Dodgers Blue Heaven: Blog Kiosk: 3/5/2020 - Dodgers Links & News

Thursday, March 05, 2020

Blog Kiosk: 3/5/2020 - Dodgers Links & News - Some Odds and Ends

Clayton Kershaw looked pretty good his second time out this Spring. Per Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

Kershaw struck out four in three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks.

“There were things I did better in the first game, but I landed my curveballs for strikes better than the first game, which was good,” he said. “A little better command than the last game. Backed up some sliders that they hit hard to shortstop, but overall a good step.”

Unfortunately, his outing was overlooked a bit because of a Dodger-Giant rivalry that continues unabated.

As Kershaw was walking from the mound to the dugout after the third out, Giants third-base coach Ron Wotus passed by en route to his first-base dugout and said something that set off Kershaw.

.....

“He was upset that I hit him and that’s fine, it’s part of the game and he’s allowed to be upset. I didn’t say anything,” said Kershaw, who said he was hoping Turner had avoided a repeat of two years ago.

Below are more links to check out:

This Day in Dodgers History: In 1945 the Dodgers, facing war-time travel restrictions, open spring training at Bear Mountain in upstate New York. In 1958 Duke Snider, Johnny Podres, and Don Zimmer are involved in an car accident in Vero Beach while trying to beat a 12:30 am curfew. With Snider driving, they veered off the road into a ditch. They fortunately suffer only minor injuries. BTW, this was the third car accident a Dodger player had suffered over the past two months. First, Roy Campanella was paralyzed then Jim Gilliam was struck by a trailer truck. In 1958 the Dodgers signed 21-year old free agent outfielder Frank "Hondo" Howard. He would play seven years in Dodger Blue -- slashing .269/.326/.495/.822 with 123 homers and 382 runs driven in. In 1966 the players elect Marvin Miller, assistant to the president of the United Steelworkers, as Executive Director of the Major League Players Association.
Happy Birthday, Bernie Hungling, Lu Blue, Elmer Valo, Chad Fonville, Paul Konerko & Mike MacDougal!
Notes from the Dodgers in Arizona: Former Dodgers Eric Karros and Cesar Izturis arrived at Camelback Ranch this afternoon and will be assisting the coaching staff during workouts this week. Karros spent 12 seasons with the Dodgers and still holds the team record for most home runs (270) in Los Angeles history. Izturis played with Los Angeles from 2002-05, earning a Gold Glove at shortstop in 2004 and recorded a career .981 fielding percentage in 13 Major League seasons.
Audio: Kourtney Turner and Justin Turner join the Petros and Money show to talk about the LA Marathon that is coming up this Saturday, March 8th. (Audio Link)
Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA -- "Dodgers set to pay competitive balance tax in 2020: How Mookie Betts & David Price affect the Dodgers’ payroll."
As you may know, Cody Bellinger has taken a few days off due to back discomfort. Fortunately, it appears he A-OK. Via a tweet from Bill Plunkett:

#Dodgers Cody Bellinger said he just had a non-TopGolf related knot in his back Monday and he’s 100 percent fine now. “You guys can use that 💯 emoji,” he said.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) March 4, 2020

Chris Taylor, on the other hand, is ailing. Via a tweet from Ken Gurnick:

Chris Taylor said he had a setback in his recovery from a sore right forearm and won’t play again until it’s 100 percent.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) March 4, 2020

Via Mike DiGiovanna at The LA Times -- "Zach Reks’ journey to Dodgers camp full of stops, starts and one amazing jump." This is one of the weirdest story I've ever read.

One day in the summer of 2015, Reks was riding through campus on the back of a moped scooter driven by Bo Wilson, a friend and former teammate who also transferred to Kentucky from Air Force.

...
As the scooter came to a stop, “I jumped off and did like a 180-degree hop,” Reks said. “I was shirtless.

Eckstein did a double-take. It was not because of Reks’ wardrobe choice.
“He was on the back, and the way he jumped off the scooter, I was like, ‘My God, that’s the most athletic thing I’ve ever seen,’ ” said Eckstein, now the hitting coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“It was so athletic the way he moved. It sounds weird, but that’s what really caught my eye. So I went up to him and said, ‘Hey, have you ever played baseball?’ And he said, ‘Well, yeah.’ ”

Matthew Brownstein at Metsmerized Online shares an exclusive interview -- "MMO Exclusive: Former First Baseman, James Loney."

MMO: One of your most memorable moments in a Dodgers uniform was your grand slam in Game One of the 2008 NLDS vs. the Cubs on the road. Can you talk a bit about that at-bat against Ryan Dempster in the fifth?

Loney: We had bases loaded and Dempster threw me a split-finger in the dirt and I swung at. He threw another split-finger in the dirt and I swung at it. Then he threw me a high fastball just out of the zone that I didn’t swing at. Then I was like, I know he’s going to throw another split-finger here, I just knew it after he already threw me two that I swung at. Sure enough, he threw another one but he didn’t bounce this one (laughs). He left it right there for me to hit so that’s how that at-bat went down.

Via Duane Cross at MiLB.com -- "Robinson has bat, will travel -- a lot." Here's a fantastic story about former Dodger prospect and Baseball-lifer Trayvon Robinson.

"I was still reaching out to teams and the only thing I was getting is, I was too old," Robinson said. "Well, that's how life works. Eventually, people get old, you know. But I didn't let that stop me.

"I started reflecting on what I've actually learned. For me to get back into the game, going through those bumps in the road, I knew I could play."
...
"I just want to ... you keep fighting until they take the jersey off your back. Simple as that."