I tend to believe that in baseball as well as any sport “what have you done for me lately?” rings the bell loudly and that when a pitcher has a 6-0 record, a 1.59 ERA, and a 0.88 WHIP, he deserves to be called “Ace!” This is especially true when that same pitcher leads the NL in ERA. Welcome the much maligned (by Dodger fans), Tony Gonsolin!, Dodger Ace! Actually,…
247 years ago, the first shots of the American Revolution were fired just after daybreak on April 19 in the little town of Lexington, thrusting the farmer-colonists of our yet-to-be-born nation into war. At every turn since then, when the nation has called for those willing to wear the uniform of our nation in service around the world and here at home, there has been no shortage of people willing…
Well, it is no battle. That just sounded intimidating. So, yesterday, I wanted to see what fans thought about the Kershaw – Koufax debate… and it pretty much went the way I believed. However, yesterday I deliberately withheld some evidence that may or may not change your minds. This evidence will cause you to re-assess how you might look at things. So, here is the evidence: When Sandy Koufax pitched,…
Why can’t the Dodgers just win every game? Come on, at the rate they are going; they will only win 109 games! That is unacceptable! I had them winning 162. Man, was I off! A lot of us feel that way… even if we don’t admit it, but I am elated that the Dodgers have the record that they do when a lot has gone wrong. Let’s start with the…
Austin Barnes was drafted by the Marlins in the 9th round of the 2011 amateur draft. In December of 2014, Austin was acquired by Andrew Friedman in one of his first trades with the Dodgers. He was a key piece in the Dee Gordon trade wherein the Dodgers traded Dee Gordon, Dan Haren, Miguel Rojas, and cash for Chris Hatcher, Andrew Heaney, Kike Hernandez, and Austin Barnes. Austin Barnes might…
I watched at least three near-future Dodgers last night and one recent past Dodger Hero. I watched the near-future Dodgers, Mike Busch, Jacob Amaya, and Bobby Miller with great elation. Let me tell you about that before I tell you about an old friend whom I felt a great sadness in watching. The trio of Busch, Amaya, and Miller will likely move to Oklahoma City very soon, but I enjoyed…
Trevor Bauer: We shall never speak of this again… well, at least not much or not very soon. The appeal process will begin and there will be a lot of machinations and posturing and misinformation. In fact, once the suspension was announced, I stopped believing anything. The MLB PR Machine has cranked up. We hear there may be a third accuser. Was there really a second accuser? You are free…
I mean… is that even possible? How is it possible? As you read below what I wrote about the minor leagues, the Dodger system is just “riddled” with these power arms. I have never seen anything like it. Farhan can steal a player here or there (like Nunez) and their farm system is improving, but nothing like what is happening Down on the Farm in Dodgerland. It was announced yesterday…
Who doesn’t like to be around a guy who always smiles, never complains, and is just a fun and outgoing person? The Dodgers had that guy from 2015 until 2020, when they won the World Series. He was the “Banana Man” – namely Kike Hernandez! The Dodgers have a history of having some characters in the clubhouse: Jay Johnstone and Jerry Reuss were also right there with Kike. The fact…
That is evidently Andrew Friedman’s new bullpen strategy and I happen to think it is a stroke of genius. We all know that bullpens are fickle and it is hard to predict with a great degree of certainty whether a pitcher who was great in 2021 will even be average a year later. Injuries happen and pitchers are bad one year and great the next. Now, it is not always…