By many pitchers’ standards, Walker Buehler’s numbers are pretty good, but they are certainly not up to his normal standards. As fans, it is easy to say that his fastball is declining, but that is a rather simplistic overview. Of course, over time a pitcher’s fastball will decline or if it doesn’t he will ultimately need Tommy John Surgery. It was never sustainable for Walker Buehler to pitch at 98…
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,…
Many Dodger fans look at the four “otherworldly” years of Sandy Koufax’s Career… and My God, those years were out of this world, and many fans concluded that he was the greatest Dodger pitcher ever! In four consecutive years, he accumulated nearly 1,200 innings (1,193 to be exact), won 89 games, struck out 1,228 batters, and had an ERA of below 2.00. What they forget was that he pitched in…
I am not going to belabor this issue because, well… it’s not even an issue. It only rises to the level of being really silly, but yesterday I wrote this: “OK, here is something that I should add if you want me and many other readers here to take you seriously: DON’T JUST POST WHEN YOU HAVE SOMETHING NEGATIVE TO SAY. When you do that, you have pretty much summed…
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…
Before the early 1990s, when the Dodgers had a run of 5 straight ROYs, Rookies of the Year, they had a run of four consecutive from 79-82. The first of those was Ted Sizemore who was only around for one season following his rookie year. Then came Rick Sutcliffe, Fernando Valenzuela, and then Steve Sax. Stephen Louis Sax was born on January 29, 1960, in Sacramento, California. He was the…
OK, so what? Yeah, it’s hard to play baseball in the major leagues. Let me take it a step farther, who here could have played AAA baseball? AA Baseball? A Baseball? Rookie League Baseball? I am sure some will say they could have, but unless you did, you really don’t know. You just don’t! It’s easy for all of us to say that the Dodgers should just get rid of…
OK, First I am going to talk about yesterday’s debacle (it wasn’t a game) for a minute (60 seconds). Max Muncy cost the Dodgers the game with his lack of hitting and fielding. I know it, you know it, Max knows it, and Ray Charles sees it. The fact that Max lost the game has nothing to do with his ability to play 2B. Max is an average to above-average…
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…