Game 59, 2014

Today brings a couple of nice long-form pieces about the Dodgers and their family:

Here’s a wonderful profile of Vin Scully from Cee Angi at SB Nation.

And Jon W. has written about Yasiel Puig and his predecessors in supposed “uniqueness” in MLB. Jon argues that there have been plenty of guys who, when they first came up, were viewed in the same jaundiced way that Puig was last year after committing some of his baserunning mistakes and non-cutoff-man throwing “errors.”

White Sox (!) at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

It will be Clayton Kershaw (3-2, 3.57 ERA) for the Dodgers and Jose Quintana (3-4, 3.61 ERA) for the Sox. This will also be the Dodgers’ and their fans’ first opportunity to see the Pale Hose’s exciting rookie, 27-year-old Jose Abreu. He was the American League’s Player and Rookie of the Month for April of this year, but he’s been on the DL with a left ankle injury for the past two weeks.

Abreu and the Dodgers’ Puig know each other very well. They played together for Cienfuegos in the Cuban League a couple of years back. He also knows young Erisbel Arruebarrena, who’s currently holding down a spot on the Dodgers’ bench.

Lineup when available.

25 thoughts on “Game 59, 2014

  1. And speaking of assumptions, saw frustration in a couple other places because the Dodgers couldn’t do much with Volquez, assuming he’s awful and they should have knocked him out.

    He’s no world beater. But knowledgeable people say he’s always had #2 starter stuff. His problems are inconsistency and losing focus, said the broadcast crew.

    He’s definitely a MLB starter. And, yes, much better than Paul Maholm. His last few starts for the Dodgers last year were effective. He would have taken more to re-sign than Maholm cost. But you get what you pay for. And money is not among Dodger issues. He’d have been a better #6 or #7.

    In defense of the team, Volquez probably wouldn’t have signed without some assurance he’d be in the rotation, which the Dodgers couldn’t have provided.

  2. Seems the universe did not implode with SVS in CF. But not something we need to see much of. He’s likely to get exposed if out there much.

    Bite my tongue (or maybe unplug my keyboard) but if SVS and Puig were to collide, it might be picked up on the Richter Scale.
    ======================
    After posting saw where DM said the team regards Andre and SVS as pretty much the same in CF, getting good reads and taking direct routes. So either those are empty words or SVS is not the disaster-in-waiting outsiders expect.

    Much of that may be due to his size and assumptions a guy that big is not going to move very well.

  3. Game One of the 1959 WS, 11-0 White Sox over Dodgers, took 2:35 to play. That’s the game Vin was telling his Nat King Cole story about. Two and a half hours!

  4. Nothing really earth shattering in the piece on Vin, but WOW, I never get tired of reading it. 🙂

  5. I don’t think we get to use the DH in NL parks. Too Bad. I would personally love to have the DH in the National League and eventually we will. That would be an instant solution to our excess outfielder problem. Also possible method of removing Hanly from shortstop. I would never have conceived the DH idea on my own but since someone else figured it out, I don’t see anything against it, it’s a way to keep some players in the game longer. I don’t understand Traditionalist arguments. Everything changes in time. If you love tradition so much, give up your cell phone, your computer, your car and the thousands of other things that were new and different when they came out, I know you don’t want to be a hypocrite….

    • Ha! I look forward to the day that the AL gives up its 40-year tradition of the DH.