Tonight, we see Kumar Rocker, the 6′ 5″, 245-pound RH, #3 Draft Pick in the 2022 Draft, pitch against Tyler Glasnow. Well, Tyler is not going to hit against him, so there is that!
Minor League Overview
OKC Comets: They are now 5-7 after losing 6-5 to Round Rock. Of note is that Fitzgerald is smoking hot (.415) and went 4-5 last night. Ehrhard was 3-5, and Noah Miller was 3-3 (.357). Several pitchers took the mound and were meeeehhh! The biggest concern is Ronan Kopp, who gave up 1 hit and 1 run while walking 4 in .2 innings. He currently has a 13,54 ERA and in 4.1 innings has allowed 6 hits, 3 HR, and walked 9 batters while striking out 5. Shades of Nick Nastrini!
Tulsa Drillers – They are now 4-2 as they beat Springfield 12-9. George was 3-5 (.407) with a double and his 5th SB. DePaula was 3-6. Nevin, Hainline, and Vetrano also had 2 hits. Serwinowski gave up 5 runs on 5 hits and 3 BB in 1.1 innings. Bruns was smoked for 4 runs in 2 IP, and when Wepf is your best pitcher of the day, you have issues. But they won. DePaula is on a fast track to OKC.
Great Lakes Loons – The Loons are also 4-2 after beating West Michigan 5-2. Davalan and Sirota each had a double, and Wagner hit his 2nd HR. Yean got the save, striking out 2 in the 9th inning.
Ontario Tower Buzzers – Leiter starts tonight! The Buzzers are also 4-2 as they Inland Empire 8-3. Elkins (DH) was 4-4 (.440) with his 2nd HR. Vargas was 2-5 as well. Morales is playing 3B and was 1-3 (a double).
George is breaking out. Doing this at AA is worthy of notice.
Opposite field fever! Tibbs was doing that too.
Looking forward to seeing Leiter. Some interesting names right now atop the pitchibg watchlist: Copen, Root, Nieves, Zazueta, Fox.
I hope Ward gets a chance somewhere. Tibbs has completely ended his [Ward’s] chance with us.
Morales at 3B is cool. Let’s hope Joendry Vargas at SS has a bounceback season.
Keep the pipeline flowin’ and the trophies showin’.
Despite all the hype about Tibbs (justified), Erdhard is keeping pace.
If George can get his bat working a little better, he could be a real weapon with his speed.
I liked Hainline this spring and he’s off to a nice start at Tulsa. Looks like it’s the end of the line for Bruns. Just has no idea where the ball is going. Hate to see it.
really wish the Dodgers would move Ward. Let him try somewhere else and see if he can make a big league roster. Maybe nobody wants him? I don’t believe that, but it’s possible. Maybe he’s comfortable doing what he’s doing. I don’t know how much he makes, but it would be nice if he got a shot somewhere else.
Nice to see aj hinch and the tigers off to a slow start! As well, the Red Sox are also off to a underwhelming start. Not bitter anymore, just a grinning!
Rockies are playing some good baseball! The white Sox too. Pirates can be a playoff contender. Minnesota under Derek Shelton are competitive. Cardinals are playing better than anticipated. Maybe Ollie can manage. Baseball is in a good place. Let’s hope there’s no lockout! I think they work it out. Baseball can’t afford another lockout.
Checked on tickets for the Dodgers trip to Pittsburgh. Around a $1000 bucks for 4 tickets for 2 games. That’s decent seats. I guess my wife and I could sleep in the car!!!! Still debating whether to go or watch in my den!
Never stop writing Bear! Love reading about the old days. You’re a little older than me so I enjoy reading about some of the Dodgers I really never got to see. Limited tv in the 60’s where I grew up so didn’t get to watch as much as some. He’ll with all the streaming, could be headed back to those days! I don’t have peacock. I don’t have Netflix. I don’t have Hulu. I don’t have paramount. I DO have an outrageous cable subscription which I am dying to get rid of. Just afraid of YouTube tv. Well I do have mlb package which I love except when the Dodgers play either Washington or Baltimore, and those games are blacked out. Stupid since I am 5 hours away! Washington is not very good so they are never on national tv. Baltimore? Almost the same thing. I don’t get it. They want more viewers, but they limit the exposure!
I cut the cable cord years ago and You Tube Tv has been great.
I have ESPN, Hulu, HBO, ESPN, Netflix, Apple TV, and a few others.
Good post Dad. The trip to Pittsburgh sounds really fun It’s such a beautiful setting on TV; I haven’t actually been there. But who wants to be the richest guy in the cemetery? Spend the grand and have fun.
I cut the cable in Az this winter when my cable bill hit $350 a month. Great package but that’s too much.
Another consideration for me was recording capabilities. I try to watch nothing live. I skip all the ads and I can watch a game in no time.
I picked Hulu + with live TV and Disney. I’m figuring out the recording tricks and like it. My only problem now is I can’t figure out how to watch an unfinished game from the beginning while it is recording. So far, I have to wait for the game to be completed before I can watch the recording.
If anybody knows how to avoid that, I’m all ears.
So with Roku, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount+, History Vault and all the ESPN channels, I think I’m all set. If I was stying in Az longer, I’d get the MLB extra-innings package.
All of this is much cheaper than $350/ mo.
Having watched all of the depth, talent and competition in Spring Training, I’m surprised that OKC is 5 and 7. Yeah, it’s early but a fair number of our AAA squad might be on the 26 man roster of a number of Big League teams.
With the exception of Senzel, Zavala and Siani, they are hitting the crap out of the ball but pitching is everything and statistically, very few of the top prospects are pitching well, Kopp being mentioned today as especially underperforming.
In 248.1 professional IP, Ronan Kopp has struck out a whopping 386 batters. That is 14.0 K/9. But like so many LAD pitching prospects, his BB rate is not good (okay, bad). In those same 248.1 IP, he has issued 186 walks, or 6.7 BB/9. One might hope that the pitcher can harness his control a bit better once he reaches AAA, but Kopp has regressed. He has appeared in 4 games, 4.1 IP and has 9 BB. What is also concerning is that he only has 5 K. A 1.8 K/BB ratio is not good, but a 1.8 BB to K ratio is horrible. His stuff is fantastic which is why he was protected. But it does no good if you can’t get it consistently over the plate. Too early to draw conclusions, but he needs to reverse the trend.
Thanks, I have every intention of doing so for as long as Mark will have me and as long as I feel I can make serious contributions to the site. My advice is this, I stream all of my TV. I have a Roku TV in the living room, and a Roku Ultra in the bedroom. I get all the regular TV with my Spectrum account that I have for the internet. You get a ton of stations free. I subscribe to MLB.TV through ESPN> It was 139 for the year. If you cannot watch the games live, they are available to stream two hours after the game is over. I understand about Apple and Netflix and so forth. I have Paramount plus, and I get Apple from my sis.
Probably going the YouTube route. Thanks for the info.
PAtrick Copen starts today for Tulsa against Springfield. I am working on my Meet Patrick Copen post. Hopefully today can add something special.
Big arm
I am very high on Copen.
Is that a new drug?
That’s Copium
Good one Brian
hey Mark, is it possible for you to share my e-mail address with Quaz so he can send me some tech tips on my question about recording games?
I would love for him to coach me up on stuff I’m trying to learn.
Thank you.
Done!
Mark, that % you were looking for is .000000120481928% approximately.
None of the Texas starters have had much success against Glasnow. The only Ranger with a homer off of him is McCutcheon, his old teammate, who has two. LA has never seen Rocker.
10:10 PM ET
Rangers (7-5)
Dodgers (9-3)
SP Kumar Rocker R
0-1 3.60 ERA
SP Tyler Glasnow R
1-0 3.00 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
RF Kyle Tucker L
C Will Smith R
1B F. Freeman L
3B Max Muncy L
LF T. Hernandez R
CF Andy Pages R
2B A. Freeland S
SS Hyeseong Kim L
65° Wind 11 mph Out
I got the Freeland/Kim exacta box.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Today, we remember a Dodgers icon.
Sad news in Dodgersland this week as Davey Lopes, member of the famed Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey infield, died at the age of 80.
“Even though Davey may have been the less visible of the famous long-running Dodger infield with Cey, Russell and Garvey, his impact on the team’s success was huge,” former Dodgers owner and president Peter O’Malley told The Times. “All Dodger fans will always remember the excitement he gave us on the basepaths and I admire his commitment to the game managing, coaching and instructing after his playing days.”
Lopes was born May 3, 1945, in East Providence, R.I. He did not remember his father, who died when Lopes was 2. His mother, Mary Rose, supported Lopes and his nine siblings on the meager salary she earned as a maid. Lopes found solace in baseball.
“If it hadn’t been for sports, there’s no telling what I’d be or where I’d be,” Lopes told former Times baseball columnist Ross Newhan in 1973. “I had one glove until I got to high school. I guess I can admit now that I confiscated more than a few bats and balls.”
Lopes found a mentor in baseball coach Michael Sarkesian, who usually coached the team Lopes was playing against while growing up. Sarkesian remembers Lopes, though, and brought him to Iowa Wesleyan when Sarkesian became the athletic director there.
“Whatever I missed by not really having had a father, Sarkesian provided,” Lopes told Newhan. “He could relate to my problems, my environment. The drive, the determination, not to give in to the ghetto, to make something of my life, stems from my relations with him.”
Lopes was an NAIA All-American at Wesleyan and then followed Sarkesian to Washburn University in Topeka, Kan. He hit .380 and was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the seventh round of the 1967 MLB draft. He turned them down, then signed with the Dodgers when they chose him in the second round of the secondary phase of the 1968 draft.
He played his first two seasons at Class A Daytona Beach, hitting .247 with 26 steals in 82 games in 1968, then hitting .280 with 32 steals in 72 games in 1969.
Davey Lopes hits a home run against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1977 NLCS.
Davey Lopes steals second while Reds shortstop Davey Concepcion awaits the throw in a 1980 game. (Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times)
Lopes was promoted to triple-A Spokane in 1970, and it was there that he met Tommy Lasorda, who was managing Spokane, and where the Dodgers converted Lopes from an outfielder to a second baseman under the tutelage of Monty Basgall. He was focused on learning a new position and stole only 11 bases, but rebounded in 1971 to hit .306 with 27 steals.
After another standout year in 1972, the Dodgers called him up to the majors for the first time for the final two weeks of the season. He stole four bases in four attempts.
At spring training in 1973, Lopes battled with Lee Lacy for the second base job and lost. But Lacy got off to a terrible start and Walter Alston made Lopes the starting second baseman on April 22. And he remained the starting second baseman until the 1982 season.
Eventually, Bill Russell, Ron Cey and Steve Garvey found their way into the starting lineup and on June 23, 1973, the foursome started together for the first time and stayed together for nine seasons, the longest-running infield in MLB history.
Lopes was the spark plug atop the lineup, becoming one of the best base stealers in the game. “I realize that when I’m running and stealing bases, I’m setting the momentum and getting the adrenaline going for the rest of the lineup,” Lopes told Newhan in 1974. “And until someone proves he can stop me, or the situation dictates I don’t run, I’m going to be stealing all the time.”
Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench once called Lopes the best base stealer in the game.
Beginning in 1975, Lopes racked up some impressive stolen base numbers:
1975*: 77 steals, 12 caught stealing, 86.5% success rate.
1976*: 63 steals, 10 caught stealing, 86.3%
1977: 47 steals, 12 caught stealing, 79.7%
1978: 45 steals, four caught stealing, 91.8%
1979: 44 steals, four caught stealing, 91.7%
*-Led league in steals.
In those five seasons, he stole 276 bases and was caught only 42 times, an amazing 86.8% success rate. He is the best base stealer in Dodger history. Maury Wills stole more often, but Lopes was more successful.
In 1975, Lopes stole 38 bases in a row from June 10 to August 24 to break Max Carey’s mark of 36 in a row set during the 1922-23 seasons. He was finally thrown out by Montreal’s Gary Carter in the 12th inning of a game.
In postseason play for the Dodgers, Lopes hit .241 with six home runs, 22 RBIs, 28 runs scored and 20 steals in 50 games, as the Dodgers lost in the World Series to Oakland (1974) and the Yankees twice (1977-78) before finally breaking through against the Yankees in 1981.
Lopes’ mentor with the Dodgers was Jim Gilliam. One day after the Dodgers won the 1978 NLCS, Gilliam died, leaving Lopes distraught. He channeled his emotions into an incredible Game 1 of the World Series, hitting two home runs and driving in five in an 11-5 rout. After his first homer, Lopes pointed to the sky to acknowledge Gilliam. A couple of years later, “The Bronx Zoo” by Yankees reliever Sparky Lyle was published. In it, he wrote about Lopes, saying, and I’m paraphrasing here, that it was bush league for Lopes to put up “We’re No. 1” while circling the bases, that the Dodgers had no class and that the Red Sox were better than the Dodgers. He had missed the point completely.
“They can do anything they want with us now,” Lopes said after the 1981 World Series victory. “I’ve got the ring. They can’t take that away from me.”
Davey Lopes hits a home run against the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1977 NLCS.
From left, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey reunite in 2013. (Los Angeles Times)
His comments contained a bit of foreshadowing. Lopes had his worst season in 1981, hitting .206 in 58 games of a strike-interrupted season (though he still stole 20 bases while being caught only twice). The Dodgers had prized prospect Steve Sax waiting in the wings. So, on Feb. 8, 1982, the Dodgers traded Lopes to Oakland for Lance Hudson. If you’ve never heard of Hudson, that’s OK, because he never made it to the majors. In essence, the Dodgers gave Lopes away for nothing.
Lopes was far from through, though. He hit .242 with the A’s in 1982 and .277 with 17 homers and 22 steals in 1983. Oakland sent him to the Chicago Cubs near the end of the 1984 season for pitcher Chuck Rainey. And in 1985, Lopes had a season for the ages, or at least, aged. At the age of 40, he stole 47 bases and was caught only four times while hitting .284/.383/.444 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs in 99 games. It is still the record for most stolen bases at age 40. Rickey Henderson is next with 37 in 1999.
Lopes finished his career with two seasons with the Astros, retiring after the 1987 season. He then began a long career as coach and manager, including a stint as first base coach for the Dodgers from 2011-15. Then GM Ned Colletti made it his mission to bring Lopes back as a coach.
Colletti had this to say after learning of Lopes’ death: “Davey Lopes transformed coaching at first base. His situational awareness and intricacy of coaching first base was the best I have ever watched. He changed a coaching position and how it was executed — base running, secondary leads, pitch tipping, cutting your steps from first to third.
“His contract has expired in Philadelphia [after the 2010 season] and I went and recruited him back. He helped players and, therefore, teams, get better. He could find any advantage and he was a great teacher. He was one of my favorite people.”
Former Dodgers reliever Tom Niedenfuer, who played with Lopes on the 1981 championship team, had this to say: “Davey was 15 years older than me and he was quiet with us new guys. But he treated us as equals and was helpful. It had to be tough seeing Sax come up and knowing his days were numbered.”
Among the 112 players with at least 350 stolen bases, Lopes is fifth in stolen base percentage:
1. Tim Raines, 808 steals, 146 caught, 84.7%
2. Willie Wilson, 668-134, 83.3%
3. Barry Larkin, 379-77, 83.11%
4. Tony Womack, 363-74, 83.07%
5. Davey Lopes, 557-114, 83%
6. Jimmy Rollins, 470-105, 81.7%
7. Carl Crawford, 480-109, 81.5%
8. Ichiro Suzuki, 509-117, 81.3%
9. Joe Morgan, 689-162, 81%
10. Vince Coleman, 752-177, 80.9%
Rickey Henderson is 11th with an 80.8% success rate. Maury Wills is 42nd at 73.8%. Steve Sax 49th at 71.4%. Ty Cobb 81st at 64.3%.
How was Lopes so successful? In an interview with Ross Porter, he said, “Well, it’s just not running by chance. I studied the pitchers. I tried to look for idiosyncrasies in their bodies that tell me when they go to first base compared to going home. Try to pick that up, react to it as quickly as I possibly can.”
He also told Porter his favorite moment of his career: “Actually, the first time I ran on the field. It was like I had reached a goal I set as a kid — to be a Dodger. I always wanted to be a Brooklyn Dodger, but for some reason, they left Brooklyn. We won’t get into that. But to do it as a Dodger — that meant everything. It was kind of like second best, but it was like I arrived.”
As a leadoff hitter, Lopes would often bat after the pitcher. I always enjoyed watching Lopes stall for time when the pitcher had to run hard during his at-bat. To give the pitcher ample time to rest in the dugout, especially if there were two out, Lopes had a variety of delay tactics before getting to the batter’s box. He’d give a couple of extra swings in the on-deck circle. He’d walk to the plate, then stop and go back to the on-deck circle to get some extra pine tar. He’d “have trouble” getting the weighted circle off his bat. He’d take the first pitch and then call time. It was a master class in looking at the big picture.
Our best wishes to Lopes’ family, friends and former teammates. He will be missed.
If this has been posted, I apologize:
Charley Steiner, the veteran radio voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been largely absent from the team’s broadcasts in recent seasons as he continues to battle multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Steiner, who has been with the Dodgers since 2005, last called a full game in 2024 before his health issues forced him to step back. The Dodgers have kept Steiner on staff and continue to support him, much like they have done with other players facing personal challenges.
In October 2024, longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke detailed Steiner’s fight with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. Plaschke described Steiner’s debilitating symptoms, including constant lower back pain, significant weight loss, and the need for full-time nursing care. While Steiner’s cancer was in remission at the time, his limited game appearances since then suggest his health struggles are ongoing.
In October 2024, Bill Plaschke wrote a column detailing Steiner’s battle with multiple myeloma blood cancer.
Steiner called six innings on opening day in 2025 and three innings on opening day in 2026.
Thanks for posting this, wasn’t aware of his condition and it sounds very serious. I always enjoyed Steiner.
Sure he made some mistakes, so what. I liked his goofy sense of humor on the Dodgers broadcasts and when he was on ESPN over the years.
Watching Copen right now. Reminds me a little of Jeff Samardzija
If he can just improve his control a little bit… Watch Out!
He’s a thrower for sure. Love the arm though.
Even though it didn’t result in a run, love the Rohas/Espinal swap for Freeland/Kim. Was the right move and a good use of bench.
Scott looked real good in the eighth, that fast ball he threw inside to Seager, at 99 was something else
Dominant
Max “Freaking” Muncie!!!
I told you he would carry this team in streaks.
WOW!
He picked that bum, Diaz! 🙂
MMMuncy
Wesside
From Much-Maligned Max to Maximum Max…
A three-HR night is especially sweet when the last is a walk-off.