Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Blog Kiosk: 5/5/2015 - Dodger Links - Kershaw, Grandal and Another Dodger Trade


Last night was another tough day for our ace.  Don't get me wrong, he pitched really well and certainly deserved to win his 100th career victory.  Unfortunately, Baseball is more than the sum of its parts.  It's a battle that includes skill and some chance, and last night Clayton was stung by the latter.  Via Andrew Wagner at ESPN.com:
“He was just being Kershaw,” said catcher Yasmani Grandal. “Just pounding guys in, breaking bats, getting ground balls, getting ahead of guys. Other than that, he was just being him.”
For seven innings Kershaw was brilliant.  He had out-dueled Brewers pitcher Kyle Lohse but ran into some trouble in the eighth inning.  Kershaw yielded a home run to rookie shortstop Hector Gomez and a double thereafter to Adam Lind to put the tying run in scoring position.
“I felt fine,” said Kershaw, who threw 91 pitches. “Gomez hit a good pitch. The ball was in, he was just ready to ambush and did a good job, and Lind, I just threw a slider right down the middle, overthrew it and he hit it hard.”
A couple of pitches here and there, and all of the sudden it's a different game.  Chris Hatcher came into the game in relief and proceeded to give up the winning run.  Oh, well.  At least Clayton Kershaw is showing improvement with every outing, and I'm far from believing that there is anything wrong with him.  On a side note, Clayton is clearly frustrated with the end results; via David Schoenfield at SweetSpot ESPN:
"I don't feel like answering questions right now. I don't want to analyze it right now. Thanks." 
Below are some more links to check out:
  • The times sure are changing for the better.  Via Samer Kalaf at Deadspin, "Two Dudes Smooch On Dodgers' Kiss Cam, To Hearty Applause."  It wasn't too long ago when two women were thrown out for doing the same thing.
  • That guy who's riding his bike to every MLB stadium made it to LA on Sunday.  Check out his blog post that tells you all about it.  Via Matt Stolz at Biking for Baseball, "Welcome to LA."
I did stumble upon Nomar Garciaparra and Orel Herscheiser. I actually overheard them talking with a Dodgers player and discussing different techniques they would use to gain an advantage. Orel spoke of purposely batting without batting gloves so he could claim the pine tar on his hands came from his previous at bat. Nomar spoke of how players would wear fake fingernails so they could better grip a baseball. It was pretty unbelievable, I felt like I was right in the clubhouse with the guys.
  • They picked up another reliever in a minor trade yesterday.  Via a Dodger press release:
The Los Angeles Dodgers today acquired right-handed pitcher Matt West from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations and moved left-handed pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu to the 60-day disabled list.

West, 26, has allowed just one unearned run in 12.1 scoreless innings for the Blue Jays’ Double-A New Hampshire affiliate in the Eastern League this season. The Houston native also has one save and 17 strikeouts against just four walks in his seven appearances.
“We have a great training staff here, they were able to get me healthy,” Grandal said. “It wasn’t a huge injury, it was just an injury where it just bothered me here and there. It’s not that I couldn’t catch or I couldn’t really hit, but there were certain movements that I did that bothered it a lot and we just needed to get it over with.”

  • Here's a short little video of Roy Campanella playing captain on his boat, via Flagstaff Films:

Video Link:

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