Gina Lollobrigida turned 90 yesterday. Described in her prime as “the most beautiful woman in the world”, Lollobrigida, will be receiving a long-overdue star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year. Hopefully, I am not the only one who remembers her. What does that have to do with Andrew Friedman? Absolutely nothing – except that Andrew Friedman and Company should be pretty dang beautiful in Dodger fans eyes right about now. OK, that was a big stretch, but the headline got ‘ya! All us old guys remember Gina…
Rants and Raves
- Have you noticed that Kike communicates with the other outfielders better than Joc? I’m just sayin’….
- Logan Forsythe is showing why he is such an asset. He has been hotter than blazes the past week. About the time everyone calls for his head, he goes off.
- Someone said Clayton Kershaw wasn’t as dominant this year? 13-2/2.19 ERA/0.89 WHIP – that’s sick!
- Here’s a stat – Justin Turner is leading the world in batting average, but he has 33 RBI in 216 AB while Yasmani Grandal has 33 in 247 AB’s hitting much lower in the order. I’m just saying…
- Chris Taylor is hitting .283 with a .370 OB% while OPS’ing .856. He passes the eye test in my book – this guy is for real.
- A-Gon has admitted that it might be September before he is back. Essentially, the Dodgers have paid A-Gon $43 million and Andre Ethier $20 million this year for just about nothing…. and are still winning.
- As AC mentioned last night, Trevor Oaks was announced as a starter for OKC last night and then pull back at gametime. It’s likely something is up. Is Maeda going to the pen?
- There will be all sizes and shapes of players at this All-Star Game, as evidenced by the photo at the right (Judge and Altuve). I wonder if Aaron Judge is related to former Dodger Mike Judd?
Minor League Highlights
- The Dodgers have to call up Alex Verdugo and soon. He raised his BA to .350 and his OB% to .420 last night. It’s time to find out how that translates in the Show.
- Rios played 3B at Tulsa last night and went 4-5 (showcasing?)
- Devin Smeltzer pitched a solid 6 innings and allowed 4 hits and one run to go with no walks and 8 punch outs. Istler pitched 2 shutout innings (6 K’s) to get his 8th save.
- Keibert Ruiz is a beast. His slash line is .321/.378/.428 at GL. Remember, he is only 18 and is a switch hitter. He may be passing Will Smith on the Catcher depth chart soon.
- Cristian Santana is just getting his feet wet at GL, but went 3-5 with a HR in his 4th game. He is hitting .467 after hitting .537 at Ogden in 10 games. He is 20 and I think we are just getting started with this guy!
Discussion (57)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Bill Shaikin:
“Not to say this is #Dodgers year, but their Cal League team just scored 8 runs (3 HR) in 1 inning vs Madison Bumgarner in his rehab start.”
Sweet
Kershaw will be pitching Sunday, making him ineligible to pitch in the ASG. Well if tonight’s game does not get Wood an All Star invite in place of Kershaw, there better be an investigation.
Just a little bit interesting that Kike’ hit for and replaced Joc. More faith in Kike’ against a righthander than Joc and a lefthander. Not to mention Kike’ playing center at crunch time.
Mark, Long-time reader but first posting. Thanks for keeping me sane even while you were at the other site with the trolls. Since you have started this sight back the old one has a very rancid smell. You used to call them morons and rightfully so. That sight is dyeing and I think the guy who wrote Dodger Therapy committed Harry Cari (sp). That’s a joke because I don’t wish bad on anyone. You never backed down and that’s what I like. This is the first sight I go to every moring. I have been a Dodger fan since 1967 and am looking forward to another win this year. You told them so.
I am going on record that I do not like Utley at 1B when you put a gold glover in RF.
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I hate second-guessing so I am saying it before!
Hedy Lamarr was the finest looking actress ever, and smart too. Liz Taylor the 2nd best with those violet eyes. Chris Taylor passes the eye test but the test of time has yet to be taken. Kelbert Ruiz is really young and has great numbers. Put him in advanced A so I can go check him out. Verdugo obviously ready to play MLB somewhere, and soon.
My take on Jeren Kendall is that he is one of the highest ranked players the Dodgers have ever selected in recent memory . He would immediately become the #1 player in the Dodger organization.
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Before the 2017 season, some scouts projected him as the best player in the country. Even after the season he had which was somewhat disappointing, many had him in the Top 10 or Top 5. I did not see who his agent was, but if I were his agent, I would be telling the Dodgers I would love to sign, but that it will take my bonus ($2.7 million) plus Cooper’s and Wong’s bonuses ( $1.6 million) to get him to sign.
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Do the Dodgers value him enough to walk away from Cooper and Wong (or at least one of them)?
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Will the Dodgers blink?
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Will Kendall blink?
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Stay tuned….
dang it, that was supposed to be ’til Bridget sings
AC, should we start to worry about our unsigned draftees yet?
While we’re dreaming: Gina, Claudia Cardinale, and me. I don’t think anyone will want Ryu or Maeda unless they are part of a bigger package. Throw ins. We picked up a game on the giants last night. Keep it going to 30 games behind. Then 35 etc.
Rudy mentioned Bridget Bardot. This is for you Rudy. It’s her latest pic:
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Rudy, I love your comments.
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Verdugo needs to be brought up. He has earned a call up to see what he can do. Taylor has made Gutierrez expendable. Romo is dead weight. Put him on the DL.
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Ryu and Maeda have played for half a season, they have not proved to me they are the answer to our 4 and 5 starter positions. They are not bad, but I just think we have better options. I am ready to look at Stewart, Stripling and Oaks. I know Stripling thinks he is a starter and maybe he should be given a chance to start again. I think FAZ and Doc are really good at giving players a chance to prove themselves. If they play well they stay in the line up. Just like Taylor and Bellinger. Let the competition decide.
The Dodgers just keep rolling along and I will roll in for the game tonight after a fun afternoon at Santa Anita closing day on the 4th. It’s nice to cool off a bit from the Vegas summer and enjoy an evening with fellow Dodger fans. Getting to see Alex Wood in person is a nice bonus, never heard of the poor sap about to be victimized who is taking the hill tonight for the snakes. I hope everyone had a Great 4th of July and are ready for some more Dodger Fireworks tonight!!
I am unable to find the run differential stat that you reference here. There isn’t a site that I have found that breaks out RD by season for a specific date earlier than 2002. Would you share the source of your data?
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In looking at a few numbers, the 1939 Yankees had a RD for the season of +411 in 154 games. (2.7 r/g) The Dodgers are at 1.8 r/g which is excellent and of course leads the league but isn’t close to the record. According to 1 website, there haven’t been many teams with an RD equal to or greater than 2.0:
Here’s a look at these seven teams that had a season with a run differential of 2.0 runs per game or higher.
•1939 New York Yankees, 2.7
•1937 New York Yankees 2.0
•1936 New York Yankees 2.2
•1931 New York Yankees 2.0
•1927 New York Yankees 2.4
•1906 Chicago Cubs 2.1
•1902 Pittsburgh Pirates 2.4
The 2001 Mariners were at 1.9. So were the ’98 Yankees. Will the Dodgers equal these numbers? Don’t know – stay tuned.
I was always torn between Gina, Sophia, and Brigitte. But then I’d wake up.
True Blue LA says that Trevor Oaks was held back last night because of “an injury to the midsection.” Do you smell smoke or is it a real injury?
“This team has the widest run differential of any team in Baseball since 1944”
That does tell the story – that is an incredible statistic.
AC, please help me, but are these Verdugo stats accurate?
Vs LHP .328 .420 .500 .920
Vs RHP .354 .415 .456 .871
If so, I think this guy is ready! Those are insane numbers
Taylor is still learning to play left field. Kike’ did a good job of calling for a fly ball in left center last night and Taylor learned to listen and be aware of the CFer and stopped. Taylor still locks his eyes on the ball and doesn’t seem to take a quick glance away to see where the CFer is, but that is or will soon be changing as he gains more experience in LF. Puig, however wants to catch everything he can get to, much like a CFer does.