LA's best

The only way to do the players who have played for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles is to separate them by the city the performed the most in. Brooklyn was the Dodgers home for 67 years from 1890-1957. Los Angeles has been home since 1958. This is the Dodgers 68th year in LA. We will go by position. I am sure there will be more than one fan who disagrees with a choice. So, I need to set the parameters for inclusion on the team. In this era, very few players spend their entire careers with one team. The limit I am setting is at least six years with the team. That takes the current players to their free agent year. I won't dismiss a player because he did not play on a Championship team. So let us begin.

Catcher: In Los Angeles, the Dodgers have had some very good players at this position. It makes the choice hard. But I have to go with Mike Piazza simply because he was the best offensive player at that position in LA history. All you need to do is look at his career numbers with the Dodgers. His .331 BA for LA is 4th on the All-Time list behind Keeler, Herman and Fournier. He set a rookie record for HRs at 35 when he earned the ROY in 1993. It was later broken by Cody Bellinger in his ROY season. Piazza did not leave because he wanted to. Who knows what might have been had Fox not traded him. Honorable Mention: Mike Sciocia, Steve Yeager, Johnny Roseboro. All three played for World Series Champs. Roseboro was on 3 such teams

First Base: In a couple of years, this might be a hard choice especially if Freeman signs an extension. There are two players who spent more than 10 years with the team and played the position for the majority of that time. It comes down to Karros and Garvey. The choice has to be Garvey. He was a career .301 hitter with LA. He won the MVP award in 1974. He won 4 gold glove awards, and they were in a row. He was an All-Star 8 times. He had 200 or more hits in a season 6 times. No other LA Dodger comes close to that. 211 of his careers 272 homer came as a Dodger. And he still holds the NL record for the most consecutive games played at 1207. Most of those as a Dodger. Honorable Mention: Karros. He holds the LA record for the most homers by an LA Dodger. Muncy, the closest to him with 230, is 35, and it is doubtful that even if he plays next season that he will catch him. Wes Parker. Wes was not much of a hitter, but he was a whiz defensively. He played his entire 12-year career in LA winning six gold gloves.

Second Base: Over the 68 years the Dodgers have been in Los Angeles, only two players opened the season at second six or more times. Davey Lopes 7, and Steve Sax 6. Although Sax was a rookie of the year, Lopes beats him out as the 2nd baseman. Lopes played 10 years in LA and was part of "The Infield" that stayed together for 8 seasons. Lopes was a prolific base stealer with 418 while a Dodger. He led the NL in steals back-to-back in 75-76 with 73 and then 63. He hit 28 homers in 1979. He was a career .263 hitter. Lopes passed away earlier this year. Honorable Mention: Sax, Jeff Kent 4 seasons with the Dodgers, and Charlie Neal a big contributor to the 59 World Series win.

Third Base: He made more consecutive opening day starts at third than any 3rd baseman in Dodger history, let alone LA, so the choice is easy, Ron Cey. "The Penguin" was a solid defender and for a guy his size, a very good power hitter. He was part of the quartet of Dodger players who hit 30 or more homers in 1977. He was a Co-MVP with Guererro and Yeager in the 1981 World Series. 228 homers as a Dodger and 316 in his career. Drove in 29 runs in April in 1977, still a Dodger record. Honorable Mention: Justin Turner, Jim Gilliam, Max Muncy

Shortstop: The Dodgers have had some very good players at SS over the years. Bill Russell played there the longest, 18 years. But the choice has to be Maury Wills. He had the biggest impact. Wills took over for a struggling Don Zimmer in 59 and stayed there until 1966 when he was traded. In that time, he won the MVP award in 1962 when he set a major league record for steals in a season with 104. He turned himself into a decent hitter. No power, his weapon was his speed. Returned to the team in a trade with the Expos in 1969 and finished his career in 1972. Went on to be a coach and manage. Passed away in 2022. Honorable Mention: Russell, Corey Seager.

Left Field: Left field has been manned by some very good players. Wally Moon took over in 59 and was immoralized by Vin's Moon-Shot call. Tommy Davis won 2 batting titles while the regular left fielder. But I have to go with Dusty Baker who made more starts there that any other left fielder. Acquired in a trade with the Braves after the 75 season, Dusty had an awful year in 76. But in 77 he rebounded and was one of the quartet who hit 30 or more homers. Dusty hit #30 on the last day of the season off of JR Richard of the Astros. He played for 8 years in LA with a .281 BA and 144 homers. He earned a gold glove, 2 silver slugger awards and was an All-Star in 81-82. In 40 post season games he hit .281/5/21. Honorable Mention: Moon, Tommy Davis,

Center Field: This choice is pretty easy, it is the 3-Dog, Willie Davis. 11 times he was the opening day center fielder. Willie spent 14 years with the Dodgers and has a .279/154/849 line. He stole 350 bases while a Dodger. He was an excellent fielder and ran down balls many others could not reach. Unfortunately, his most remembered fielding performance was his 3 errors in one inning in the 66 World Series. He did not have much luck at the plate in postseason play, batting just .179 in 17 games. Traded to the Expos after the 73 season for Mike Marshall. He won 3 consecutive gold gloves from 71-73. Willie passed away in 2010. Honorable Mention. Matt Kemp, Ken Landreaux, and Brett Butler.

Right Field: Another tough choice. I have to go with a guy who for most of his 12 years as a Dodger, patrolled right and was a clutch hitter. Andre Ethier. Captain Clutch was an appropriate nick name for Andre. In 2009, he had six walk-off hits, four of which were homers. He was named Pepsi's 2009 MLB Clutch Performer of the year. He batted .272 with 31 homers and 106 driven in. He hit .285 with 162 homers overall. He won a gold glove and one silver slugger award. He was obtained in a trade with the A's for Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez. Honorable Mention: Shawn Green, who set the single season HR record until Ohtani broke it and also hit 4 homers in a game at Milwaukee. He and Hodges the only Dodgers to do that. Raul Mondest, 1994 ROY with a cannon for an arm. Traded for Green. Honorable Mention: Betts, Reggie Smith, Ron Fairly and Frank Howard.

Utility Player: Another tough choice. It is almost a tie between Kike and Chris Taylor since both did the job for 10 years. But the edge goes to Kike based on his performances in the postseason. Chris had some memorable moments too and matched Kike's 3-homer LCS performance against the Cubs in 16, with one of his own against the Braves in 2021. Over the last two postseasons, Kike has had some seminal moments. In 24, he started the 5th inning rally that tied the Yankees. In the same game, he started the 8th inning rally that won the game. Last year in game six, he made a catch and throw that got the game ending DP in game six and kept LA alive for another day. He also was almost run over by Pages when he made his game saving catch in the 9th. Honorable Mention: Chris Taylor, Jim Gilliam, who will also be on the Brooklyn team.

Starting Pitchers: The only fair way to do this is to have four starters due to the many changes in the game since the team moved to LA in 1958. But these four guys are in my opinion, the best LA had over the years. Left-handed starters: Clayton Kershaw and Sandy Koufax. Right-handed starters: Don Drysdale and Don Sutton. Kershaw is a lock to be elected to the Hall when he becomes eligible. The other three are already in. Sutton holds the LA Dodger record for wins at 233. He won 324 in his career. Sutton never won a major pitching award and won 20 games just once, 1976. He was 5-3 in the postseason for LA. Member of the 66, 74, 77 and &8 pennant winners. Don passed away in 2021.

Kershaw won 223 games and lost just 96. He compiled 3,052 strikeouts, won 3 Cy Young Awards and an MVP. He was 13-13 in post season play for LA. He was 4-1 in the 2020 run to the Championship. member of 3 World Series winners. Threw a no-hitter in 2014 against the Rockies. Had a perfect game until Hanley Ramirez made an error. In 2022 on April 13th, he threw 7 perfect innings against the Twins striking out 13 on just 80 pitches. He was pulled by Doc after the 7th. Alex Vesia gave up a hit to the first batter in the 8th, Gary Sanchez to break up the no-hitter.

Drysdale came up to the Dodgers in 1956. He was 19 years old. He won 17 games in 1957 and in 1958, he was the Ace of the staff with Newcombe traded away. Big D pitched for the Dodgers for his entire 14-year career. He won 20 or more twice. 25 in 62 when he won the Cy Young award, which at that time was given to just one pitcher. His best World Series start came in game 3 of the 63 series when he shut out the Yankees on 3 hits, 1-0. He won 23 in the 65-season helping LA win the pennant. He won 10 or more games in 12 of his 14 seasons, winning just 5 in 56 and 5 in 69 when he was forced to retire with a torn rotator cuff. He set an MLB record for scoreless innings with 58.2 which was broken by Hershiser in 1988. He was elected to the Hall in 1984. He won 209 games. He passed away in Montreal while on a road trip with the Dodgers in 1993.

Koufax was signed at age 19 to a bonus contract. As a bonus baby, the Dodgers were required to keep him on the roster for 2 years. Blessed with a blazing fastball, but never knowing where it would go, was one of the reasons he did not pitch much those first two seasons. The Dodgers decided to keep him on the MLB roster even after the two years. This probably slowed his development. After 6 mediocre seasons, the team came close to trading him for Elston Howard. During spring training in 1961, C Norm Sherry suggested to him during a B game that he just basically play catch and quit trying to strike everyone out. What followed were six of the best seasons by any pitcher. 3 Cy Young awards, 4 no-hitters including a perfect game, an MVO award, 382 Ks, setting a record that was later broken by Nolan Ryan. 5 straight ERA titles. Two World Series MVP awards. He set a record for the most Ks in a World Series game with 15 in game one of the 63 series. Bob Gibson would break that mark in 1968 when he struck out 17. Koufax struck out 18 in a game twice. Elected to the Hall in 1972.

Don Sutton: Sutton joined the Dodgers rotation in 1966. He won 12 games. For the next 14 years he never won less than 11. He won 21 in 1976, the only 20-win season in his 23-year career. he was part of four pennant winning teams and had a 5-3 postseason record with the Dodgers, He won 233 games for LA and 324 overall. He once had a clubhouse fight with Steve Garvey that was widely reported in the press. He was elected to the Hall in 1998. He became a broadcaster after he retired and worked for the Atlanta Braves for several years. Sutton passed away in 2021 at age 75. Honorable Mention: Hershiser, Fernando, Claude Osteen.

Closer: No big surprise here, it has to be the All-time saves leader, Kenley Jansen. Signed out of Curacao as a catcher, he converted to pitching in 2009. In 2010 he was called up to the Dodgers. In 2012 he became the teams closer. As the Dodgers closer, Jansen saved 40 or more 3 times. He led the league with 41 in 2017. His high in LA was 44 in 2014. He also recorded 19 postseason saves for the Dodgers. He had 350 while in LA. He is currently pitching for the Tigers and is just 11 saves short of 500, which would make him the third player in MLB history to have 500 or more along with Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. Honorable Mention: Greg Gagne simply for his 3 years of dominance in that role. 84 consecutive saves at one point. Ron Perranoski, Jim Brewer.

Well, that about covers it. I know there will be a few who have their own thoughts. Feel free to post them anytime.

OKC Comets 3 – Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 0

Christian Romero started for OKC and pitched 5.0 scoreless innings.  Four relievers combined for 4.0 scoreless innings to preserve the shutout.  LHRP Ronan Kopp pitched the final 1.1 innings to get the save. 

All the scoring came in the 2nd inning.  DH Ryan Fitzgerald and 2B Austin Gauthier drew walks to open the inning.  A WP put the runners on 2nd and 3rd.  3B Noah Miller hit a 2-run single and moved to 2nd on an error.  Miller moved to 3rd on a groundout and scored when SS Hyeseong Kim reached on a fielder’s choice when Miller beat the throw home. 

The Comets received 9 BB, but registered only 3 singles by Miller, LF James Tibbs III, and C Griffin Lockwood-Powell. 

1B Ryan Ward reached base 3 times on 3 BB.   

Box Score 

NW Arkansas Naturals (KC) 19 – Tulsa Drillers 7 

Tulsa pitchers kept the Naturals off the scoreboard for 6 of the 9 innings.  NWA fell behind 6-0 after 2 innings.  But then those three innings… 

In the bottom of the 1st, with one out, CF Mike Sirota drew a BB.  He moved to 2nd on a WP, and scored when 1B Jake Gelof doubled (16).  RF Chris Newell walked.  LF Kole Myers doubled (3) to score Gelof with Newell to 3rd.  3B Taylor Young groundout scores Newell, with Myers to 3rd.  C Nelson Quiroz doubled (4) to score Myers with the 4th run of the inning.  

In the 2nd, 2B Sam Mongelli tripled (1) and scored when DH Josue De Paula homered (20) to extend the lead to 6-0. 

The next three innings were ugly.  4 pitchers, 19 runs, 18 hits, 2 BB, 6 HR.  Need no more discussion. 

Tulsa scored their 7th in the 6th inning when Mongelli led off with his 2nd HR of the season. 

·      Jake Gelof – 1 run, 1 RBI, double (16)

·      Kole Myers – 2-5, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (3)

·      Taylor Young – 3-5, 1 RBI

·      Nelson Quiroz – 2-5, 1 RBI, 2 doubles (5)

·      Sam Mongelli – 2-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI, triple (1), HR (2)

·      Mike Sirota – 3 BB

·      Josue De Paula – HR (20) 

Box Score  

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego) 12 – Great Lakes Loons 5 

LHSP Sterling Patick, was another SP who got hit hard and gave up a bunch of runs in the first couple of innings.  Patick gave up a 2-run HR in the 1st inning.  He also gave up a single, WP, RBI single, SB, BB, and a 2-run double.  In all he gave up 5 runs on 3 singles, 1 double, 1 BB, and 1 HR. 

Patick gave up a pair of solo HRs in the 2nd. 

Then the rain came. 

Now for the conclusion. 

Play resumed in the bottom of the 2nd.  DH Logan Wagner met the new pitcher with his 16th HR of the season.  With that HR, he has tied Andy Pages for the career HR leader for Great Lakes (31). 

With RHRP Seamas Barrett pitching in the 4th, he allowed a BB, a HBP, and a run scoring single.  With 2 outs in the 4th, RHRP Joseilyn Gonzalez was summoned to get the final out. 

In the bottom of the 4th, SS Emil Morales walked and scored on a double (19) by Wagner.  With 2 outs, RF Jaron Elkins singled home Wagner. 

The TinCaps got back both runs in the 5th off Gonzalez.  He allowed a BB and 2 doubles for 2 runs. 

GL scored a run in the 7th.  Elkins led off with a BB, and moved to 2nd on a single by C Victor Rodrigues.  Elkins scored on a WP and catcher throwing error. 

Fort Wayne score single runs in the 8th and 9th innings off 2 more relievers. 

With 2 outs in the 9th, Rodrigues singled and scored on Davalan’s 24th double. 

·      Charles Davalan – 2-3, 2 BB, 1 RBI, double (24)

·      Logan Wagner – 2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI, double (19), HR (16)

·      Jaron Elkins – 2-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI

·      Victor Rodrigues – 2-4, 1 run 

Box Score 

Ontario Tower Buzzers 15 – Fresno Grizzlies (Colorado) 6 

The big RHSP Jack O’Conner started for Ontario.  He allowed solo runs in the 1st and 2nd innings.  

Ontario put up 3 in the 1st inning.  DH Joendry Vargas doubled (24).  With one out, Vargas moved to 3rd on a balk.  1B Easton Shelton drew a BB.  On a groundout, Vargas scored and Shelton moved to 2nd.  Shelton moved to 3rd on a WP.  CF Mairo Martinus singled to score Shelton, and reached 2B on a SB.  3B Oswaldo Osorio doubled (4) Shelton home. 

RHRP Joel Cruz allowed solo runs in the 3rd and 4th, giving the Grizzlies the 4-3 lead after 3 ½ innings.  He allowed a BB and a run scoring double in the 3rd, and a solo HR in the 4th. 

Ontario sent 12 batters to the plate in the 4th and scored 9.  2B Javier Herrera opened the inning with a single.  After one out, Vargas singled with Herrera scoring and Vargas reaching 2nd on a throwing error. SS Aidan West singled moving Vargas to 3rd.  1B Shelton Easton hit a 3-run HR (32).  LF Ching-Hsien Ko walked and continued to 3rd on PH Brendan Tunink‘s single.  Osorio reached on a fielder’s choice with Ko scoring on a throwing error.  C Francisco Espinoza doubled (2) scoring Tunink and moving Osorio to 3rd.  Herrera hit a 3-run HR (3) to finish scoring.

In the 6th, the first three batters reached.  Osorio walked, Espinoza singled, and Herrera walked to load the bases.  RF Abel Lorenzo hit a SF. 

Cruz pitched another 2.2 scoreless innings before being relieved by RHRP Jholbran Herder with 2 outs in the 7th and getting the final out.  But in the 8th he allowed a 2-run HR to former Ontario OF Landyn Vidourek. 

In the bottom of the 8th, Herrera led off with a BB.  Lorenzo’s triple scored Herrera.  The next two batters struck out, and the next three batters each walked to force in a run. 

I have no idea if there is any meaning to Martinus was PH for by Tunink in the 4th.  

·      Joendry Vargas – 3-6, 2 runs, double (24)

·      Easton Shelton – 2-4, 2 BB, 2 runs, 3 RBI, HR (32)

·      Javier Herrera – 2-3, 2 BB, 3 runs, 3 RBI

·      Francisco Espinoza – 2-5, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (2)

·      Double – Oswaldo Osorio (4

·      Triple – Abel Lorenzo (1) 

Box Score