active in the community, both have foundations that benefit the less fortunate. Kershaw has made several trips to Africa with his wife for various charitable reasons. Those kinds of activities get less press than they should. Oh, we know about Kersh’s and JT’s because events they hold get advertised on the Dodger broadcasts.
Kersh’s ping pong tournament gets a lot of hype. The Dodgers, for the most part, are pretty good at handling the negative press. When the Ramirez PED case broke, they were right on top of it. There have been other fires that needed to be put out over the years. Most were handled well. But you would never expect anything like that from Joe D. The closest thing he came to any kind of negative press was when his marriage to Marylyn Monroe broke up in less than a year.
But Joe, like many a talented person, had an ego that needed to be stroked. He insisted on being introduced as The Greatest Living New York Yankee. Mantle, notwithstanding, he probably was. He would probably marvel at how far some of these players can hit a baseball. And he would be impressed with their fielding skills. But the antics and showboating he would not like at all.
But more now than ever, baseball is entertainment. Baseball now is big business, and it needs a product that is appealing to today’s fans. The bigger-than-life players are not all that abundant. But when amazing talents come along, baseball markets them to the hilt. Tatis, Guerrero, Ohtani, are 3 of the most recognizable names in the game, and all of them are kids. Ohtani is the old man of the group, he turns 27 on Monday.
There are others of course, but those 3, well they stand out the most. Ohtani and Guerrero are in the middle of a great HR race. Ohtani added 2 more today, and now has 30 before the All-Star game, which made that much more amazing since he also is a starting pitcher.
I guess I am just getting old because I really have days when I miss the way the game was badly. Those really close pitchers duels between Marichal and Koufax, or Gibson and Big D. These Dodgers sometimes score more in a game than it seemed like the 60’s Dodgers scored in a week. Not really, but it seemed that way. I remember a story about Drysdale’s reaction when told Koufax had thrown a no-hitter. Big D’s first response was did he win?
But the game has changed, and I guess I should be more tolerant in my old age. There are posters on here who are older than I. And I respect their views a lot. But sometimes I close my eyes and I see DiMaggio gliding across the Yankee Stadium outfield to flag down a drive no one thinks he will catch. Or I even see the great Willie Mays, who I saw play several times, racing back in the Polo Grounds to catch Wertz’s drive in the series. And I think to myself, no matter how hard some of these players try, they will never be that graceful making a play.
Today’s early game 11:05 AM EST starting winning lineup:
RF Mookie
1B Max
LF Matt
CF Cody
2B Chris
3B Zach
SS Gavin
C Austin
P Garrett Cleavinger
Bear,
Many of the younger folks don’t even remember Mr. Coffee Joe, let alone The Yankee Clipper. 😉
I realized that after I wrote it, but someone in their 50’s would remember, and that to me is younger….LOL.
I would think that nearly everybody has read Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man And The Sea’ and in reading such they would know the impact ‘Joltin Joe’ made in baseball.
Very true, the old man spoke of him when talking about the boy.
I suspect the average age here is over 50… Maybe 55.
For what’s worth, I don’t think Joltin’ Joe would have nearly the mystique that he has if not for Paul Simon and “Mrs. Robinson.”
Hey hey hey…
Plus, he was a Yankee when NY was, by far, the biggest market in America for the “damn Yankees.” What if Williams or Musial had been Yankees?
Even my 11-year-old baseball mad son knows (and not from me!) that many people think Derek Jeter was overrated, but got that extra glow playing for the Yankees. I think that’s a bit harsh and that glow also comes from 5 World Series rings.
Happy 4th Mark
Uceta added to the roster for today’s game, Graterol optioned to Oklahoma City.
Surprised they optioned Bazooka, just when he had two good outings. Maybe they want the fresh arm for this game and then make a switch again with Uceta going down.
Over the long haul IMHO the Dodgers can not get bye with those constant bullpen games . It will drain the pen sooner or later. Either built up Price or Nelson to be the fifth starter or look at the trade market. Now with the Bauer situation and his possible loss the Dodgers should make up their mind pretty quick.#
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!
Andrew Friedman,the best in the business, will do something at or before the trading deadline, They have too much invested and are so close to winning it all again ,not to do so.
I agree. golden opportunity to maybe win back to back titles. Never happened in Dodgers history.
What about J. Gray? Where is he at in his comeback from injury ?
Could he step in and if not why not use him as a trade chip for a top of the rotation starter ? Especially if TB should be suspended.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!
Gray is just getting back on the mound–and just threw two clean innings for OKC. Six up, six down, one K…
Maybe we’ll see him in LA toward the end of the season. I doubt they see him as a solution to the Bauer situation.
And now a really surprising advanced stats nugget from “TrueBlueLA”, which noted that Doc plans to use Max Muncy as a DH in the All-Star game:
“Though he’ll only be hitting in the All-Star Game, Muncy leads the Dodgers with nine Defensive Runs Saved, including +6 at first base and +3 at second base.”
This is the second bit of sabermetric style info I’ve seen that salutes Muncy on defense. The burly dude supposedly has greater range than any other first baseman.
Who knew? I mean, when Muncy makes a good play, I’m still a little surprised. When the Dodgers got him, he told a reporter that his favorite position was “hitter.” Even after a couple of good seasons, Billy Ripken was saying he should be traded to the AL to be a DH.
Anyway, clearly the Dodgers 2021 MVP–even if we expect more from Betts, Belli, Seager and maybe Turner. Now he’s the most dangerous bat in the lineup. I can recall the terms, but when he signed a new contract I found myself thinking he was selling himself short–that he needed better represenation. If he was a free agent after this season, he’d be in big demand.
So really glad he’s an All-Star. Deserved to be a starter….
US Water has better flavor than Budweiser.
Mays, DiMaggio and Snyder were all in CF in NY at the same time. That must have been something to see. I’m too young to have seen those guys play, but I’m not too young to remember when players adhered to the unwritten rules of the game. I can’t stand guys like Fernando Tatis and that stupid thing he does around 3rd base during his home run trot and was appalled to see that wall clock on a security chain that the Padres players put around their necks when they hit a home run. It’s completely over the top. I don’t mind a nice bat flip though, I guess there’s a line for everyone.
Well, the Dodgers are going with their early day game lineup today and it looks like a trainwreck waiting to happen. Put that together with another bullpen game and we’ll need some good luck to complete the sweep against a team that was red hot until the Dodgers got to town.
I found Doc’s comments about the possibility of Price joining the rotation more strange than interesting. He said that the team values him to be able to be used in a variety of situations and up to four times a week out of the bullpen and has little to do with health or his ability to pitch in the rotation. He went on to say building him up to a starters workload isn’t ideal to do in season.
I want to read in-between the lines here to ponder what options they have. Is this the reaction that you would expect from a manager that only has 3 starters? Are they comfortable enough with their bullpen depth that they feel they can simply send guys up and down from the minors to cover bullpen games/short starts twice each time through the rotation?
Examining the schedule before the break, we have 8 games remaining. It lines up like this.
Bullpen Game
Bueller
Gonsolin
Urias
Kershaw
Bullpen Game
Bueller
Gonsolin
Then they can reset their rotation after the break for 3 with the Rockies and 4 with the Giants, then 3 with the Rockies again before an off day.
It looks like getting to the All-Star poses some, but not significant risk, but we’ll want to be complete by the time we get to that 4 game series against the Giants at home.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of in house options unless they reverse course with Price, which doesn’t seem all that likely considering they’re starting the game with Cleavinger today, which makes absolutely no sense. Gray hasn’t been in a game since his first outing of the season. Pepiot seems like a likely option based on talent and performance, but he really only goes 4-5 innings, has some walk problems and has only pitched in a couple of handfuls of AA games. Basically, he’s the same as Gonsolin with less experience.
Maybe plan A is that the Bauer situation will be resolved soon enough. He was placed on Administrative leave on Friday, July 2. If they give him 2 administrative leaves in a row (the max they can do and the second one has to come with Player Association Approval), he will be eligible to pitch again right in time for the first game after the break. Pepiot thew 74 pitches in 4 innings coming into the game in the 3rd inning on June 29 so he’s got time to build up over two more starts before he’ll be needed. Gray probably won’t be built up enough to start for another month which basically coincides with the trade deadline. Keep an eye on Pepiot’s next two outing to get a read on their intentions for him.
Edwin Uceta called up and Brusdar sent down. We’ll see these kinds of moves a couple more times before the All-Star break with Scott Alexander being the next logical choice.
A side note, I read an article yesterday that mentioned Bauer’s accuser didn’t decide to go to the Emergency room until being advised to do so after speaking with her AA sponsor. Trevor needs to grow the f^%$ up. What a dumbass. So many bad decisions. I hope this girl gets her life together, she obviously has some problems, at 27 it’s not too late for her to turn her life around.
I’ve read way too many articles about this subject. I’ve read many that paint a narrative and leave out a lot of information and one’s that just state facts and information without opinion. I know there’s more information that none of the writers are privy to.
One of the reason my son stopped playing High School ball was that he thought his teammates weren’t the best humans around. They did crappy things and weren’t all that nice to people due to their egos. For every Trevor there’s a Clayton to balance things out I guess. But, many athletes are spoiled and think they can do whatever they want as result. I’m not gonna pass judgement. I wasn’t there hiding, watching from the closet. I think responsibility falls on both parties. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but nothing good is gonna come out of getting two idiots together, unsupervised doing some shady shit.
Happy 4th of July. Gonna smoke Ribs and something else and blow up some fireworks. The good kind! Got a small family gathering planned.
On the TB situation: I don´t know if his guilty or not , if the girls is plain gold digger or if both of those indivduals have huge personal problems or some kind of strange sexual orientations. But what I know: When you are a public figure like TB is and with his past you better be extra careful ,
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!
No offense to anyone else that might be, but I Trevor just might be on the Spectrum. A little Ass-burgers (asperger’s syndrome) maybe? Also, no offense to those that used AA to save their lives, but that crowd isn’t the type of people you want to invite over to the house for a dinner party. I was thinking, what kind of lady drives 100 miles for a booty call, no date, no dinner, by herself for a hookup? Now we know.
The Reason I Hump?
I’ll take “Bad Situations” for 500, Alex.
My wife read somewhere that he was picked on as a kid.
Outstanding post. Puff puff pass 🙂
Improves the experience of the ribs and the fireworks alike. The Micheladas on a hot day will also do the trick. I have a diverse roster of beers, Peroni from Italy, Warsteiner from Germany and Modelo from Mexico. I got baseball, hot dogs, apple pie just missing the Chevrolet. I love this holiday. Don’t spoil it by leaving the broom at home.
Therer are MUCH better German beers than Warsteiner (MOF it is one of the worst). try some bavarian if you get a hold of them. Augustiner is THE best.
I can also recommend some belgian beer, Stella Artois for example.
G o Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Warsteiners are available at Trader Joes. They’re great compared to all the IPA’s out there that are using the real-estate at all the stores at the expense of much better import options.
I usually Drink Koenig, Weihenstephaner, Calsberg, Zeiwich, Kronebourg 1664 and Paulaner. I have a problem paying $20 for a 6 pack of anything, so I’ve stayed away from the Augustiner, but will try based of your recommendation. I have to trek across town to get those from Total Wine and drop $180 every time I go there to stock up on 4 sixers assorted and 6 bottles of wine to get the discount.
Peroni is my go to as it’s available at most of the grocery stores. I’ll step down to Stella or Becks and even Heineken if it’s 2-3 bucks cheaper than Peroni. I like St. Pauli Girl, it’s cheap at the liquor store and is just a short bike ride away. I find it a better option that Warsteiner.
Trader Joes is also a bike ride away, hence the Warsteiners, Pilsner Urquell and Peroni are other TJ choices.
High Times Cellers carries Czechvar along with some of the other favorites that they carry at Total Wine, but same as Total Wine, I have to trek and stock up when I go there.
I reserve the Mexican beer for guests and Micheladas. I get them in cans so they’re party friendly. For parties, I’ll grab the good import beers and put them in the garage fridge for personal use. Then, it the backyard I’ll load up the coolers with cans of Modelo, Corona Light, and some shitty IP or ale. They’re not my cup of tea. I like beer flavored beer.
High Times has everything…like everything…but they aren’t cheap.
I like The Globe in Costa Mesa near 19th and Harbor. Just an old school German deli. They have all kinds of German beers there and the owner is super down-to-Earth and will tell you all about each beer.
High Times and Total Wine are great, but there’s something about small mom and pops.
I found a very local semi dry jalapeno infused pear cider yesterday. I will try anything chili infused…… man it was good.
That made me laugh.
The Padres bling chain is way too much. Boston players get a ride in a wheel barrow after a dinger. About the most out there thing I can remember the Dodgers doing was the HR bubble machine that Matt Kemp brought into the dugout. MLB banned it, but Kemp hid it and you could still see bubbles coming out of the dugout after a homer. Watching Mantle, Mays and Snider was definitely a treat. But at the same time we got to see Aaron, Clemente, Frank Robinson, and a guy who I thought was really under rated, Vada Pinson. Pinson was the Reds CF back in those days, He played 11 years with the Reds, and he could go get the ball. .286 career hitter, 256 HR’s. Probably the guy Verdugo most reminds me of. Died way too young. He was only 57 when he passed.
I like this. Pitching Cleavinger with Alexander due to replace him on the roster. Smart.
We’ll also see Uceta & Price.
LGD!
Hey! Today is the 4th of July. Have a wonderful day and God bless America.
get over it. Every sport, not just baseball has changed. Oh for the good old days when gas was .29 and I made $6700 in 1968
Anybody remember the gas wars of the late 1960s. I remember it getting as low as $.17 a gallon at some independent stations. I was making 2,50 an hour at Ball Jar in El Monte and that was a dollar over minimum wage. OBTW I was driving a 53 Chevy stock very clean that I paid $60 for
I used to get gas on post at Ft. Bliss for 13 cents a gallon.
I was born in October 67 and lived in El Monte until the summer of 72. Did you hang out at Fletcher park?
Born is “58 in Montebello, my grandad was the 1st mayor of Pico Rivera. My mom grew up on his dairy there 40’s until married. It was on Beverly Blvd. Did my high school time in Whittier & from 72-76 it was one of the best cruises in the country. Friday & Saturday nights were like American Graffiti but with muscle cars.
Don’t know if it was “better”, but sure was a fun place to be a teen.
Cheers
In 1970, when I was 16, I had two jobs (all the way through high school). I pumped gas at a Clark station and also worked at the local Ford Dealer. I bought a 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 with a 390 and saved all my money up to 1972 when I put a 428 Cobra Jet in it that I had tricked-out at a local speed shop. It got about 5 MPG, but I got gas for 16 cents a gallon so I did not care. It was yellow. This is what it was:
I would love to find another one.
Beautiful car! They don’t make ’em like that anymore.
I like listening to Galaxie 500.
AT least a dollar an hour. My first “company job” was in 73 when I was 15 at the Arby’s on Whittier Blvd. Starting pay was $1.65hr.
You get over it. I prefer to remember what I believe was a better game. Yes, all the sports have changed, and not necessarily for the better. The NBA may have much more athletic players, but the game and it’s stars are damn near unwatchable.
I can’t stand most of the hypocrites in the NBA they talk all this woke shit but it’s really all about the money
You can say that about the NFL as well.
You tell ’em, Bear! They can’t take your memories!
So very true, and I cherish them all.
Do you have to be That Guy?
This is Roberts’ favorite kind of game. A built-in excuse to overmanage.
This kid Pujols is growing on me! Todd Frazier 2.0
Damn, Betts just missed moving him to second on a drive off the wall.
Pujols has been a great pick up.
Better than Peters
What a godsend Albert Pujols is
Before today’s game, the Dodgers were #1 in team ERA is ALL of baseball, and had moved up to #7 in Bullpen ERA… probably #6 after this game!
WHAT DID I TELL YOU?
😉
I fight other battles you may not know about, such as against companies who engage in bad business practices. You might laugh when you see me with a wig on:
Preaching to the Choir buddy. You and I were pretty much the only ones that stood firm that our pen was great.
Albert has RBI’s in 4 straight games and has driven in 20 since he joined the Dodgers. Catman can scat man.
After giving all my Angels fan neighbors crap about Albert for the last 10 years, I was sceptical about this signing. I’m gladly enjoying my crow. I prefer it roasted with Garlic Flavored Peri Peri sauce.
It’s going to be really sweet if (when) he gets the ring with this club while the Angels pay for it.
Pitcher, Tony Gonsolin managed to score from first base on Muncy’s double. Thank God he didn’t injure himself since pitchers can’t hit or run without making a trip to the IL.
Catman had a pretty decent career as a college outfielder so it’s not as though he’s never run the bases before.
That said, I had the same thought you did as I was watching him round the bases. 🙂
I literally LOL’ when they said rounding the bases like a cat.
Yeah, my cat would get distracted by a bug and start chasing it around the infield grass.
My cat would have stopped to pee.
Yesterday morning, I stopped by the office to see how everyone was doing (we had 4 people working) and a certain ex-QB from Stanford was there. Today, it occurred to me that he reminds me a lot of Gonsolin.. Both are odd! 😉
Mookie. Pukie can’t even get a sac fly
That was scary I thought Turner got hit in the face.
Happy 4th to everyone. I love this site and all the conversations from knowledgable baseball folks. Each individual brings a different expertise to the table and the sum total makes this an outstanding site. Thanks to Mark for all he’s done and to the great postings by the usual suspects especially Bear who’s strolls down memory lane are especially fun. A happy safe 4th to all.
Have a great 4th Phil. It is one of my favorite holidays. I send special greetings to all my friends who served on this day. One of them lives in Florida, former Marine who I played music with for a long time. He is going to one of the games against the Marlins. He is a Yankee fan, but I forgive him for that. Now the 9th in a row was not pretty. Still way too many K’s for my liking. 15 of them, and they got Bellinger 3 times. As bad as Mookie has looked at the plate sometimes, when he gets a pitch he can handle, he is not missing them. Problem is, he is swinging at a lot of pitches he has no shot at squaring up. As for Bellinger, this is getting really ugly. He was at ,220 about a week ago, and looked like he was ready to take off. But his BA dropped below .190 today. He is in there now strictly because of his defense. He is swinging at pitches once again that he can never drive. Up 3=0 and striking out swinging on two pitches you cannot hit with a bat 10 inches longer, pitiful. He needs to sit down and have a long talk with the Machine. I do not want to hear ANY bitching about the bullpen after what they did today. They have not given up more than 3 runs in any of the 6 bullpen games LA has played this season.
Their heads are already big enough don’t make them go out and have to buy all new hats….Just kidding I really respect and enjoy both of their posts. Their insights and storytelling are really great. That’s what makes this site the best along with all the other contributors.I wish I had the ability to express my opinions and write the way they do
I represent that remark, but I do not think a 7 1/2 hat size makes my head overly large. I just started doing this last year. I am more of a retired truck driver and country musician. But I really appreciate the kudos.
Well deserved. It takes a lot of work to do what you and Mark do
Nice game credit to all, especially the Bull pen.
Goodwill to all enjoy our countries day of independence go Dodgers go Dodgers!!!
The greatest country in the history of civilization!!!!!!
Amen to that!
Yessiree brother. And thanks to Mark for not canceling us out over that statement
But it’s true.
I wanna bitch about the bullpen… just kidding. Okay… close your eyes… Relax … You are feelling very sleepy… Now repeat after me… Our bullpen is great…. Our bullpen is fine…our bullpen is dandy… When you wake up you will have total confidence in the bullpen….
I have had confidence in them for quite a while, no pen is going to be perfect every time out. I have been watching this game long enough to know there will be nights when nothing goes right.
Dodgers weren’t to happy about the early start. Today was a heavy coffee day, for sure,” said shortstop Gavin Lux. However he also had 3 hits. Maybe the extra caffeine woke up his bat.
Maybe Gavin is a morning person.
He’s too young to need coffee.
Tied for first place with SF.
First team with 53 wins!
9 in a row
Not anymore, SF won their game and are still 1/2 game in front. Pads won too.
Damn MLB starting a Dodgers game that early. Missed the whole thing. Wtf. Oh well. Alls well that ends well.
So we won without…. What was his name?
I do not recall.
Andrew Toles?
Forecast: baseball, wings, beer & a swim.
Happy birthday, USA
We won without “What’s his name”, but we all know that too many bullpen games can get you into trouble really quick.
We emptied our bullpen and somehow managed to stay away from the one guy they brought up to give them some “length”.
Kenley finished off the game in a non-save situation appearing in his second game in a row, basically making him unavailable for tomorrow as he hasn’t pitched three in a row this season.
Nice three hit game by Lux. His stolen base early on was key at the time. Hopefully he can rub off on Belli who been taking Joc Pederson swings lately chasing out of the zone and missing in the zone. Different player, same problem. Stop yanking that front shoulder. Everything is popped or hammered into the ground.
Pujols at first after breaking the tie by driving home Lux. Mookie hits a foul ball off the wall, then Doc decides to pinch run for Pujols. Gonsolin winds up scoring in Pujols’ place on Max’s double. Pujols would have been stuck at second. It was the right move at the wrong time. The book says to wait until your slow guy gets to second, I’m glad Doc decided to go against the book.
V-Gone, Treinen and Jansen all seem to like to spot the other team a runner before eventually shutting them down.
Souza Jr. had a right to be pissed. C’mon Blue, do your job. You don’t give all the borderline calls to the pitcher. That was bush league like calling a balk with a runner at third for not coming set.
7-0 against that team that’s sponsored by Walgreens.
Such a fun game, I think I’ll watch it twice.
Lux was good but my player of the game is Pujols: he did exactly what was needed and nothing more.
Hey Josiah, hurry up and rebuild your value so we can trade you 😉
Good outing. 2 shoutout innings.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great Dodgers series!! Very surprised really! The nationals had been on a hot streak. They had one of the best records in the majors the last 30 games. They had moved over .500 into second place. They r dinged up especially the bullpen but the Dodgers sure aren’t going to feel sorry for them after all their injuries, drama, etc. I hope the nats recover quickly against the pads!
Dodgers pitching just superb!! Kelly was really a workhorse in the series and labored but got it done. Clevinger still bp weak link. I know he hasn’t been scored on in… blah blah blah but in most another reliever bailed him out. But he battles. The Dodgers will burn the bullpen out if they don’t get another starter or 2. Kelly, Bickford, Gonzalez, clevinger look tired.
They played the entire series without their starting SS who had just had a game where he hit for his 3rd cycle, and they lost their hottest hitter in game 2. Not that I am crying over their misfortune, but they used 3 different SS in 4 games, and the guy they traded for on Saturday had a pretty decent series.
Bear, a really good essay. I was telling my girlfriend about how I used to love doubleheaders on July 4 or any of the holidays, usually just sitting outside with my transistor radio, listening to Vin Scully. Or running a supermarket errand, walking down the hill, and seeing people outside watering their lawns, they would ask me what the score was. Baseball did seem better then, but part of it was of course being young with no real responsibilities, no drastic climate change to worry about, it didn’t really seem to get hot until August. And the Dodgers were great to follow; they were mostly very good, and most of the games were close, as except for 1962, they didn’t score many runs.
I never saw DiMaggio play, but I admired Stan Musial, who played and acted with class; also Al Kaline, who somehow gets ignored when people talk about the great players of that era. There was a biography written about DiMaggio which I did not read, but which apparently portrayed him in an unflattering personal light, but one should never rely on one biography to tell a full picture.
I guess what I miss is the focus on teams as opposed to individual players. Managerial strategy, making good trades, lineups which had a synchronicity which did not show in the daily box scores. The mental and strategical side of the game. Most of the announcers today in all sports, keep talking about this or that player all through the game. Tattis gets a lot of that, and he is already a very good player, may be one of the greats, but it gets pretty tiresome to hear the announcers rave about him . Baseball is a team sport, even with the pitcher against batter duels. It is not basketball, where there are five or so great players whose teams mostly dominate the sport. I like team play, and the pieces fitting together, not so much focus on stars.
Just a comment on Bellinger; he is a very likeable guy, he plays great defense, it is fun to watch him out there. But you cannot hit .200 or so every season, as he is now in danger of doing. Can’t this be fixed, or is it that the pitchers now know exactly how to pitch to him, and he cannot adjust, with that long swing? I would hate to lose him, he might go somewhere else and turn into the Bellinger of 2019. But you can’t bat someone fourth who strikes out most of the time. If it were the 1950’s, with the dreaded reserve clause, the manager would tell Bellinger to bunt toward third once a game, it is a sure hit. That might change the way he is pitched to, it would at least get his average up to .270 or so.
On the bright side, CB has only had 95 at bats. So I’m hoping as his season progresses he will improve his numbers. But it sure is disappointing to see him below .200.
The next season he hits 200 will be the first. Last year was a third of a season and this year he’s only played in 16% of the games. Check back when he does it over a 162 game period.
The funny thing about climate change is the notion that you’re going to be able to control it. Everyone was locked down for a year driving just a fraction of years past and it did nothing to cool temperatures. Governments do very little to curb some of the largest polluters like China and the ships that transport goods all over the world. Politicians that push it travel by private jet. Celebrities lecture from their yacht with a personal helicopter on deck. Elon Musk has a company that produces electric vehicles and chooses to mine heavy metals for batteries instead of recycling spent ones (cause it’s cheaper to exploit 3rd world countries). He has another company that burns massive amounts of fuel to send rockets in and out of the atmosphere. If you want to help solve the problem, turn off your AC, Ipad, computer, smartwatch and television, but that would be too much of an inconvenience. Nuclear power is pretty much the cleanest energy source there is, but the climate activists are against nuclear energy. This world has been a hell of a lot hotter than it is right now, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and a hell of a lot colder, when humans started migrating at the end of the last ice age. Animals breathe in c2 and breathe out co2 and plants do the exact opposite.
The Earth has been alternating between long ice ages and shorter interglacial periods for around 2.6 million years. For the last million years or so these have been happening roughly every 100,000 years – around 90,000 years of ice age followed by a roughly 10,000 year interglacial warm period.
I’m way more interested in having clean air to breathe and clean water to drink and limiting the use of plastics, single use plates and cups and other common sense things we can do to conserve resources. Yet we live in a day an age of consumerism where everything is built for planned obsolescence instead of making things that last. Think of all the people that can be housed in unneeded office buildings after we found out that a good portion of people can work remotely and still get the job done. Lets see if all of these virtue signaling companies start reducing their environmental footprint by not having people sit by themselves idling in rush hour on our freeways for the greater good.
Don’t blame me. I voted for Gary Johnson.
Thank you William, I appreciate it. I have always thought that Kaline was very under rated. But most of the teams he played on were pretty bad. He still put the numbers up and was as graceful as anyone out there. I only saw him play in person once against the Angels in 61 at old Wrigley Field in LA before the Angels moved into Dodger Stadium in 62. I also admired Musial. Man could just flat out hit. When he was living in his hometown of Donora Pennsylvania, his nickname was the Donora Greyhound, Evidently, he could really run back then, and he also pitched. It was a gentler time that is for sure. Bellinger’s swing is the problem. He swings like he has to hit everything to the third deck. But I have seen him at times, and very rarely, just take the pitch where it is thrown. I think he fell in love with that swing his MVP year because everything in the first half was falling in, and most of his hits were rockets off his bat. He has not had a streak like that again.
I was hoping that Cody was ready take off after his walk off HR last Sunday but he has been disappointing since then.
He needs to make an adjustment but it’s becoming real that after his terrific first half the year he won his MVP he’s been rather pedestrian. I love his defense and his speed and his occasional long ball but .200 BA is absolutely horrible.
What to do, what to do?
Enjoy his lowered arbitration salary.
Taylor, Betts and Muncy are all stars. No Dodger pitcher selected. Neither was Scherzer. Go figure.
Saw this on another board, it’s a great stat:
The only Dodger players of note to have not made an All-Star team in their entire career
Gavin Lux
Will Smith
Julio Urías
Those that are now or have been All-Stars include:
Betts, Bellinger, Turner, Taylor, Muncy, Pollock, Seager and Pujols
Kershaw, Buehler, Jansen and Price
Gotta imagine Smith is gonna be an All-Star soon.
Urias had a case this year.
Still leading the league in wins.
I absolutely don’t understand Mookie making the team. In my mind, JT, Buehler and even Kenley deserved it more. I’m sure many here will disagree with me. What do you guys say?
First time the Dodgers don’t have a pitcher on the All Star team since 2008.
JoJo Gray off the IL and starting tonight for OKC.
Bear said he wasn’t pitching this year. Just saying. Journalistic standards and all.
Wrong, I said he had not pitched, big difference.
Looking on the bright side, I think it will keep arbitration costs down.
Mookie has a lot of good will built up having made 4 in a row. I’m really happy for CT3. Will Smith was in toss up territory with several other NL catchers, so go ahead a give it to JTR.
If you look at this year’s stats, Muncy is the only position player that truly deserving other than JT if you’re going just by offensive stats.
You can make a great case for Walker as far as Starters go even if he misses on K rate. He’s certainly more deserving than Darvish who has a worse record, higher ERA, less quality starts, less innings total and less innings per start. Scherzer getting screwed makes that pill a little easier to swallow.
None of our relievers have better numbers than the four that were taken ahead of them. Malencon has the worst stats among the bunch, but he has the most saves which somehow means more than Wins otherwise Bueller and Urias would be in there.
The all star game is a joke that’s why it doesn’t impress me when someone has the title “all star”.
Will Smith is one of the best if not the best catcher in the game and he is not “an all star”.
Yeah, I don’t care about it. Happy for Taylor though. He’s my favorite Dodger.
It’s good for the players, so I’m happy for the Dodger players especially Taylor.
Pepiot dealing tonight.
Weather Forecast: rising batting averages in July as low pressure front of Miami, Arizona and Colorado moves in. Expect extended winning streaks with home run thunder and RBI lightning.
Pepiot perfect through seven with 11 strikeouts.
Pepiot walked the first batter in the eighth and was pulled.
Best bullpen in baseball including biggest all star snub ever Kenley Jansen! Muncy for MVP! Nervous time for Bellinger!
I continue to read here, but don’t post much anymore. I was just looking back at the June 28th post regarding Mark Washington, and noticed that he has struggled with Raynaud’s Phenomenon. Only the older Dodger fans like me would remember that Raynaud’s is what Sandy Koufax suffered with when he missed the second half of the 1962 season, and was ineffective when he tried to return during the best of three playoff series with the Giants that came about when both teams ended up in a season ending tie for first place.
Maybe Mark Washington will be the next Sandy Koufax. 🙂
And by the way, I believe that Koufax had a chance to strike out over 400 batters that year. I’m doing this from memory, but I believe that Koufax had over 200 strikeouts when he went out in July. I have always wondered what he may have done if he was able to pitch the remainder of that year.
Good story Brooklyn, thanks for sharing.
Most of us do. Sandy was dealing when he went down, his record was 13-4 in the first half with 202 K’s. He only struck out 14 the rest of the year, and was 1-3 over his last 6 games, 5 of which were starts. Here is the alarming thing, he struck out 14 and walked 11 in 16.2 innings. He gave up 12 runs, and all 12 were earned. He also allowed 4 HR’s, and his WHIP< which was below 1.0 the first half, was 1.620 over those last 6 games. You figure he missed at least 12 starts and was averaging close to 10 K's a game when he went down, so he probably would have had at least 350 plus K's.
Alex Vesia is still super hot: the last 4IP, 12 SO !!!, 0 BB, 0 R, 0 H
That’ll play.
I know none of those Nats pitchers were intentionally throwing inside, but some of that pitching was downright dangerous. Wild is being kind.
DiMaggio was a great player, of course, and I think a decent guy (as far as we know). But I think you’re mistaken about him insisting on being introduced as “greatest living Yankee.”
He was needier than that.
He insisted on being introduced as “the greatest living PLAYER” at oldtimers games.
I remember hearing that a couple of times and thinking, “Huh?” To me he wasn’t nearly up to Mays, Aaron and Mantle–or Williams or Musial. Yeah, great hitter, great streak, supposedly a great fielder–though I rarely saw the film that proved that. We could also name a few pitchers–but of course it’s hard to compare batters and hitters.
Which brings us to Ohtani, who really might be the greatest living player, taking everything in consideration. He’s now done stuff that nobody has done since Ruth. The Babe-Shohei debate is upon us.
But enough about non-Dodgers, because I know everybody here is breathlessly awaiting my opinions and insights–even if you don’t think you are.
—The Dodgers will be fine without Bauer. I would have prefered he sign with the Angels (who still need an ace, yet now are over .500 without Trout) or even the Mets. It’s not that I worried he’d be a distraction for whatever reason, but more that he wasn’t needed. Anyway, the Dodgers are well-positioned to secure another quality starter if AF decides that’s the best course. (I do wonder whether his contract carries language that might pertain to such matters.)
–How ’bout that Gavin Lux? Two solid, productive games in a row! I’m not sure whether any of these hits came off a lefty, but he’s clearly been the weak link in lineup. (Old Man Albert pinch-hit for him just a few days ago.) Not only did he hit the ball, but he made a web-gem-worthy play at SS and stole a base. He had absurd power in the minors, but he needs to cut down on the strikeouts, make more contact, and use his Belli-class speed.
–Old Man Albert just keeps delivering. So glad he didn’t try for second on that line drive into the leftfield corner. Loved seeing Doc use Gonsolin as a pinch-runner. He played OF in college and handles the bat well.
–And Kenley keeps delivering too. A little bit more drama than in the past, but he’s been awesome. Should be an all-star again.