It might be hard for some to believe, but prior to 1977 the position of Hitting coach as such did not exist. The first hitting coach with that title was Jim Gilliam. There have been 18 since. Before that time, players did not have a specific person to go to. All of these guys had varying degrees of experience. Some, including Gilliam, Mattingly, McGwire. Wallack, Reggie Smith, Jack Clark, Mota,…
Most often when I attempt to communicate the concept of time with my younger grandchildren, I talk in terms of “sleeps.” “Three more sleeps and I’ll be there, or 2 more sleeps and I go home.” We’re at that stage of the season, where we can communicate similarly about the Dodgers. 11 more wins, and we enjoy the parade!! Last year, we were flat out overmatched by the Red Sox. …
Lots of other blogs give you a game recap. There are billions of those blogs and they do a good job. I just try and give you another perspective, win or lose. When they win, they are’t this king of the world and when they lose, they are not the scum of the earth. I try and keep even keel and eliminate knee-jerk reactions. After sweeping the Reds, the Dodgers…
I watched OKC last night and while Clayton Kershaw was obviously a little rusty, he was throwing free and easy. While they don’t show the radar gun in AAA, it looked to me that Clayton was around 90 MPH. He’s ready and I think he will be pitching for the LA Dodgers in 5 days. If Edwin Rios can hit at the Major League level (I am not convinced he…
I have been doing a lot of thinking and analysis and while I am a believer in analytics, I do not think that stats are the end all, be all. Humans play the game of baseball and no human can be fully captured with a single stat. However, there are a few statistics that just totally jump out at me. For example, when a batter has two strikes on them,…
I set out today to write a “tongue-in-cheek sarcastic column on how bad the Dodgers were as a team and a critique on each player. After a few minutes, I realized that as much as I tried, I could not be that devoid of reason. There was no way I could even make up a way to devalue this team. I’m dumb, but I am not that dumb! Well, maybe…
Last week Mark kind of stole my thunder with his remarks about Raul Ibanez who is a Special Assistant now to Andrew Friedman. He had signed with the Dodgers in February of 2016 along with Greg Maddux. The reasons for my interest in Raul Ibanez was that first, it was recently rumored he had an opportunity to move to another organization and didn’t. Secondly, suggestions were made that others were deserting…
Yesterday Mark wrote, “this Dodger Team, right here, right now, is better than the 2018 version.” I will stipulate that the Dodgers may be better just for the loss of Farhan Zaidi and Turner Ward. That may be cruel, and they may do wonderful things for their new respective clubs, but they were a disconnect for this team. Friedman wants more of his fingerprints on the roster and approach, and…
Pitchers and hitters don’t progress from one stage to another in a straight line. That’s what we would like, because we like predictable. We like things neatly arranged and sequential, but baseball player development happens so differently… and sometimes, so maddeningly different than what we like, that we are frequently frustrated beyond belief. This time last year, Striker Buehler, who was then named “Walker” Buehler, was stinking up the joint…
Only July 14, 2018, the Cardinals had lost two games in a row to the Cincinnati Reds and looked lifeless. The St. Louis Cardinals have always thrived on continuity. Bill DeWitt Jr. has owned the team since March 1996, and he has had two managers in that span: Tony La Russa, and then Mike Matheny replaced him in 2012. Under DeWitt, the Cardinals have won 10 division titles and made the postseason 13…