OKC has lost two games back-to-back, and Miguel Vargas was not in OKC’s lineup for a second consecutive day, but it was for a very good reason. He took his U.S. citizenship test and passed. He is no longer a Cuban. He is now an American. BTW, is this the only country you go to and become what it is? You can’t go to Cuba and become a Cuban. You can’t go to Italy and become an Italian. But you can come to America and become an American! How cool is that?
Back to our regularly scheduled programming:
Walker Buehler
Walker Buehler is not the same pitcher he was a few years ago. His fastball topped out at 95.9 MPH and was generally 92.5 to 95.1 MPH, but his slider was 90+. That’s not enough separation between the pitches. He is working on a cutter that might be effective, but I do not see the old Walker Buehler returning. I am not saying that he can’t learn to pitch differently, but he is not returning as the Ace. It’s possible he could add a little velo, but not a lot. He is what he is, and the question is, “Can he pitch effectively?” Most fans will say no. I have no opinion, — However, if he can be a #3 or #4, that is fine.
He struggled to maintain 95 MPH last night. I can’t see him adding 3+ MPH to his fastball. I could almost see him being a bulk guy in the bullpen… but I could also see him “re-invent himself.” We shall see soon enough! Clayton threw 96-97 early in his career and has been successful at 92-93 MPH. Does Buehler have the stuff to do that and can he adjust? I am rooting for Striker Buehler, but am not holding my breath.
Michael Grove
Michael Grove’s last 3 outings:
- 5.1 IP
- 0 ER
- 0 H
- 2 BB
- 10 K
Remember when just about everyone wanted to send him back to OKC? This is why you are not running the team. Now, I am not saying he will keep this up… but he has the ability to do so and that makes him a valuable part of a Championship Caliber Bullpen.
Justin Wrobleski
This LH starter has a 1.88 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings at Tulsa. I would not be surprised if he got the call sooner than later. It would seems that Buehler will be called up soon, but we shall see. Wrob could b the LH starter the Dodgers need. There’s a guy named Kershaw whom we could see in a couple of months as well.
Two Out of Five
Chris Taylor, Kike Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Andy Pages, and James Outman. If just two of those players can have good seasons, the Dodgers will be fine. If three can do it… well, all the better!
- Can CT3 recover his past mojo?
- Can Kike just hit LHP?
- Can Lux just hit?
- Can Outman step up?
- Is Pages ready?
This is the story of the Dodgers season.
X-Cites
A Tribute to Carl Erskine
I was going to write a memorial about Carl, whom I knew. He was my banker for years, but Dana Hunsinger Benbow wrote it better in the Indy Star, so I am publishing it in its entirety. They won’t mind. This is special:
Carl Erskine, Dodgers legend and human rights icon, dies: ‘The best guy I’ve ever known’
Carl Erskine, a fierce fighter for human rights and All-Star for the Brooklyn Dodgers who pitched one of the greatest World Series games in history, died at Anderson Community Hospital early Tuesday morning after a brief illness, his family confirmed to IndyStar. He was 97.
Erskine, an Anderson, Ind. native, died a baseball legend who played alongside field icons Jackie Robinson and Gil Hodges. He pitched in five World Series, striking out a then-record 14 in a game in 1953. Erskine, who played for the Dodgers from 1948 to 1959, would become beloved by the fans. They affectionately called him “Oisk” in their Brooklyn accents.
But, to those who knew him best, Erskine was so much more. He was a man who, off the field, fought for what was right in the world. Erskine was a fierce champion of human rights, racial equality and, when his late son Jimmy was born with Down syndrome, became immersed in fighting for people with special needs.
“He was the best guy I’ve ever known,” said filmmaker Ted Green, who produced a documentary on Erskine, “The Best We’ve Got: The Carl Erskine Story.”
Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said Tuesday “you didn’t have to be a lifelong Dodger fan to be a huge fan of Carl Erskine and the remarkable character with which he led his life.”
“When asked by his documentary filmmakers to sum him up, I blurted out ‘He’s the best we’ve got,'” Daniels wrote in a statement provided to IndyStar. “I can’t improve on that and, like millions, I’ll miss him very much.”
Erskine was born at home in 1926, the son of a stay-at-home mom and a father who was a grocery store manager, and later a factory worker. He grew up in what he called a “mixed neighborhood” in Anderson.
As a kid, Erskine loved playing basketball and there was a court in a back alley that sat empty waiting for kids who had finished their chores after school or who had gotten up early enough to play as the sun rose. Erskine went there every chance he got.
It was the 1930s in Anderson where, 10 years before, the Ku Klux Klan had a stronghold, as it did across the state and much of the nation. Racism was rampant as Erskine came to that court in 1937, a 10-year-old white boy with nothing to prove. Just to play.
“And with every societal force pushing Carl in another direction, here on a basketball court in a back alley, he befriends a 9-year-old Johnny,” said Green.
Johnny was “Jumpin” Johnny Wilson, as he later became known in Anderson, a high school basketball superstar who along with Erskine wowed crowds of more than 5,000 at the Wigwam gym.
“I equate getting an (Anderson Indians) uniform my sophomore year to getting a Dodgers uniform,” Erskine told IndyStar in 2015. “I’m telling you if you made the Indians (basketball team), you had actually accomplished almost the impossible. I mean, that’s the way it seemed. Boy, if you made the Indians, man alive.”
Erskine and Wilson led the team to the state semifinals in 1944. Anderson lost to Kokomo after Wilson was injured in semistate.
“We just couldn’t make up that 25 or 30 points Wilson usually scored,” Erskine said. “Boy did we have teamwork going for the two of us.”
Erskine and Wilson, who was Black, became more than teammates. They became best friends. The two were joined at the hip. They walked to school together every day and hung out after. They played sports together and told each other their deepest secrets.
Erskine didn’t realize it at the time, but Wilson would shape his views on race. And later in his life, someone would notice that. Erskine was in the Brooklyn Dodgers locker room when he heard a guy come up behind him, Erskine told IndyStar in 2015.
“Hey Erskine, how come you don’t have a problem with this Black and white thing?” The voice belonged to Dodgers teammate Jackie Robinson.
“I said, ‘Well, I grew up with Johnny Wilson,'” Erskine recalled. “‘I didn’t know he was Black. He was my buddy. And so I don’t have a problem.'”
Birth of a pitching star
Erskine had been playing baseball his entire life in those days before television and video games. He and his dad would go in the yard and play catch. At age 9, a team asked Erskine to play in the Anderson Parks city league. He pitched on a regular-sized diamond; there wasn’t Little League at the time.
When Erskine got to high school, Archie Chad, who coached football, basketball and baseball, called for Erskine to come to the office. “It scared me to death,” Erskine said. “What would Mr. Chad want with me?”
Chad told Erskine he wanted him to come out for baseball. But playing the sport that first day didn’t come without a little embarrassment.
“I didn’t know how to put on a baseball uniform,” Erskine said in 2015. “It’s got those funny socks and a few things inside you don’t see and I didn’t know how to put it on. The little shortstop in high school was a guy named Popeye Parker. And I just, without anybody watching me hopefully, I was watching him get dressed. He’d put on a piece and I’d put on piece. He’d put on the next piece. And I’d put on the next piece. And then I got to letter four years in high school.”
Erskine quickly made a name for himself as a baseball player in Indiana. Striking kids out. Pitching no-hitters. Being written about in newspapers. He wasn’t very big, 5-10 and 165 pounds, but he had an arm.
Radar guns weren’t around back in those days so Erskine never knew exactly how fast he was throwing in high school. Later, he would get a scouting card from the Dodgers that gave him an A+ for velocity. That A+ meant he was throwing between 92 and 93 miles per hour.
Several major league teams had their eyes on Erskine in high school, “but the Dodgers,” Erskine said, “were the team that impressed me the most.”
After graduating in 1945, Erskine worked out for the Dodgers at Ebbets Field. He couldn’t sign because he had to serve his time in the Navy due to World War II. When the war ended the following year, Erskine signed with the Dodgers at the age of 19.
He played a winter season in Cuba and he still remembers what he made — $325 a month.
“That helped me immensely to pitch in what was about like a Triple-A caliber league,” he said in 2015. “And I was very young. So, it’s kind of a truism in life. If you want to be better at something, do it with people who are better than you are. That helped me a lot.”
At a preseason game in Fort Worth, Tex., in 1948, Erskine pitched four or five innings against Robinson as he was trying to make the big leagues.
“And lo and behold when the game was over, Jackie Robinson actually came over to our dugout and he said, ‘Where’s Erskine?'” he told IndyStar in 2105. “I didn’t know Jackie and I stepped out and shook hands with him. And he said, ‘Young man, I hit against you twice today. You’re not going to be here very long.'”
Robinson was right. Just a dozen games later, Erskine was called up to the Dodgers. When he checked in and went to his locker, Robinson walked up to him. “Jackie said, ‘I told you you couldn’t miss,'” Erskine said.
First nationally televised no hitter
Robinson, Erskine and their young Dodgers team would add to an exciting era of baseball in Brooklyn. After losing seven consecutive World Series over the years, the franchise won its first title in 1955.
The Dodgers were made up of icons from that era: Robinson, Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Preacher Roe, Duke Snider and Carl Furillo.
“We had a team that in my 12 seasons in the big leagues won the National League championship six times,” Erskine said in 2015. Erskine became a regular in the team’s starting rotation in 1951. In addition to pitching in five World Series, he pitched two no-hitters, the first in 1952 against the Cubs. He also led the National League with 20 wins in 1953.
Erskine pitched the first nationally-televised no-hitter in 1956 against the Giants. It was the Saturday Game of the Week at a time the nation gathered around their televisions to watch. One of those watching that game was Betty, Erskine’s high school sweetheart and wife. Erskine’s arm had been giving him trouble and she was nervous.
Betty was back home with the kids in Bay Ridge, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, ironing in front of the TV so she could watch the game.
“She was ironing a tablecloth. So now I pitch a couple good three innings and she’s kind of hesitant to quit ironing the tablecloth because she wants things to keep going good. So she keeps ironing,” Erskine said in 2015. “So now about the fifth inning, she finally turns it over and she keeps ironing. So she ironed the same tablecloth for nine innings. She watched every pitch and she never scorched a spot. And I never allowed a hit. That’s teamwork.”
The Brooklyn era of the Dodgers came to an end in 1958, shocking and saddening a city, when the team announced it would be moving to Los Angeles. Erskine pitched the home opener in in L.A. Dodgers Stadium wasn’t built yet, so the team played in a football stadium and 80,000 people were in the stands.
“It was a big historic moment for L.A. to have major league baseball,” he said. “I did get the win that day against the Giants. And that sort of ties me to L.A. after playing most of my career in Brooklyn. When I go back to L.A., it seems as though the fans accept me as if I played my whole career there. It’s pretty neat.”
Erskine retired from baseball in 1959 and returned to Indiana where he and Betty would raise their three children, Danny, Gary and Susan. One year later, Jimmy was born.
‘The crowd would go silent”
Jimmy Erskine was born in 1960 with Down syndrome. It was a time when many doctors told parents that babies with Down syndrome should be sent to an institution, that they would be a societal hindrance, that they would disrupt family life.
Erskine and his wife, Betty, ignored what doctors said and they took Jimmy home. They were not going to do what other families had done before. They raised Jimmy just as they did their other three children.
“They let him fly. They took Jimmy out with them wherever they went, to church, to restaurants,” said Green. “It was always Jimmy was there and if he acted up, he acted up.” Just like every other kid acts up.
Green says the Erskines blazed a trail for other families with children who had special needs. They showed quietly though their actions how to raise a child with intellectual disabilities.
But Erskine didn’t just make life better for Jimmy. He took to another fight, a fight to make lives better for all people with special needs. He was a fierce advocate for educational opportunities and for Special Olympics.
“Carl Erskine has helped to affect such massive change through humility, through grace, through human leadership,” said Green. “He has spent his lifetime propping up others.”
At the time Jimmy was born, average life expectancy for babies with Down syndrome was 10 years. Jimmy Erskine would outlive his Down syndrome prognosis by decades and, along the way, became the face of Special Olympics. He died in 2023 at the age of 63.
Whenever Erskine was asked to give a speech as a World Series champ, he would stand at the podium and hold up his World Series ring and tell the audience how much it meant to him. But then, he would always pull from his pocket one of Jimmy’s gold medals from the Special Olympics.
“You tell me which is the greater achievement,” Erskine would say to the audience. “Which of these means more?”
“The crowd would go silent,” Green said. “Then they would clap, and then the tears would fall.”
Funeral arrangements for Erskine are pending.
I had the privilege of watching Tommy Lasorda address the crowd and Carl Erskine play the National Anthem on his harmonica at the last game in Holman Stadium in Dodgertown. What a day! R.I.P. Carl!
When discussing pitching injuries, people cite Greg Maddox as a pitcher who won without throwing 95+. However, Maddox recently said the following:
Maddux says velocity is important and it’s what teams are searching for. Maddux said if he was a coach, he’d prefer the guy who can throw harder.
“Velocity matters. Teams want guys who throw hard.
As a coach, I’d rather coach a guy who can throw it 95 than 90.
Faster is better, but at the same time it’s not the answer to your problems.”
-Greg Madduxhttps://t.co/q6rBY9T5vV
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 18, 2024
However, Mad Dog did go on to say that velocity still isn’t the solution to every pitchers problems. He claims pitchers should be focusing on how to execute their pitches better, rather than throwing it as hard as they can.
Lets just say he was 96 last night. Its not unreasonable to think he can’t get to 98MPH again and I believe he will.
Hes a bulldog and wants the ball. Ill always remember him stepping up in Game 6 of the NLCS in 21 when Max flaked out.
Hes a top of the rotation guy and will figure it out.
Is he a bulldog or a junkyard dog?
A Cane Corso.
UPDATE ABOVE ON CARL ERSKINE
if i can have one prayer answered today, it would be jessica mendoza goes away! look, i have 4 granddaughters and want them to have an opportunity to be anything they want without being discriminated against. BUT, i can’t listen to her for much more than 30 seconds without crying! put her on FX2 or something like cornhole tournaments! seems nice enough but her plus little steven? no thanks ! i’ll take nevert and. monday! and john sterling is retiring! 20 years ago would have made me happy! guy actually had a nice voice, but so silly and stupid. never have to hear tha awful “yankees win “ call again! guess i’m just missing Vin about now! honestly 85% of radio guys sound all alike. maybe Ole Bear should call games on the radio! an improvement im sure! not what i was hoping for with Walker. with Bobby down , and Emmit down, and Paxton a “who knows “, ee may need to call the Marlins! plus i here they have a second baseman who can hit a little!! make the call. oh , they also have a lefty reliever they might throw in. you never know!
100% agree and Stephen Nelson as well. Were they DEI hires? Only joking, sort of.
Give me JOREL every game and Ill be happy. I like Neverete and Monday as well. Ill take Karros and Nomar over Nelson and Mendoza…
What we really need is Alanna Rizzo Back!!!
Listen to the Rockies broadcasters just once and you’ll be grateful for any pair of the dodgers throw at us through
100 percent in agreement with that. Drew Goodman is awful, and he never gets his facts right. Jenny Cavnar, who did their pre and post-game shows is now the play-by-play announcer for the A’s. I still think Orel talks too damn much. I much prefer Nomar.
I cringe every time I hear the phrase Subaru strike zone
Exactly. Who is his boothmate, Spilborghs? Whoever it is, he sucks rocks. Also Jeff Huson, another unlistenable voice. You read the Rockies bios on these guys, you would think they are the best crew in the majors instead of one of the worst. All are total homers.
THE ATHLETIC Ranks MLB’s TOP Starting Pitchers:
https://theathletic.com/5426812/2024/04/19/mlb-starting-pitcher-fantasy-baseball-ranking/?campaign=5888993&source=dailyemail&userId=147501
They ranked the Top 165 and the Dodgers had 9 – Count ’em NINE:
James Paxton – 160
Clayton Kershaw – 126
Michael Grove – 123
Landon Knack – 119
Gavin Stone – 101
Walker Buehler – 36
Bobby Miller – 22
Yoshinobu Yamamoto – 12
Tyler Glasnow – 4
I am rooting for Buehler but when his velo dropped he just wasn’t the same. 95 should be good enough with life. Sadly, we need a post season starter and it is questionable.
I am one who wanted Grove in Oklahoma. His track record in the minors is inconsistent, homer prone, couldn’t get lefties. He has looked really good lately. Mb he has settled into a bullpen role. He has added a cutter for lefties to go along with a dominant slider against righties. With consistency he could be huge in the pen if used properly.
Wrobleski is not coming. Hopefully Sheehan, Kershaw, may, make it back but a long shot. Lux should come on. Pages , outman mb. The rest have already proven they are what they are. They have streaks if at the right time.
i’ve heard the rockies guys, they are bad ! but mendoza could make Vin cry! not questioning her knowledge, just that voice and giggling along with nerd boy! awful!!!! i used to love mlb network, but it’s terrible now! when intentional talk first came on with rose and millar, hey! this is pretty good stuff. now it’s unwatchable! the morning shows are goofy as hell. and maddog irritates my ears to no end! getting ready to retire so the highass cable bill has to go. only keep it now so i can get mlb network. but i’ll just pay for the game package . hell i can get more info from mark and Bear right here! oh has doc figured out why ohtani isn’t driving in runs? i’m sure he’s all over it! he also says he’s going to keep running taylor , kiki, and lux out there! wow! who else does he have? sometimes he makes me wonder! as led zeppelin would say! need a win tonight! and tomorrow night, and sunday!
Friday Dodger Minor League Schedule
3:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Jared Karros) vs. West Michigan (Dylan Smith)
5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Dinelson Lamet) vs. Sacramento (Mason Black)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Orlando Ortiz-Mayr) at Wichita (Marco Raya)
6:35 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Patrick Copen) at Inland Empire (Barrett Kent)
The Inland Empire pitcher shares my name. Not too many of those.
OK, Kent! 😉
Nice tribute to Oisk Mark. I wrote a post about Erskine for Jeffs site today. The guy had class. Dodgers have recognized some players with bobbleheads who haven’t really impacted the team. Machado???? Please. They were supposed to do a Jim Gilliam in 18, but they did Machado instead after his trade to LA. Junior deserves one. It would be very fitting to induct both Gilliam and Erskine into the Legends of Dodger baseball.
clayton kershaw does tons of good stuff for less fortunate. justin and courtney do great things. don’t hear much nationally. but let tayis or machado not hustle, do some peds, or some other boneheaded act . guess what? national need its ass backwards these days!
Drew Pomeranz Opts Out Of Dodgers Deal
We will survive
Great tribute to Oisk, one of my faves from the greatest of all Dodger teams in ’52 and ’53. What a great Dodger!
10:10 PM ET
Mets (10-8)
Dodgers (12-9)
SP Sean Manaea L
1-1 4.30 ERA
SP Y. Yamamoto R
1-1 4.50 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
SS Mookie Betts R
DH S. Ohtani L
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
RF T. Hernandez R
2B E. Hernandez R
CF Andy Pages R
3B Miguel Rojas R
LF Chris Taylor R
59° Wind 6 mph Out
“Its not a platoon” Robert’s lol
… Lux is a SS. 😉
They just lie to our face without blinking anymore.
I believe at some point, Friedman will make a trade that will shake up the roster.
i guess max is a platoon guy now! boy i hope mansaea is awful tonight! without the top 3 this kinda reminds me of an old kansa s city lineup!
Not crazy about Rojas playing 3b. Fine if he’s a defensive SS but this is too much.
You have to realize that the Dodgers lineup is not dictated by Roberts. It’s a combination of the Front Office, Denny Lehman, Bob Geren and Doc. So, if you disagree, which is your right, you are disagreeing with more than Dave Roberts.
You should also know that they know Rojas is hitting .333 against Manaea and Muncy is hitting .167.
So, there is that.
Mark,
I get it that he “they” look at the matchups and they should. By why when a lefty comes in and has reverse splits do they automatically put a righty up? Why do u think that is? Is it mb they just look at our lefties vs. lefties? Mb small sample? Just they think our righties are better? Just curious on your take. They use analytics until they don’t?
Their analytics department is unmatched in MLB. They know every matchup -what every LH or RH hitter hits against the following:
LH Pitchers (total and individually)
RH Pitchers (total and individually)
Sliders
Curveballs
Changeups
Count
Power pitchers
Junk Pitchers
It’s Denny Lehmans and Bob Gerens jobs to have that info at the ready.
They know what Max Muncy hit off Manaea on June 6, 2017, with a 2-1 count curve with the fielders playing him to pull.
That’s fair. The brain trust. I think this team is just piddling.
trust the doctor! doobie brothers say, you got to listen to the doctor!
so sit taylor. move rojas to short and kiki to outfield.
Mookie is going to be playing SS a lot.
I was listening to MLB Radio today, and they said he was currently #2 in Defensive Runs Saved, and they all expect him to be the best SS in baseball by the end of the year.
Muncy is not in a true platoon, but when he has a BA of .167 against a certain LHP, I think he should sit.
On the other hand, sometimes you go with your gut! 😉
I am not sure how they compute some of the defensive stats, but Mookie made his third error tonight. And he is rated 15th in the MLB with 0 outs above average. Yes, his DRS has been high so far, but it is still pretty early in the season. Mookie has performed better than I expected at SS so far, but I certainly don’t see him as the best defensive SS in MLB by the end of the year. It will be a major accomplishment if Mookie can end up the year as aa average MLB shortstop defensively in my opinion.
ok! but taylor is under the equator!! have a great weekend mark! love this site!
CT3 is due to breakout… I hope I live that long!
😉
Question? If Yamamoto is going to pitch one day a week how does that work in the playoffs. All our pitchers are trained on xtra rest all year then in the playoffs they all work on short rest? Can u expect the pitchers to change routines and perform or am I missing something?
I suggest they store him in a hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber during the playoffs.
I guess we shall have to find out. I would say that maybe Ohtani will take his place.
Pages looks perfectly suited for the bottom third of our lineup.
Moto, I don’t think we’re in the Nippon league anymore!
Yoshi’s flat fastball
It is!
Buyers remorse
Can anybody hit on this team?
Freddie’s age a factor now?
CT3 – Shut up!
I have a really, really, really, really hard time listening to idiots who have never played professional baseball criticize players who have played for years!
It makes me sick to my stomach!
And here I am , supposedly marks alter ego , at least what our boy blind Joe death((that’s your first red flag, just the dudes handle). , is spewing. Whatever dude,. Anyways ,,despite the loss tonight , you gotta give the Dodgers a little credit , they battled back from 4-0 to make it a game, but the bullpen gave it away. Unlike blind blow or Joe, whatever, doesn’t matter, I will take the long ride, I’m ok with the bullpen blowing it this time of year because you got Bruster and Trienen out right now. Think about 4 months from now, most of those guys won’t even be there . Also, keep an eye on May and Cat Man when they come back, especially May, he would be electric coming out of the pen later on this year , I suggest any hard core Dodger fan who is serious about the ins and outs of the team to look up the podcast for Roggin and Rodney., AM 570 on LA . They have David Vaseighy, who is totally embedded with the team but will also shoot straight on his opinions and kick the team in the ass , , by no means a homer . They also have Ned Colleti , the ex GM come on, and he is amazing with his behind the scenes game insight. Dylan Hernandez from the LA time.also comes on the show. I get most of my info from thee guys ,, people who know the ins and outs of the game, who have actually been there, not making some dipshit ass comment from the safety of a dark room and a keyboard. None of those guys are worried right now, they all know the Dodgers will be there in the end. I feel the same way. And to all you short sighted dumbasses (ok, sounds like Mark a bit) who want Doc fired, have you noticed he keeps running guys out there that are totally struggling right now, yet we can’t understand why??? Guarantee he and Freidman are once again taking a long look at guys before they make a move. Colletti, and he should know, he always says how he had never seen an organization that preaches patience like the Dodgers do when it comes to players. I’m totally cool with that.
I must be talking to myself…
Actually, I looked you up Roger. That really is your name.