Thursday, January 03, 2013

Dodgers Blog Kiosk: 1/3/2012


The Kershaw's and some friends just arrived in Zambia for the opening of Hope's Home- a children's orphanage they started and is funded by Kershaw's Challenge.   Go here for the story from the Dodgers PR blog.  Also Kershaw's Challenge blog also has a complete story, here.
On Thanksgiving, the Zambian government approved the first 8 kids to move into Hope’s Home. These children are experiencing running water, electricity, flushing toilets and sleeping on a mattress for the first time in their lives. More importantly, they now have three house mothers who provide three meals a day, administer HIV medications and just simply, care about them.
Check out other Dodgers related stories below.
This will be the sixth year of the minicamp, which is designed to take the best and brightest of the farm system, accelerate their Major League arrival and aid acclimation to what they will encounter when they get there.

Among earlier participants are Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen. Vice president of player development De Jon Watson's minicamp also allows club officials to get a line on each player's conditioning prior to Spring Training and to tweak flaws in a pitcher's delivery or a hitter's swing before the start of the real camp, where the player is focused on making the club.

They receive coaching on baseball skills, but also are instructed in aspects of Major League Baseball that should be essential but often are overlooked, from media relations to security issues to interaction with fans and the importance of community outreach.
  • Paul LoDuca, on twitter, is running a contest that includes free admission tickets and free autographs from him in relation to the SoCal Baseball and Sports Collectors Expo on the weekend of the 11th through 13th of January.  All you have to do is tweet a favorite memory.  Go here for info.
  • AJ Ellis is one funny guy on twitter- not that he isn't funny in real life.  Actually I wouldn't know.  Anyway, he responded to a Steve Dilbeck article that took a look at Dodgers' New Year Resolution
A.J. Ellis: Snarl at bloggers who ask dumb postgame questions.
(twitter link)


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Take a Look Back at 2012's Walk-Off Dodger Victories

(pic via Jon SooHoo/ LA Dodgers 2012)

Other than the fact that the Dodgers didn't make the playoffs, they had an otherwise remarkable season in 2012.  They finally kicked to the curb an owner the city grew to loath, we made inroads towards revitalizing a sinking farm system, and made some giant trades and free agency pick-ups that keep fans hopeful of a better tomorrow.  To add to the good feelings felt in Los Angeles, they even rewarded faithful fans with numerous walk-off victories that kept us riveted. 

From my count, the Dodgers recorded 10 walk-off hits and 2 walk-off walks in 2012.  BTW, that tally is far from a record- the Yankees had 17 walk-off wins in 1943.

In commemoration and celebration of an incredible year in Dodger walk-offs, I thought it would be fun to take another look at the 12 nail-biting victories.  See videos of each one below.  It is listed from most recent to oldest.  Also of special note, AJ Ellis was the king of the walk-offs in 2012.  He was responsible for 3 walk-off victories.

10/1/12: Elian Herrera lines a pitch off Marco Scutaro's glove and into center field for a single to score the game-winning run in the ninth.

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9/15/12: Juan Rivera's liner goes off the glove of Daniel Descalso, allowing Elian Herrera to score as the Dodgers walk off with a 4-3 win.

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AJ Ellis hits a walk off single against the Padres: 9/3/2012.

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Here is Adrian Gonzalez's walk-off double from 9/2/2012.

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Here is Hanley Ramirez's walk-off single from 8/15/2012 against the Cubs.

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Matt Kemp blast a walk-off 2-run homer against the Phillies on 7/18/2012.

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Dee Gordon, remember him, hits a walk-off single against the White Sox on 6/17/2012.

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He does it again.  Here is AJ Ellis' walk-off 3-run homer against the Astros on 5/26/2012.

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AJ Ellis has a walk-off walk against the Cardinals on 5/18/2012.

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Matt Kemp belted a walk-off home run against the Nats on 4/28/2012.

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Dee Gordon hits a walk-off single against the Padres on 4/15/2012.

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Andre Ether starts off the Dodgers walk-off parade by getting a walk-off walk against the Padres on 4/13/2012.

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A Collection of Johnny Podres Autographed Baseball Cards


Johnny Podres was the man that helped the Dodgers win their very first World Championship.  If it weren't for his efforts the vaunted Brooklyn Dodger club of Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider may have disappeared into the annals of history.  For that reason, he is often lionized along with other great Dodger pitchers- even when his stats show that he was similar to above average hurlers like Rick Rhoden or Kevin Appier.

So, it shouldn't be surprising that Johnny Podres is oftentimes a very popular insert in modern Baseball card sets.  Featured in this post is a collection of 6 different certified autographed cards in my collection.  Above is a 2005 Donruss Greats autographed card.  Directly below is a 2004 Topps Finest Moments card.

Below is a 2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia autographed card numbered to 150.

A 2004 Upper Deck SP Prospects triple autographed card featuring Podres with Odalis Perez and Scott Elbert is below.  Numbered to only 25 copies.
 

Below is a 2005 Team Topps autographed card.
 

Last but not least is a 2002 Topps Super Teams autographed card of Podres.

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