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Friday, September 18, 2015

When the Majors was Only a Glimmer in his Eye - Clayton Kershaw's High School Yearbooks

Recently, I was window shopping on eBay when I came across a couple of items that made me laugh.  It wasn't so funny that I fell on the floor laughing, it's just that it gave me a little smile.  The kind of smile that only the sophomoric would enjoy.

To set things up, I am preparing a post featuring the early rookie cards of staff ace Clayton Kershaw (I'll have that out next week), and came across a couple of yearbooks from his days at Highland Park High School.  Since I have a fascination with oddball Dodger memorabilia I figured they'd be perfect to share here.  Featured below are yearbooks from Highland Park High School in Dallas from 2005 and 2006 - Kershaw's junior and senior years.

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2005 Yearbook - Kershaw's Junior year

2015 Topps Triple Threads - The Dodger Base Cards

Triple Threads madness is just only beginning.  Over the next few days I hope to have pics of all the Dodger cards available.  For now, though, let's check out what the base cards look like.  BTW, I featured a couple of goofy Dodger cards from the set a couple of days ago.  Go here to check that out.  It includes musically themed cards of Ryu and Puig.  Go here for a complete check list of this set.

There are only four Dodger players in the 100-card base set and one rookie in the relic base subset.  Check them all out below.  The Adrian Gonzalez card is an Amethyst parallel card. 

#6 Clayton Kershaw                                 #77 Jackie Robinson

Blog Kiosk: 9/18/2015 - Dodger Links - Quakes, Latos and Ruggiano


The young Dodger farmhands with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are seen celebrating their playoff series victory a couple of days ago in the photo above; via a tweet from pitcher Chase De Jong.  They won it with a miraculous ninth inning rally that started with two men out.  In other news, I'm pretty sure many of the folks above are underage... Uh, who am I kidding... Who cares?  One evening of revelry is hardly unwarranted.

BTW, Last night was Game 1 of their Cal League Championship match against the San Jose Giants, and they decimated our rivals Class A league team, 12-3.  WooHoo!  The winning pitcher is none other than the guy who shared the photo above, Chase De Jong.  Via Tyler Maun at MiLB:
"It's always important to win Game 1, especially when you're at home," Quakes manager Bill Haselman said. "We had a pretty intense game yesterday, and they wiped that slate clean. They were ready for this game, so they did a heck of a job. De Jong did a great job on the mound, gave us six strong innings, and our offense was relentless with their ABs."
Ron Cervenka at Think Blue LA also wrote a great story about last night's game that you check out here.  Below are more links to check out:
  • Left Field Pavilion made a fantastic fantasy Baseball card featuring Joc Pederson and Corey Seager that you can see here.
  • ICYMI:  Mat "Cat" Latos is no more.  He has been DFA'd by the Dodgers.  Unquestionably, he was the worst pickup so far for the new Dodger front office, and that's OK.  Nobody will be perfect all of the time.  That said, the fact that they were willing to cut bait rather than let him ride it out on the bench into October is telling.  This group will not hesitate to move beyond any mistakes - In other words, they don't let their pride dictate player movements.  
Or, maybe the 6.66 ERA in the six games he pitched for us as a bad omen. 
  • Via Eric Avakian at Dodgers Nation, "Mattingly Not Surprised By Andre Ethier’s Season."
“Coming out of Spring Training with all the talk of wanting to play everyday and all that, and really I’ve said it a few different times, he’s backed it up with his play. When he’s gotten his opportunities he’s been really good. I don’t know if it’s really necessarily a surprise that he’s capable of this, but it’s been a good season for him.” 
In LA, Ruggiano has had 24 plate appearances against lefties. He possesses a .417 OBP, 1.330 OPS, .522 ISO, .461 BABIP, .550 wOBA and 261 wRC+. Those numbers may not be sustainable in the long run, but in his limited role, he’s carved out a niche that has helped catapult the Dodgers comfortably into the playoffs—barring a major collapse.
"He doesn't get the credit; he's not on the magazine covers and stuff, but every year, he puts up the numbers and now he's here and I'm really pumped for him," said Seager, ranked by MLBPipeline.com as the Dodgers' top prospect and the No. 2 prospect in baseball. "He's everything you'd want in a teammate."

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